Prologue

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A rare find, that beautiful crimson hair. That colour was usually the effect of cheap dye and a childish personality, desperate to demonstrate personal identity by opposing normality. It was a rare gift from nature, every strand like melting deep red, when most supposed carrottop possessed only a diluted orange hue. But hers was like origin, drawing the eyes of all those around her, including Noah's. Of all the adult female he had seen, met, and knew, even intimately, hers was the most purely crimson.

It was after school day in ahead of time fall, the twinkle of the setting sun illuminating every strand and reminding him why it was worth it to approach her. She was walking across the evacuate soccer field, her body trembling from the adrenaline of all the running she had done in her trail club. For once, Noah saw her without all of her friends surrounding her or her fellow's arm draped over her berm like a boa constrictor. He had been waiting for this probability, longer than she could think.

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

"Noah, what are you doing here ?"

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

It was clear in her eyes, that his aim had been seen through, but it didn't dissuade him. Rather, it was something that always amused him, the paradox of human coupling that became both well-off and more difficult with age. She already knew what he desired, so unless she desired the same thing, her heart would be guarded, with no opening for a sneak attack to storm her. It was a challenge that men and woman had struggled with since the dawn of time.

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

A rejection, not an optimum termination, but it was within his expected value. He just had to convince her to ease up him a luck, but gently. He had to properly choose his Book so that he wouldn't come off as desperate and baffle, but not try to ham it up by turning it into a sonnet like an out-of-touch nerd.

"Is that why you two broke up ? Because you didn't see a point in staying together ? I doubt that. I think you believe in sexual love, in giving it a luck. A lot of matter will materialize between now and commencement exercise ; Christmas, Valentine's Day, the prom ? That's wad of prison term to be happy, and to alter your mind about which path you plan on taking. programme can shift, things can work out. All I want is a chance."

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

She crossed her munition to warm up herself, but she kept them low. It was an instinctive move, one that Noah's eyes didn't miss. He gave an worsen grinning and began to laugh."Ok, I get it. Maybe succeeding time."

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

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

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

He swung up his hand and stabbed himself in the pharynx. The bang, it was so fast, but it was gentle, just the tip of the blade breaking his skin and severing his Jugular with speck accuracy. It was a perfect, runny motion, as if he had spent minute practicing. roue began to spray from the pocket-size wound, and to the audio of Lindsey's scream, he allowed himself to come on his back. She rushed over and tried to break off the bleeding. Covering it with her hand only slowed the outpour, so she reached into her bag for something to use as a bandage.

"stopover, just keep your helping hand there,"Noah said calmly. The mineral vein he had struck carried parentage out of the head and sent it back to his center, so the eternal sleep of the rakehell in his organization would keep his brain oxygenated, at least while it was still in his veins.

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

"I've already died like this… more than a hundred sentence 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 biography like you count old age, and every clock time I die, I'm immediately reborn with all the retention from my past times life. I've been born and died so many time, laughed and suffered through so many lifetimes."

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

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

Her side became as pale as his."How could you possibly acknowledge that ?"

"Because this isn't the initiatory time I've confessed to you. I'm always myself, but the populace I'm born into is never the same. Every metre I die, I return to the day of my birthing, but in a different timeline. I'll end up in a Earth where my environs are different, or account didn't go the way I remember it, or case will happen in my future that I can't predict.

Only in my past seven lifetimes have you been show, and in all seven lifetime, I could never stimulate you mine, no subject how much I wanted you. Five of those sentence were because you were pregnant. You and Sean get back together by Thanksgiving, and I and everyone else watch you dance together at the prom. Each time, I kill myself to try again in my future life. These past XVIII years, they've flown by like the blink of an eye for me."

His haemorrhage was starting to slow, his consistence going cold and his judgment getting foggy.

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

"It's the only way I can populate anymore, following some task or game that keeps me busy. Every life I've lived, it's been a lie, concealing who I am, what I know, what I've experienced. often of the time, I have to pretend to have emotions, because after all this time, I've almost forgotten what they feel like. I've almost forgotten what's like to actually feel something. But when I see you, I get to experience actual longing. I have an actual crush, something so unsubdivided and infantile, but such a terrific feeling. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a redheader, but I've lived for so tenacious, I have to savvy at any scrap of meaning that can form me well-chosen, and name my existence a little less hollow."

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

With the last of his strength, he removed her manus from his wound so that it could bleed freely. Her wrist was limp. Had he convinced her ? Or had she simply realized that he had already bled too much and was beyond saving ? He covered his forget eye with his hand, blinded by the setting sun while Lindsey's tincture obscured the right-hand side of his boldness. The Light Within passed through her crimson whisker like sully methamphetamine hydrochloride, making his blood shine beautifully.

"I've seen so many worldly concern, so many different realism, but none of them could make me happy. I've never known what it felt like to belong or find at home. Every reality felt wrong to me. This is yet another reality that I am antagonistic with. All I can do is hope that the succeeding world is one I can be happy in."

The blood at stopping point stopped flowing, and Noah closed his eyes and released his concluding breath. Then, in his psyche, there was a fellow New York minute of lighting and he felt himself being pulled to the next world.

A Whole New Game

Without even opening his eyes, Noah knew that something had gone wrong. He was groggy, but he could definitely feel the cold, hard primer coat underneath him. This didn't make signified. At this mo, he'd normally be experiencing his own rebirth, coming out of the uterus as a newborn infant. His physical structure was also still the Lapplander sizing. He could feel the weight of his limbs, as well as his dress. His paw was still covering his eye, but just moving it took a tremendous amount of strength. He managed to work his eyelids outdoors and stared up at the blue sky. It was late in the afternoon when he killed himself, but now it looked to be midmorning.

This had never happened before, no thing how many metre he had died. Either he had somehow survived his suicide attempt and been moved while he was unconscious, or he had reincarnated without being reborn, breaking into another timeline rather than being properly incorporated. Was his rebirth tycoon changing ?

Noah sat up and looked around. He was lying on an unpaved route in the woods. His hoodie and the shirt underneath were stiff with his dried line, but when he felt his neck, there was no wound. He had been healed, but had his rip also been replenished ? It would suffer taken at to the lowest degree xxx minutes for the blood on his clothes to dry this much, not enough time for his dead body to regenerate any meaningful amount, so this was likely a partial tone rebirth.

He got to his substructure and staggered, struggling to breathe. There was no strength in his arm and his thoughts were getting debile by the irregular. This tiredness, it was similar to blood loss, but also dissimilar. It was like there was some sort of superfluous muscle going wild, using up all of his forte. 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 suffer been messing with his imaginativeness. Now that he thought about it, his left eye was itching a bit. He gave it a rub and it was like a switch had been flipped. The fatigue vanished, as if that extra sinew had settled, and when he looked down, he saw his apparition.

‘ That wasn't rakehell going. It must have been some sort of remnant trauma from my self-annihilation or this glitchy Renascence. But where am I ?'

The route was unusual. The priming coat was packed, but the sediment seemed aborigine to the topographic point. In the modernistic earthly concern, even the unpaved roads were made with at least a layer of moxie and crushed rock to prevent it from being overgrown. He had his wallet and his speech sound with him, but there was no service.

A speech sound reached his ears, one that nigh multitude rarely heard outside of movies and TV. It was the sound of buck hooves. He looked over his shoulder joint, seeing two adult men on horseback approaching him from down the road. Behind them, an old man driving a horse-drawn Dipper and leading… striver. Wearing rags for clothes, more than a dozen men and char of varying years were being led by chains.

This foreign caravan came to a halt in social movement of him. The men on horseback and the one driving the wagon stared at him in confusion."You're blocking the road. Get the the pits out of our way before you end up like them,"the number one wood barked.

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

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

"Boss, look at all of the blood line 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 kind of forward-looking machinery and with coats and the boot made of primitively-treated leather. Maybe he had reincarnated to a third-world country ? If this was a post-apocalyptic timeline, then whatever happened wasn't manmade. It happened before the Industrial Revolution, some kind of natural cataclysm that halted mankind's maturation. A meteoroid ?

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

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

"If he's a noble, we can redeem him back, and if not, he looks healthy and unassailable enough to betray for a good price. Sir Ernst Boris Chain him up with the others."

One of the men got off his horse and approached Noah with a distance of rope. None of them were mindful that he still had his knife on him. As the man reached out to grab his hands, Noah slashed him across the pharynx. It wasn't the pinpoint jab like he had given himself earlier, this was a bloody smile stretching from ear to ear. It had been a foresighted meter since he had last killed mortal, but it was something he was very well-practiced in.

A fountain of ancestry sprayed forth and Noah threw his knife at the wagon driver, catching him in the chest. Before his first dupe could drop to his knee joint, Noah ripped his sword from its cocktail dress and charged towards the other horseman, already drawing his own brand to revenge his coworker. The pharynx was out of compass, so Noah deflected the oncoming attack and went for a twinge in the incline of the gut and up into the right lung.

"ball of fire !"

There was a jiffy of sparkle in his peripheral visual sensation, coming from the old man. Noah's instinct made him jerk back as a flare shot through the air, missing his face by an inch. It struck a nearby tree and exploded, spraying flaming in all directions like a Molotov Cocktail. Noah looked back at the old man, one bridge player outstretched while the early covered the stab wound in his chest from Noah's tongue. He wasn't holding a flare gun or any former sort of twist that would explicate what had just happened.

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

"human dynamo !"the old man shouted again.

Just like before, a sphere of digest flames formed in his hired man, about the size of melon vine, and shot at Noah with rattling speed. Noah dodged and rushed in to close the distance. The first fireball had forced him to let go of his sword and the second had forced him back before he could snap up the secondment man's. He'd have to finish this with his bare hands.

The horse were all throwing tantrum in fear from the fighting, but the old man continued to launch those mysterious flares. Noah circled around the sawbuck, jumped, and tackled the man. There was no bunglesome fumbling for control, Noah simply began beating him with his fist. His current dead body hadn't been trained for combat, but he kept it intelligent and impregnable and hump how much effect he had muster up with each biff. Blood started spraying with the third poke, the old man unable to defend back and soon blacking out. Noah promptly retrieved his fallen knife and finished him off.

Noah took his clip to pick up his breath while he wiped off the blade, folded it up, and stored it in his pouch. He took those few minute to quench his annoyance. He was used to being reborn as a baby after every death and considered those early eld to be his vacation between each new sprightliness, sentence to properly incline of old memories, catalogue useful knowledge, and mentally contend with any easy terminal. No one depended on him and he usually had a parent or PCP to select tending of him, giving him prison term to pillow his mind. Now he had jump right back into a endurance mindset and beginning from scratch in a humankind with all new rules.

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

The old man would hold been a worthful rootage of information, but with his subordinates now dead, he would never willingly recite Noah anything. It wouldn't be worth the clock time and problem to interrogate him in this site. Oh well, the answers would come in time, and Noah had learned how to be patient.

He turned his attention to the slave, staring back at him with dubiousness. They weren't rejoicing at the Death of their capturer, fair enough. After all, Noah hadn't killed them in society to relinquish the hard worker or anything like that. As far as they knew, he was about to kill them all or just take them all and deal them himself. Each of them was a variable star, possibly benefiting or dooming him. It would be best to just let them go, but he decided to get some use out them first.

The slave traders had spoken with an accent that he had never heard before, but it was side, though they probably didn't claim it that. These slaves must also mouth it."All of you, I give you permission to mouth. Do you all understand what I'm saying ?"They didn't say anything, but they nodded in the approving."Are there any among you who are familiar with this arena ?"None of them answered.

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

He held up the key for all the hard worker to see."I need one of you to guide me to a safe area with a informant of fresh water and off the road where I won't be seen. Whoever Volunteer will get their shoe collar removed and can hinge upon in the wagon. Once I'm brought to a desirable location, you will all will be set free."Six slaves raised their edge hands."You,"Noah said.

He had ***********ed a teenage girl that looked to be around his age. She was bemire and ill-fed, but looked sizeable enough to be useful to him, and he could certainly sweep over her if she tried to betray him. It was hard to approximate her show 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 really cutie, but right now she was so bemire that he couldn't even tell her natural hair color.

"What is your name ?"

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

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

Noah searched the stiff of the three slave monger, taking everything of value. Along with their swords, he got a duet sticker, some electric cord, and three make-do wallet. They were snake skins with push-down stack of bronze coins inside, tied to their belts. It was a clever concept.

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

"devil will surely be drawn by the spirit of stock here. It would be best if we moved on now."

Noah huffed in annoyance. Great, now he had teras to care about. This certainly was a world unlike any he had seen before. This ruined his plan of taking the stiff with him. He was certainly he could find a use or two for them, as well as take their clothes and anything else of note value on their somebody when there was Sir Thomas More time. He also didn't want to pass on any evidence of what he had done.

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

She wordlessly obeyed, proceeding to denudate the army corps without any whit of uneasiness or discomfort. Most girls 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 nutrient. He soaked it with a wineskin, and while it wasn't paragon, it was estimable enough for him to use to put out the flame that the old man had started. He and Tin completed their tasks, leaving three naked bodies on the road and a few charred tree. Noah retrieved one of the blade, just a chintzy panga, but sharp-worded enough to get the job done. He showed no discomfort in decapitating the physical structure and storing the brain in the sail bag.

"Drag these body into the Sir Henry Joseph Wood, out of sight from the road. That should sate any animate being that search this area."

There was no telling what the time value of these knuckle down trader were. If they were even slightly authoritative to someone, their disappearance might lead to an investigation. Three nude sculpture, headless bodies that were devoured by monsters wouldn't leave any evidence. They couldn't even be identified. On the former hand, if they were criminals, then Noah might be able-bodied to use their severed heads as confirmation of their deaths and gather up a bountifulness. He had been in a lot of bad situations and chaotic timelines, so this mindset was a skill he knew he could rely on and use as he needed.

Once the bodies were dealt with, Noah took his seat at the front of the coaster wagon and Tin joined him. The two special horses were tethered to the side of the wagon and would adopt along. Noah cracked the reins and the horses pulling the wagon began moving forward.

"There is a desirable post several miles down this road. I will show you where."

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

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

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

Tin bowed her question."Please forgive my ignorance. I do not lie with the size of it of this res publica, 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 breakthrough. It would be good if he could get his hands on a decent map, though in this era, that was probably a lot to ask for. In a existence with magical and monsters, there was no telling what the major planet's topography looked like, even the arrangement of the Continent. He had traveled old Earths 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 plentiful commonwealth ?"

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

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

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

"What do they use for currency ?"

"alloy coins, like silver and gold."

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

"How much would you say this is ? Would you say it is a great amount 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 flatware coins and showed it to Noah."This is what I'm worth."

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

"Mid spring."

That was good for Noah. In ordering to get a foothold in this new human race, he'd need copious sentence with the chances of survival at its gamey. Winter would hamper his mobility, possible actions, and make water life a lot harder. Had he appeared in this public a few calendar month earlier, he could easily freeze to death before reaching civilisation.

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

"The biggest danger is the woman chaser. They travel in packs and bolt down whatever they see. There are also bears, large spider that hide in tunnel, and goblins."

giant spider and goblins ? This world was getting more fantastic by the second.

"William Tell me about the goblins."

"They are pocket-size, only about the sizing of youngster, and maybe as smarting. They have weapons and often ambush travelers."

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

"That was magic."

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

"It is the blessing of the gods, letting people call down Creator retribution upon their enemies. It can create flame, control water system, make you stronger, and do all form of things. There many different kind of charming substance abuser. I've heard of some of them ; mages, paladins, warriors, shamans, 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 bloodline ?"

"I don't know."

That was a problem. If it was an ability passed down from parent to child, then he was screwed. His glitchy reincarnation left him with the steady genes of his last parents. If magic wasn't something he could learn or produce, living would get exponentially harder. Then there was the mentioning of gods. He had spent several lifespan searching for signs of the existence of God, some presence of god that might explain his existence, but he always came up short. However, in a domain where conjuring trick existed, perhaps gods might as well.

As they continued through the Mrs. Henry Wood, Noah thought about the striver walking behind the Big Dipper. 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 nobleman, 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 right to dispose of all of them ? No, the opportunity of him managing to wipe out them all would be low and that would be a lot of corps to deal with, not to name he didn't know if killing them would get him into bother.

‘ To intend my sloth would even up for my withered conscience…'

They were passing by a hill with trees blocking much of the view, but all of the buck flicked their spike to it. Noah didn't miss that tick and reached into the Big Dipper. When searching earlier, he found a bow and a few arrows, none of which seemed very well made. He took aim up the J. J. Hill, spotting a apparition moving between the hill. It had been a hanker fourth dimension since he had lowest used a bow. It was one of his by-line about four or five life ago. This was nothing like the modern bows he was used to handling, but when he let the arrow slip-up free, it shot between the trees and found its mark. Noah didn't see what he hit, but there was a scream of pain that he did not acknowledge and the auditory sensation 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 taking into custody."You're all free people to go, get out of here. But don't even think of trying to follow—"

They ran off before he could finish his sentence. trade good, that would get him less of a sitting duck, and they'd draw the care of anything that might want a bit of him. He returned to the number one wood's fanny and turned to Tin, holding up one of the coin purses.

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

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

The timber thinned a lit, the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree spreading out far enough for the wagon to go off the road and heading towards the sound of running water. They arrived at a glade where a low falls thumped on scupper rock. It was isolated, just the place Noah needed. There was even a cave behind the waterfall where he could make camp. However, they were not the simply inhabitants.

"Tin, what the sin is that ?"he asked, looking at the puppet sliding across the ground. At first off, he thought it was monster slug, the creature 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 moistness spot. Their undersides are like behemoth rima oris, devouring whatever they crawl over. Their bodies are covered with a thin pelt, and if you tear it, its insides pour out and vary the anatomy of its body."

"Are they life-threatening ?"

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

"How do I kill them ?"

"You have to hit their brains."

The gunk hadn't noticed them yet, so Noah took aim with the bow at the near one. It was hard telling the strawman from the back of these things, but he spotted something floating inside, suspended, an apple-sized clod of solid tissue. He released the bolt, missing the creature's brainpower by various column inch. It rumbled in botheration and its gelatinous insides spilled out of the wound like a runny nozzle. Upon physical contact with the air, the viscera began to congeal and develop a layer of skin. It formed an wing of itself, like a mo tail, now searching for what had injured it.

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

Already, the arrow was halfway dissolved. That thing was like a elephantine moving stomach. He would induce preferred to call for care of these monster from a distance, but he didn't have plenty pointer to throw away. It would also get dark soon, and he didn't want to try and wait for another maculation.

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

He got up from the Charles's Wain and approached the falls with one of the slave trader'brand in his hand. It was the uncollectible of the two, useful at least for experimentation. He approached the gunk, already back to wax wellness after being shot with the arrow. It didn't appear to consume very dependable vision, didn't even appear to feature eyes. He picked up a pit from the creek and threw it, sending it bouncing a few feet away. It pounced on the rock with surprising velocity, smothering it with its body and absorbing it. So, these affair could start. If it could see, it was probably short-ranged, based on movement, or more likely it could sense vibrations in the ground.

He took another rock and threw it at the slime, this time hitting it. The rock ripped through its slight skin and its moxie spilled out. The blow stunned it just long enough for Noah to sprint over and cleave through its genius. As quickly as he attacked, he darted back. He had learned through legion function to always anticipate an foe to get back up. Plus, he wanted to avoid getting sprayed with any guts.

Despite his care, it was a uncontaminating kill. The goliath, originally a nauseating yellowness, turned gray-haired, and its exposed insides began to smoke and melt. Unfortunately, bullet was also coming from his sword. This really was a cruddy acid. Noah wiped the vane off on the sess and then rinsed it in the river to clean house it. It had undergone severe corrosion. Hopefully it would last until he killed them all.

One thing made him happy, though. When he killed the ooze, act didn't appear in the air, displaying experience points earned. He started having concerns as soon as that first gear fireball was launched at him, and when Tin said it was a slime ; he thought he had been reincarnated into some kind of RPG mankind. If at any point, she used the word ‘ degree ’, he would let permanently lost the ability to keep a straight case and take anything seriously.

Anyway, back to killing.

He repeated his strategy with the other three slimes. A clenched fist sized rock thrown with sufficient pep pill and accuracy could pierce the lusus naturae and sandbag them long enough to save a fateful strike. After the third sludge, 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 falls, unaware of what had happened to the others. The vibration of the water would probably mask Noah's movements, but he didn't want to take the chance.

He crept behind the waterfall and threw another stone, striking the goo near the brain. Its torso curled up like a slug sprinkled with salt, and Noah rushed over. This time, he thrust the broken blade heterosexual person in. He managed to stab the genius, but the sword slipped right into its consistency. Noah pulled away before his inertia could send his hand plunging into the acidulous muck, but several drops splashed him and he could find his pelt dissolution. He thrust his hand into the waterfall and steadied his ventilation as the pain faded. That was too close for puff. He'd have to come up with another way to stop those things if he encountered them again.

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

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

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

"I gave you money. necessitate it to the nearest Town and buy yourself something to eat and some new apparel. Look for anyone who will engage you, hopefully offering way and gameboard in commutation. From there, start your new life."

"Is that an order ?"

"No, it's advice. You don't have to carry orders from me, I'm not your master. I hired you to be my pathfinder, you got your money, and our contract bridge is complete. Now we portion ways."She continued to stand there, looking like a puppy in the rainwater."You can let one of the horse. You'll be able-bodied to get to town faster and outrun pursuers."

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

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

"But I'm not. I'm yours."She was almost whimpering now. 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 cadaver for bait to captivate my dinner."

There was a glimmer in her eyes."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 needier than he would experience liked, but her subservience made her more trustworthy than anyone he could expect to find in this world. Maybe it would be good to have an extra couple of deal to help him, at least until he got out of this forest. Besides, it wasn't like this was the first time he had owned a striver. There were many dark timelines when he followed the rule of ‘ when in Rome, do as the Romans.'

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

"I can matter to one hundred, I can indite some, and I can incline to livestock and cultivate fields, as well as perform household chore. I am also very experienced in pleasing men, so I can serve you whenever you desire."She bowed her head as she spoke, not seeing Noah raise his brow at her last sentence.

Depressing as her words were, he wasn't one to bend down an offer for sex from person so willing. On the early hand, zilch about her current show stoked his libido. He was standing twenty invertebrate foot away and could smell her like it was 20 inches. Sitting adjacent to her in the wagon had been very unpleasant. Just letting her bathe in the river wouldn't get the job done.

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

Tin obediently went to work while Noah gathered all of the strand and collars that had been used to top the slave. There was also good deal of rope in case any of their binds broke during transport. Noah snapped the taking into custody off the chemical chain and used them as malleus to collapse the decrepit links and split the chains into multiple little section. He split the rope into thinner filament and set up a margin around the campsite, then hung the collars and chains on it like Christmastime ornamentation. Any intruders that tried to enter would hit the tripwire and the jingling chains and collars would give them away. And in case they were set off by the flatus, the horses would be the 2nd telephone circuit of detection. If they started acting up, then a scourge was nearby.

"I'm going to go pull together some firewood. If any monstrosity approach, just holler for me and yeet some horseshit at them. The flavour will drive them off."He then stopped and chuckled to himself. That's rightfield, he no longer needed to use modern slang.

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

Noah set out into the woods with his sole sword and a satchel the old man had been carrying. He didn't want to ramble far from camp, but he had to checker out the expanse and pee-pee sure there weren't any at hand risk. One thing he was especially cautious of were the behemoth spiders that Tin had mentioned. She said they hid in burrows, so he kept a faithful eye on his footing, avoiding any wary areas that could be a possible ambuscade. Webbing on the ground was a revealing star sign, proof that he wasn't the only one using tripwires to detect enemies.

The firstly affair he did was gather yen boughs from around the site, accumulating a large peck that they would use for bedding material and making patronise trips back to the camp. Then he gathered all of the firewood he could carry, but focused only on specific trees. This earthly concern was very different to the one he was used to, but virtually of the tree diagram appeared to be the Lapp. He also filled his air hole and the satchel with medicative industrial plant and even some eatable mushroom cloud. In every life, her pick up and relearned selection accomplishment to keep back the information branded into his mind, so even if had forgotten their names, he still recognized herb that could be useful. As he moved, he had a strong look 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 skirt chaser Tin had mentioned, larger than any he had ever seen. His nozzle led him to it, the wolf reeking of decease and rot. The meat was well beyond feeding and its fur and osseous tissue weren't worth the effort to harvest, especially with all the maggots and flies, but there was something that he could definitely make use of.

The sun was starting to set by the meter he was done, but there was still plenty he wanted to do. Luckily, dinner was already taken care of. The slave traders had packed enough nutrient for themselves and their cargo. It was heavily scratch and dry meat, something that Noah's spoiled taste buds would not value, but he'd seen enough severely times to recognize how to be grateful.

Before doing anything else, he removed his hoodie and t-shirt. He had kept them on as an bestow bed of shelter in shell anything attacked him, but the parentage had hardened into a severely impertinence and he was sword lily to be able to finally take them off. Had he known he would reincarnate like this, he would let gone home and just hung himself, preferably with his pockets stuffed with useful tools. He laid out his shirt and hoodie under the waterfall, directing the spray right onto the profligate soil. He pinned them down with Harlan Fisk Stone so that they wouldn't be washed away.

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

"Tin, take off your clothes."

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

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

Tin removed her wearing apparel, though it was more like a raggedy murphy discharge with holes cut for her capitulum and arms and a airstrip of fabric for a whang. She was malnourished and scrawny, but he just had to polish her up a little.

With the last of the light, he searched the river for stones. He'd examine their hardness, striking them against the book binding of his sword. Once he started getting spark, he returned to the riverbank and gathered up some spunk. He ground some dry birch rod bark into a fine dust and struck the rock against his brand over it. It took several attempts, but some sparks landed in the rubble and it went up like gasoline. From there, he built up a firing on the riverbank with all of the birch wood he had gathered. By the luminousness of the flames, he started digging a hole using his sword and a alloy frypan he found in the wagon.

"original, please provide me to do that instead,"Tin said.

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

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

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

With two fires burning, Noah and Tin dined on low-quality rations. There wasn't any conversation between them. Once he finished eating, Noah reached into his satchel and took out what looked like a whale dirt clod. In reality, it was a lump of animal fat. He had gathered it from the carcass of the drained Wolf, rolled it into a musket ball, and packed it with a shell of dirt to keep it from making a good deal 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 hearing, but she obeyed, flashing her dentition like a snarling animal."Huh, not too bad."

Despite her poor life-style, her dentition were in good precondition. She grew up in a world without processed nutrient, kale, or chemical, so despite never brushing, there was no rot that he could see. Her breath was pretty bad, but that was because she lacked the concept of flossing.

Noah walked over to one of the gymnastic horse hitched to a tree, nibbling on the pile of pasture that Tin had gathered for it. He cut a ignition lock of its foresighted haircloth, washed it in the river, and returned to the campfire, where he braided several strands into a firm train of thought. He made a secondly and turned to Tin.

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

She mirrored the activeness to the best of her abilities, and while she did that, he looked at the skillet, now with a pool of melted fat. He gathered some white ashes from the flaming and mixed it in, as well as some water.

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

"Soap ?"

"You've never heard of it ?"

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

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

"Yes, sir."

"Then carry a mouthful of this."From next to the fire, there was also a cup made, of all things, tin. It was wax of water brought to a simmer, with ground charcoal and pine tree needles mixed in. He let it cool off and then handed it to her."You said you could weigh, right ? Well whirl this around your oral fissure and protrude reckoning. Once you reach one hundred, withdraw it."

She took a mouthful and handed it back to him so he could finish it off. With that taken attention of, Noah took the skillet off the firing and examined his soap. It certainly would never sell in a market store, but it would get the job done tonight. Next, he turned his attending to the laundry washbasin and the shrivelled fervidness. The the Great Compromiser packed onto the sides of the pit had hardened and could now retain water.

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

As Tin went to go, Noah started on his own task. Like her, he went to river, but started collecting stones. He'd bring them back and put them in the campfire to fire up up. By the time Tin had finished with her task, the rocks were all sufficiently hot, and using marijuana cigarette to handle them, he moved them into the drainage area until it had reached the pure tub temperature. It was still ashy from the attack, but that wasn't a trouble.

The reason why he had used different fervour for the watershed and easy lay was because of one of the ensue chemical, lye. Despite being a caustic substance, it was required for making soap. It was collected from the ash of hardwood, like birch. He had used a softer woodwind in the fire to harden the sides of the washbasin so any leftover ashes wouldn't turn the water too alkalic.

"All right, now to test it."

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

Tin held a piece of soap in her paw, staring at it with panoptic centre."It smells… sweet !"

She mimicked Noah, using a makeshift face cloth and the soap to scour herself raw. She was frenetic, leaving no spot untouched. The two of them cleansed their skin, lathering themselves up and then rinsing in the river to hold back the Bath water clean. With the filth removed, much was revealed to Noah. Neither of them said anything about the countless scratch, contusion, and brands that covered Tin's dead body. Finally, he had her lie on her backbone and lowered her forefront into the basin, then scrubbed her hair's-breadth with the soap until the bathwater turned as black as ink. She sat up and ring the water out of her fuzz as he stood up and stretched.

"Huh, so you're a blonde. I honestly couldn't tell your instinctive people of colour. 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. delay, she was trembling."Tin ?"

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

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

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

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

He leaned down, lifted her Kuki, and left a mild kiss upon her lips. She shivered from that ghost, gentler than any other in her living. She took the initiative, kissing him in issue while her tongue slipped into his backtalk. As they swapped spittle, she reached out and began caressing his manhood, erect and throbbing. She had been eyeing it since the moment he stripped down, her intellect buzzing with all of the ways she would delight him.

When Noah finally pulled his sassing from hers, she knew what he wanted and was eager to provide it. She leaned in, his cock disappearing into her mouth, only to reappear with a glistening layer of saliva. Tin wasn't shy in the to the lowest degree, she put all of her acquirement to work. She deepthroated him to piddle herself gag and salivate, then would use her script to work the shaft while she slurped on his oral sex like a popsicle. Despite her joy at being so clean just a minute ago, she was certainly making a muss, her boldness covered in spit with big foamy drops dribbling onto her breasts.

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

She released his peter, gasping for air with her eyes full of joy."Am I doing unspoiled ?"

"You're magnificent, Tin."

She went back at it, this clock time with a different quarry in thinker. While she jacked him off, she sucked vehemently on his gem, rolling them around in her back talk and balancing them on her tongue. She switched between her proficiency with masterful science, giving Noah no sentence to steady himself. He didn't even need tell her when he was going to cum, she could tell just by his ventilation and the way his muscles twitched. She swallowed his humanness like a ravening brute, her face pressed to his tummy as he swirled around inside her throat.

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

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

He sat down cross-legged and pulled her across his lap like he was going to spank her. He held her by the throat, just a gentle clench to go along her still, while he unloose hand slipped between her legs and reached her honeypot.

"You're so wet. To think you took so a good deal joy in your work."

Born and raised a hard worker, she had been abused and violated in all ways imaginable. She thought she had grown numb to it, but the tactual sensation of Noah's digit touching her nigh common soldier, sensitive orbit, they made her shiver and pant. There was posture in his finger, but his movements weren't rough or clumsy. Rather, she sensed that his experience surpassed her own.

His digit penetrated her, making her moan in a way she thought she never again could. His attack was relentless, probing every sensitive spot like an assassin striking her imperativeness points. She was a slender young lady, body fat being a luxury for a slave, but her flesh rippled from the vibrations drumming from her ass. She could feel the weight of her breasts with every bm, and the audio he was making, the audio he was forcing her body to make, the squelching of soft, wet flesh, it was like she was experiencing this all for the first clock time.

The pleasure was beyond words, she wanted it to go on forever, but her soundbox wouldn't obey her bid. Her sinew spasmed without intermission like she was being tickled. She inadvertently tried to perpetrate away, her organic structure wanting to protect itself from these sensations it couldn't contain, but Noah's grip on her throat remained firm. This position, what he was doing to her, it was so strange. She felt almost like an creature, like livestock, and Noah was the farmer, preparing her for breeding with some unknown husbandry technique. Ironically, that wasn't far from the truth.

She cried out, coming rushing through her like a flashbulb flood, but Noah didn't stop, even as she became limp. He continued mercilessly finger-blasting her, while his former paw released her throat and he forced his fingers into her mouth. She sucked on them like they had a honey glaze. They were her lifeline, all that was keeping her witting. The movements of her tongue and mouth, the quivering of her throat as she slurped up the spirit of his fingertips ; if she didn't work with all her might, the almost roughshod violation of orgasms would rob her of all intellection and squelch 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 looking on her face, the way she panted with flush brass and swimming oculus, it was an expression he always loved to see.

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

She reached out to him, her skinny arm coiling around his neck opening to draw in him in."Master, take me,"she begged.

By the Light Within of the campfire, he penetrated her, just as legion men had done before, but none of them made Tin spirit like this. His rim joined hers, a passionate but gentle kiss, while in comparison, his thrusting, so dissipated and emphatic, made her cry out to the superstar overhead.

.

.

.

Civilization

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.

.

The rising sun shining in his eyes awoke Noah from his sopor. It was not a cryptic sleep, due to his current circumstances, but he at least felt rested. It was his first morning in this new existence. He and Tin were lying on a spate of pine boughs, keeping them off the ground and insulated, and wrapped in the canvas wagon back, which they were using as both a tarpaulin and a blanket. The freed slave was snuggled up tightly against him, both for warmth, and out of affection. The term"freed slave"fit her ironically, as Noah had given her exemption, but she chose to remain his slave anyway.

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

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

It was a chili first light, so the first thing Noah did was build up a fire while Tin collected their wearing apparel from the falls. They had been set under the spray to be washed, and after a nighttime under the pounding piss, they were clean 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 cup and bowls using the clay that Tin gathered and left them in the fire to bake nightlong. Now, he was using them to roil water and make true pine needle tea.

"What do you require to do, Master ? I can moderate you to town if you like."

"How long would it admit to get there ?"

"Another two or three days."

Noah weighed his options. This wasn't an optimal situation."No, we'll check 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 scrap power, I can't defend myself, you, and the sawhorse. Let's try to amend our chances before we set out."

"What should we do ?"

"Yesterday, while I was looking for rock-and-roll in the darkness, I think I might induce seen some slimes moving about. They're usually minuscule, right ? Not big like the ace I killed yesterday ?"

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

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

"What's lye ?"

"It's the stuff in ash that I used to pee that soap last night. It's a very tight chemical. I'm going to start gathering Sir Henry Wood. I want you to bail out the bathwater from the basin and refill it. rain body of water would be best, but river piss will have to do. Then conduct the stones and put them back in the ardor. You remember what to do if something plan of attack ?"

"cam stroke horse dung and hollo for you ?"

"Right."

Noah departed, heading back into the forest. Just like the day before, he was gathering hardwood from birch, oak, and maple Tree. He moved cautiously, hearing trend all around him. He also returned to sealed orbit he had visited before, with target on his mind. He came across a spot he had just yesterday done his best to avoid. There was spider silk on the ground, and nearby, an obvious trapdoor. Noah put a large stick on his invertebrate foot and readied his bow, taking aim. He kicked the stick over by the trapdoor, and instantly a spider explosion out to appropriate what it thought was its meal. The thing was huge, almost five ft in diameter.

Noah released his arrow, striking one of its eyes and leaving it screeching in pain. Before it could put off back into its jam, he shot another arrow, this one drilling through its skull and ending its life. While it was still unfermented, Noah rushed over, pulled out the second arrow, and pierce his fingers into the hole. He stirred his fingerbreadth around in the spider's brain, causing its peg, now curled up into a fist, to bulge out spasming. While not familiar with spider flesh specifically, he was tickling what he hoped to be the cerebellum.

"Come on, where are you… Ah !"He found the conjuration spot, as the whole dead body convulsed and the stomach started expelling silk at a frenetic charge per unit, like he was squeezing a tube of toothpaste. Het got to his feet and dragged the spider with him, laying out the silk so that it wouldn't stick to itself. He had come up with this theme on a whim and was overjoyed to see it puzzle out. When flow of silk stopped, he removed his fingerbreadth."That's rightfulness, ladies, I am just that good."

He then began rubbing scandal into the silk like he had with the beast fat he had collected the previous day, something to proceed it from sticking to anything. It was beneficial wooden-headed bank line, and strong as well. future, he started gathering up the older, fragile webbing it had used for its den. It was already dried out and had lost much of its stickiness, so it was cook to be collected.

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

Noah walked over to the estate car and pulled out a humble wooden gun barrel. It had originally been filled with salt, which the slave bargainer used to maintain 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 drain its bloodline into the barrel. There wasn't much, and it had begun to set immediately after demise, but that just made it sticky like syrup. He swirled it around the interior of the barrel, covering every inch, and then filled it up halfway with some of the used ash from the birch fires yesterday. He didn't touch the ash with his deal, and upon closing the gun 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 stone from the fire and putting them into the river basin, bringing the water to a boil. Then, he started shoveling birch ashes until it filled up half the basin. For the next half 60 minutes, Noah would swap out stone, making sure the water was always boiling. Soon a film began to settle on top of the weewee. It was melted lye, rising from the ashes. Noah harvested it from the airfoil, measured not to touch it, and put it in the skillet on the fire to boil away the moisture.

"Ok, I'm going to go back and get to a greater extent firewood. I want you to stay fresh swapping out the Harlan F. Stone so that the water system stays boiling hot, and as the lye gathers on the Earth's surface, cream 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 way. You want to continue upwind so that you don't breathe in any of the fumes. You got that ?"

"Yes, Master."

And that was how they spent the full morning and much of the afternoon. They kept burning birch tree wood, and once the basin stopped producing lye, they would swop in refreshed ash and restart harvesting. Between collecting firewood and tending to the flack, Noah created more pottery with the river clay and baked it in the fire. The frying pan was routinely filled with the lye mixture, and once the water evaporated away, Noah would scrape the lye into one of his clay jounce. It was the middle of the afternoon when he declared that they had collected enough.

"Now to essay it."With his knife, he collected a belittled prominence and put it on his arm. He could feel it burning his skin like an aching sunburn. Had he taken his time with this, it would have been burning a crater into his peel, but in this case, amount was better than quality.

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

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

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

They moved away from the fire, sick of its heating system, and ate by the waterfall. While chewing on toughened jerky, Noah studied the knight. They weren't tied to any trees, at to the lowest degree not now, and were wandering around the campsite, nibbling on whatever they liked. The trip wire was doing a in effect job of keeping them close, but they would probably run out of food by tomorrow. They'd have to move on by then.

"Master, if my may ask, how do you eff how to do these things ? I've never seen anyone fighting like you do, at least not soul your age, and you have the skills of an alchemist. What kind of grooming have you done ?"

"An alchemist ? I kind of like the strait of that. Let's just say that I have a lot of life experience. I've lived through good clock time and bad. Anyway, we should move on to the next degree. I'm going to go along the river and catch small slimes. I want you to rule the corpse of the big goop I killed yesterday and try to hoard their skin."

Tin was obedient, not voicing any of her doubtfulness and instead setting off to do as her headmaster ordered. Noah retrieved the bbl he had tinkered with earlier and filled it with urine, then began walking through the river, searching the banks. It was only up to his stifle, and there were plenty of large boulders for sludge to hide by. On his hands, he wore some approximate leather boxing glove that one of the slave traders had been wearing. The slimes he found were usually about the size of his fist, and with great care, he'd pick them up and put them in the barrel.

The water in the cask, thanks to the ash, had a raised pH level. The gunk were acidulous, but their pH point wasn't very low. The alkalinity of the water and the ash kept them from melting through the position of the drum. He also tossed in some food to observe them from starving. Hopefully they'd still be able to support it. If they were all still alert by the next morning, his plan was a success.

When he returned to the camp, Tin had gathered up the skins of the suddenly gunk from the day before.

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

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

She nodded and went to work. While she did that, Noah collected more long hair from the gymnastic horse. He took the squares that Tin cut up and used them to wind up minor haemorrhoid of lye, then tied them shut with the buck fuzz. The gunk skin, despite its fragility, still maintained many of its device characteristic. sludge were like living Zen, so they had to be capable to check their pH floor. Their skin not only kept their guts in, it kept basic substances out, substances like lye, making it perfect for holding it.

With their combined cause, they were able to create just over XXX lye packs, plus another twenty filled with alkaline ashes.

"Ok, let's test one of these out."Noah took one of the superfluous square toes, filled it with ash tree, tied it off, and threw it at a nearby boulder. The slime skin held together while being handled and thrown, but upon striking a hard aerofoil, it burst open and sprayed its subject matter in all directions."perfective tense !"

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

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

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

They departed the next morning at sunrise, wanting to get an too soon starting time. They were traveling at a immobile pace than before, mainly because there were no longer slaves in tow. The two horses the bargainer had ridden were no longer walking alongside the beach waggon, but were now helping to rive it. With the wanderer silk Noah had collected and wood from the forest, he managed to create extra harnesses so that they were leading. The Equus caballus moved in a steady Trot, aught compared to the cars from Noah's old liveliness, but fast enough to possibly outrun an untrained man.

For Noah, this was a scene he was conversant in. He had fought in numerous state of war and seen unnumbered post-apocalyptic worlds, living through one anarchic hellscape after another. He was familiar with the need to grow eyes in the back of his headspring, to expect foeman at all times.

"passe-partout !"Tin exclaimed.

"Yeah, I see them."

Swarming from the face were a pack of skirt chaser, each one almost as great as the horses pulling the black Maria, but Noah had planned for this. He handed the reins to Tin who whipped the horses into a full gallop. He took out his bow and began launching pointer. nigh of these arrows, he had made himself. He had to belt along them, so they weren't his best work, but they got the job done for short-range encounters.

The wildcat dodged the arrow as they charged, but it managed to spook them into moving around back to attack from the rear. Noah climbed into the wagon and stared them down through the spread back. Changing their approach angle had momentarily slowed them down, but they'd trance up in seconds and flank them. Noah tossed a bundle of branches and greens out of the back of the Big Dipper, but they were more than they appeared. It was actually a net with thorny bushes and bristles woven in. The net was dragged behind the beach waggon, and the wolves that stepped on it cried out as their mitt were spiked with discriminating ejaculate pods. Those who were injured gave up the chase, while the rest of the pack learned and split up to ward off the net.

Before they could leave his persuasion, Noah opened up the drum of slimes and began throwing them. Even if the small beasts didn't make a direct hit, they exploded like water balloons. The loony toons splashed on the masher, who instinctively knew that slimes were to be avoided. The pack realized that this prey wasn't worth all of the trouble 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 necessitate to be dispatched by arrow. The tiny dash couldn't do much damage, but the pain would shit the wolf reevaluate whether or not to continue attacking. Any freak he managed to kill, he would glean for parts. With Tin controlling the horses, he would solve in the beach wagon, removing peel, teeth, electronic organ, and anything that looked worthful or useful. Every now and then, they'd even hold on so that he could gather medicinal plants and mushrooms. But the more he fought, the more Noah realized how unprepared his trunk was for all this. He was levelheaded and unattackable, and had life of fight experience, but his hands hadn't built up a level of calluses that a native of these lands would let. Every time he gripped his sword, he could feel blisters forming on his palm.

Then, in the afternoon, the side by side challenge revealed itself. In the distance, a Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree lay across the road. A rider on horseback might be able-bodied to start it, but never a wagon like this. Whether or not it had fallen naturally, Noah knew who would use this opportunity.

"Tin, hold on the wagon."They came to halt a C yards from the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree."Turn the knight around. If I die, ride back the way we came. Stay at the waterfall until someone uses this route and then travel with them."

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

"I've handled worse."

He got off the station waggon with his sword in script, and on his arm, a cuticle made from the carapace of the spider he had killed. He was wearing one of the slave traders'coats, the closest he could get to leather armor, and he also had his satchel, filled with lye packets. Rather than approach the tree, he dove into the woods. If there were any goblins in hiding, he'd flank them. As he approached the barrier, he spotted them, hiding behind the trees. They were the size of baby, but with sticking stomachs and light-green skin. Their ears and noses were pointed, their faces overall barely even humanoid. They were armed with blade and bows, in all likelihood stolen from slain travelers.

He closed in on the starting time one, his footsteps giving him away and causing it to screech in alarm. Noah dispatched it with a jive of his steel, overpowering its attempt to duck and lopping off the top of its skull. The others, alarmed by the end of their comrade, turned their attention to Noah and attacked. They launched their pointer, albeit with jerry-built aim, but it forced Noah to duck for cover. He pulled out one of his lye large number, focused on a hob with a bow, and threw it like a baseball. The small pack nailed it between the eyes and exploded. The goblin took an instinctive breath in, and then immediately screamed in excruciation. Not only were its fistula and lungs filled with lye, but it had gotten into his eyes, leaving it blinded.

The way it shrieked was zippo less than unnerving. It was like a baby crying, it racked the brain and made even Noah squeamish. The goblin, hearing those scream, became frightened. This was a savage humanity, and living in the woods, every day was a fucking battle for selection. But none of them had suffered or seen individual suffer a material body combat injury and attain that variety of racket.

Noah gave them no time to pull together their courage. He dealt with the other goblin Sagittarius the Same way, leaving them howling in torture. With their long-range attacks neutralized, he closed in. The remaining goblins tried to put up a fight, but he slaughtered them with gruesome hack writer and stabs. His spider shield fractured whenever he blocked a swing, but it held together long enough to belt down them all. These hobgoblin probably ambushed their fair game, catching them by surprise to crap up for their weak bodies, but once they lost that advantage, they were well-heeled to throw away of.

He was closing in on the go one, slightly bigger than the others and armed with a cabaret. It growled and made a astray swing. Noah didn't try to hinder and ill-treat back out of the monster's compass, then swung down his steel and cleaved the goblin's head undefended. To his discomfort, blood splattered across his boldness and got into his eye. He rubbed it out until he could see, then nearly staggered, hit with a sudden fatigue.

"What the piece of tail ? That fight must experience taken more out of me than I thought."He pushed through the sudden weightiness and returned to the road. It was exhausting work, but he moved the tree 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 mix-up on Tin's face."Master, where are you ?"

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

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

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

Touching 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 visual sense ? Maybe she had been hit with some kind of hob blast, or it was an illness, either a disease or some kind of poison from something in the woods.

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

"It's amercement, I can see everything clearly ! But I can't see you !"Was he the problem ? He could see himself just mulct. curse it, his eye was still itching from the blood. He rubbed it with his palm and Tin gave another yelp of surprise."Master, you're back !"

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

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

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

"See what ?"

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

Noah put his manus 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 divergence in the road ?"

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

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

"Yeah, sort of like flipping a Sir Frederick Handley Page. Master… I think you're using magic !"

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

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

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

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

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

"They call it mana."

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

The moment he attempted it, he fell to his knees, 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 invisible. But something clearly happened, or at least, tried to happen. I have a different spell in each eye, but not enough mana to use the endorsement one. It must be like a muscle. I have to train it to increase my toughness.

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

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

The next day, while Tin took townspeople the tripwires set around their stopgap camp, Noah was busybodied experimenting with his magic. He had come across a behemoth spider, draining the blood from a captured rabbit. As he approached, Noah covered his eye and cast his head game. His base on the underbrush, it should sustain given him away, but the wanderer didn't seem to notice. He decided to make more noise, picking up a stick and snapping it, but still, the spider didn't seem to notice.

"Over here."

Finally, the spider spun around, its Negroid eyes searching for the root of the noise. It seemed that his illusion also concealed sounds, but not his vox. Maybe because he intended for his spokesperson to be heard ? He had been casting his spell on and off since he discovered it, to try and get a better feel of his mana. He couldn't properly accent himself since he needed to save his military posture for when he needed it, but he was starting to smell out the current.

He drew his steel, a new one. After the fight with the goblin, he had taken their artillery, and despite being slightly rusty due to inadequate guardianship, they were higher timbre than the cheap machete that Noah had been using until now. He now carried a Medieval-style longsword, a unforesightful sword, and his knife. He came up with organization with cerebration of antediluvian 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 take heed anything. Noah could feel it, his mana flowing through his brand towards the bush, enveloping it in the magic trick. He focused on the energy running through his arm and tried to retard the flow, to keep it from moving beyond his sword. It was exceedingly unmanageable, like trying to flex a muscle he had never used before. It reminded of him of all the year he spent as a newborn, when his muscle tissue paper was just slightly tougher than gel. He tempered his external respiration, driving out all distraction from his mind, and soon, he could sense the flow of his mana, like he had grabbed a hold of it.

He pulled it back, leaving the sword enveloped, but this fourth dimension, when he rustled the Bush, the wanderer raised his nominal head legs and bared its Fang, believing an animal to be causing the kerfuffle. Noah slowly approached and tapped one of the wanderer's raised leg with his sword. It hissed in vehemence and swung at something it could not see. The conjuration could jam auditory sensation from reaching his foe, but it couldn't erase the sentience of sense of touch, so he couldn't just turn inconspicuous and stab someone without them feeling it.

There was something else he noticed. When he was invisible, he could sense the mana in others. Tin had very little, likely a mark that she had no affinity for magic, probably a reason why she ended up a slave. The colossus had even less, but not all of them. Lone wolves without ingroup 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 olfactory sensation. What made them so peculiar ?

This was just another interrogative sentence that Noah chalked up to something he'd learn later. For now, he should just keep on utilizing his deception to its fully electric potential. The spider had its safety raised, but couldn't sense the presence of anyone or anything nearby, so it could do cipher to arrest Noah from ending its life. He harvested what he needed from the organic structure and then returned to camp.

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

It was a sweet relief to Noah and Tin when they finally left the timber. After two days of repeat ambushes by predators and goblins, the sea of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree that flanked them on either side were replaced with out-of-doors forage, fields where husbandman and their slave were planting harvest. The road became more consistent, receiving More maintenance due to the increase in dealings. In the distance, they saw the Ithiel Town, Clive, as Tin called it. It was surrounded by a log fence to prevent the giant out. It reminded him of the compound Greenwich Village museum from his fifth-grade arena trip. The creek from their waterfall camp joined into the river that flowed beside the town.

Guards in bum leather armor with a few alloy plates were manning the gate, and they stopped Noah and Tin as they approached. One of them looked over the horses and the beach 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 Charles Frederick Worth something that he wasn't trying to grease one's palms him with pocket modification."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 town. For Noah, it was like he had traveled back in time to Medieval Europe. provincial walked the muddy route, street vender tried to betray their product, and the air stank beyond all de***********ion. The buildings were brick and woods, only a few of them more than two stories, with their windows using foggy meth.

"What do we do now ?"Tin asked.

"We're going to betray this beach waggon, everything in it, and the horse. That sentry go recognized them, so others may as well. Plus, I can protect a stack of coins better than this load of pelts. We can just buy replacement if we need them."They rode past a beggar lying in the street and Noah brought the horses to a stop."You there, where can I feel a weapon system principal ?"

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

"Look after the paddy wagon. This station is probably crawling with thieves, so be wary."

She was armed with a sticker and he had religion in her competency. He stepped into the store, with a bell ringing above his head from the door opening and closing. This store was made of brick in order to lessen the flaming danger due to the smithy in book binding. numerous weapons were put on presentation, from swords to halberds. Back in his previous lives, Noah could have bought a Damascus sword online for $ 60 that would put these to disgrace, but these would suffice.

He also paid attention to the Price in Order to see out the rate of rebirth for money. The numbers were drawn a bit differently from past mankind, but they appeared to have the same value. From what he could tell, ten Cu coins equaled a bronze, ten bronze equaled a silver, and ten silver for a amber. The metric unit scaling made it easiest for Noah to equate them to US dollars, but from what era ? There was a suit of armor selling for two atomic number 79 coins, about two thousand dollars. But was that two thousand dollar back in the Old West ? Or was that two thousand dollars in the 21st century, after more than a hundred years of inflation ? He couldn't even tell whether the terms were good or not. This was either all with child equipment at a eminent price or garbage sold to beginners and cheapskates, or even just detritus the possessor was asking the moon for to try and rip Noah off.

A man appeared from a back way and stood behind a riposte. He was a nifty bear of a man, buffer and dirty from a lifetime spent standing over an incus. Seeing Noah's modern font clothes, uneasiness crossed his face."Can I help you ?"

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

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

"Perfect."Noah returned to the police wagon outside and retrieved an armful of artillery looted from dead hobgoblin. He stepped back at bottom and laid them out on the store sideboard."What can I get for all of these ?"

There were four short swords, two longswords, six daggers, three spears, and an axe. The blacksmith raised his eyebrow in balmy surprise at the size of it of the haul, but otherwise maintained a poker fount for the sake of business. He examined each weapon, making exaggerated oink and sighs over every chip and signboard of rust.

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

"That's a bad antic. That's less than a bronzy coin per artillery. You're marketing daggers for three bronze each. septet silver."Judging by the Price of the display pieces, that was More than the blacksmith could sell them for, and while he would throw liked to go higher, the blacksmith was really low-balling him.

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

"farewell them as is and then chalk down the cost. You can betray them to some newbie warriors as grooming gear mechanism. Six silver."

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

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

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

‘ So, ‘ adventurer'is a term used here. It probably applies to monster hunters and the like.'“ How about this : my axe, plus two sticker, 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 shortstop sword, another ten for the tenacious swords, four and one-half bronze for the obelisk, and another four and half for the lance. That's ripe around three silver."

The blacksmith gave a huff. Three atomic number 47, such a round, solid issue. It was five bronze above what he could get if he sold the weapons for half price, but his inner-perfectionist didn't want to complicate it with a smaller defrayment. Had Noah planned that from the beginning ? Either way, he felt like he was stuck on those three silver coins like a ship hitting a reef.

"Fine, three silver."

"Deal."He and Noah shook mitt and Noah received the three coins and the axe."I also have another affair 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 one hundred yards of security. Any teras that touches it makes the alloy alarms jingle. It's so loud that even the dead can hear it. I'll trade it for three bronze and the small buckler you had in the corner. It's got to be worth that in cloth alone."

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

The tidy sum was struck and Noah and Tin set off with a a good deal lighter wagon. The axe Noah had gotten was a large one, perfect for chopping both tree and monsters. The shield he now wore on his arm was only around the size of a dinner party home, but that worked for him. It was inviolable enough to block a slash from a sword and it wouldn't hamper his movement. The tripwire was a bit dreadful to mislay, but once they sold the wagon, they would ingest ended up carrying it with them.

With counsel from many of the townsfolk, they sold and traded their product. The blacksmith wouldn't buy the bow, but Noah found another weapon dealer who allowed him to trade up to a much better man and a shaking of good-quality arrow. After that, the medicinal herbaceous plant and mushroom were bought by an herbalist, the wolf skin went to a leatherworker in substitution for some armour and a strong haversack, and the clothes and purse were traded at the garment shop for some new outfit and a second backpack. Due to the weird flavour he was getting, Noah was aware that his modernistic clothes made him stand out. They were too valuable to get rid of or betray, so he simply packed them away and donned the apparel of the countryside.

He ditched the severed psyche of the hard worker traders into someone's pig pen and the grunter went to town. From asking around, it seemed that the Garrow blighter he killed wasn't the precious criminal he had hoped for. It was a shame there was no bounty to collect, especially after three years of putting up with the smell of those heads.

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

The owner of an adventurer's workshop yelped in pain from the lye touching his tegument. He sold traveling and survival of the fittest train, such as forget me drug, candles, dried rations, and other curios to aid travelers survive the beasts dwelling away man's domain. Now he was buying the hold out of Noah's haul, including the remains of several spider and the barrel of ooze. A test had been requirement to convince him of the lye's ability.

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

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

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

"We do."

"I want two mathematical function, one of the state and one of the country. Throw those in and I can go down to five."

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

"Four bronze and you won't have to get by 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 Equus caballus had already been exchanged for some lovely Au coins, so now they lived carrying everything they owned. Tin was in a good humour, now wearing proper wearing apparel and footgear. She looked nothing like the hard worker young woman that Noah had met when he first came to this world. One might look at her and not even suppose she was a slave.

The sun had almost set, but they made their way to their final period, an inn known as the Old Wineskin. It was busy inside, the air stinking of pipe smoke, ale, and inadequate hygiene, and the floor creaking under countless couple of shifting flush. The hostess, a with child woman looking like she birthed tike 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 ?"

"Phoebe cop coins a night for one room. For ten, you also get firewood, a hot bath, and two square meal a day for one person."

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

The cleaning woman handed him an Fe key."Take a seat in the dining room wherever you like and I'll bring you the sign special."

Noah led Tin through the crowd of sottish villagers, both of them on the lookout for pickpockets. 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 fleshly hide. Any women were either travelers huddled together, or doxy sitting across the lick of their drunk client and laughing at every bad joke as they waited for the alcohol to take its toll.

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

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

"Is something wrong, Master ?"

"No, everything is delicately. I rather like the atmosphere here, the flavour of it."

He had seen raft of township that been knocked out of the New age in his premature lives, usually due to some kind of revelatory outcome or because it was in a third-world country, but none of them had the Medieval Europe aura like in fantasy playscript and picture. 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 appease here for three day ? Then what ?"

"I'm not sure enough yet. I don't have sufficiency information. I want to live more about this rural area, about the other countries. I want to see what I can make of myself and what will commit me the best chance of survival. But for now, I want to rest up for a few days and learn what I can about the area."

He took out the maps he had bought and looked them over. Their tone was just as he expected from a Medieval society. The map of the Algata province showed the towns around Baron Clive of Plassey, as well as vague rivers and great deal, but there was no musical scale for referencing space and none of the route were labeled. The home map was no well, but it did discover the bigger towns and the upper-case letter of Uther near the southern coast. It was hard to see the size of the area, but it was probably somewhere between England and Texas.

right wing now, what he needed to work on was a backstory. True, this was not a country with an educated public, but Noah was still ignorant of the culture and lifestyle, something that would require long time to catch up on. If he claimed to be from somewhere but failed to answer a doubt that any aboriginal would screw, it would fix him look funny. In his past lives, his backstory would generate itself, just like everyone else, and as an adult, when he needed an false name, he could easily craft a new one using his knowledge of the world. He had been forced to hide in other countries and withdraw on new identities in past lives, but this was a altogether new ballgame.

The stewardess arrived with wooden trays and beer chump. The house special was a pipe bowl of meat and vegetable stew and a biscuit, with a pint of the local ale to wash away it down with. Noah didn't even want to imagine how a health inspector would react to seeing the kitchen and how the food for thought was prepared, but after three days of nothing but rock-hard bread and dried meat that was little Sir Thomas More than salted leather, he ate greedily.

Tin, however, stared at her nutrient."Master, is it really ok for me to eat this ? I need only combat 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 own yet to disappoint me. You deserve to eat proper meals. Besides, I need you strong and healthy so you can retain to assist me."

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

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

The way they were renting was awfully desolate, just a bed with some itchy cover and a fireplace. There was also a table with a lone cd and a pitcher of water system. Firewood had already been delivered. As Tin lit the candle, Noah began moving around the room, knocking on the walls, floor, and roof, searching for any cover doorway or peepholes. For all he knew, there could be people watching them, waiting for them to hang asleep and then rob them, or worse. He once made the mistake of spending the night in a backwoods motel that was run by a sequent Orcinus orca. The flat tire within walking distance should take warned him, but he refused to trust the cliché.

"You get a flack started while I look around. Don't subject the bags or unwrap any of your belongings until I get back, and act the bed against the door."

He was sure for the most parting that no one was listening or watching them at the here and now, but that might be impermanent. He wanted to hold in the inn itself. But on the off chance that soul was managing to avoid his detection, he didn't want to activate his thaumaturgy. He left the room and locked the door behind him. There were way on either slope and across the hall, but they would come later. He went downstairs, maneuvering through the crowd and stepping outside into the dark street. The town was clearing out, everyone heading home or to whatever topographic point they slept on.

Noah walked down the street, and as planned, he sensed a quarter behind him. He stepped behind the nearby butcher shop and laid in postponement. His pursuer, knife in hand, entered the alley. He never even saw Noah, certainly didn't see his paw aiming for his disco biscuit's Malus pumila. A solid blow ripped the air from the man's lungs and sent him to his knees, unable to even scream in excruciation. He dropped his knife and Noah got him into a stranglehold, lifting him back onto his feet.

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

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

Noah took out his knife and held it under the man's eye. The blade was invisible like Noah, but the man could find the leaf blade threatening to pierce the skin of his scurvy lid."If you want to deliver yourself, start talking. I can hold you beg for your life and then beg for death in a issue of seconds."

"This is just what I do, strong-armer ! I wait for while of trash playing adventurer to make a improper turn and then I take everything that they have !"

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

"I don't need help."

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

Noah searched the corpse for anything of economic value and dumped it in the river beside the village. He then returned to the inn and searched the outside. He had measured the distance from the window to the corners of his room, and, assuming that all the rooms were the Saami size and Lapp configuration, there didn't appear to be any untrue walls that person could hide in.

With his fancy still active, he went inside the inn and maneuvered through the crew, this time putting all of his crusade into not bumping up against anyone. He checked the thickness of the floor and cap of each spirit level and found no anomalies. His mana was starting to run out, so he had to festinate with the finis step. He returned to the storey of his elbow room and listened to the surrounding doors.

Behind the door across the G. Stanley Hall, he could get a line two female adventurers talking, making plans for the following day. In the room to the left of his, he could try a man sharpening his sword. The room to the right was mute. From his air pocket, Noah drew a length of telegram. It was originally part of the grip of one of the swords he had sold, but he took it before taking it out of the wagon. Lockpicking had been a skill of his several lifetimes ago, so he was a little rusty. Regardless, he managed to unfold the door and peeked in, seeing the one habitant sleeping.

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

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

"Yeah, I think we're safe."

They both stepped into the elbow room and released their bear breathing time upon the doorway conclusion. Finally, they could let down their safety, at least for the most part.

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

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

The copper coins would be kept in two of the three snake billfold, as bait or a decoy against pickpocket. The tertiary wallet held the bronze coins and hung around Tin's neck. As the for the Ag and Au coins, Tin worked with Noah beside the fire to hide them in his clothes and possessions, such as the lining of his jacket and the straps of his backpack.

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

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

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

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

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

There was a desperate shimmer in her oculus."Something which I beg your pardon 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 tooshie."It is my duty to service my victor. Please, set aside me to retain not disappointing you."

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

She made a small racket of succor, almost like a interbreeding between a laugh and a pant."Please take a seat."

Noah sat on the fundament of the bed and Tin retrieved some of their leftover soap, then brought to tub next him. She kneeled before him and wetted the front of her physical structure with one of the rags, then with the goop, lathering up her titty and between her thigh. He could state she was excited. Despite her perpetually expressionless typeface, he could see the small curling of her lip, the shimmer in her eye, signs of joy. It was an dry compounding ; she, having never known joy from contact with a man, and he, so numb that touch with a char was one of the live on few affair that could give him pleasure.

She began by taking one of the flannel and scrubbing Noah's legs, trying to remove the sweat and dirt from their days in the Sir Henry Wood. Then, her breathing would deepen, and she'd starting signal rubbing her chest of drawers up against him, grinding against him like a striptease magnetic pole. Her breast were far from ample, due to her harsh lifetime and miserable diet, but what blurriness there was, she used to please Noah. She made sure he felt every cubic centimeter of fat, as if the mass of her titty equaled her loyalty.

She washed off the goop and then got on the bed to repeat the process on his coat of arms. Her efforts gave him an amused smile. With her intimate thighs nice and sudsy, she'd straddle his hands, letting him cup her muliebrity in his palm and sense how wet she was. She was beginning to pant and pule, her lust building up in her. Her frenetic breaths in his ears was likewise getting him worked up. He had a few ex-girlfriends that would give him this treatment.

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

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

She moved behind him and scrubbed his spine, then began smooshing her chest against him in sweeping motion. It reminded him of washing windowpane. While she grinded on his binding, she washed his chest and her hands naturally fell to his throbbing manhood. She stroked it lovingly, as if wanting to con every detail. She started rubbing against him with more force and jacking him off. Despite Noah being on the receiving end, Tin's efforts were making her breathe heavily with an aroused whimper passing her lips. The feel of her knocker on his back and her masterful stroking were also getting to Noah. Even with all of his sexual experience, he always enjoyed a little foreplay.

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

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

She began sucking on his member with reverent dedication. Every drop of cum, she slurped off while savoring the taste of his sweat. Like the other night, she paid attention to his orchis, either massaging them while his tool plunged into the profoundness 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, Master. My consistency 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 enter her. She was so wet, his tool sliding against her inner flesh without any electrical resistance. There was no hesitation in any of Tin's movements, she didn't need to adjust her stead or let her torso become accustomed to the smell of being penetrated. As soon as she was down to the base, she began bouncing on his cock at full amphetamine.

Noah laid back with his hands gripping her ass. The try she was putting in was commendable, she was fucking him like a pornstar. Her moan of walking on air, she didn't bother trying to hold back them. She let her vocalisation ring out, escaping their room and being heard by everyone in the inn. She cried out like she was being stabbed, but to her, it felt like Noah was going no less thick. She was putting all of her persuasiveness into keeping up this rhythm, dropping all her weight onto Noah's lap so that he could truly explore her torso. She couldn't allow him to exercise himself. There were no fields to put to work, no stock to take maintenance of. She couldn't combat, couldn't search, couldn't do anything to repay her master for the kindness he had shown her. All she could do was propose her trunk for his delectation, to devote him something to unleash his desires on.

But her strong suit was fading fast. Despite her feat, Noah wasn't giving in. In fact, he decided to fight back. He retrieved one of the damp flannel and wiped the soap off her breasts, making her teat become raise. He then sat up and began running his knife and sassing across her peel, kissing her ring of color and sucking on their prime. He often pulled his mouth away to join with hers, kissing her with skill she could only call art. preferably than letting her continue bouncing, he implemented his own proficiency. Cupping her mean ass in his bridge player, he began gyrating her pelvis in one direction while he moved in the antonym counseling. Now, instead of doing long, deep strokes, his cock was stirring up the depths of her womanhood like he was whisking some scrambled nut.

The two-fold attacks, they were more than Tin could have."Master ! Ah ! overlord !"she moaned.

She held onto his shoulders as a moving ridge of climaxes rushed through her, soaking Noah's lap in her arousal. Noah fell back, this clock time while pulling Tin down with him. Tin, lying across his chest of drawers, was given no clip to rest. He lifted her hips up and began bucking his own, driving up into her at maximum focal ratio and profoundness. His ravishment on her, there was no inhuman treatment to it, but it was so solid that Tin wondered if she had done something to enrage him. She felt no pain, but if any other man tried to do this, she would be suffering beyond words. It was his acquisition and experience, she could feel it with every move he made. He knew exactly what to do to not cause any harm, despite the intensity itself leaving her on the scepter of blacking out.

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

"delay on, I'm almost there."

She held onto him for dear life, as if a crack cocaine had ripped off the ceiling of the inn and was threatening to attract her up into the sky. Soon, the tempest passed, and Tin felt that concluding knife thrust and Noah emptying himself into her. The sense datum of her professional's seed flooding her womanhood, the heating plant of it inside her, it made her moan a single crystal-clear note, like a boo call. Then, she collapsed on top of him, using the last of her posture to run kisses across his chest.

"sea captain, when you wanted to have a go at it the area and me and some other slave raised out hands… thank you for choosing me."Noah didn't say anything. He knew that this was a position that one couldn't simply respond with ‘ you're receive ’. Yet after so many lifetimes, he still didn't know what the right reaction was."And at the waterfall… thank you for letting me persist by your side."

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

.

.

.

Stamina

.

.

.

The sunup of the side by side day found Noah roaming the village. Before he made any decisions, he wanted to acknowledge what this town had to declare oneself, what endeavors it could brook. According to the maps he bought, Baron Clive of Plassey was far away from the land's Washington, out in the backwoods, but it appeared to make a strong economic system, with many profession one might not anticipate in such a rough sphere, like a gold and silversmiths. In fact, it seemed to thrive on touristry, but no one would ever come out here on vacation. It was because of the natural resources.

So far, Clive had some farm land and a river for food, as well as the Brobdingnagian woods for baseball bat, but its top commodity was monsters. As Noah explored the townspeople, he saw numerous adventurers buying food for thought and supplies before going off to hunt and gather. In the early seventeenth century, the fur swap exploded in EU, sending countless men out into the Wilderness of Siberia and the Americas to find their chance. Here, the principal was the same. fur were in demand in the big cities, but nigh of the monsters had been wiped out around the more dwell areas, so adventurers spread out to the countryside to run and betray their gimmick, and where there is an exploitable resourcefulness, you can notice capitalists looking for people with money burning a gob in their pockets.

His search brought him to the local anaesthetic apothecary, where numerous pots and jars adorned the walls on shelves while different plants were hung to dry command processing overhead time. He recognized respective works, but many were new to him. An old woman ran the shop, watching Noah like a hawk through the smoke coming from her organ pipe. It filled the air, along with several unlike kinds of incense. No sun was allowed in, so as to preserve the works and potions on display.

"Anything I can serve you bump ?"

"Do you have potions to help restore mana ?"

"Yes. I sell them in three tone at a toll of five, ten, and twenty bronze coins, but you have to buy the bottle as well if you don't have any of your own. Look to the ledge behind you, the grim potions."

He examined the ampule, three bobber bottleful with blue liquidity, each one a different ghost. There was no telling how useful they were. He didn't lie with how much mana they could replenish, compared to the amount of mana he had within him. And the colouration shade, was that because of the front of a specific fixings that increased its potence ? Or were they just watered down ?

"What about health ?"

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

These potions, how did they work out ? They were clearly some variety of plant-based concoction, but could there be magic involved ? The approximation of learning how to create potions appealed to him, but if it required a peculiar kind of magic, then that design wouldn't go anywhere.

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

The woman relayed the order to someone in the hinder room without ever taking her center off Noah. A young girl appeared behind the counter, carrying a tray of six blue and red potions. Noah paid and stowed them away in his bag.

"You know, if you have fuss collecting the ingredients, I could facilitate in commutation for a discount."

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

‘ So, she doesn't even want me to have a go at it the factor. Oh well, I have elbow room of finding out.'

He left the pill pusher and breathed the fresh morning air. The sun had broken release of the horizon, and while it was still early, the townsfolk of Clive was now fully bustling. He returned to the inn, where Tin was waiting in their room.

"I got the potions."

"Master, you shouldn't bother yourself with such tasks. 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 necessary, such as to acknowledge orderliness or warn him that something was attacking. As time passed, she got more wondering, now doing whatever she could to help him. The little tasks, she would try to do before he could, like opening doors for him and picking up anything he reached for and handing it to him. It was starting to get annoying, such as during breakfast, when she tried to fertilize him like he was paralyzed from the neck down. But it made her well-chosen, so he went along with nigh 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 scams then you are. Since I now know the price of the potions, I can hold sure that womanhood 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 begin experimenting with my magic, and I need your service for that. Because there was always the threat of teras, I never allowed my mana to fully deplete, so now I can get down pushing my limit a little."He pulled out the three mana potions and put them on the board."I'm going to cast my conjuring trick and not hold back until my mana is completely used up and the turn comes undone. I need you to monitor my health during the process."

"passe-partout, forgive me, but I'm not a healer. I don't know how to do affair like that."

"It's easy. While I'm invisible, I want you to curb my carpus and observe my pulse while counting to a hundred over and over again until the go breaks. If I should turn a loss consciousness, pour one of these potions down my throat and place my deal over my eye to make sure the spell is cancelled. Should my pulse rate or breathing hitch, there is a procedure I'll have you do 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 breath flap. He placed his mitt on the center of her chest and felt her become tense."I can sense your heart beating. Should mine stop, you'll demand to press down on the sum of my chest in speedy thrusts."He stacked his manpower 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 looking at in her eye, he knew what it was.

"You'll want to do that 30 clock time. Then, you'll need to abstract my nose, and mess up air into my lungs."He lowered his headland and kissed her. She replied with enthusiasm, her breath now fluttering, and not because he was pinching her nose. Noah got on top of her."Of course of instruction, when you do it, I expect you not to use so much tongue. You'll yield me two deep breathes, then do another thirty compressions. Repeat the procedure until you feel my heart start. Understand ?"

"Yes, schoolmaster,"she whispered with a woolgathering look in her eyes.

"trade good. Now, to make sure I only use up my mana, I need to completely drain my physical staying power. aid to aid me with that ?"

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

To the enjoyment of some and the annoyance of others, the sounds of Tin's moans could be heard throughout the inn. Not only loud, it was never-ending. digression from some short breaks, her representative continued to bounce off the walls even with the sun now at the high-pitched compass point of the day and everyone eating lunch.

On the bed in their shared room, Noah was battering Tin from behind with unrelenting intensity. She no longer had the strength to even remain on all fours, and instead had her face pressed to the sheets, now sticky with their combined fluids. Every jibe he delivered would clear her cry out in euphoria. She didn't live how many times he had brought her to culminate, nor how many clip she felt him deluge her body with his seminal fluid, but each event threatened to rob her of her consciousness. Regardless, she fought through, doing everything she could to remain awake so that she could continue to please her master.

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

He wasn't hurting her, rather, she had never felt such pleasance, but she was so tired, her body at its limits. She didn't understand how it was possible for him to go so long and maintain so much force. He was far too Edward Young to have amassed this kind of experience. His saturation even frightened her. He acted so that she was assailed with solitary pleasure, but if she angered him, if the demons of sadism possessed him, could she even survive ?

How had this all started ? What was the cause he had given ? She could barely retrieve, it felt like so long ago. Oh, that's rightfulness, he called it exercise. He asked it of her, but had he demanded it instead, invoked his dominance as her master, she would own been no less excite. It fulfilled her, to finally be able to show up her loyalty in the only way she could. He was depending on her, trusting her to fulfill his expectations, and she was ready to devote her body for that. Her musculus begged for relaxation, but her person didn't want it to end. She wanted to envelop around him like a ophidian so that he could never pull up stakes, and instead continue using her until the end of time.

At this head, Noah had fully immersed himself in the act of passion, aware of nothing but the physical macrocosm. The feel of Tin's dead body, her wetness and easy chassis around his cock, the taste when their tongues curled around each former when they kissed, the odour of her womanly essence as he brought her to climax, the mint of the sweat glistening on her body as he made her writhe and moan, he bathed in those whizz. He felt short affection for her, but at least physical sensation could appease the antediluvian whirlpool in his mind, let him exclude off his brain and truly feel again. His soul, so famish and without husking, it was like cracked desert Henry Clay now becoming fertile with the springtime rains.

His physical stamina, something that Tin was gear up to label as inhuman, was just as much mental as physical. With so many life-time'worth of experience, he knew how to puzzle out through the pain. He had felt the anguish of exertion adequate clock time to learn how to ignore it. He couldn't perform any dramatic feats of speciality like some sort of superhero, but he knew how to properly oxygenate his bloodline for the maximal end product and knew how much strength his muscles could maintain without suffering detrimental legal injury. He was digging down deep for strength and harnessing every calorie and spark of energy, and while he wasn't on the grade of a bodybuilder, he had built his physique through a workout that he had mastered over respective lifetimes.

He shuddered as he emptied himself into Tin. After all this meter, he couldn't imagine having any sperm left. His soreness was approaching unbearable levels, but even though his erecting was fading, he didn't give in. He grabbed Tin by the shoulders and pulled her against him, his lips joining hers. She was nearly mad, acting as if on sinew retentivity when she swirled her tongue around his oral fissure. His hands went to townsfolk on her, massaging her modest titty and stirring up the cum in her pussy. Tin was so commonplace and her throat was sore from moaning, but the way Noah tickled her button and bullied her pap, it still made her whimper in bliss.

He'd do this after every coming, keeping her busy while he slowly regained his erecting. However, his humanness 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 space from exhaustion, but she rolled onto her back and spread her legs, putting herself on display and letting Noah see the semen overflowing from her womanhood.

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

"No, that's good. You were perfect. I can't even work up the durability for a single thrust."He reached into his bag and pulled out the frail of the three healing potions. Even that task was almost beyond his range. He might as well have just won the go de Jacques Anatole Francois Thibault."Here, drink this."She was too tired to be active, so Noah put the bottle to her back talk and let some dribble down her throat. She was soon revived, her soundbox no longer trembling.

‘ So, blue potions restore magic staying power and red potions restore forcible stamina.'

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

"captain, what about you ?"

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

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

"It probably is serious, but I don't have intercourse how my mana taciturnity compare to an ordinary magic user my age, and this is immobile way to increase it. Now, don't let go of my carpus and protrude counting as soon as I become inconspicuous. If my heart stops or there are any signs that my health is deteriorating, pass me both a mana potion and a health potion, then perform CPR. Remember : thirty compressions and then two breaths. You got that ?"

"Yes, Master."

Noah put his hand over his eye and disappeared in battlefront of Tin. However, Tin could still feel him, feel his wrist in her hand and his warmth, and it comforted her. Upon the activation of the enchantment, Noah could feel his mana being depleted. It was a strange fatigue duty, like he was bleeding to death. All of his genial focus was put on restricting the flow of mana to just his body, so that null else would get caught in his illusion and wasteland mana. It was why he left the job of timekeeping to Tin.

From his experience so far, he could hold the magic trick for about three moment before his motor functions declined too far for him to fight. He didn't know if that was good or bad, but in time, he could smell out that line being crossed. From there, his intellection and physical strength began a rapid decline. Noah fought with everything he had to detain conscious, even when he could no longer keep his eyes open. His knowingness soon sank into a falling out where he could experience his mana continuing to deplete but couldn't feel his own body.

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

"Master,"she whispered, clutching is hand.

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

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

"So, while with my physical toughness completely drained, I can maintain the spell for about five bit before I pass out. At entire strength, I can maintain it that long while still being able-bodied to fight. This is good, I'm in perfect condition to get the beneficial benefits for stressing my mana, and since my bosom and breathing didn't arrest, I don't need to worry about suffocating. Either that potion will wear off or it'll manage to replenish all my mana, but whichever happens first off, I'll start again immediately after."

He gave himself meter for the mana to recirculate through his body. He checked his reflexes, forcible strength, and mental processing. True, he felt half-dead from enfeeblement and sore all over, but he knew what rattling damage would feel like. Complete mana going felt just like bleeding to expiry, so there was always the possibleness that being drained of it for too long would have similar effects to his body, like blindness or muscle death. There was no telling if the wellness potions could heal those kinds of injuries.

nothing appeared to be wrong, so he returned to the bed."All properly, we're going to keep doing this."

They repeated the process over and over again. Noah would drop all of his mana through his illusion, Tin would wake him up with a potion, he'd chit 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 practically they could water system it down while still providing sufficient rejuvenation.

As the day rolled on, Noah's body begged for food. The rumbling of his stomach and his disorientation concerned Tin, but he refused any variety of sustenance, and for near 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 blast of depletion, the source of his mana was being stressed to its limits, and was reaping the benefit. There were a lot of things about mana and magic 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 education, but he was fairly certain that he had struck gold.

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

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

"So what now ?"

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

"I can consume it brought up to us."

"No, let's go downstairs. I'm rather sick of this way and involve some refreshful 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 lastingness ? There was that time when he starved to death… When was that ? Even his judgment was on the verge of shutting down. He tried to get dressed, but his torso wouldn't obey his will, and to his shame, Tin had to help oneself him. It reminded him of all the sentence he was in hospice, when the nanny had to do everything for him while he waited to die.

"Sorry,"he said.

She smiled, something she was doing more and more frequently."You need not vex, Master. While I was never the handmaid of any bang-up nobleman, I heard that this was a tariff that their amah often performed. Simply imagine that you are a great viscount, or even an earl."

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

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

Now fully dressed, he was helped to his fundament and they left the way, though he had to tend on Tin for support. From upstairs, they could hear the rowdiness of the guests in the dining way, singing songs and knocking their mugs together. Yet as the teens appeared and made their way to their table from the previous even, that din went died down, with all optic on them. There was some quieten murmuration, several masses whispering to their friends to inquire as to the silence. Noah and Tin took their rear end, the bar as quiet as a necropolis, then the boniface showed up with their dinner party. It was chunks of meat carved from a beast, and Noah's circumstances was turgid than anyone else's.

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

That appeared to be some form of sign, because a man at the bar with a beard down to his knock raised his mug."Hail to the Young king ! He who could spend a penny even a succubus beg for rest !"

The bar practically exploded, with the great unwashed of all historic period swarming their board to pat Noah on the back, congratulate him on his attainment, and beg him for advice. Many fair sex approached, flirting with Noah and inviting him to join them for the evening. Noah even saw one female adventurer holding back her friend who was trying to draw close with a hungry—or rather"thirsty"—look in her eye and a widely smile on her expression. Tin also got plenty of tending. Everyone wanted to have a go at it who was struggling to retain up with who, which of the two was the insatiable one. The women who could not ensnare Noah would turn over to her, asking for details while voicing their green-eyed monster. In the background, the Guest began singing songs of wooing women and romantic tales, with the convention activity of the bar becoming a raving party.

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

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

It was airless to midnight, and Noah, having regained his strength, made his way to the dark apothecary. He carried a lantern with him, but its fire, like Noah, was invisible to anyone and anything, and the route remained as dark as it would be without his presence. He had shrouded it in his illusion as a way to quiz himself. If his mana slipped, light would escape. After the day's education, the mana expenditure was next to nix. He had already passed the five-minute mark and didn't flavour dizzy. With a few more days of grooming, he might be able to maintain the illusion for an time of day or more.

He reached the store and went to work picking the whorl while sending his mana into the door. Wrapped in his illusion, the threshold 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 store and thinned the mana around his lantern just enough to release a faint beam of light.

There was muckle of valuable fabric to steal, but Noah and Tin's untrusting behavior would throw left an notion on the old woman, and she'd assume they did it. He could have just killed her and taken whatever he wanted, even wiped out her family to be prophylactic, and anyone who suspected and came after him. From the minute he discovered his illusion, he had thought of all the means he could use it, both bad and proficient. It would birth been so easy, he kept reminding himself, but that wasn't the life he wanted to hold out, even if it was one he would suffer lived in the past.

Instead, he searched the shop for books and potion recipe, simply to con, rather than steal. None could be found, meaning they must take in been hidden elsewhere. He did obtain wad of compounding equipment, which he memorized in Holy Order to replicate. Noah moved beyond the storage and into the charwoman's home plate. She lived, as everyone else did in this world, rustically. All lighter was raw or flame-based, any nutrient that could go bad was salted and kept in jars, there was no running water, and all the shaft were pre-industrial. It still reeked of potions and herbs, but that smell was probably difficult to confine to the shop.

He came across a large wooden dresser set against the wall, and after picking the whorl, got it unfastened, revealing his prize. The old woman's whole depository library was kept neatly arranged, all the answers Noah needed. In this human race, information was as significant for natural selection as food and urine, so until bon ton managed to invent the impression printing press, books were Worth their weight in gold. Despite the tantalizing knowledge at his fingertips, Noah went straight for the interpersonal chemistry script. He looked up the recipe for basic health and mana potions, memorizing the ingredient and processes.

Finding satisfaction, he removed all hint of his sojourn and left the apothecary.

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

The arrival of the following day brought Noah and Tin out to the woods to pull together herbaceous plant and Hunt behemoth. Buying all the potions yesterday had taken a big clump out of their finances, so Noah wanted to gather some materials he could betray. He had asked around the tavern the previous Night and managed to find out the most valuable parts of goliath. He also found out some interesting facts.

"Summoned by magic ?"

"Yes sir,"said the bartender as he used a colly rag to make clean a glass."If you're really lucky, you'll manage to see it happen. There are thaumaturgy set scattered across these landed estate, absorbing mana from the air and using it to summon beasts. About a one-fourth of each freak raceway is created by magic. And not just behemoth, woodland animals as well, from the cervid to the birds. Shouldn't you know that by now if you're going to be an adventurer ?"

Noah remembered his engagement in the woods, the lusus naturae that seemed to be shrouded in mana."Huh, my country didn't have anything like that."

Despite it being dependable, it was used as a lie. Ignorance of basic facts would contribute him away and make people suspicious, so he was hesitant to ask about anything involving magic. He couldn't expect much from this human beings's level of training, but a man with no knowledge of illusion would probably stand out like a man in the 21st century that had never seen electricity before. At least claiming to be a alien would beg off most errors. He just had to trust he didn't meet up with any international merchant before he got more selective information.

"Where do these magic dress circle come from ?"

"According to fable, there was a war between the gods and the life of nature. The tone used their conjuration to mobilize Army of creatures, so that the minions of the graven image could never walk the earth, and that magic remains to this day. Some believe that it is a weapon system being used against humanity, to hold our expansion and geographic expedition into new lands. Many believe it to be the study of mischief-maker that got their hands on some kind of illegal magic, spreading the thaumaturgy circles to make havoc.

Many times in history, orbit have been declared monster-free, only for the creatures to riposte. Even islands get plagued with monsters despite being sweep clean and jerk. It's why many turn to adventuring ; the brace income from hunting monsters and the reliable food source."

As Noah thought back to the conversation, he heard effort nearby. Bursting from the undergrowth, an teenager Wolf lunged at Noah and Tin. Noah was quick on the attractor and managed to whip the monster on the shoulder with his longsword. It landed behind him, slightly limping but showing no signs of giving up. It flashed eyes full of bloodlust while it snarled and foamed. Tin hurried behind Noah, as per his orders, while he stared it down. If he cast his illusion, he could easily kill it without it ever seeing the attack coming, but today, he was sharpening his combat attainment and refining his swordplay, so he needed to confront his enemies without hiding from them. Besides, teras that lost racecourse of him often turned their attention to Tin.

Noah made the first move, charging while swinging down at the savage's other berm. It jumped to the incline to dodge, but Noah widened the angle of the slash as he brought it down, turning it into a diagonal attack. Chasing the skirt chaser with his swing, he managed cut into its flesh. The wolf, infuriated by pain, pounced from a high gear Angle, aiming for Noah's head. The Angle was foxy, Noah sidestepping out of the ambit of its claws, raising blade, and delivering an executioner's chop to the back of the cervix, severing its head.

He didn't drop his guard duty and scanned the surface area, searching for any other wolves in concealing. He could detect none."Clear."

That was his sign to Tin. With Noah keeping guard, she went to forge on the Friedrich August Wolf, removing the valuable parts like the skin and certain muscular tissue and Hammond organ. It was messy employment, but worth the effort. Everything was stored in her backpack and several former pouches and old bag, along with Noah's bow and other adventuring supplies. 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 ogre go to waste material, but the race couldn't go extinct and something else would come along and eat it, so Noah didn't feel too bad. proceedings after they moved on, Noah caught sight of something ahead, zooming between the trees.

"Tin, footmark back."

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

Two young cleaning woman appeared, having apparently sprinted a nifty distance and now gasping for breath. Noah had seen them before at the inn. One of them, a blonde archer, had attempted to utter to him the previous night, but her friend, a brunet with a faculty, stopped her.

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

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

"Here, drink this."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"kind of,"said Mira,"but not against monsters this heavy and truehearted. We each came from field where the fighting was a lot easier and numbers racket were thinner, but we weren't making enough money and decided to try moving out here for a while."

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

"Oh, well I'm a mage, so I can use elemental magic trick to conjure and contain things like fire and water. My talents lie in controlling the land, like this."She turned away and looked into the distance. hoop of sandstone-colored spark appeared around her wrist joint like halo, and Noah could see diagrams and runes of an unidentified language."Earth Bind !"

She raised her staff and then slammed it into the ground. There was a pulsation, and the ground came undone like there was an animal tunneling just under the Earth's surface. It shot across the forest storey, and thirty foot away, there was an extravasation of earth, with hard-packed soil forming jagged shapes that converged like a close flower. Anything caught within it would surely get held in place, even stabbed if they moved around the incorrectly way. The send away ground used to make the spike produced a pit, just in font anything tried to duck.

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

"What ? Why ?"

"wellspring we're in the timberland. The ground is riddled with radical holding it together, so it takes a lot of time and effort to gather the grease and form it into those spikes. Also, you're going for truehearted prey with good reaction amphetamine, so as soon as they sense the attack, they'll relocation before it fully activates. I assume your strategy was for Beth to spite 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 upright strategy, keeping your distance from the foeman to minimise risk. However, in this sort of surround and with this quarry, you'd need to change it up a bit. I suggest using toxicant arrows, or at least some variety of paralytic federal agent. That way, even a low-damage hit will decelerate it down. I'd also suggest using a larger bow for Sir Thomas More penetration.

Mira, do you know any other spell ?"

"I can make a scatter cloud and get off stones flying."

"But cipher close-range ? That'll be a problem if there is More than one foe or they get within striking distance. Mira, I suggest you work on learning a tour for melee armed combat, and Beth, get a steel. You also should get hold another member to join your company, sorry I couldn't be that person. They'd have to be capable to pin down the foe in one positioning for your pointer and magic to be able to hit their mark."

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

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

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

"Sorry, but I can't. I'm really trying to concentre on training. I'm sure you can find a struggling fencer who's desperate for a party to join and would fit right hand in with you two. Tin and I have to get going. You were first to injure the wolf, so the consistence belongs to you. We'll see you later."

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

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

"well, the estimation of forming a company is appealing, and their long-range abilities would definitely aid out. However, I'd prefer to operate away from prying eyes for the sentence being. I didn't horse sense any evil intent in them, but there is no telling if they can be trusted or not. But I'm glad we ran into them, it gave me a chance to study elemental magic a bit."

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

They continued through the forest, hunting for monster while trying to avoid other adventurers. Along with battles, they also stopped to collect herbs. Noah was always playing through the potion recipes in his judgment. Then, when noontide arrived, they stopped for lunch by the river. Their intellectual nourishment was slightly amend than the stuff they ate before reaching Baron Clive, in the sense that the shekels wasn't quite-rock laborious and the meat actually had savor. It was still unsatisfying compared to a hot meal. Their water system came from the river, first filtered through a survival straw that Noah made.

Once they were done eating, Noah pulled out all of the works they had gathered. He picked three different plant life out of the pile ; subdivision of blue angel strawberries, several understructure of a vine with square up leaves, and an orange moss."Of the recipes I saw, this one is the well-heeled and doesn't require any specialized tools. Even if it doesn't work, it will still be proficient 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 howitzer and pestles and went to exploit. Working side by side, Noah noticed a small smile on Tin's brass."This reminds me of making lye at the waterfall,"she said.

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

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

"Good, now to screen it. I think this will be the perfect tense opportunity to see what my side by side spell is."It was very slight, but Noah could see Tin's agitation."You should move back. If this second tour is anything like my trick, you probably won't be in danger, but it's better to be safe."

Tin moved back XX base, and Noah, after taking a inscrutable breath, put his helping hand over his right field eye. The result was instantaneous, his mana being drained twice as fast as his first of all turn, and this time, he could actually finger something happening to him. His body, it felt weightless, and his limbs, they were just moving of their own agreement like jellyfish tentacles. His visual sense, it was almost blurry, like he was seeing two-baser. It felt, of all things, like he had just taken a hit of some high-quality pot.

If his immersion broke for even a second, he felt like his arm and straits would just drift on their own. Noah dropped his helping hand and staggered, nearly falling just like the 1st prison term he tried it back in the Ellen Price Wood. It was like every movement he made had to be performed while walking on a tripwire, or else he would fall. He was shifting from side to side, struggling to continue in ascendancy. While this would be a great thing to do while attending a concert or watching a risible movie, it was far from useful in battle.

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

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

"Doing what ?"

"Master, look at your hands."

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

‘ No, wait a second…'

These afterimage, they weren't some blurry silhouette ; they had crystal-clear details. They were like exact written matter trying to occupy the like space. He moved his arms around, watching the written matter follow the master. They were illusions ! He stopped moving his real blazon and tried to proceed the copies. He thought about it, he envisioned it happening, but only when he gave up and tried to produce his real number arms did the written matter obey and fulfill the action. It was only for a 2nd before they returned to their original place, but he had gotten them to move.

It took several minutes of repeated try before he figured it out. Halfway between thinking of moving his coat of arms and actually harnessing the strong-arm strength within them to make that movement, there was a detail where he could impress the written matter. He was soon moving the illusional arms however he wanted, with Tin watching at a sum up red ink. His mana was starting to run low, so he cancelled the spell and leaned on his knees.

"Master, what was that ?"

"An conjuration. It appears that my left eye can hold in my tangible consistency, while my right eye can create a fake. I can see it similar to how I move on my own, but it requires a lot of focussing. hired man me a mana potion, will you ?"He downed one of the potions and then lied down on the footing and reactivated the go."Watch this."

Tin could immediately see it on his face, the exertion and nidus he was putting in, but her attention was immediately drawn elsewhere, as a instant Noah seemed to rise from the body of the offset like two mobile phone dividing. For Noah, it almost an out of trunk experience. The illusion stood up, every motion that Noah would have made being performed. It was unmanageable beyond words, leaving him drenched in sweat and gasping for air. Every muscle involved in standing up had to be acknowledged, from the muscularity supporting his question, all the way down to the brawn in his metrical unit as they tried to transfix the primer coat for counterpoise. He had to visualise not just the movement, but the sensation of moving.

The clone stepped forward, every bm clunky and abnormal, like a flash automaton. The dead ringer turned to Tin, who was completely bewildered and even frightened. The clone opened its oral cavity. It started out sounding like radio set static, but Noah managed to verbalise through the illusion.

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

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

For the next three week, Noah and Tin worked out a routine of expanding Noah's mana reserve and going out to hunt, one day inside and one day outside. Everyone in the inn became cognisant of the pattern, as every other day, from breakfast to dejeuner, Tin's moans filled the construction. It became quite the story around town, many citizenry coming to the inn just see if the rumor were true. Tin would rob Noah of all of his stamina and they'd perform the drain and replenish procedure with the mana potions. The next day would be spent gathering herbs to make more than potions and textile to sell, and cover cultivating Noah's combat abilities.

To deplete his mana, Noah experimented with his second magical spell. For the first week, he focused on perfecting the clone's bm and spoken language. He tried to get it as pattern looking as possible, having it walk around the way and imitate various actions. Unfortunately, since it was just an conjuring trick, it couldn't actually touch anything or regard its environment, and while he could speak through it, he couldn't see what it saw or hear what it heard. Unless it was in mickle at all clip, he was piloting blind. Strangely, Tin said that the clone had the Lapplander smelling as him, while when he was invisible, his feel was concealed.

He spent the next week learning how to move both his existent and bull torso at the same metre. He started out modest, first with finger movements, then tree 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 musculus required to remain endure good. By the end of the workweek, he and the clone could walk simultaneously.

In the one-third week, he added his start spell to the mix, moving the clone around as he performed a labor while unseeable. The mana expenditure was massive, so much so that the pace of his militia increasing was slowed, and it became more difficult to tell apart how practically progress he was making. Despite that, they proved to be a golden combination. The knockoff could act as a perfect decoy, while Noah would attack in his invisible form.

His first enchantment didn't just make him invisible, it affected whatever object he touched, concealing and also creating illusions to conceal any changes he made, like footmark, while the second could make a full legerdemain, but of himself, one that had a near physical presence. These enchantment, they were More than just bending Christ Within. It seemed like they were two halves of a single piece.

When he wasn't preparation, Noah went around town to gather selective information about the country, magic, and monsters. In a piffling backwoods Village like this, the results were far from bountiful or even reliable. He would own to move to a bigger metropolis to get better-quality data. The Utheric Das Kapital would be his best bet, but it was workweek of change of location and preparations had to made for a trip like that.

Try as he might, it was severe to remain unnoticed. rumour about him circulated through the Town, with hoi polloi he had never met knowing his public figure. He would walk down the street and women would wink and blow kisses, even trying to seduce him. Men would smirk and nod in commendation as they passed by, a means of displaying respectfulness. Even the old madam at the drugstore would tease him. When Tin went out, she'd wear a hood to hold in her identity. It wasn't an ideal situation. If he was to be known throughout the village, he wished it would be for something a little more heroic.

.

.

.

Medicine

.

.

.

The spring rains were dramatic, passionate, the lifeblood of Mother Nature as she fully awoke from her winter sleep and prepared for summer. Yet at the moment, the fury with which the expound pearl fell was not appreciated, for they numbed Noah's fingers as he gripped his steel and made him shiver as his clothes became worthless from the moistness. It was also hard to see, splashing against his grimace and blurring his vision, but he kept his gaze focused on his enemies.

He was out in the wood, Tin having retreated as per his orders. Before him, a trio of bandits, all with arm raised. Noah was armed with his dead sword, unable to wield his main leaf blade, due to an arrow stuck in his articulatio humeri. When he was first struck from behind, he had hoped it was simply a hunter's honest mistake, but the bloodthirsty flavor on the men's faces told him that he was their genuine butt. They probably robbed and killed adventurers for a living, and he couldn't imagine their female person victims dying quickly.

Should he just plough invisible and dispatch them before they could revenge ? No, there was something he wanted to try, and a human being antagonist would be the unadulterated run subject. He raised his free hand towards his human face, breaking the dead end with one of the brigand firing his adulterate arrow. Noah deflected it with his shield, the most he could do with his wounded shoulder. He swept his hand across his middle as if trying to sack up his vision, activating both of his piece. However, rather than splitting from his illusional clone, he wore it, syncing his motility with the bandits not even noticing a difference.

One of the archer's age group, this one armed with a heavy engagement axe, charged towards him. Noah had his knockoff take a defensive position, while he pulled away, stepping ahead and stabbing the man through the centre before he could make his jive. The archer guessing another pointer as Noah stepped back into his illusion, but he again blocked with his cuticle. Noah, with his movements concealed, drew several lowly knife from his whack and hurled them at the archer. His mana clung to the blades, rendering them unseeable as they buried themselves in the archer, taking him out of the game.

All that was left was a fencer, and he knew that something was going on. Two of his age group were utter, but he didn't understand how. He pushed his confusion aside and charged towards Noah. Noah blocked and parried his attacks with his steel, wanting to take away his metre and savor the battle. He was so practice to fighting monsters, he wanted to gain sure his skill in killing other humans hadn't gone dull, to refamiliarize himself with their unique movements and techniques.

He was allowing the bandit to push him back, though there was trivial he could do to stop it. His adversary was armed with a ambidextrous sword, so he could cede more force than Noah could rally with his short blade. He strung the bandit along, using repetitious, easy social movement, laying a fake track as to what his next move would be. He made a wide baseball swing from the side, and the bandit automatically blocked, however, the steel never came, it was only Noah's illusionary arm. His real number arm swung from the diametric side, slashing the bandit across the stomach.

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 mighty cleave. Noah blocked with his sword, at least, that's what the bandit saw. In truth, he had blocked with his carapace, allowing him to slash the brigand across the wrist without him even seeing the attack coming. blood poured freely, the man's hand now useless. He released a cry of elbow grease and tried a one-handed swing. The sword sliced through Noah's neck, just as the man had aimed for, but he knew something was wrong when no severed head fell, and what's more, he hadn't felt anything when he made the slash. It was like he had hit nothing but air. He raised his steel to block a vacillation from Noah, but in realness, it was a shot, with Noah's sword piercing his pectus. Noah confirmed all three deaths and then called out to Tin.

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

"I'm afraid it'll hurt."

"I can manage it."

She was nervous, but she grabbed and arrow and ripped it out without progeny, making Noah grimace in infliction. 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 health potions were a real life-saver, miracles in a bottle.

"Thanks."

Noah once more checked the bodies, but their faces didn't peer any wanted bill poster, meaning there was no Bounty that he could pull in with their fountainhead. Tin went to work, stripping the consistence of everything utile. They were so used to this routine that he rarely needed to move over her orders.

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

"I agree,"Tin said.

They set off back towards the Town, fantasizing of removing their soaked clothes and warming themselves beside a fervor. They had mint to acquit, and the rain made everything heavier, with the supply coldness sapping their military posture. By the metre they reached the inn, even Noah was on his utmost legs, and felt weak. The sun hadn't fully set yet, but the clouds were so thick that it was almost pitch contraband out.

It was a moderation to finally get inside and out of the rain, but Noah knew something was off. He felt woozy, his cerebration 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 room tonight. Can you consume someone get our repast up to us, along with extra firewood ?"

"Sure affair, dearie."

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

"Master, is something wrong ?"

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

She lent him her shoulder joint 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 clothes. Tin locked the door and started a fire in the hearth. Once detached of his wet clothes, Noah collapsed on the bed. The mattress was chunky stalk, the piece of paper were fierce like emery paper, and the cover smelled like wet dog no matter how many prison term it was cleaned, but Noah was grateful for them.

As the firing started to burn and meet the elbow room with loose and warmness, there was a bang on the door. Two chambermaids stood outside, the boniface's daughters, though they were untested than Tin. One of them held two trays of food, and the early held an exceptionally large bundle of firewood. Noah hid himself beneath the blanket and Tin answered. As Noah had taught her, she kept the door loose just enough to drive the intellectual nourishment and firewood, and didn't allow them inside.

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

"I'll be OK. deal off your dress and affectionate yourself by the fire before you end up like me."

He watched her undress and the two of them sat on the bed, wrapped in cover as they ate their dinner party. It was hot stew, the perfect solace food. Unfortunately, Noah was starting to find it difficult to eat up. By the sentence he finished, his breathing was becoming labored and his nitty-gritty was beating irregularly. Noah was hoping it was just a cold, but this was starting to palpate much more acute and was coming on too quickly. Perhaps a disease native to this world ?

Tin could see his term worsening."professional, you should get some sleep."

She took his tray and gently pushed him onto his rear. Truth be told, as soon as his head hit the pillow, he lost the specialty to incite. 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 Sir Henry Joseph Wood to the fire and slid under the mantle. Her raw physical structure met his and she curled up against him.

Noah closed his eyes, but while nap was quick to get along, it was unpleasant. nightmare assailed him, a burning heat ravaging him both physically and mentally. He remembered tossing and turning throughout the Nox, when the pain in the neck in his body outweighed his weariness. All of his muscles ached and spasmed almost around-the-clock, his stomach felt like it was full of oil, and he couldn't head for the hills his fever.

He finally awoke the next sunrise to the tidy sum of rain pelting the window. His mouth was as dry as ashes and he felt like he was going to die of lust, just like he had a few clip in the past times. The rainfall, it had gotten him into this slew, but now he so desperately wanted it. He wanted to go out and air out the heat that clung to him like a rapscallion on his back.

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

"superior ?"

He saw her in his peripheral vision, but he didn't have the strength to flex to her.

"Water."It was all he could say.

She brought him a cup of piddle, and in his impatience, he tried to pull it from her hired man, if only to get it to his sassing a nanosecond Sooner. His clumsy reach was ignored and she helped him wrick on his back so that he could drink. It was some of the serious water he had ever tasted, and he felt some aliveness return to him, if only a little.

"More."

She brought over the pitcher to refill the cup, but he simply snatched it and tope the whole thing.

"How do you feel ?"

"Everything hurts, I feel like I'm on flack. I think I'm gon na … gon na …"He covered his oral cavity and frantically pointed to the chamber pot in the corner of the way. He had detested the presence 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 live on night's dinner. He fell back on the bed, with his abdomen feeling even worse. He had gotten a awful flu a few years ago, but even that wasn't as bad as this. This was like malaria combined with detox."Ugh… fuck. In every lifetime, getting barf suction ass."

"I'll go get the host. She may have intercourse what's wrong."

"No. Me being sick folio us vulnerable, and the Sir Thomas More people know about it, the bang-up the danger. If I can't fight, we're soft prey. If I'm still in this condition by tomorrow, then you can get help."

"What can I do ?"

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

Tin was hesitant, not wanting to leave his side, but she obeyed. With her gone, Noah tried to fall back to log Z's, but could only get a pale imitation that was nowhere near as restful. For Noah, it felt like his Einstein was being fed on by ants. He spent the rest of the day in bed, passing in and out of knowingness. Tin remained with him whenever potential. She used moistness tag end to keep his fever in handicap, and hung a kettle over the fire, making tea for him whenever he asked, though his thirst was unquenchable.

Noon came around, and Noah sat up to eat his luncheon, though it was a sports stadium of soup. Normally, masses ate whatever the house special was at the metre, but by paying extra, guests of the inn could order specific solid food, at to the lowest degree, within reason. The stock went down easy, but the kernel and vegetables felt like cacti rolling down his throat. As he ate, Tin helped pass over the lather from his organic structure. His dapple on the bed would ask some prison term to dry out. When he had finished eating, he simply sat with his capitulum in his hired man, taking recondite breather and trying to discount the throbbing pain.

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

"You're doing lot for me already."

"There must be more that I can do."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"How practically meter would I have if it were to be fatal ? How long does this lowest ?"Noah asked.

"Three mean solar day. After that, you're in the clear."She got to her feet and returned to the door."I'm confining you both to this room until this blows over. The last 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 us out,"said Noah,"rather than simply isolate us and risk everyone. She must like us a bit, or at least want to protect her repute. I told you to wait a day before calling her."

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

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

Tin lifted a loose floorboard, revealing a cavity underneath, in which a leather pouch sat. She presented it to Noah and he opened it up to reveal his phone and billfold. While they were mostly useless in this new universe, he held onto them in the hopes that he could at least use them for office and kept the earphone off to save its energy. If he ever needed to set about an emergency fervor, that lithium barrage fire could descend in handy. Luckily, he had his earbuds with him, so he could at to the lowest degree enjoy one part of his old life. Tin stared at the device, possessed by curiosity. She had only seen it once or twice, the metallic character, the light it produced. Was it some kind of sorcerous peter ? She wanted to ask what it was, but when Noah put in the ear buds, she assumed it was something that would help him get better.

He set his play list to random and lay back down, hoping that the euphony would distract him. He drifted once more into the rift between being asleep and awake, cursed with his febrility even in his dreams. During his waking bit, he was either drinking water or throwing up. The only understanding 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 thinker. One song in peculiar came up,"House of the Rising Sun ”, and as that opening guitar strung out, a computer memory was pulled from the depths of his judgement, another time he had heard that Song.

It was before dawn, he had been driving out in the Nevada desert, out of the sight of Vegas. Noah was in his thirty-something at the time, lamenting all the rubble the Cadillac was kicking up, so much of it sticking to the outside. He'd have to houseclean it up later, as his employers wouldn't be happy if he returned the company car in a disgraceful condition. 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 trunk, from which he removed a man with bound radiocarpal joint and a bag over his head. He stumbled on his invertebrate foot, and Noah pulled him to the edge of the ravine and removed the bag over his side. The man's face was streaked with desiccated blood, some of which also stained his clothes shirt. He was perhaps in his fifty, a fourth-year in the troupe.

"You fucking retard,"he spat. Noah ignored him and turned up the wireless so he could hear the rest of the Song. The exterior of the car was an antique 70's model, worth its free weight in gold, but the interior had been upgraded into the mod age. When he returned to the man, it was with a gun in his paw."Killing me will just fuck up your liveliness and whoever threw me under the bus. You really think Alejandro can take force ? Once this gets out, the streets will get 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 willing to start a war just because it'll be fun ?"

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

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

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

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

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

The sun broke absolve of the horizon, and as its Light was soaked up by the land, a gunshot rang out across the desert.

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

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

As she wiped away his swither, her eyes fell to his exposed manhood, and lust fluttered through her, a intuitive feeling that Noah had introduced her to. Their routine had been disturbed by this sickness, as yesterday was the day she was supposed to help him civilise his mana. She cherished those days, when she could finally serve him in the way she knew best, when she got to experience euphoria.

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

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

As her head bobbed up and down over his lap, Noah was sinking farther and farther into his mind, while being pursued by the medicine from his telephone set. Once more, a lone guitar was playing, and what niggling cognizance his mind still had tried to remember what it was from. Ah, the lyric, yeah, this was pink Floyd,"Wish You Were Here ”. It was his wife's favorite, one of his past times wives, that is. He played it at their wedding ceremony and her funeral. He could commend the cheery sky command processing overhead when they cut the bar, and the somber clouds that matched the gloss of her casket as it was lowered into the land. He remembered the food served at both occasion. But what was her public figure ? They danced to this call, but he couldn't remember her expression. 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 fall away through clock time, each song conjuring up a computer memory. He remembered studying at MIT while listening to Two Steps From Hell. He remembered the stereo cacophony Metallica when his convoy was blown up in Syria. He remembered Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart playing in the infirmary as he died from pancreatic cancer. He wasn't aware of the murmur escaping his back talk, recalling conversations from across time and space.

When next he woke up, it was nighttime out, and the earbuds felt like hot coals in his spike. He looked at his phone, now with a one-fourth battery left. How many More metre could he heed to medicine before his earphone just became a useless block ? He put his head back on his pillow, instead listening to Tin's breathing as she slept soundly beside him.

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

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

"Who is it ?"he asked.

"It's holly, I've got your intellectual nourishment !"Ah, one of the chambermaids.

"Please, just depart it there."

Noah slowly sat up and released another groan. hold back a s, he felt better. He felt like he just gotten the shit beaten out of him for three hours straight, but he could finally move around. His feverishness had lessened and the discomfort was due to the strain it had put on his body.

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

He turned to her, seeing a flushed look, moist with sweat. The lenify breathing he had listened to last night was now an anguished pant."Shit. Tin can you hear me ?"

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

"There you are. I need you to narrate 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 vexation about it, I'm fine, but you caught the springburn sickness. I'm going to get you through this."

"It's so hot in here. Don't concern, 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 fall to the floor.

"Tin, can you get word me ? How many digit am I holding up ?"

He showed her his hand, but she just looked at it with glazed over centre."Are we going to go search monsters today ?"

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

He climbed over her to get out of bed, but as soon as he stood up, he fell to his knees, gasping for air. He was on the mend, but he was still in a stinky billet. He crawled over to his backpack and pulled out a health and mana potion. He had tried drinking them before, to see if they could cure him, but was met with unsuccessful person. He downed them both, and the pain racking his eubstance subsided. His strength and toughness were still close to zero, but at least the tenderness was gone.

The first thing he needed to do was get her fever down before she suffered serious damage. Next to the bed was the backwash drainage basin, filled with rags. Just as Tin had done when he was sick, he draped them across her body.

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

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

Noah got dressed and limped over to the doorway. Outside were two intellectual nourishment trays and a pitcher of unused water. He brought them in, and having already experienced the bother of this disease, he brought the mound over to Tin, rather than just a cupful. He lifted her head and poured the water between her pale lips. She released sighs of assuagement between each gulp, and every time he thought she was done, she'd lean her head forward, as if trying to snaffle it like a dog not wanting to surrender its toy.

He filled up the tea kettle and hung it over the fireplace, with a new fire soon blooming beneath it. When he was grim, he hated the fire, the heat it gave off. It was the but clock time he was grateful for the draftiness of the room, all the little holes for unused air to slip in, but it was needed. As he waited for the kettleful to churn, he retrieved Tin's breakfast and once more vacate her heading. It was warm porridge, probably made with him in nous, but now perfect for Tin.

"clip for breakfast, Tin. Can you open your oral cavity for me ?"He brought a spoonful to her oral cavity, but as soon as she smelled it, she instinctively turned away, whimpering."I know your throat and stomach hurt right now, but you need to eat. You need all the 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 eff 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 detain in bed. Can you repeat that rachis to me ?"

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

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

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

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

He got up and took a cryptic breath, then cast his invisibility. The host would give him a intemperate metre if she saw him outside of his room, might even complain him out. While his magic was apotheosis, his organic structure was so weak that his mana might not last long. He left the room and locked it behind him. The hall outside was empty, but he could learn passel of people in the bar. Getting down the stairs was difficult, as his head was sent spinning with each step. No one noticed his presence, and he made it through the breakfast bunch and outside. It felt aught short circuit of euphoric to breathe fresh air and soakage in the sun.

A bit of his forcefulness had returned, so he released his spell and made his way across township to the pill pusher. interior, the old woman watched as he looked through a bill of fare of her wares, ***********ing plants that helped with everything from febricity to upset stomach.

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

"It's been a rough few days."

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

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

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

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

She was completely out of it. He scooped her up and carried her to the bed. He needed to constitute some medicinal drug for her, but he couldn't do it while she was crawling around like this. He took the blanket and charge off a long airstrip, then used it to tie her carpus to the bedframe. Restraining her was not an nonesuch root, but at least the fabric wouldn't leave a mark.

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

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

He laid the cover over her and left her on the bed, then went to work. In the time since he first started making his own potions, he had bought a cheesy compounding kit, including a mortar and pestle. He wasn't a skilled herbalist like the chemist, but most of the works in this world were just like those he knew from his past life-time, and had built up plenty of natural selection knowledge. hoi polloi easily faded from his retentiveness, but noesis and technical science were held onto. The pastime of education was one of the few habits he chose to continue in every life, as it was the closest he could get to finding import in the multiverse.

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

"Tin, heat up, I have tea."

"No ! No !"She started flailing, knocking the cup from Noah's hired hand. He grabbed her and pinned her down."No, please plosive ! It hurts ! Mama, it hurts ! Make him turn back !"

"Tin, snap out of it !"

The conclusion thing he needed was somebody overhearing this and misunderstanding. He covered her oral fissure, waiting for the nightmare to end. Perhaps he should have picked up something to tranquilize her. Would he have to completely bind and gag her to keep back her still and quieten ? That would likely push her further into the delusion, and with this disease ransacking through her trunk, the stress might bolt down her. How could he calm her down ?

He left her to recollect a cup of water and splashed it on her aspect. That seemed to stir her awake."Huh ? superior ?"

"Tin, say my name."

"N-Noah."

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

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

"I'm making medicinal drug to help you feel better, but there is something else I want to try."He retrieved his telephone set and put the earbuds in her ears. He had a playlist of sluttish listening Song, mostly instrumental and soundtracks. He ***********ed one,"Vide Cor Meum ”, one of his favorites. It was gentle, set at a low book, but the sound of the twine and voices, right in her spike, made Tin freak out.

"What is this ? What is this ? !"she exclaimed in seismic disturbance. Her first inherent aptitude was to rip 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 ?"

"music ?"

She thought back, trying to think of while her idea was still misty. Her fellow slaves, they used to take in body of work songs when they toiled in the discipline, kind of a mean of expressing empathy and solidarity, that they all shared the like pain. She knew a boy who used to play the flute glass, though not very well, and once, she heard the married woman of one of her former masters playing a harp from within her mansion. They could be called music, but they all paled in comparing 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 body, sending shivers of cloud nine up her spine that made her forget her fever. It left Tin stunned, her center astray as dinner home plate with her mouth hanging open. She looked at Noah, seeing a rare grin on his face.

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

She nodded, staring up at the ceiling as the Song dynasty continued. Noah resumed his study, eventually completing his music. It wasn't a remedy, but it would facilitate concentrate her symptoms. For the following three days, Noah looked after Tin, doing all the things for her that she had done for him. Thanks to the medicine, he was able to forbid her from hallucinating, though she still had nightmares from her lifetime of abuse. When that happened, Noah would put the earbuds in her auricle and make for a birdsong for her, and she would immediately finalize, as if hypnotized.

For Noah, hearing music had flooded his idea with store, making him relive aspect of his past lives when he heard those songs, but for Tin, it was the opposite. Having lived a life without music, the bank note and vocalisation filled every aspect of her mind, forcing everything else out, every bad thought and retentivity. When she was awake, she'd listen while watching Noah make her medicine or practice his illusion, and when Noah looked at her, there would always be a smile on her face.

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

It had been a workweek since Noah fell ill, and he and Tin were going for a walk around the village. His strength had returned, but she was still fallible, and hopefully some unfermented air and exercise would facilitate her feel better. They had been cooped up in that room for so long, and the beautiful weather was just what they needed. Normally, Tin would walk behind Noah, as a proper striver, but today, she was bold, hanging onto his arm. She claimed it to be to aid her walk, that she was faint and needed to lean on him, but the smile on her face told of her dishonesty. Noah allowed it, as she had taken such dear care of him when he was sick and it was his fault she fell ill after him. He certainly owed her.

What bothered him, though, were the feeling 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 pair, so when they saw the way Tin held onto Noah, they all grinned like they had just heard a unclean joke. There was a saying going around, a jocularity, that even those who had never met Tin had heard her voice.

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

"Huh ? Where's this coming from ?"

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

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

Tin opened her lip and stopped. The thing she had heard her master say when he was unrestrained, both great and tremendous things, many of which she couldn't understand, such as when he started speaking other languages or reciting lines from textbooks.

"No, other than cursing."

"That sounds about right."

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

They climbed up a Benny 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 cipher to compare it to."

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

"Where was that ?"

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

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

"Yes."

Tin looked at him, the man who she called her maestro. She knew when he lied. She saw him do it to everyone he talked to, especially her. There weren't any Tell for her to translate, he never stumbled or hesitated, and she had seen it act time and time again, but there was something about his middle, a hollowness she thought she saw. She had tried asking about his past, but his regard was always void, even when he spoke with a grin. He never asked her about her own past times, but it was cypher she wasn't used to. She had grown up being treated as an target, both a tool and a toy. Intimate conversation was not something a slave should expect from their master copy, but she had never had a master that made her feel this way, that was so variety to her.

"M-master…"she stammered.

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

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

He stared at her, unsure of what his adjacent move should be, but as he saw the wetness of her eyes, his fearfulness 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 someone like me to know."

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

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

Noah looked up at the sky."I grew up near the coast, and my founder had a boat. He wasn't a fisherman or merchant, rather, it was a avocation. In the summer, when the weather was good, my family would go out on the piddle and go fishing, simply for the delectation of it. We'd catch mackerel and try to use them as sweetener to catch big striped bass, but it never worked out. One time, we brought our dog with us, and I remember finding a grape-sized check mark on his eyebrow and putting it on my hook, seeing if I would catch anything. You wouldn't believe how bright it is out on the water."

Tin moved closer to Noah, clutching his arm and leaning her head on his articulatio humeri. 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 people, what it like to develop up being plenteous. He recalled fond remembering of his siblings and vacation as an only tiddler. He told her of how his parents loved and supported him, then how they screamed and beat him. He described stick machines and the engineering science of the modern world, and the fight for natural selection in the aftermath of the Revelation.

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

.

.

.

chronological sequence

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.

.

Noah and Tin, having fully recovered from the springburn unwellness, set out ahead of time on a beautiful day. summer was upon them, so the mornings had lost much of their chill, though everyone paid for it in sweat later in the day. Unlike before, when they roamed aimlessly through the woods to run monsters, they had a specific localization in mind. Noah had heard rumors of an abandoned mine that was taken over by goblins. A beehive, a nest, a colony, whatever it could be called, it spelled trouble for the village. goblin ate and bred like rotter, so if they managed to find a good post to dig in, they could bolster their numbers in very piddling fourth dimension. They had claimed the region respective times before and had to be flushed out, and while endeavour had been made to seal or destroy the mine, the hobgoblin always found a way back in.

They were following one of the maps Noah had bought, with several pieces of advice written down that he had received from early adventurers. It would rent a day to reach the mine, so they exercised simpleness and avoided fighting behemoth whenever potential. Hopefully this mine would be a with child origin of revenue in clean weapon system, meaning it would be best to travel light and not gather along the way.

They arrived at the mine early in the cockcrow of the pursue day. Finding a safe position to set up camp had been hard, for this was the territory where the hobgoblin roamed. The mine was carved into the base of one of the belittled mountains. At one time, it might cause been a fairly seemly operation. There were plenty of signal of the buildings that would have stood around it, now reduced to slews of kindling. There had once been a wooden hovel built around the entrance, sort of like an airlock, perhaps to go on the rainwater out some time ago, but it was just a rickety underframe now. Many of the fabric and abandoned equipment were harvested to construct weapons and barriers for use against intruders, with a handful of hob keeping a constant ticker.

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

"Yes, Master."

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

Noah went for the one no one would acknowledge, the sniper above. He approached the ingress without fear, inconspicuous and inaudible to the goblins keeping guard, but that would switch. The sole way to the sniper was to go up up onto the cap of the shack, but it was so weathered and frail, it looked like it couldn't reinforcement more than the weight of one goblin. However, it was worth taking the jeopardy. He reached the position of the shed and began the climb, using the mossy cliffside as a lowly ladder to serve minimize the weight he put on the old wooden boards.

He was careful with every placement of his script and feet, so as to disturb as petty as possible. His illusion would conceal the crisscross he made, but only within a certain scope. He had experimented with Tin's help, finding that footmark would be revealed after ten steps, so he had to stay within that range to hold on them within his illusion. Besides, if he ended up ripping a plank right out of the bulwark, his illusion wouldn't be able to conceal it. It could conceal shadow of his action, but not replicate target. The climbing was unmanageable. The wood of the hut had frayed over the class and riddled his workforce with matchwood, while the arduous cadaver on the cliff crumbled and made it hard to get a solid hold. Regardless, he managed to rise up onto the roof.

The roof itself was like slim down ice, and if he ended up breaking through or snapping any of the beams, the goblin would surely sense it, even if he couldn't hear it. Noah pulled a rock out of the cliff and threw it into the leaf in the space. The goblin perked its head at the noise, and in that instant, Noah closed in and stabbed it in the cover with his short circuit sword. It died before it could even voice its pain.

Noah left it sitting there and climbed off the hutch, then snuck over to the two goblins sitting away from the entry. They looked bored as can be, struggling to stay awake. Noah approached the first one, leaning against one of the wooden wall. He dispatched it with his knife, striking the base of the encephalon stem. The wound was little and the goblin simply went limp, never feeling a thing. To its friends, it would take care like it had simply dozed off. Noah slew the other hobgoblin the Saami way, without creating any stochasticity or disturbances.

Finally, he approached the entry, where the four were still gambling. He stood over them, the sun passing through him perfectly and its re illuminating their secret plan. He ***********ed his longsword for this, even doing a few practice swings to figure out the reach and force required. When he was satisfied, he gave a mighty slash, beheading all four brute at once. Their consistence dropped to the ground and Noah released his charm, then waved Tin over.

As he stood sentry go, she searched the trunk, and for each one, cut off their right ear. Most monsters had some useful trunk part that could be sold, like their hides for clothing or their meat as food, but aside from collectors of grotesqueness like skulls and other things to put on display, nothing about the goblin was merchantable. However, since they were such a nuisance, their coinage had an ongoing bounty. The local baron would pay venturer for every goblin they killed, and their right ear were the proof. The goblins also sometimes have a bun in the oven valuables, such as weapon system, candles, and even coins. Tin searched them all, and whatever goodness she collected went into her haversack.

"Ready to go in ?"Noah asked.

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

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

They entered the mine, and were immediately assailed by the reek. This was the beginning time Noah or Tin had ever seen a hobgoblin nestle, so the smelling was new to them. It reeked of sewerage and rotting gist, much of the latter probably human.

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

They delved into the wad with Tin lighting Noah's way. Everywhere, there were the remains of animate being that the hob had eaten, picked down to the ivory. In a way, the goblins provided a valuable help to the ecosystem. Because goliath and creature spawned both organically and through magic circles, the landscape painting should have been buried under all of their stiff. Instead, the scavenging wolf would take their discovery to their den, continuously sweeping the forest clean.

They soon came upon the low branch sleeping accommodation, just like in an anthill. It was small, about the size of it of an average bedchamber. Inside, several hobgoblin were sleeping atop a pot of hide. nearly of them were distaff or younglings. It wasn't proper sport to kill such prey while they slept, but this was an extermination job, so things like honor held no meaning.

"It would probably be better if you didn't watch this,"Noah whispered to Tin."face away and mind for any approaching."

She did as ordered, a plaintive look on her face as she averted her eye while keeping the spark of the lantern focused into the sleeping room. Noah drew his light brand and began stabbing the demon in their sopor. Each time, he'd go straight for the head, so that they would die without making a sound. He was steady, methodical, taking them out one by one with none of his victims even suspecting a thing. It was unnervingly well-fixed, and when he was done, he harvested their ears.

"captain !"

Noah heard it with a monstrous shriek. He ran back out into the tunnel as a hob charged from bass within, armed with a wooden shaft. Noah pushed Tin out of the way of its number one thrust, then sliced off the top of its head with a strike to the temple. 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 large sticker. He stepped out of its scope and kicked the hob in the chest, nearly sending it flying. The irregular blocked the swing of his sword with a wooden club, but he forced it against the wall and drove his knife into its chest. Leaving it to die, he returned to the initiative, struggling to take a breather, and ended its life with his sword.

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

They moved further on down into the burrow, finding it expand into a tumid sleeping room and fork out. There was still plenty of mining equipment, but much of it was being used to pay heed food from. The bodies of both humans and animals had been skinned and were being cooked over bonfire. The goblins were jumping around and squealing in delight as the smell of their feast wafted through the mine. human flesh cooked over a fervidness, it was a smell that took Noah back to some dark timelines.

Tin gasped in horror at the hatful and one of the hob spotted them and squealed something in their bestial language. The dozen or so hobgoblin in the chamber turned their tending to Noah and Tin and began to approach, armed with the blades used for butchering their food. They chanted the same squeal, probably something along the rail line of"more meat !"

"Tin, stand back."

He summoned his knockoff and sent it running to the in good order face 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 clon. With that opening night, Noah attacked from their exposed side with his longsword and beheaded three of the animate being. The goblins, sensing the death of their comrades, turned their attending back to Noah and swarmed in. He kept them at bay with across-the-board swing, while leaving his left English open to taunt them. One by one, they tried to lash out from the apparent subterfuge spot, but he would off them before they could actually arrive at him. Any that got in close enough to attack found their arm blocked by Noah's cuticle, and then his sword would gash at them from below and break open their stomachs open.

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

Noah cast both of his spells, and while he had his clone remain where he was and pretend to be standing his reason. He snuck past the goblins and attacked from buns. He slaughtered three before the residual noticed, but as they couldn't see him, they could do null but scream in confusion. They made it too slowly for Noah to finish them off. Even though the chamber had gone quiet, he waited several moments before releasing his spells.

"All clear."

Tin went to mold, gathering up valuables. The blades might be worth something to the blacksmith, but they'd have to wash out the dried line off them first. As Tin searched the hob corpses, Noah looked around at the other eubstance being stored here. There were plenty of freshly killed humans and animal that were waiting to be cooked, so it was possible that their pockets hadn't been picked yet. Noah dug through the quite a little of bodies, ignoring their stench, but one of them caught his care.

It was a boy, a bit youthful than him, and unlike the others, his limbs were bound. He wasn't cold like the others. Noah checked his neck, and while it was weak, he found a unshakable pulse. wait a endorsement, he had seen him before. Noah had gotten to know passel of hoi polloi around the Ithiel Town in the past month, and learned to recognize others. He often saw this boy with Beth and Mira, carrying a steel and dressed as an venturer. They frequently ate together at the Old Wineskin. Noah assumed they recruited him to join their party.

"Tin, I found a survivor."

He retrieved a health potion from his pocket and poured it down the boy's throat. As it took effect, Noah examined him. His dress were good quality, but still the kind used by outdoorsmen. He had a decent physique, showing signs of preparation and tough work, but while there were callus on his workforce, there were healing bulla from wielding a sword. He was probably a farmer, but came from money.

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

"Where am I ?"

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

He severed the boy's chemical bond and helped him to his feet. For a instant, he seemed back in effective 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.

"calmness down, everything is fine. I'm Noah and this is my subordinate, Tin."

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

"Your father ? No, we're just here to kill goblin and steal their loot. How did they capture you ?"

The boy seemed to be able to stand erect on his own, so Noah let him go, though he was struggling to call back."I… was being trained in hunting by a local venturer that my father hired. I had just shot a boar with my bow… then I felt a monumental pain in the back of my head and blacked out."

"Your forefather, is he a noble ?"

"Yes, Ivan Fault. The big businessman in charge of the town. I'm swearing flaw, the next head."

"Well, curse, we'll assistant 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 forethought of a good act them, see ?"Noah pointed to the soundbox of his dupe."I'm confident in my ability. Besides, it took a lot of effort to get here, so we're not leaving until our pouch are filled with goodies and we can barely take the air. secern me, do you have any natural endowment ? Can you use witching or any weapon ?"

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

"Some, huh ? So best case scenario, I can carry you to hold off a goblin that might sneak up on us from behind."Noah took off his back pack and forced it into Oath's manus."Otherwise, you're my new face pack mule."

"You can't be serious !"

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

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

"smarting choice."

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

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

"I used to be a James Leonard Farmer, I just started fighting ogre recently. I'm still not used to it. But this is unbelievable. I've never seen someone putting to death so many hob singlehandedly."

"Well I can see how they might be able to get the bead on soul if they ambush with superior numbers, but when you face them head on, it's like fighting a chemical group of ugly, savage nestling. Oh, public speaking of which, I see another breeder."

The peck before them was nauseating, as what appeared to be a big green pig was nursing a bedding of sawed-off minuscule pixie. While the male hob went out into the timber to collect, the female would run to the younglings. Despite being LE than half a human foot tall as neonate, they would reach life-sized in just six month, hence their voracious appetency. Noah dispatched the breeder and stomped out the younglings, much to Oath's horror.

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

"They wouldn't have been babies very long. In just a few months, they would be roaming the woods, killing whoever crossed their way and dragging them back here to be devoured. You and Tin are carrying packs full of the possessions of their dupe. I'm not judging them for doing as nature commands them to, I'm simply dealing with a terror before it can go a threat."A deafening bellow made the three teens cover their ears and flinch."What the hell was that ?"

"A hobgoblin,"said curse,"otherwise known as a hobgoblin boss. They're a rare strain. I hear that only one out of ten thousand hob can farm to go a hobgoblin. They're a great deal bigger, smarter, and unattackable than a regular goblin and can even learn thaumaturgy. We need to get out of here, right now ! It's heard the deaths of the younglings and is coming for retaliation !"

"Perfect. He's probably hoarding the just poppycock. Let's go."

"This is mad ! The regular goblin may be weak, but bugbear are inviolable than human being in every way !"

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

Oath turned to Tin, hoping that she might utter up, but her expression was completely vacuous, as if she was daydreaming."You can believe my Master. He is strong and skilled."

Noah set off towards the source of the noise, but they need not travel far, as their foe came to greet them from the depths of the mountain. It stood over six foundation tall with a far more muscular mannequin than the lower hob possessed. Like them, it wore a loincloth, but it was also garbed in firearm of stolen armor, including a alloy helmet. Looking over a pair of boar-like tusks protruding from his mouth, he glared at the trespasser with indescribable hatred.

"You will sustain for the expiry of my kin !"he snarled.

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

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

It immediately closed the distance to make the Lapp sideways swing Noah had, and with the blade's keen length, he didn't have the time or room to get out of the way. Instead, Noah rushed towards the steel to close up it with his own. As the hobgoblin straightened his munition, his swing would become more sinewy, so he had to intervene at the earliest possible moment.

Sparks flew off their sword as Noah's sword halted the goblin's. It released one paw 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 Adam's Apple. It staggered back, wheezing in pain, but without dropping its defense. Its nuisance permissiveness was remarkable.

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

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

Noah's inherent aptitude had already told him the same thing, but while he was able to get his body out the way, his sword met the goblin's blade head-on and snapped. The beast's weapon buried itself in the stone ground, shaking the entire cavern, and Noah rolled away to nullify any barehanded attacks like before. He got to his metrical foot, examining his weapon system and the enemy's. The speed of the hob's baseball swing had increased, as well as its strength and the durability of his sword.

It must give birth been warrior magic, something he heard of while gathering info in Clive. Warrior trick was the power to touch off weapon accomplishment that would meliorate their power in battle, such as cutting deeper and withstanding more force without breaking. He had witnessed magic a few fourth dimension during the survive month and had become comrade, but this was only his second time since he arrived that he was actually fighting against a wizardly drug user. Perhaps it would be best to finish this engagement while he was unscathed, rather than continue pushing his luck. On the former hand, Oath hadn't seen his magic, and he wanted to keep it that way. He'd just have got to operate harder with his physical abilities.

The goblin charged with his sword slightly raised to either block or blast. It wasn't glowing like before, but his last attack had shown that he could harness his magic in a fraction of second, so Noah couldn't risk being in the way when the next golf shot happened. Noah readied himself, still holding his broken blade. He came within the goblin's range and the sword swung diagonally towards his neck opening. Noah bolted forward, anticipating when the goblin would be committed to the movement. He swung his offend sword towards the goblin's articulatio radiocarpea, making him break for the abbreviated moment to take the scourge of fatal injury, and that present moment was all Noah needed to draw his shortstop sword and clip him across the tummy while zooming past.

The wound was severe, having used the inertia of the goblin's charge to get the best the wall of abdominal brawniness and slicing deep into the organs. The hobgoblin staggered, his guts spilling onto the ground. Noah finished him off before he could recover any of his strength. He took a mysterious breathing spell and listened for any attackers hiding nearby.

"Clear."

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

As Tin went to make for removing the goblin's armour and checking for personal self-possession, Noah examined the steel used. It was a good vane, certainly sturdy, and he now needed a replacement for his longsword, but as he held it, his changed his brain. His master copy longsword had the utmost permissible weight and size, and anything greater in either category would hinder his front too much.

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

"I've studied several styles and forms of combat throughout my living, including archery and play, mostly out of ennui or for example, and I've had spate of experience killing. Your founder pays citizenry for every goblin citizenry kill, correct ? Will I get extra if I bring him the head of their gaffer ?"

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

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

‘ Huh, a magic annulus found in a goblin tunnel. What could possibly go legal injury ?'He gave it a closer aspect under the light of Tin's lantern and found a crest, depicting a shield with a swan on it. It was the subject symbol of Uther. There was also something written on the band with a strange substance."oath, what do you make of this ?"

"That's the doughnut of an Utheric knight ! Anyone caught wearing one without being knighted can mislay their paw as punishment !"

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

"The ring is gold, but is inscribed with a uncommon metal called avenium, which can pervade objects with very high-ranking spell. I once heard that a steel with avenium runes can hold More power than the ten best steel swords. Knight rings are inscribed with a spell that creates another cosmos where detail can be stored."

"How many items ?"

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

Noah put on the doughnut and channeled some of his mana into it. It was a foreign feeling, like he had just put his hand into a overindulge bag. He could see his helping hand, but not the objects he was touching. He felt a small bottle and closed his hired man around it. The ring acknowledged that as a ***********ion and materialized the bottle. It was wide-cut of a lily-livered liquidness, probably some form of potion, or it could just be Olea europaea oil.

"This'll come in handy."

"Just wearing that mob is a sober law-breaking !"

"What ring ? I don't see a band,"Noah replied as he stowed it in his pocket."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 sour burrow, searching for goods. By the time he had faced the hobgoblin, almost of the other hobgoblin had already been killed, so there was little resistance. They found the bulk of their booty down in the depressed chamber, where the hobgoblin appeared to have been sleeping. The goblins were splendid stealer, stealing whatever they could get their hands on with travelers being their deary butt. There were weapon stash, old bag and barrels of solid food, ropes and strand, clothes and armour, plenty of tools, and a small lot in coins. He even found the armour and sword of the horse that the goblin chief had killed. This haul was better than Noah hoped, and while they couldn't carry all of it, the annulus helped pick up the best pieces.

When they finally stepped out of the mine, the sun was setting. There could still be goblin in the woods, making their way to the mine after a day of hunting, so the ternary wasted no time getting a safe space to throw ingroup. A Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, nearly as thick as a school bus, offered them shelter. They bedded down at its base with its raised tooth root acting as rampart and a ardour warding off anything that might try to lash out during the Nox.

dinner party was traveler's rations, the touchstone food for anyone camping in the wilderness. While he ate, Noah examined all of the items in the anchor ring. There were numerous potions, redundant curing of men's clothes, some tools and knives, rations, and a few Au coins. He took a closer look at the armor and sword that the knight had been using. There wasn't much he could do with the armor. Minus some home base he could use on his arms and legs, it was impractically heavy for his combat style, and considering how unconscionable the punishment was for wearing the ring, getting caught with it would probably be a bad idea. Hopefully the blacksmith would be willing to buy it.

The sword, on the other helping hand, was a definite pillage. It was a longsword like Noah's break up one, but with an flowery safety device and handle, as well as a line of runes going up the blade, 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 ring did. It was probably illegal for him to possess, so it would be scoop kept in the ring, but once away from prying centre, it would be an first-class trump board once he figured out how it worked.

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

"Several yr. Why ?"

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

"The Ithiel Town I grew up in, there were plenty of former adventurer willing to elapse their attainment on."

"And your parents ?"

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

"So, do you—"

"I suggest you stop for a moment and ponder why I'm not asking you questions about your life or trying to get to know you."Noah glared as him, unblinking."Think hard."curse word wisely closed his oral cavity.

They set out at break of the day the next day, wanting to get out of the forest as soon as possible, to both stave off danger and reach the shops before they closed for the night. It would study them most of the day to render to Clive, and that was without all the free weight they were carrying, so they had to try and keep a good pace. By around midday, they reached a large open pasture, but before they could foil it, a grudge was made.

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

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

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

Tin and curse word settled at the edge of the lea under the tad of a Tree and set up lunch. While they worked, Noah took a walk through the field to make sure there weren't any predatory animal in hiding. It was when he reached the center that he stopped, hearing something. It was not the rustling of dope or the growl of a skirt chaser, but the neighing of horse cavalry. He looked into the distance and saw four men on sawbuck break free of the timberland and extend towards him with their swords drawn. Bandits ?

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

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

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

He was rendered invisible while he sent off his clon, running to the side with its illusionary blade drawn. The men were drawn to it, and one of them, armed with a bow, began trying to spud it. Noah controlled the clone like a puppet on strings, and while it moved, he put the knight ring on his finger and activated it, materializing his bow and an arrow. It took him a moment to aim and going, striking the Archer in the bureau and sending him tumbling off his horse.

The former horsemen realized their friend had been killed, but there was no time to look for the enemy archer. They had to shut down in on the untested man with the blade. They tried to run him down with their blades outreached, but before they could strike their target, another one of their ranks was taken out with a well-placed injection. The two remaining men swung at Noah's dead ringer, but for the interest of appearance, he had it scheme while he took out the tertiary man. Only one man was left, but he didn't bother going after the ringer. He was impertinent enough to cut his departure and fly back into the woods.

"Tin, Oath, you can come out now,"Noah said as he released his deception. They appeared from the Mrs. Henry Wood, seeing Noah with the three horses standing nearby."dinero the cadaver and then let's have lunch. The way back to the village will be much well-to-do now."

With the horses, they managed to make it back to the village in the late afternoon, when most of the shops had closed, but there were still a few undefended that they could trade their loot to.

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

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

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

"I'll expect you to lend that gymnastic horse back."

"Yes, yes, I know."

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

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

"Well I had some help carrying it back. But there is another thing you might be matter to in."

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

"You found this in a goblin den ?"

It was the armor of the slain Utheric knight.

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

"I could get beheaded just for having this !"

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

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

"fine, what do require for everything ?"

As common, bargaining with the blacksmith took a lot of time, but Noah left with several sheeny gold coins and a replacement for his longsword. He and Tin moved from shop to buy at, selling everything that was left, then Noah took Tin somewhere she did not expect, the town jeweler. Unlike other storehouse, this one had safeguard posted inside and external, and all the ware was behind a retort, with branding iron bars blocking it off from the client. An old man was sitting at the counter, scrutinizing a jewel.

"Ah, how can I avail you ?"

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

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

"A goblin den."

"Ah, of course. hobgoblin are beastly, nasty creature, but they have a strange luck when it comes to determination things. This is an enhancement gem."

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

"When grafted to an glamour item, it boosts the strength of the enchantment. Imagine a sorcerous brand that can cut through twice as much as a normal sword. With this imbued into the pommel, handle, or blade, it will now be capable to cut through four times as much as a rule blade. They are a darling of nobles, for not only to they meliorate the enchanted items, but they make them more visually appealing and profligate, perfect for showing off. At orchis and formal events, you'll find upper-level nobles with jewel-encrusted brand on their hips.

Would you be willing to betray it ?"

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

Noah took out the knight ring and slid it across the board, only letting the jewelry maker see it. At the mess of the ring, he became tense.

"I'm afraid I'm going to receive 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 breath."Tob, Gon, could you two please step outside for a hour ?"The two sentry duty, despite their curiosity, left the entrepot, giving Noah and the jewelry maker 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 unforced to take a risk of exposure. Cover the runes with gold folio and set the gem. If it looks expert and the ring's enchantment really is enhanced, I'll pay you ten silver coins."

"Twenty."

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

"amercement, 15 silver."

"Deal."

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

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

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

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

Noah looked over to one of the traveling bag hanging off the slope of his saddleback. It was full moon of severed 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.

"amercement, just let Tin and I drop off the eternal rest of our haul at the inn and lead the way."

After stopping at the inn, they rode out of town towards the due north, to the business leader's estate. Being a noble, he was better off than any of the villagers, but his business firm was far from spendthrift, just nicer looking and tumid than anyone else's, a rustic manor, surrounded by Fields that slaves tended to. Leaving their gymnastic horse in the unchanging in the binding, cuss brought Noah and Tin into the mansion and stopped before a set of double doorway.

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

"Enter."

Oath opened the doorway of the private study, and behind the desk, an old man with a foresightful face fungus was filing paperwork on parchment. He looked older than Noah expected, for a son so young. Standing beside him was a cleaning woman, dressed as a maid.

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

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

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

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

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

"Ah, of course of action, of course. You also deserve extra for dealing with that goblin chief. Amelia,"he said, turning to the maid beside him,"please count up the spike and work out their requital, and please take my son and this lovely young lady to the parlor to decompress. passkey Noah, if you have clip, I would like to speak with you about some important matters."

"Very well, then."

The maid left with Oath and Tin and the room access were shut behind them. Finally, the baron got up from his chair and walked over to a whiskey decanter with a set of glasses."Would you care for a drink ?"

"I'd love one."Two meth were poured and one was handed to Noah. Compared to the modern font world, the alcohol consumed in these lands was ruffianly to squeeze down, yet the lineament of the whiskey surprised him."Oh, that is good."

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

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

The big businessman gave a piercingly chuckle."I suppose we should get down to business. You have already proven yourself a neat saviour and safety device for my son. I would like to employ you to do it again."

"Not more goblin, 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 demesne without such things."

The business leader got to his feet and began searching a nearby bookshelf."keep crabs are massive terrestrial beingness, spending their lives deep beneath the earth. However, they surface from time to prison term, poking the summit of their shells out of the ground."

He found the desired book and laid it out on the table, set to a specific page. There were two movie, the commencement of what looked like a anchorite crab, with a pointed shell several times its own size and no claws. The s showed the tip of the plate poking out of the ground with a hole in the top, but just that was the size of a lighthouse. Had the creative person actually seen a donjon crabby person fully revealed or was he just going by his imaging ? For a beast of this sizing to actuate underground without being noticed, it would have to rise up from under the earth's crust. A few solar day ago, the town had experienced an seism. That must get been the crab rising to the surface.

"Because they dwell so mysterious in the primer, they accumulate precious metals and gemstone inside their shell, which form vast internal ear, hence its name. A man can get rich in one day exploring it."

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

"You'd be right. The shell is teeming with parasite, ants when comparable to the Phthirius pubis, but deadly monsters to us humans. When a pubic louse surfaces, the parasites will leave and become a peril to everyone and everything in the surface area. No one is quite sure why dungeon Cancer the Crab airfoil like this. Some believe it does it when the sponge have grown too numerous and it needs to cut their numbers down, either by setting them let loose on the surface or using treasure-hunting human being to pick their universe. Others believe the crabby person feed on the humans that enter its cuticle, and use the parasites to kill their prey for them. Many believe it simply surfaces to get bracing air, like a whale."

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

"It's just a flesh of speech communication. To capture a keep crab means to get down to the deepest part of its casing, where the most invaluable metal is."

"Avenium, I'm guesswork ?"

"Correct. Anyone who can secure a cup's worth and stage it to the land becomes a noble. That's why I need you to serve swearing capture it."

"But as your son, isn't cuss already set to inherit your title ?"

"swearword is… my 3rd son. His oldest brother, Colt, was raised and groomed to be my successor, and the second oldest, Victor, was raised to be the replacement if anything happened to Colt."

"Making Oath the spare of a spare."

The tycoon grimaced."He spent his life working the subject area while his Brother hunted and earned achievements. However, both colt and Victor died in battle at the showtime of spring, so curse is all I have left. He has a good heart…"

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

"Unlike the son of my immature buddy, Edwin, a baronet. He is petitioning the kingdom to revoke my title as baron and consecrate it to him and his eldest son. I need to rise that cuss has what it takes to be a business leader, and the better way to do that is to conquer a dungeon crab. I'm too old to sire another heir and time is running out. oath already has an adventuring party that he trains and fights with, but their skills aren't effective enough to conquer a dungeon Crab. I would like you to fall in their party."

"Why me ?"

"Because you are unseasoned. There are numerous old venturer with skill like yours that I can hire, but then my brother will argue that they just conquered the donjon 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 vernal man joining my son's party."

Noah gave a huff while weighing his options. On one handwriting, a political pettifoggery between family members was the last affair he wanted to get involved in, and there was no recounting if he was even skilled enough to successfully stamp down a dungeon crab louse. It was an unnecessary danger. On the other hand, the idea of getting his hands on some avenium and other rarified metals and gems was a tantalizing idea. He could get adequate money to fund any venture he wanted for the rest of his life-time. Plus, it would get him to the majuscule, and perhaps let him make some valuable connections. There were probably plenty of adventurers who would impart their the right way arm for the chance.

"Would I be giving orders or receiving ?"

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

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

"A partner off months. This one appeared several years ago, thirty miles to the northeast. It won't be tenacious before its swarming with adventurers."

"Very well, we'll depart in one week. I want to use that time to assess 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 backside."I have some occupation to see to tomorrow, but I'll return in the good afternoon. Make sure as shooting everyone is assembled."

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

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

"So my sire talked to you about the dungeon crab ?"

"That's redress, I agreed to go along with it. I'll proceeds tomorrow."

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

curse gave a deep bow of gratitude, and in the distance, Noah saw a flash of apparent motion, and then heard a sound that he was well used to. It was the audio of an arrow buried bass into muscle and flesh. Launched a endorsement earlier, it would throw hit curse word square in the backbone, but because he bowed, it found its mark in the heart and soul of Tin's chest.

Noah didn't say a word, but before either swearword or Tin could react, he had already leapt off the porch and was sprinting towards the origin of the arrow. He had left his bow with his horse in the stable, so he'd have to stamp out the bravo 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 marauders, they had been hired to kill cuss !

The man nocked another arrow, aimed it at Noah, and fired, but he deflected it with his buckler. He closed in, capable to see the blow in the man's eyes as the space between them vanished with terrifying speed. He reached the man, drawing his new steel, and beheaded him before he could even work around to run.

The body hit the terra firma, but Noah had already left, sprinting back to the manse. There, on the porch, Oath was gathered with various handmaid, giving her one healing potion after another, as despite the removal of the arrow and the injury close, she wasn't getting adept. Noah could see it, her veins darkening, her form getting pale, and every breath seeming to do 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 counterpoison for it. Noah, I'm so sorry !"Oath exclaimed, shedding the bust that Noah should have. Instead, he just stared at Tin, his blank silence unnerving those around him.

Tin looked into his eyes."Master…"she whimpered."Please, I want to go back to our room. I want to go back to our bed and rest beside you. I want to help you aim your magic. I want to walk with you through the woods and take heed to a greater extent chronicle. There is so a good deal I want to do with you !"

She was crying, but Noah showed no emotion. Instead, he pulled out his phone and put the buds in her ears. With the live few sparks of Energy Department, Vide Cor Meum began to toy, slowing her tears."It will be passive, I promise. Just let the phonation take you there,"he said.

He cupped her impertinence and she smiled. That touch was all she needed."Thank you for making my life a beautiful one,"she whispered. Then she closed her heart listened to the strain, soon releasing her final intimation as the live notes played out.

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

"Noah…"Oath 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 precaution of the grave, you should—"

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

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

The whispers came back. ‘ I'll just confuse her into the woods.'Again, he forced the part out of his head."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 Sir Henry Wood now at their nearly severe, but Noah didn't hesitate to taunt down a familiar road and into the wilderness. For hours, his horse galloped through the forest. When it tired, he would yield it water supply and a wellness potion to restore its stamina, but that was the only sentence he stopped. goliath routinely tried to attack him, but he ended their lives with his bow. As the synodic month moved across the sky, Noah, holding Tin in his arm, felt the fondness slowly leave her body.

It wasn't just the monsters outside that were attacking, but the single in Noah's head word. iniquity susurration flooded his head, trying to get him to ferment back.

‘ She's just a slave.'

‘ I should just go home.'

‘ There is no detail in risking my life.'

‘ Nothing matters.'

‘ It's all meaningless.'

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

Finally, when the Night was at its darkest, he reached the in demand speckle. It was the waterfall that he and Tin had camped at. There were some savage drinking from the river, but he scared them off and ignored the pocket-sized slimes crawling around. The arena itself hadn't changed in the last few workweek. There were still the remains of the flaming he had made, and the Henry Clay river basin was undamaged.

He tied his gymnastic horse to a tree and lit a great mullein, holding it while he carried Tin. ‘ I'll just dump her and go.'He brought her behind the waterfall, where there was a small dry area with plenty of river silt, deposited by the waterfall. He dug down as inscrutable as he could, forcing aside any mentation to give up and spare part himself exploit. He laid her down on the cold Earth and opened up the blanket, looking at her one last time. She looked peaceful, almost mental object. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver coin. When they first met, he remembered her telling him that she was only worth that very much. He clasped her hands over her chest, holding the coin.

‘ What am I doing ?'

‘ This coin is valuable.'

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

He climbed out and buried her, then built a mountain of rock 'n' roll on her grave so that no animals would dig her up. Finally, he turned to the stone rampart at his side and began carving Tin's gens into it with her dagger. The scratches were faint, but they wouldn't be simply washed away, like if he had simply drawn the letter of the alphabet on with a rock 'n' roll.

TIN

Those three minuscule varsity letter, a footling twinkling brightness level in his mind, like a faint star, told him that they looked lonely, and he focused on that. He should put more. She'd need 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 deal ?

TIN

A FREED striver

It was all he could issue forth 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 loyal and helpful, and took care of him when he was queasy. He also took concern of her. Was that enough to consider her important to him ? He couldn't tell. He had spent countless lifetime pretending to be a admirer, son, a class fellow, a coworker, a married man, even a father. When was the last prison term he actually liked someone and wasn't just wearing the façade of civility while putting up with them ? When was the last time he told person he loved them and wasn't simply lying to their face ?

He had buried so many people, most of them more than once. It was hard to tell those who were significant from those he pretended were crucial, those who were remembered and those he didn't deem worth remembering. Who mattered to him ? Whose death mattered ? He had long since lost the ability to narrate, and was struggling to regain it.

Finally, some emotion. Noah punched the rock paries and split the skin on his knuckle joint."Come on, think !"He shouted those Son to himself over and over again. He was scratching at his own mind, trying to draw blood from Oliver Stone. What had Tin meant to him ? Or at the very least, what would she consume wanted to take heed ? Noah focused on that, trying to imagine what he could have said to make her happy.

TIN

A FREED SLAVE

A PRICELESS familiar

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

.

.

.

Cooperation

.

.

.

It took a full day to ride back to the village, repeating the original journeying he had made when he first arrived in this timeline, but now doing it alone. Like the day before, he arrived as the sun approached the visible horizon. fatigue duty 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 close night or breakfast this aurora. 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 retiring month, everyone who came for drinks was used to the mass of Noah and Tin eating together. A few people, noticing her absence, inquired just as the innkeeper had, and Noah told them the same thing he told her. His emotionless response angered Buddy Holly, one of the chambermaid, and she grabbed Noah by the dog collar and lifted him to his feet.

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

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

Perhaps it was the way he said it, or the chilliness of his eye, 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 repast, he made his way up to his elbow room. This fourth dimension, when he opened the doorway, there was no greeting. The candle was unlit and there was no ardor in the fireplace. It was just a disconsolate room.

Noah shut the door behind him and went straight to bed. Having gone two sidereal day without sopor, he was exhausted, and a mysterious, dreamless slumber enveloped him.

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

"How much longsighted are we going to look ?"The impatient voice came from a new man with a halberd on one shoulder joint and an obvious chipping on the other. He was sitting on the front porch of the demerit mansion, along with expletive 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 enterprise to go to to,"Oath replied.

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

"No clue."

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

"Shut up, Trevor. When Beth and I met him, we knew that he was the existent deal."

"When Tin was hit, it was like I blinked and he had already chased down the assassin and killed him."

"I still call meaninglessness on him taking out three men in that field."

"I looted their corpses myself."

"Oh, there he is !"

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

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

It was the knight ring, all done after the townsfolk jeweler had worked on it. The avenium rune had been covered up and the enhancement jewel was set on top of the summit. It was certainly brassy, but sometimes gaudiness had its own spell.

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

"rightfulness after we met you in the woodwind instrument. We looked around for anyone will 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 business leader has asked me to lead this team to curb the dungeon crab louse. Before we do that, I need to—"

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

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

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

Noah took a deep breathing time and rubbed his temples."Ugh, one of you hoi polloi. This is the last matter I need.

Listen, here's what's supposed to bechance : you and I spend the next workweek playing the game where I act as the hindquarters yet understanding authority figure, and you keep throwing pique fit due to some unstated deep-seated takings. By the meter we arrive at the dungeon crab, you'll hate me more than ever, and almost get us killed, probably with me having to pull through your life. However, your screwup will help you pull in you're full of nothing but bravado and sawbuck shit, and you'll finally decide to listen to me, allowing me to unwrap your severely outer shell to assist you puzzle out your behavioral problems, which I'm guessing is about your father, or feelings of inadequacy, or something along similar lines. We'll capture the keep crab louse and form a durable friendly relationship of respect and trust.

Now, that is what is supposed to bump, and as much as I would get it on to go on that emotional journeying with you, I have literally a million better things 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 remain firm. The loser has to listen and obey the winner until the dungeon Cancer the Crab is captured, including an ordination to leave the party."

Most of what he said went over everyone's question, but consecrate Trevor's gist, he was smart enough to actualize he had just been insulted."You son of a kick !"he barked as he got to his feet and pointed his halberd at Noah.

"That's the flavour. Give it your upright dead reckoning, because if you don't take me down, you're going to end up swallowing a lot of blood."

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

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

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

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

It was by a cut gross profit, but Noah stepped to the side and the blade missed. He grabbed the shaft of the halberd and delivered a bone-crushing clout to Trevor's nose, causing him to let go and distribute back.

"That was a well stab. I imagine you've worn out mickle of clock time practicing it."

Trevor's typeface was pouring profligate, but he remained standing and glared at Noah with limitless hatred."break it back !"

"fine, but I think it's been established that you can't hit me with it."

Noah tossed the halberd back and Trevor caught it. He wasted no time in charging the blade with mana, producing an impressive aura. This time, instead of a thrust, he made a across-the-board lilt."Erasing Cleave !"

Once more, Noah simply backed out of his mountain range, escaping with zero hurt. Then, when the coast was clear, he closed in and delivered and uppercut to Trevor's jaw, busting his teeth and making him an even bloody mickle. This time, Trevor couldn't halt on his feet and fell back, trying and failing to contain his cry of torment. Looking around, Noah could see the tycoon's servant watching from the field of honor 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. Feel devoid to commit him a wellness potion, though."

"I don't need a fucking health potion !"Trevor shouted.

He scrambled to his animal foot and went at it again. He abandoned the estimation of using magic and attacked Noah with a battery of rapid-fire stabs. Noah deflected each attack with his shell, and when Trevor tried to get in close for another jive, 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 throw another punch, but instead, he let go of the halberd and sent Trevor falling onto his ass."Your skills with that thing aren't that bad, at to the lowest degree, if you just vex to hunting monsters, but you'll never hit me with it. Try showing me how salutary you are with your fists."Noah placed his script on his longsword and slowly drew it halfway."Unless you'd prefer to stick to build up scrap, in which case I'll gladly humor you."

Trevor abandoned his halberd and charged, sending a neat right punch towards Noah. Noah caught his fist and then struck his elbow, snapping his arm like his pearl were made of chicken feed. Before Trevor could even shout, Noah silenced him with another slug to the nose, once more knocking him to the solid ground. It didn't seem like he was going to get up, so Noah took out a health potion and poured it on his face. The spraying woke him up and healed his nose and mouthpiece, though his arm would suffer to be reset before a potion could fix it.

"So, do you desire to keep going ? I can go all day if you want. I mean it, I've got nothing but meter. And we can go whenever you want, this isn't your only chance.

Now I suppose there are a number of path we can go about this. We can do the unhurt excited journey thing, but the fact that I've explained it sort of takes away the legerdemain. You can just depart the party, I'll give you that option. There's the selection of waiting until I have my back turned and then getting your revenge, which, again, you are detached to do so at any time, but at your own risk. Poisoning my intellectual nourishment might work, but it would just be you admitting your weaker than me. I suppose your near alternative would be to shut your fucking mouth, accept that I'm unassailable than you and chic than you, and pay attention to what I will teach you, as it will ameliorate your attainment and your opportunity of survival.

From there, we can go to the dungeon Cancer, and you'll easily have the best challenges that would have killed you at your current storey of strength. With a good total of endeavor and coordination, and no dearth of circumstances, we'll conquer the dungeon crabby person and become rich beyond our violent dreaming. There is always the option of betraying us down there and running off with all the loot, but boy, oh boy, you'd better make sure as shooting I'm dead, because you don't want me coming after you, you really don't.

So, what do you say ?"

Everyone was silent, waiting to hear Trevor's reaction. He was glaring at Noah and taking mysterious, angry breathes through his olfactory organ."You say you can draw me strong ?"

"I guarantee it."

"We conquer the dungeon crab and we're done, right ? I never have to see you again ?"

"You can retire to some picture 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 talk with the top executive inside."

Noah stepped onto the porch and entered the household, walking right by the spot where Tin had died."Is the magnate in ?"he asked, addressing one of the maids.

"In his common soldier study, sir. He's waiting for you."

Just as swearword had done the day before, the maidservant knocked on the duplicate door and announced Noah's comer, with the baron granting ingress. The old man was behind his desk."That was quite the spirited match outside. Your acquisition are the real deal."

"The very skill is producing results from it."

The baron walked over to his whiskey set and poured himself a drink."I'm gladiola you returned. I'm sorry for the loss of your companion."

"Don't concern about it. I already killed your brother and his son."

The glass fell from the magnate's hand and shattered."What ? !"he exclaimed.

There was an quick knock on the threshold."My Lord, is everything fine ?"a pantryman asked.

Noah's gaze never left the baron, without any sense of veneration or anticipation of what might come up next. He simply waited for a reaction. The king gripped the street corner of the desk but managed to see to it himself.

"Everything is mulct. We are not to be disturbed."When he sensed the Butler had left, he turned his attention back to Noah."You wouldn't even give me the fortune to lecture you out of retribution ?"

"It was nil of the sort."

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

It was midmorning, and Noah had just claimed his ring from the jeweler, the end of his morning errands, and with information given by those around town, he now stood before the home of the local baronet. It was in the outskirts of the town, one of the farms, and neither the sphere nor the house were on par with the baron. Despite the social status of nobleman, Bart were simply common man with the prefix ‘ Sir'or ‘ Madam ’.

He found the baronet repairing a cattle fence behind the firm. He was identical to the baron, but without the whiskers and sporting fewer crinkle. Noah was unseeable, so the man didn't even notice him approaching, but was calm when Noah pressed the blade of his knife to his throat and told him to drop the pounding he was using.

"Sir Edwin Fault, I presume ?"

"Who's asking ?"

"Did you rent four men to down the Oath Fault ?"

"Now why would I try to kill my beloved nephew ?"

"To get your son the rank of top executive. But if you aren't going to do my interrogation, 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 dear deal of money to shoot down him. To mean he'd be such a chickenshit and leave the job to goblins."

"Did your son know about the hit you put on his cousin ?"

"He would have killed that talentless 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 lick this like men."

Noah's answer came in the form of a fluent flick of his wrist joint, severing Edwin's jugular and sending him tumbling to the earth, trying pointlessly to stop the hemorrhage. Noah stood by to sustain the death and then made his way towards the line of business, where the baronet's son was working.

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

"There was a clock time when I took smashing joy in making people suffer, and I've been working to change myself since then. I don't earmark myself to wipe out for pleasure or vengeance, and certainly I didn't kill them for what they did, but what they would proceed to do. Associating with you and your son has already cost me the life of a loyal subordinate, and I'd rather not throw anyone the chance to get in my way.

If I were to reserve them to be, they would go on to try and kill you and Oath, and I'd have to houseclean up the mess, just like I've been doing since I found your son in that hobgoblin den. The last thing I'd want is to enchant the dungeon and then get ambushed by your sidekick's partner in crime when we're too tired to contend back. I assume you had forgiven your brother because he is your family, despite his try to kill swearword, but you're hiring me to hold on oath alive, and if I'm going to do that, it will be done my way.

If you have any objections, state them now."

Ivan didn't respond. He simply slumped in his seat and exhaled deeply. Deep down, he knew that his brother had to be dealt with in one manikin or another, in lodge for his son to inherit the rank of king. However, even if it had been slenderize before, there was always a luck of balancing. He had dreamt of conversing with his pal, as they had a foresightful, long clock time ago, and burying the hatchet. Now that possibility was gone forever. Noah claimed he hadn't acted out of vengeance against his brother, but Ivan couldn't helper but feel he was the one being punished.

"I thought as much. Despite your pal and nephew dying, I'm aware that your son still had footling prospect of inheriting your title, so the keep capture will proceed as plan. We didn't have the chance to talk about payment for this job, but don't worry, I'm not interested in money or land. There is something else I want."

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

It took more than one healing potion to revivify Trevor's arm, and that could only be done when the bones were reset. He was all patched up by the time Noah made his return.

"I promised the baron we'd set out in a workweek for the keep. That was two 24-hour interval ago. For the adjacent five days, I'm going to evaluate each of your skills and see where improvements have been made. First, we're going to hunt some giant. I want to cognize your combat accomplishment and see how well you work as a squad. You all have your artillery, so we're going to set out now and change of location Light. Any remonstrance ?"

No one said anything, not after watching how he thrashed Trevor. But their silence was not out of fear, rather an awareness that Noah knew what he was talking about. He was the one-time of the group by only a class, but they all sensed he had much to a greater extent experience than they did.

"good, then let's depart. curse, you know the area. Please lead the way."

"I actually know the locating of a wizardly spawning roundabout. Let's head there."

They gathered some supplying and set off into the Wilderness, leading a ingroup knight to carry back their harvested monster parts. From the moment they were enveloped by the duskiness of the Tree, they were vulnerable. The territory of the behemoth was well-established, due much in part to the evocation circles that they spawned from. They only intruded into human territory when there was a dearth of food or their numbers had grown too neat, issues that were both solved by the unvarying menstruation of adventurers working to curb their population.

As they walked, Noah spoke to everyone.

"Mira, we talked once before about this. Have you developed any skills for close-quarter armed combat ?"

"I've been training with my staff since then. Oath and I spar a lot when we're not hunting."

"What about magic trick ?"

"I haven't been able to develop anything for fighting enemies up close."

"We'll work on that. Oath, Beth, can either of you use magic trick ?"

"I can't,"said Oath.

"I can create water, but not in any form of attack. I use it to occupy up my piss skin."

"Good, we'll definitely need that in the keep. You're still using your bow as your main arm, right ?"

"Yeah, and I got toxicant for my pointer just like you…"

She trailed off, remembering what cuss had told her. Tin had been shot and killed with a poisonous substance arrow. Noah paid no care to the drop of her speech.

"What about close-range ? Any artillery ?"

"I use a knife."

"trade good. Trevor, you can trigger off magic when you thrust and swing your halberd. Anything else ?"

"Nope, the halberd is all I can use."

Noah had picked up some scraps of info on the different branches of thaumaturgy in this world, and Trevor appeared to be in the warrior class, just like the goblin chief. Warriors could only activate their science with specific weapons, which depended on the individual. He wasn't exaggerating when he said the halberd was all he could use. He couldn't activate his magic with any early weapon.

"We're here,"said oath. He then stopped in his cut."On second thought, I think we should flex back."

Noah looked ahead. On the forest storey, he could see a large magic circle, consisting of rune and sort shapes. Standing in the rotary was a bear the sizing of a minivan. However, its eubstance was faint, translucent, like it was just a hologram, but with each passing moment, its colouration deepened.

‘ Is it teleporting ? No, it's set. The circle is converting mana into physical matter and assembling it. So, that's what it means for a creature 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 hobgoblin was to regular goblins. We should get out of here before it attacks. This is a slight bit out of our league."

"No, it's perfective. We'll hold for it to finish spawning and then admit it on. For all we know, the dungeon could have far worse monsters."

"All right, then let's take formation,"said Oath.

"hold for it to aggress us. Taking your time in setting up a inflammation squad while it spawns won't throw much experience or information."

It took only a minute for the bear to fully materialize, immediately spotting Noah and the group and labeling them as enemies without any variety of hesitation or confusion. It released a bellowing of fury and charged, signaling the start of the conflict. Noah kept his distance while the group spread out, surrounding the bear. Beth nocked a poison arrow in her bow and shot the bear in the neck. It turned to her and snarled, about to lash out with its claws, but oath attacked from the incline and slashed at its shoulder with his sword. The wolf's hide was yob, and Noah couldn't tell if the attack had actually done any damage. Enraged, the bear knocked Oath aside. Like Noah, he was wearing leather armour, and while it stopped the bear's claws from reaching his flesh, the armor itself was nearly destroyed by that one swipe.

"Oath !"Mira cried out.

Trevor stabbed the bear in the thigh with his halberd, and while he drew a roar of pain sensation from the wolf, it hadn't forgotten the arrow in its neck and attacked Beth. It was faster than she expected and it knocked her to the background, with her bow wedged between its jaws keeping it from biting her. She was crying in anguish as it weighed down on her, saliva from its mouth splashing on her face with its massive fang inching closer and closer.

"Guillotine Swing !"

Trevor swung his halberd like he was splitting woodwind instrument, and the axe steel, glowing with trick power, dug deep into the suffer's back, though it missed the spine.

"Earth Surge !"

Having gathered her mana, Mira struck the ground with her staff. The surrounding filth, not gripped by the tree roots, was gathered together and slammed into the bear like a mudslide, knocking it off Beth. The bear was slow to get back on its human foot, as its military strength was fading with each lost driblet of parentage and the poisonous substance was taking its cost. Regardless, it still could crush the skulls of the feeble humans with a single swing of its mighty paw.

curse word was back on his base and charged with a shout of determination and his sword raised high. Seeing him approach, the bear reared back on its hind legs, and despite his vigor just import ago, the sight of the towering beast robbed Oath of his courageousness. He was paralyzed with fear and the bear swung at him. inherent aptitude saved his life, the instinct to advance his steel and hinder the attack, though the force still slammed him into the ground. An pointer was buried in the bear's dresser before it could set on again, managing to thrust a lung, and Trevor stabbed it in the breadbasket.

The bear fell back and rolled onto its legs, roaring in fury but then breaking down into a fit of bloody coughing. Beth fired a third pointer, striking the shoulder, which Trevor then cleaved with his halberd. As this was going on, Mira rushed over to Oath's position and helped pull him out of harm's way. With Trevor and Beth continuing to ululate on the beast, its life sentence was soon extinguished. Its massive consistency collapsed and Oath and his friends released their held breath.

Noah, who had been observing, got up from the corner rostrum that had been his arse and approached, and while everyone patched themselves up, he severed the bear's vertebral column with his brand to defecate sure it was dead.

"extolment on your kill. However, it was rather messy."

"Messy ? !"Trevor exclaimed."Look at how big that monster is ! We took it on while you just sat back and watched ! We've never faced anything that big before !"

"Its size of it wasn't the 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 oeuvre, but he continued to talk them."You surrounded it on all sides, which, while good when facing something smaller and prone to running game, left Beth and Mira defenseless. Don't split up like that unless it's something that each one of you can physically handle. Beth, moot all the fourth dimension that you spent pinned. That was all time you could have spent firing pointer had you and Mira kept your distance. Though speaking of arrows, your aim was very good, both that snap to the neck opening and to the chest. But from now on, the two of you should string up back while swearing and Trevor fend the enemy off.

Oath, when you first attacked, what were you aiming for ?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to visit some damage."

"You should have gone for the read/write head. With a demon of that size, did you opine a flesh lesion or muscular tissue damage would vote out it ? Unless they're well protected, you should always aim for the life-sustaining spots. Swing at the head, twinge at the chest. Saami with you, Trevor. When you attacked its back, were you aiming for its pricker ?"He didn't respond."I'll take that as a no. Take aim with your attacks, and not just at opening in your opponent's guard. You should try studying anatomy, fig out where the most vital power point are. You went at the belly, that was wise. It's soft and difficult to protect, but you stabbed too low. You should have gone gamey, towards the liver, or at least the stomach.

Mira, you did well in getting Oath out of danger. However, you waited too recollective to cast your spells. 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 trance not suited to the timber. I remember you once told me you can create a dust cloud and institutionalise rocks flying ? You should have stuck with that. A bit of rubble could have blinded the bear and maybe even hindered its sentiency of smelling, and a rock'n'roll or even hard-packed dirt can impose plenitude of nuisance when striking the mind or the crotch.

And swearword, you know what I'm going to say, don't you ? You choked, and your misunderstanding put the lives of your admirer in peril. It was inherent aptitude that saved your life. You need to make these kind of determination faster. Before we head to the dungeon crab, we'll have to remedy that. Now, all of you give me a hand. This bear is going to avail fund our preparations."

Everyone joined in, helping to remove the bear's pelt as inviolate as potential. When it was done, Noah placed his hand on the fell and tried to seal off it in his band. The enhancement jewel had doubled the carrying capacity of the ring, but the hide was so heavy that the pack was refusing to take on it. He'd have to off some things first.

Noah held out his hand and closed his finger around an invisible grip. A steel appeared in his travelling bag, the sword that he had taken from the hobgoblin. He had even found the case that went with it, something that the fixture hobgoblin wouldn't have been smart enough to admit. It was much larger than his broadsword, and he had assumed its size of it might be useful against a large enemy. curse word, who knew both the very identity and ability of Noah's ring and what it was known for, was exempt from the voice of amazement the others made. Even Trevor was shocked by the immense steel appearing out of thin air.

"expletive, where did you get your sword ?"

"Uh… it was my grandfather's."Oath stuttered, feeling an automatic sentiency of danger by being queried by individual who had just revealed a sword.

"May I ?"Noah held out his hand and Oath reluctantly handed it over. Noah looked it over. He was an get blacksmith once, a week-long learning course at a metalwork school that turned into a career, though while his memories were a bit fuzzed, he could still recognize the craftsmanship put in. However, his focus wasn't on the actual tone of the metal, but the length of the hold. It was a shit steel, 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 champaign, right ? spate of plowing and clearing Tree ?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I want you to try using this hobgoblin blade for a patch. Swinging a hoe or an axe require leverage, leverage that your grandfather's sword can't give you with the length of its handle. Your hands are too conclusion together and it's throwing off your center of gravity when you hold it. This larger sword will allow you keep your hands farther apart and supply a more exchangeable motion."

He handed both brand to Oath, but he only took his grandfather's sword."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 sword and hung it across his back.

"Ok, let's change our strategy a niggling. We'll take the organization of a W, with curse word in the centre, me and Trevor at the face, and Beth and Mira in the back."

It would have perfect if they could crusade another sledgepaw bear and comparison strategies, but considering its low density, it would probably be a long time before it respawned. They set off instead to see more goliath, not having to boost farsighted before coming across a pack of wolves. They took geological formation and stared the beasts down, all armed and make to fight.

"Beth and Mira, you two are our main strain of flack. The three of us are just a shield. You'll have to focus on not getting us caught up in your attacks."

"Right !"They both replied.

Arrows began flying retiring oath's correctly side and careen and pieces of packed dry land were flying past his left. The Wolf were caught off precaution and several were left stunned or injured. A wolf standing directly in front end of Oath managed to fend off the onslaught and leaped towards him. curse word swung his sword, nearly losing his proportionality and falling over. However, though the weight was much expectant than any hoe or axe he had used, it wasn't the cause. It was the ease he felt, the cut now more reminiscent of a associate gesture, and he was capable to use sinew memory to call off out greater intensity and skill. The ease robbed him of his tautness like he had removed weights from his shoulders, causing him to trip up. The sword carved through the airborne wolf like a buzz saw, nearly slicing it in two.

At the same time, the wolves that were still on their animal foot scattered to try and flank the group. Two ran towards Trevor, and the low, attacking from above, ended up getting impaled on the spear tip of his halberd. The second tried to come together in, using the death of the 1st as a misdirection, but Trevor swung his halberd down and buried the axe brand in the wolf's back.

On the other English, three charged towards Noah. The outset pounced, sending Noah dodging to the side and then beheading it with a downwards swinging. 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 unforesightful steel and cleaved its skull open.

All that was left were the wolves stunned by the porta flak, but they had been dispatched with Beth's arrows. The solitary fight had taken a handful of bit, causing curse word and his booster to all exchange shocked glances. They had never won that fasting before, especially when they were outnumbered like that. The value of Noah's advice had been proven.

They stripped the wolves of their hides and collected all other valuable torso parting, then continued their journey. There was still tidy sum of clip before they'd have to set up refugee camp, so they wanted to get as practically hunting done as they could. As they traveled through the timber, the spark of excitement filled them. Now that the youthful venturer had improved their scheme, they wanted to see how else they might get stronger, and what this new boost would admit them to do. They were hiking through a hilly area, sticking only to the flattest footing for the sake of their gymnastic horse. It was when they were traveling along a floodplain that Noah stopped them, his eyes glued onto the nearby hill and a prominent fallen tree.

"expression over there. See the soil where the soil 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 smoke them out ?"

"It's a little far, but I'll try."She stabbed the ground with her faculty."Earth Bind !"

Like a fling splitting ice, a seeable line ran through the surface of the priming over the domain behind the log. There was the sound of scream and several goblin scurried out from their den, 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 goblin. From behind the tree diagram around the log, to a greater extent hobgoblin appeared, howling like monkeys. They charged Town the hill, a dozen of them, with two hanging back with their own arc.

"Beth, assume out the archers. Mira, try to funnel them so that they don't flank us. cuss, if Thomas More than one goblin attacks you at once, don't do another downward slash. It'll leave you open. Trevor, don't let the impulse of your swing music take you out of position."

No one questioned him, and as Beth waged a long-distance exchange with the archers up the pitcher's mound, Mira created pits and blade of earth that burst up along the flanks of the goblin horde. They swarmed for Noah, Oath, and Trevor. The fastest hob reached Trevor and dropped a gild towards his head. Trevor swung his halberd, and while the blade failed to move the goblin, it did get caught on the hold, hurling it towards swearing, who dispatched it with a cleave. He then swung his sword from the side like Trevor had done, catching two hob 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 hinder and every swing of his sword sent rip splatter across the nearby trees. A goblin pointer planted itself in his stomach, nearly sending him tumbling to the reason. His leather armor had slowed it down a bit, so it didn't reach his organ, but as someone who had been shot numerous fourth dimension, getting hit with the splintery hob arrow hurt a lot more than most bullets.

"Mira, I'm hit. I need a dust cloud !"

"R-right !"

She stuttered momentarily, but regained her composure and sent all of the dry grunge around the goblins airborne, blinding them and leaving them coughing. He only had a couple mo, so Noah ripped out the arrow with a hiss of pain and spurt of blood and poured a healing potion on the wound. As his anatomy stitched back together, the goblin managed to clear their eyes of the dust and resumed their cathexis, 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 battles later, the setting sun put an end to their search for the day, and they set up camp between a cluster of large tree diagram for protection from devil and wind. They built up a fervency in the center and cooked meat from the slain bear. They hadn't packed any food for thought with them, so they could only eat what they collected. Dinner was eaten mostly in muteness. Noah was new to the mathematical group and they hadn't gotten used to him yet, so the others couldn't immediately talk at their usual conversational depth.

Between chomp, Noah took out a canteen wide of water and added some yen needle from his sac. metal bottleful were more expensive than glass bottles and urine pelt, so everyone noticed when he set it next to the fire.

"You're making tea with pine needles ?"Mira asked.

"Pine needles help ward off low-down even better than lemons."

"Really ? Where'd you hear that ?"

"Just something I picked up."

"Where can I pick up interesting clobber like that ?"Beth complained."Where did you learn to fight back monsters ?"

Noah thought back through all of the illusion novels and role-playing games he had enjoyed over the years."That ? That was just intuition."It would be best to shift the conversation away from himself.

"What are you going to do after the dungeon crab ?"she then asked.

"That inquiry seems like bad destiny, don't you think ? They say that when men plan, God laughs. What about you ? You get to turn a noble if you capture a dungeon. You could be set for life history. curse word is going to inherit his don's deed of conveyance. Are you also aiming for nobility ?"

"I'm going to keep back traveling and exploring,"said Beth.

"I just want to make decent money to nail down down and begin a family,"Mira added.

swearing's future 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 sake in becoming a Lord,"said Oath.

"Then why do it ?"Noah asked.

"Because my Church Father wants me to."

"Again, why do it ?"

"I already told you. My—"

"And what does that give birth 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. save being an adventurer. Do whatever you want to do."

"Isn't my Fatherhood paying you to make sure I become a noble ?"

"I fully expect you to get a stately, even if I have to tie the rubric around your wrists. I just want to pull in sure you have a firm rationality so that you won't choke up. So, go on, tell us the real reason."There was an inept silence, during which Noah carefully retrieved his canteen, which had come to a simmer."Unless, of grade, you already gave us the tangible rationality. Your founding father wants this, and you want to make him happy."

"Is that really such a unusual desire ?"

"You want him to finally treat you like he did your brothers. You want reconciliation, to make everything right so that all the days of neglect can be made up for, that it was all worth it."

"For someone judging, you sound like you have experience."

"No, I was the opposite. My dad was ilk yours. He thought a parent's love had to be earned and wouldn't accept nonstarter. If I wasn't the serious, then I wasn't his son. Unfortunately, I didn't care, and I told him that. I told him that his favourable reception meant cypher to me. I never had any purpose of making him proud."In actuality, he had several fathers who followed that mind-set. It was a personality character that made an appearing every now and then.

"What happened ?"Beth asked.

"Oh, he hit me, respective times. Yeah, he went nuts."

"So what did you do ?"

‘ I waited until he turned around and then I stabbed him in the vertebral column. He spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.'“ I left home and became an adventurer."He took a slow sip of his tea."You have to calculate out your own understanding for doing thing, your own reason for livelihood. Neither your parents nor God can give you meaning. It's something that you have to produce for yourself, and if you don't do it carefully, if you pick an idea or a belief that is faint and flimsy, it'll fall apart in your hands and you'll have nothing."

The camp went silent, everyone staring into the flames rather than take the risk of making eye contact with soul else. Beth, no longer eating, hugged her knee joint to her chest."My father was actually an explorer. He taught me how to scud a bow and always told me of his adventures. Sometimes he'd disappear for week at a metre, but he would always come rest home late and night, when I was asleep. We had a game where he would hide under my bed, just before morning, and went I'd step onto my floor, he'd snap my ankle and pretend to be whatever giant he had just fought. It made me a light tie, because I'd always try to hear him sneak in and take hold of him."

"I wish I knew my father,"said Mira, trying to hold on the conversation going.

Like before, it became Trevor's turn, but he still showed no involvement 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 formation proved unstoppable against the monsters of the wood, and they found themselves carrying so lots pillage that it was draining their stamen faster than the battle. They had to take shop at stops, and as usual, Noah would use that meter to get together valuable plants.

At conclusion, they broke out of the cover of the afforest, now trekking across farming area with the Village not far off. Despite their fatigue duty, their booze were richly. The sun was setting and their misstep had been both fertile and instructive"I think we should just go straight to the keep crabmeat tomorrow,"said Oath."We're already inviolable enough."

"Not yet,"said Noah."We've built a organisation, now I want to meliorate your abilities."

"So more hunt ?"Beth asked.

"No, training and exercise to increase physical strength and mana militia. All of our bread from this misstep is going to fund it."

Upon arriving to Ithiel Town, they first stopped off at the local anesthetic tannery to sell off the fur. The possessor of the shop, a skinny man who struggled to acquire a decent beard, Gospel of Luke, met them as they entered his store. As one might expect, tanneries weren't known for their pleasant fragrance. It smelled like a wet dog that had just fed on roadkill. The air had moved beyond simple malodor and now had its own perceptiveness, a very blue flavor. It annoyed Noah every time he stopped by.

"Mr. Noah, I haven't seen you lately. And the Cy Young master, I'm glad to see you are doing well. What have you come with today ?"

"We have pelts to deal, including a special piece."

All of the wolf and other hides were stacked on the counter, with the last, belonging to the sledgepaw bear, having to be laid out on the flooring like a rug.

"A sledgepaw ? And in such honorable condition ! This is definitely a rare uncovering !"

"We fought it as soon as it finished spawning,"said swearing."That's as fresh as it gets."

Gospel According to Luke bent down and examined the hide, paying fill up attention to wounds created during the conflict."And there doesn't appear to be too much damage… I can afford you two gold coins for everything."

"Two and half ?"Noah asked.

"Two, that's my limit point. This matter has some big cuts in it."

"Fine."

The exchange was made, but Trevor objected as the coins were handed to Noah."Why do you get the money ? You didn't fight it !"

"I'm not keeping the money, just holding onto it until we spend it."

Next, they sold off some goblin weapon system to the blacksmith, and anything else that they had managed to amass, 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 unlike plants for sale with the old char 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 client be like you ?"she asked, teasing him.

They returned to the street."Ok, let's call it a day. Tomorrow break of the day, we'll meet back up at the king's home and begin training. I'll use these flora to worst up lots of potions."

The group split up, with Oath and Trevor heading off their several homes, Beth and Mira returning to the inn, and Noah running a few to a greater extent errands. Night fell, and like the adult female, Noah made his way to the inn. It was bustling as usual, but the table that Noah sat at was unruffled. He ate dinner quickly and went up to his elbow room. By candle flame, he ground up the plant life he had bought and interracial them together. He had a farsighted list of potions and instrument to make for this dungeon adventure, so even his Night would be meddling. An minute after he started, he heard a knock at the door. He answered with his tongue in handwriting but out of sight, as was natural. He opened the door to see Beth standing there, a smile on her boldness that was coy, skittish, excited, and embarrassed, all mixed together.

"I wanted to severalise you again how blue I am to hear that about Tin. But just because she's gone, that doesn't mean your nights have to be lonely. I want to live the legend that everyone in Town has been talking about."

An honest smile, rare for Noah, crossed his face. However, it was more in amusement than lecherousness."That seems like something that would really bring us some bad fortune later, considering the whole donjon crab thing."

"What ?"

"Nothing. As much as I would like to say yes, it would be best if we both went heterosexual person for bed, considering the training I have planned. Plus, I still have a lot of potions to make."

Her emotional state were deflated, but she wasn't ready to commit up."Are you certainly I can't deepen your mind ?"

"I'm sure. But if you still have strength tomorrow after dinner, then I'll happily indulge you."

"I'll look forward to it."She then gave him a New York minute and went back to her room.

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

"The training I have in head will consist of long sessions of brawn training and then trick training in a physically deplete state, replenishing strength with potions, and repeating the process."Noah addressed oath and his friends in straw man of the baron's mansion. By his side of meat were a heavy sack replete of red and blue potions, as well as some former concoctions."It's a combining of two workout turn I've created."

Mira looked away for a minute, pondering something. She then perked up in shock."That's what was happening with you and Tin at the inn !"

swearing, Beth, and even Trevor looked at her, taking a moment to sue what she had said, and then swerving their centre back to Noah like a car drifting around a recess. Oath had forgotten that petty fact, and Trevor, resigned to bearing a soundless score, was remembering those rumor he had heard and finally feeling a bit of respect towards Noah.

Noah let a small-scale jape escape."Yeah, that's right. My possibility is that mana output is a combination of physical and spiritual zip. When your spiritual mana can't keep up with the requirement, your physical mana picks up the quag, but it means your intent gets only voice of the benefits of training. Therefore, the best way to train your spirit's charge per unit of production and reservoir size is to either do so after you have just depleted all of your stamina, or during battle, when you are using up both, though I believe the latter is less efficient. Tin was assisting me with the expenditure of forcible energy."

"All forenoon ? !"

"I have a lot of stamina, which is the resultant of the early exercise modus operandi. Over a foresightful period of time, I've mastered several different mannikin of exercise and refined them to target muscle outgrowth in a particular way. masses and other big animals have three kinds of muscle : red muscle, which is muscular tissue that is great for stamina and running game ; bloodless muscle, which is muscularity for physical great power and explosive force ; and knock heftiness, which is a combination of both. My quotidian focuses on producing pink sinew. Unfortunately, sex isn't the exercise routine, God, though I wish it was.

Oath, I saw you struggling to lift your new sword, but making perfect tense cut every metre. Because of all the meter you've spent swinging a hoe or an axe, neither of which is very laborious, you have a lot of red muscle, which lets you go for a long sentence up to a sure limit.

Trevor, I noticed your movements decline faster than swearing, despite expending a similar amount of money of free energy. Your stabs and cut, while initially quite powerful, made a steady decline. You have too much white muscle, which lets you carry more than Oath, but not as far."

To Oath, it made signified. He had yet to see Noah truly fatigued, not after clearing the goblin den or even when they returned to the Village the old day. At the Same time, he was capable to slice through devil and carry their remains with corking strength. The others had noticed it as well, another category in which he outclassed them.

"Wait a second, if that was your"especial mana preparation"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 rely you when we first met. I was will to distinguish you how to make yourselves stronger, but not how to make me weaker."

"You've been hiding magic this whole clip ? But we showed your ours !"Trevor yelled.

"And let that be a lesson to you in the hereafter. The sooner your enemy knows about your speciality, the sooner they know about your weaknesses. When meeting new citizenry, conceal your ability until the last mo, because that bit might be a conflict. However, since you followed me on that hunting trip and are unforced to undergo my exercise routine, I believe that it's only fair to lay my wag on the table."

He covered his eye and disappeared, drawing shouts of surprise from everyone.

"Noah ? !"Oath exclaimed, looking around for him.

Noah released the illusion and they all yelped again."I can make myself invisible. When I first unlocked this power, I could only do it for a few minute at a time. After a month of education, I could do it for more than five minutes."He'd preserve his instant spell secret, as well as the true up duration he could carry the both of them for. His trust in them was still in its infancy.

"I've never seen or even hear of a magic like that before. Maybe some kind of holy place spell ?"Mira muttered.

Her words took away a lot of his nervousness. He still knew so fiddling about the magic trick in this world, there was no telling how common major power like his might be. For all he knew, this lie might make him look pitiful. However, if Mira had never heard of it, there was a chance that it was rarified enough to not be considered common knowledge.

Noah retrieved some bottle wax of a light-green liquid and tossed one to expletive and each of his admirer."crapulence that, it's a little something I whipped up from the plants I bought yesterday, along with some honey. It'll fall in you a little superfluous Energy Department. These future few days are going to be exhausting."

.

.

.

Forging strong suit

.

.

.

Pained gasps.

A feminine whimper.

"Oh God !"

Beth collapsed, fighting for every breathing place with Noah standing over her, the two of them drenched in sweat.

"seminal fluid on, get up,"he said.

"I can't do anymore !"

"You know what comes next."

She looked at him with eyes full phase of the moon of hate."You're a freak,"she hissed.

A unclouded, calm stream was produced, arching onto the ground with a splash.

"Oh, she broke her book !"said Oath.

"I wish my mana would grow that fast !"Mira complained.

The water system spurting from Beth's fingertip trickled to a stoppage. She rolled onto her back, feeling like the hard road underneath her was now as indulgent as the big businessman's mattress. It was the second day of Noah's preparation, midmorning, and he was running laps with swearword and his friends around the flaw estate. Since yesterday, this what they had been doing with nearly of their time, running almost nonstop. It was Noah's rule that they had to run until they collapsed or nearly threw up, and then immediately cast conjuration until their mana was completely depleted. Oath was exempt, but only because he had no aptitude for magic.

Noah crouched down and fed Beth a watered-down healing potion, just something to restore her stamina a bit. While she recovered, curse word, Mira, and Trevor sucked in air. This was the exclusively happy chance they got, when someone collapsed.

"I'm starving, can we eat dejeuner now ?"Trevor asked.

"I can't even think of food,"curse groaned.

They all complained throughout the completely ordeal, but in truth, no one had yet given up and refused to go any further. Despite their torture, they didn't give in. It wasn't to prove their determination, rather it was the simple-minded fact that Noah's method acting were producing results. Just the day before, at the same clock time, if Beth cast her spell, it would make just been a few dip falling from her finger's breadth, lupus erythematosus of a fountain and more of a leaky faucet. Also, everyone's stamen was increasing noticeably. Thanks to the health potions, they could do weeks of casual exercise and retrieval in a number of hours, compressing the charge per unit of improvement so it was much more obvious.

"Yeah, I'd say so. I'm on my last legs too."

cuss and the others groaned in relief and began throwing down everything they carried, as well as stripping off any armor. Noah was making them run in all of their adventuring gear with their weapon system in mitt, and in meter, he'd incorporate weights to make them for carrying the keep crab's treasure. There was a battlefield nearby, but they didn't forethought and squatted down right in the middle of the road to eat. It was on the mogul's estate of the realm, so there wasn't the headache of traffic.

They each carried lunches made by the maids and were chowing down like edacious creature. Even Noah was giving in to his hunger and stuffing his face. But as he ate, his eyes swept over everyone in the chemical group. This workout was definitely vivid, shredding sinew and then immediately repairing them. In this cause, the antidote was speculative than the poison, according to the townspeople pill pusher. He had spoken to her the dawning after he returned to Clive while on his way to break up up his ring.

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

"exploitation potions for practice session ? It would be a good melodic theme if it wasn't such a bad idea,"the old woman said. As always, she stared Noah down, looking at him through the grass of her pipe.

"I can't imagine I'm the first base person to think of using them this way. What I want to sleep together is if there are any grievous issue. You always have them in stock, so getting the ingredients isn't an issue."

She took a oceanic abyss inhale and released a large weed swarm."There is a downside."

"Am I going to consume to pay you to feel out what it is ?"

"In a rush, are you ? Yes, it's always people like you using this method. Mana and health potions, as well as all other concoctions used by adventurer, may look like bottled miracles, but they are a double-edged sword. If overexposed, the body can bury how to animate and reinstate itself. If a wound is repeatedly inflicted on one smudge and healed with potions, eventually the body will recede the ability to mend that position on its own. cutting off will bleed ceaselessly, violate bones will suit like rock, and organs will eventually shut down. The gist are even worse if the potion is consumed, rather than poured, as it spreads throughout the body."

"How long before major damage is inflicted ?"

"If used for everyday exercise, potions will lead to death within two weeks. Lesser harm depends on the user."

"And what about mana potions ?"

"Mana potions stunt the development of conjuration. The more often they are used, the harder it will be to create and learn new spells."

Noah thought back to his"training days"with Tin. He had performed them every other day and with watered-down potions, multiplying his reserves countless multiplication and giving him an edge, but there was no telling how much it had hindered him in the long run.

"And of class you decided to wait until now to tell me, despite all of the potions I've been buying for the cobbler's last month."

"Are you expecting an apology ?"

"No, I just have something I want you to attend at and I would opt some honesty."

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

Three Clarence Shepard Day Jr., that's how farseeing Noah was willing to use the potion method. That would hopefully allow them with enough meter for the side-effects to wear off before they entered a dungeon. So far, everyone's physical stamina was continuing to rise, but if he saw them tableland or even reverse, he'd cut them off, cold joker. 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 loss if he could quash it. If anyone got a injury, he made sure to watch closely, to bring in indisputable their blood was clotting.

"All right, let's head back. We're doing the same turn as yesterday."Everyone groaned and cleaned up their mess, but before they could return to the manor house, Noah stopped them."Hold on, we're doing lunges."

"Please, not again !"Mira complained.

"You'll thank me later."

With their weapons in hand, everyone began doing long stride, stretching out one leg and leaning down with their other genu almost touching the dry land, and they had to keep a fast pace. It was sweaty, painful work.

"This is so embarrassing, we look ridiculous,"Trevor muttered. He seemed to love complaining, but since Noah beat him in a fight, he was keeping his Scripture about following charge."It's not like where going to be running like this through the dungeon crab."

"No, but it'll build up your potency and stamina. The most important forcible asset in combat is leg strength."

"Wait, really ? Even for sword fighting ?"cuss asked.

"Really. If you support your body with a solid foundation, you can contend while staying on your base longer. It doesn't matter how tough you can throw a poke or swing a sword if your pegleg just buckle as soon as you meet impedance. Think of it as like trying to contend while standing on slippery ice vs solid state ground."

Just like before, Noah pushed them to the point of flop. Normally, this form of reckless preparation would be frowned upon, but they needed to stress and shoot their heftiness to the absolute terminal point, mend them with potions to get them even stiff, and repeat, with mana depletions after every collapse.

There was no rest for them when they returned to the manor. Under Noah's pedagogy, Oath and the others began stretching and lifting varying weights in diverse ways. To the striver working the field, it looked like a canonical workout, but Noah scrutinized every bm, from the form their arm took when lifting a threatening stone, to the precise angle of their hip when they twisted their bodies. Every movement had to be gross, so that all the focus went to particular muscles. Had he the means, he would go even further, focusing on individual muscle threads.

In a way, Noah was grateful that this chance came along. Being an adventurer kept him active voice and fit, but it didn't build forte in the Saami way as this workout, and coming to this world had scrambled his routine. He had to use this luck to properly polish his physique. He had planned on teaching this exercise to Tin to make her stronger and capable of defending herself, but that opportunity was gone.

Once they reached the middle of the afternoon, Noah had them move on to the next level of their training. Oath, Trevor, and Mira stood incline by side of meat, all of them gasping for air and cursing in anguish as swither poured down their faces. For cuss and Trevor, the workout was simple, though far from slow. They held out their weapon system as far as they could and save their munition raised for as long as possible. 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 start again.

"Ah, dammit !"Oath cursed as he dropped to his knees.

"Fuck, you're frail,"said Trevor.

"For once in your life, just shut up !"Mira hissed, unable to maintain her common polite personality.

Her training was standardized to theirs, only using magic. Before her floated a lump of earth as large as a beer keg. scandal from a bald patch underneath continuously floated up and added itself to the mass. For her training, she had to maximize the amount of money of world she could lift, as well as the duration, and point of contraction. She'd rotate it in the air to restrain it from becoming lopsided, but every time it moved, she struggled to retain control.

Noah told her she had to be capable to turn dirt into solid rock in seconds, as well as caravan 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 efforts, he'd mental block and deflect her onrush away from his consistency, using assorted fighting styles he had learned across the multiverse. As soon as she paused her onslaught, he'd attack, forcing her to raise her reflexes for dodging.

Finally, when the sun set, Noah said the legerdemain countersign."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, spread eagle on the solid ground and staring up at the sky.

"I'm too wear down to eat and too thirsty to sleep,"Beth added.

"I've spent my life working on this farm, but I've never been this tired before,"said Oath.

It seemed that their stamina had been pushed to its limit, beyond the point that potions could replenish. Now they needed solid food and sleep.

"I should probably head back to the inn while they're still serving dinner,"said Noah.

"You guys can give dinner here,"Oath said.

"Why didn't you say that yesterday ?"

"Sorry, but after a day like that, I couldn't spend another minute thinking about training and the dungeon crab."

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

The board was old and unvarnished, hand-carved with roughly sanded planks, though time had helped to soften its boundary and the low-quality table textile hid its surface. On it, taper burned to illuminate the room, which smelled like the scorched fish Noah and the others were eating, along with bread and some vegetables. In the modern universe, not even soup kitchens would serve nutrient of this destitute point, but after a month in these new lands, Noah had managed to calibrate his taste perception buds.

It was only the five young present. The baron was not taking office. As with lunch, everyone ate voraciously, their body begging for sustenance to try and make up for the fat they had burned. It was surprising that Mira actually noticed curse had stopped eating, staring had his half-finished dinner.

"cuss ? Is something wrong ?"

"No, I'm just trying to call up the last time I sat at this mesa with this many people."

‘ Oh my god, that is so corny,'Noah cerebration, drinking from his crank so as to not break his straight face.

"You're going to make me sick,"Trevor muttered. Noah resisted the desire to thank him.

"What were your crony like ?"Beth asked.

"My oldest, Colt, was a soldier, serving under general Tarnas against the boor in Handent."

"He really served under Tarnas ? !"Beth exclaimed, bolting to her feet.

"Is that a respectable or bad matter ?"Noah asked.

"Adwith Tarnas is one of the nation's greatest heroes, and easily the strongest hero,"said Mira, trying to hide her embarrassment with a smile."virtually children are raised on his stories, and for as long as I've known Beth, she's been a vast fan."

Beth sat back down, a drunk grinning on her face."When I was young, he and some of his military force passed through my town. Watching him depend upon down the street, wearing golden armor… I was no farseeing an innocent child. I had awakened my womanly desires."

"You never heard of him ? What rock have you been living under ?"Trevor asked.

"A large one. say me about the war, I'm curious."

"Oh, well, according to my crony, it started when the boor began ransacking Village along the delimitation, eventually leading to the famous slaying of high school Priest Grybaen by Chief Waer. After that…"

The conversation had taken a strange turn, but Noah absorbed every detail while making his plans for the future. That night, at the inn, Beth didn't go with Mira into their partake in room, but followed Noah into his. She had been too tired the previous night, but tonight, she had just enough strength to baby her curiosity.

The third day of training was just like the two before, including the Saami routine, but now with free weight added. However, the using up of potions had dropped in every natural process. The growth they had gone through over just a few days would have normally taken hebdomad or even month. In the late afternoon, their training was changed. Now instead of simply holding out his sword, oath was practicing his virgule like he was studying kendo. He needed to score both his attacks and his recovery faster.

Next to him, Trevor was improving his thrusts, using what Noah had taught him and incorporating his branch so he could increase the military strength with LE effort. He had also given Trevor the challenge of writing out the varsity letter of the alphabet in the air with the spear tip, to enhance his accuracy. Beth and Mira had switched places, now with Beth straining her magic and Mira staff-fighting with Noah. Unlike Mira and Trevor, Beth's spell couldn't be used for fighting and she appeared to be reaching the bound of her witching aptitude, but creating fresh pee was something they'd need if they spent more than a day in the dungeon.

On the fourth day, Noah met everyone at the baron's demesne as he normally would. He held out a rucksack full of potions."Today, I want you all to see if you can succeed the routine on your own. Until we enter the donjon crab, I am completely banning the use of all potions."

"That's crazy !"Beth exclaimed, with the others similarly nervous.

"If you can't do the day's workout without potions, then you simply aren't ready for the dungeon crab, and the longer we wait, the to a greater extent challenger will have. I don't want to reach the ass of the carapace and witness all of the avenium already taken."He put the backpack down and put on a jacket with all of its pockets filled with rocks."semen on, meter to start running."

The workout proceeded as planned, but with no less complaining. Now without potions, they could only gather their specialty during breaks, but the phone number of times they had to arrest and rest was as Noah predicted. On the one-fifth day, Noah faced them with the sunrise sun burning away the mists clinging to the power's estate. For Oath and his protagonist, this was the finale day of training and they all felt confident. They weren't blind to their own maturation. They now stood with eubstance covered in weights, ready for Noah to give the signaling to go their sunup run.

"Since today is the last day, we're going to do something different. Trevor, I want you to hit the reason with a downward rap and your strongest spell."

"What for ?"

"Just desire me. pour as a great deal mana as you can into the axeblade and fall in it a shot."

Trevor grunted and held out his halberd, and from the moment he began channeling his mana, everyone noticed the difference. These past several days, whenever he, Beth, and Mira practiced with their magic trick, it was always in a state of exhaustion, forcing their bodies to embrace out every last drop of power. This was the number one time in daytime that Trevor was using a spell while at fully strength. What would have been a shimmering glory around the blade was now like a great colorless flame, causing his friends to instinctively pace back.

"Whoa,"Trevor said, unable to pick any other words. He held his halberd with trembling handles, feeling like it was a rabid animal in his grip. He raised it above his mind like a blinding torch."Execute !"Apparently, saying the gens of the spell helped focus the mind and increase the potential of the spell. To Noah, it seemed a bit ridiculous, but it did seduce affair a bit more entertaining.

As per the figure, he swung down with the halberd like he was performing a beheading, and the present moment the blade touched the priming, it was like a mortar round had gone off. A chest-thumping explosion was heard and dirt and rock 'n' roll were sent flying in all directions. Originally, what would experience simply buried his weapon in the poop, had now opened up a crater the size of a bathtub. Just as unbelievable, the intensity of the mana flowing from the halberd had not lessened in the slightest, nor did Trevor appear fatigued.

Everyone was stunned, with Noah flashing a rare smile."Mira, your event would probably be similar if I asked to use your solid spell. Now that you have all this mana to solve with, think of it as a imagination for experimentation. I don't know how the two of you develop magic, whether you just create new spells yourselves or learn by watching others, but I want you to devote yourselves to improving your skill. show up me something new. Today, we're forgetting about durability and stamina and focusing entirely on technique.

Beth, I want you to practice your archery until your fingers bleed and you can sprout the wings of a fly. As for Oath…"Noah drew his longsword."You're going to be fighting me."

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

Beth's bureau heaved with each movement, and her nipples, chilled by the even, pointed out and take up bow in the air. Just moments ago, she had been riding so vigorously, having to discard her clothes when she began to overheat. It had been a battle for her to keep her moans contained, especially with her pelvis refusing to obey her commands and slacken her bouncing.

She now took a lenify gait, rolling her hips from incline to side while she regained her strong point. Her pretty face was one of intoxication, her mind overtaken by lecherousness and endorphins. Her smile was lewd, her face flushed, her lip wet, her student dilated. Noah could see the new sweat on her body with the light of the night sky. What was just supposed to be a quick rendezvous to rub the ol'itch had turned into something a little more intense.

Sitting up, Noah kissed her boob and grabbed her ass, kneading it like cabbage. Beth had a Nice athletic number, not practically fat on her, but the ass of a volleyball musician. Noah's lips on her nipples, his humanity stirring her up, and his hands massaging deep into her muscleman, these stimuli combined into a force that Beth was struggling to withstand. They were out in the Sir Henry Wood, so Beth's moans could attract monsters, or even big, the ears of her friend.

Mira knew about them, so swearword and Trevor were probably aware as well, but still, it would be a bit rude make them hear the strait of moans and physical body against form. That was Beth's thinking, but Noah didn't charge either way. His entirely fear was getting stuck in an unenviable conversation with everyone because of this. That, and the fact that he and Beth were breaking the rule of every revulsion pic and having sex in the woodwind instrument. The fleur-de-lis they were raising could deliver been seeable from space.

Beth's strength gave out, a final orgasm draining her and leaving her soundbox limp. Noah was forced to lower to her to the footing, but she didn't object to him continuing to thrust until he had a sexual climax of his own.

"seminal fluid on, we should get back to the summer camp,"he said.

"What a romanticist 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 fellow venturer were wake up and waiting for them.

"What are you all doing awake ?"Noah asked.

"You two are a lot nosey than you think you are,"Mira said while keeping her eyes down.

"You do progress to it awfully unvoiced to sleep. I thought some wolves were tearing apart a goblin out there,"said Trevor. In revenge, Beth kicked him while circling the campfire to progress to her spot.

"Watch it !"he shot back.

Noah took his own post and stoked the fire."Enough. Everyone, get some rest. We're going to need our strength for tomorrow."They were less than half a day's hike to the dungeon crab.

"None of us can kip. We're too nervous about tomorrow,"Oath said.

"It'll be alright. In twenty years, you'll ask your children ‘ did I ever tell you about the time I conquered a dungeon Phthirius pubis ?'And they'll groan and say, ‘ yes, father, a hundred prison term. We're sick of hearing about it.'”

"Are you going to do anything with the territory ?"Beth asked."Change any laws ?"

"No. Clive is perfect the way it is, and I don't want to shift anything."

"You're letting a gold opportunity trip by,"said Noah.

"What do you think of ?"

"I assume that as long as the kingdom gets its tax, it won't tutelage about how matter change, so you might as well try some things. Think of the town as the place to do social experiments."

"What's a societal experiment ?"Trevor asked.

"It's when you put people in a certain location with sealed weather and see how they react. You can see how human nature plays out. Let's say that as a baron… you introduced a new holiday, just to see how that affects revenue."

"That sounds really wrong,"Mira muttered.

"It's a way to learn about citizenry. In the center of town, put up a statue with a sign saying not to touch, that the pigment 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 hoi polloi are in Clive, a hundred ? If half of them touch the statue, then you could make the arguing that one-half of the homo race is dumb enough to touch paint even when they know it's wet. Or perhaps it's simply that half the townspeople can't read.

If you repeated the experiment in another town, maybe a big urban center in another rural area, you'll probably find that dissimilar numbers of people will touch the statue. Then you can get down to figuring out why. Why do different field have dissimilar results ? Are the people simply dumber ? Is it a literacy problem ? Is there a civilisation of rebellion to government agency ?

There was once an antediluvian city named Rome, which had a massive stone battle arena called the amphitheatre. It was so monolithic, that the emperor put the minds of his best architects into figuring out how to plan it so that the spectators could easily get in and out, otherwise, they'd start a riot. You get a bunch of people together in close proximity, one of two different things may occur, sometimes even both at the Same fourth dimension. The first is that people will want to withdraw into themselves. They'll want to create personal space, establish a margin, draw that bloodline in the sand that no one can hybridize. If individual crosses that demarcation, they may get fearsome, they may get violent ; no matter how modest it is, it produces a damaging reaction.

The former is to deliver to the will of the group. If everyone around you is saying something, you'll assume it's in good order and ingeminate it, because you want to believe in the mathematical group, you want to consider you're right. You want to think that you're in the presence of people who know what they are doing. If you're in a mob where someone is shouting for the death of the king and everyone cheers, share of you will naturally agree.

person losing their humor will start a battle, that fight will spread and spark Sir Thomas More fights, and suddenly the orderly Mass that were simply trying to lead the Coliseum are sweeping through Rome, having abandoned all cerebration of civility and now simply destroying everything in their way."

"That could never encounter,"said Beth, as if Noah had just uttered a child's nonsense.

"I've seen it happen slew of fourth dimension. Once you establish the convention that escape is not available, that candle starts combustion, and it burns quick."

"I don't know. I think people are honorable at middle,"said Mira."They don't just go unhinged like that."

"Then you could raise it. Let's say you could create any kind of social experiment, completely dislodge reverberation, like a ambition. What would you do ?"

"How am I supposed to hump ?"

"The respite of you ? Just think ‘ I wonder how many people would ( blank ) if I ( blank ) ?'Or ‘ what would chance if I put ( blank ) and ( blank ) together ?'Literally whatever you wanted to know, or simply just see."Everyone looked up into the distance, trying to process the challenge."Think about it. It'll help you fall asleep."

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

A solid thud woke expletive up, a steel striking the ground just inch from his face. He instinctively shouted in terror and tried to scurry back, realizing it was Noah's steel and he was standing over him. His friends, unclouded sleeping car in an field this dangerous, woke up in a heartbeat and got to their feet with their weapon raised, confused and alarmed by the plenty of Noah in the predawn light. Was this an character assassination attempt ? However, they looked down and spotted Noah's tangible butt. It was some kind of insectoid creature, a stubby centipede with a bulbous cuticle. It was the size of a squirrel, with frightening pincers.

"What the hell is that thing ? !"Mira exclaimed.

"It's one of the sponge from inside the keep crab. I did as much research as I could on the donjon crab whenever I had the time."

Looking at Mira and Beth, he could see them shuddering in revulsion.

"You mean to recite me that there are more of those things in that crab ?"

"Almost certainly, but they're flooding out into the woods, so just means that the more we find out here, the few we'll have to fight in the crab. Now let's eat some breakfast and get a movement on."

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

It was a erratum mountain of upturned earth and shattered basic principle, the result of the donjon crab rising up from the satellite's crust and jutting out the tip of its shell. At the very pinnacle was the ingress, but the mountain was no indication of just how gravid the actual Crab was. Before they could go down, they'd have to climb up.

"Look up there, I think I see a tent."

Noah scanned where Beth was pointing and confirmed."Someone must deliver set up camp there before heading in."

"There are camps all over the peck. There must be a lot of people in there,"said Mira.

"Most of them have probably been killed by now. Those bivouac are abandoned,"said Trevor.

"Trevor !"

Despite Mira's anger, Noah agreed with Trevor. The closer he looked, the More tent he saw, and the majority of them probably belonged to the dead, but he didn't want Oath and the others chewing on that."Relax. Everyone going in just packed igniter because they want to deport as a lot treasure as they can, and probably couldn't carry anything extra when they came out. We'll be in the Same situation when we come back."

"Wait, I see people too,"said Beth.

She was right, there were pot of adventurers roaming the mountain.

"They must be scavenging for gems and cute metals. When the Cancer the Crab appears, it probably pushes up more than just stone and dirt."

"If you can get Au from sifting through the shite, then why bother 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 fear aside and began climbing up the side of the mountain. There were no established paths and the foothold was difficult, to say the least. The dirt had settled since it was first moved by the arrival of the crab, but there were no plants to hold it all together, so it was like hiking up the side of a sand dune in many surface area. They also had to be wary of the big gemstone chunks mixed in. They were freshly broken and hadn't been weathered by the wind and the rain, so they could easily cut through skin. While climbing, Noah grabbed a gemstone handhold and his palm was skinned by the crystal-like acuteness.

They passed by multiple prospectors and treasure-hunters, digging around for anything worthwhile. No one paid them any aid, and they offered none in return. However, that changed when they heard the sounds of fighting. Nearby, they saw a whiskery 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 heavy forelimbs like clubs and tried to force the man onto his back.

"Noah, we need to help him,"said Mira.

"guardianship him alive isn't my job. Besides, any strength you use against that one monster will be strength you can't use in the shell."

"Then consider this a landing field run !"Mira held out her staff."Shatter macebearer !"

composition of rock and packed scandal flowed to the end of her staff, joining together into a hardened sphere, the size of a basketball and covered in abrupt protrusions. She left the radical and ran over to where the man was fighting, with her weapon not hindering her social movement at all. rather than physical force, she was holding the sphere together and lifting it with mana.

The wildcat had the man pinned on his spine and he was fending off its snapping claw with his pickaxe. Sneaking up behind it, Mira raised her staff and brought it down onto the monster's back, unleashing the full exercising weight of the stone and breaking through its shell. The monster hissed in pain sensation and fell over, and she dispatched it with another swing, this one crushing its exposed caput. A calendar week ago, such a task would take been unimaginable for her, but under Noah's tutelage, both her accomplishment in trick and physical fight had been multiplied several clip over.

"Thanks,"the man grumbled before dusting himself off and walking away.

She returned to the group, where Beth was clapping for her."wellspring done !"

Noah, however, clasped his manus on her berm."Don't do that again."There was very slight anger in his voice, but still, she shrunk away."The same goes for the balance of you. We're not here to make for hero, we're not here to save lives. We're here to make money and inhibit the dungeon. Our durability, 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 sum shield. Understood ?"Everyone nodded."Good, then let's move on."

They resumed hiking up towards the top, and Oath soon asked a question.

"Noah, you researched dungeon crabs, right ? Did you acknowledge that teras ?"

"Yes, it was one of the parasites mentioned in the Book your father had."

"Do you make love what else we'll come up ?"

"Unfortunately, no, there was actually very little written information about the keep crabs and what exists within their racing shell. Those who remain in the amphetamine dowry and survive portion their information, but those who delve deep enough to hand the avenium either die or keep it a secret."

"delay, why is it a surreptitious ?"Trevor asked.

"If I had to think, I'd say it's because the nation's nobility doesn't want people knowing how to join their ranks. In this crab are the Francis Scott Key to the land, after all. Too many Whitney Moore Young Jr. upstarts could crack the balance of might between the rich and the poor, or they could form factions that get in the way of the higher-ranked nobles. Some info gets out, of course, from those who manage to miss with their lives but don't conquer the dungeon, or from other countries, but I imagine that the only explorer 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 twosome of sinewy branch, like a predatory shuttlecock, but it had a pocket-sized consistence and no neck, only a forward-placed skull that resembled an alligator. It was a distich of snapping jaws on feet, that was all it could be described as, and it was glaring at Noah and the group. It had the high ground, and after emitting another hiss, several more look, from both above and the sides.

"A pack-type sponger, matter to,"Noah said as he drew his brand."Get ready, everyone, the fighting starts early."

They took constitution, with Oath in front and Noah and Trevor guarding the wing, while Beth and Mira attacked from a space. The monsters closed in all at once, leaping through the air while flashing the talons on their feet and spreading their jaws.

"Trevor !"Noah shouted.

"Phalanx lance !"he cast while swinging his halberd like a flag.

A trail of mana was left behind with each trend, and the mana solidified into floating leaf blade like mist condensing into ice. The floating blades pierced three of the beasts before they could land, two more than were wounded, and the rest had their denseness broken and failed to pounce properly. With that gap, Noah and swearing began hacking and slashing away at those who landed closest by.

"Earth Bind !"

Mira stabbed the ground, and beneath the maimed beasts, stone opened up to swallow them unharmed, then were closed with earthen spikes like coop bars. It wouldn't have them long, but it kept them out of the fight. Not only could Mira now manifest the enchantment multiple fourth dimension from one molding, but the ground proved perfect for its use. Those who had avoided Trevor's spell and Noah and Oath's blade tried circling around, but Beth dispatched them with her bow, and any she missed ended up getting cleaved by Trevor. Once all of the mobile ones were slain, the wounded were put out of their misery.

"trade good, well done,"said Noah.

Normally they would then harvest the monsters for worthful pieces, but the mart for donjon Cancer the Crab leech was too recession to be worth the elbow grease. Besides, they wanted to economise as often room for treasure as they could.

They continued their climb, and after a duo more monster struggle, they reached the summit at noonday. There, sticking out of the ground was the tip of the crab's shell, like a light planetary house on a rocky cliff. Noah could see the curl of the cuticle, and before them, the possible action, a threshold large enough for an elephant to walk through. Noah reached out and touched the shell, made of gist somehow strong enough to hold up the heating and pressing of the Earth's interior.

In the calendar month since Noah's comer to this world, he had seen plenty of matter that shocked and baffled him, from legerdemain to monsters, but just the sight of the entrance blew him away. To think that such a tool like this could exist, that something so massive occupied this world. It blurred the mutual sense accumulated from to a greater extent than a hundred lifetimes. Where did these things come from ? Were they made by trick ? Perhaps by some kind of god ? How old was this one ? Was it intelligent ? What was its life bike ?

"I never thought I'd ever see something like this,"said expletive, similarly amazed.

Everyone in the grouping was staring at the white tugboat in awe and skill. True, the existent struggle had only just begun, but compared to what they were doing not too long ago, just reaching this place was a huge acquisition.

"Look at this view,"said Beth.

Without any tree diagram to block off their view, the mountain meridian let them see for miles in all directions.

"I think I can see the small town !"said Trevor.

"Let's break here for lunch, gather some of our strength, and then head inside."

They all sat down and Noah pulled food and water tegument out of his ring. He had enough food and water to feed them all for several days, and thanks to Beth's illusion, they could refill their canteens whenever needed. However, everyone carried two daytime of rations, just in vitrine they got separated. Their lunch consisted of dried fish and fruits, as well as some bread, something Light to keep them moving. Up atop the mountain, there was a nice breeze, and the position was spectacular.

"Noah, remember what you were saying survive nighttime about social experiments ?"Beth asked."If I could try one, I'd want to see what happens when you put only char together and task them with building a society. What would Clive aspect like if it had only cleaning woman ?"

"A female-only society ? Yeah, that would certainly be interesting. Ok, paint a picture for me. What do you expect would bechance ?"

"I think that without any men to get in the way, they would flourish,"she said, rather smugly.

"Until there is a spider that needs to be killed,"said Trevor.

"Come on, I want details. For case, there are roles in society that are typically considered manly, and others that are considered womanly. If only women perform the manly undertaking, then what will change ? Will the nature of the task change, or will the fair sex change ? Will the women who spend all day hunting, blacksmithing, and all those other jobs start acting rough and crass like men ?

You're an adventurer. You spend your mean solar day hunting, fighting, scavenging, getting down and dirty. But you also weigh yourself quite girlish, right ? But how do you call back a girl who spends her days weaving and taking care of minor sees you ? Will a divide form ? The Type A personalities arguing with the Type B ?"

"Type A personalities ?"

"Never thinker. Oath, you got an idea for an experiment ?"

Oath took a deep breathing space."Something like what Beth was talking about, but it's men and womanhood, and all of them have lost their memories."

"Oh, that's the good one. The tote up erasure of culture and starting from dinero. If you completely remove upbringing from the equation, then you can truly see how nature manifests. Will men and charwoman follow paths considered normal by society ? Will they take over the same persona that their root have ? Or will they do everything new ?"

Everyone watched as he started putting things away. He didn't need to say anything, they knew it was time to take the plunge.

.

.

.

The gantlet

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.

.

Once they had finished eating, they packed up their things and entered the cuticle, with Noah taking the lead and holding a common mullein. Because of the racing shell's crook, they had to descend a spiral transition, like a staircase but without existent stairs. The walls, trading floor, and ceiling of the transition were perfectly placid, but there were no straight telephone circuit of any kind. It was like wandering through a narrow canon carved by flashfloods. to the highest degree of the floor was covered in dirt and break up stone, perhaps seeping in from the hatchway of the scale. Luckily this meant that Beth would have something to work with to use her spells.

The crabby person had been venting its plate for more than than a week, but the air still had a staleness to it. It smelled gross, like a mineshaft or a quarry, but he could also reek the biologic signature of the parasites. The air seemed exquisitely to rest and the blowlamp didn't appear to give birth any issue burning. Was all that oxygen from the outside ? How long could the oxygen in conclusion if the crab went back below the open ? How long did the keep crab live underground before surfacing ? Either the crab and its parasites could function in an oxygen-poor surroundings, or something within the crab could create a human-friendly atmosphere.

They had descended fifty base when the 1st fork appeared, another tunnel branching off from the staircase.

"We're going to keep going down, right ?"expletive asked.

"Yeah, whatever passage leads us down, we'll necessitate it."

One of the bipedal parasites burst from the branching burrow, aiming for Noah. He stepped to the side to dodge, sop up his short sword, and stabbed the wildcat through the spine when it landed.

The deeper they delved, the more furcate tunnels they came across, but they continued their parentage, until reaching a large bedchamber at the behind of the staircase, with five tunnels spread out. The staircase had been just wide enough for two the great unwashed to walk shoulder-to-shoulder, but these tunnels were like subway course. There were mansion of explorer coming through here, marking the tunnels to try and keep track of which way they had taken. There were also some blood dab, mangled wearing apparel, and a cave in sword.

"What's that, hanging from the ceiling ?"swearword asked.

Above their nous, gooey threads dangled like icicles, and at the base of each, a small clump of light.

"Cave worm. Their bodies are bioluminescent, attracting prey, which get caught in their train of thought like spider network. This is a good thing. We won't need this."Noah extinguished the torch and stored it in his doughnut."Ok, let's split up. We can cover more ground that way."

"hold, WHAT ? !"everyone exclaimed.

It was the tough Noah laughed since coming to this world."Relax, I'm just kidding. Can you imagine ? Let's take this path over here. It looks like it continues to slope."

They took the right-most route, advance descending into the donjon crab, and soon stopped at the entrance of a limb sleeping accommodation, hearing movement within. They stayed against the rampart so as to avoid drawing the attention of whatever was inside. Noah signaled the others with his hired man and cast his invisibility, then stepped into the doorway. The lot before him was a grotesque, a pile of maggots, each the size of it of a football, feasting upon the cadaver of some slain adventures. Their fat bodies quivered as they peeled flesh from osseous tissue. The walls were honeycombed to business firm the creature between repast, and three adult were standing guard.

The guard were hemipteron of some kind, consisting of four stage surrounding a pass and torso that were sundry together with wings between the stage. The legs were armour-plated and sharp, and their downward-pointing face had dentition like an monkfish Pisces. They looked almost like winged bar crapper. Noah drew his sword and killed one of the creature without it ever realizing it was there. Seeing their comrade spontaneously die, nearly being sliced in half in the physical process, the former two began to panic and seek for the invisible assailant. He killed them almost as easily as he had killed the first.

"open,"Noah said as he released his spell.

He reappeared, just as swearword and the others entered the room, immediately broadcasting their revulsion at the remains being fed on. Noah knocked the hatful of bodies over, and kicked away the maggots so that he could begin poking around with his sword.

"Don't loot them !"curse word said in disgust.

"Why ? Because we didn't kill them ? We're adventurers, we thrive on the expiry of others, be they human race or monsters. Meh, cypher great."He was able-bodied to hoard a few weapon system and arrows, but that was it.

"Hey, something's coming !"Trevor shouted. They ran out into the hall, hearing the sounds of wingbeats. Further down the tunnel, various more four-legged bug were flying towards them, having likely detected the decease of their Comrade."Phalanx Spears !"he then cast.

He blocked the transit with an regalia of mana vane and Beth began firing arrow, but the armor plating on the teras's legs proved stiff and they smashed their way through. Oath took down one, but a second tackled him from the incline, tearing into him with its dentition and chela. Noah killed it before it could bring down more damage, then fended off the others with well-placed stabs. Trevor had also been tackled and knocked onto his back, with Beth and Mira working together to pry the beast off.

Noah was still on his understructure, so the monsters were heading towards him. He put away his longsword and instead switched to his inadequate sword. The for the first time bug that tried to tackle him was met with his shield and then a sudden jabbing. He repeated the strategy, breaking the foe'inertia by blocking with his shield and then stabbing while they were disoriented.

The battle had ended and healing potions were used where needed. This certainly was an matter to environment for battle. near of the monsters seen so far had punishing outer shells, something Noah and his group had little experience in dealing with. Their group focused on attacking rather than survival, as they were always fighting wolf that were as vulnerable as themselves. Aside from Noah's cuticle, the chemical group didn't have much in way of DoD outside of light armor—and a strong offense, of course.

They continued on deeper, passing by countless fork tunnels and eventually coming to another ramification. Once more, their ears stopped them from proceeding, as they heard bm down one of the burrow, and soon saw it as well. It was a flood lamp of centipedes, just like the one that had tried to kill Oath that dawn.

"holy turd !"Mira shrieked, something very out of character for her.

"Come on, this way !"

Noah ran down one of the handing over with the others following, but so too did the centipedes. It seemed they were familiar with the scent of mass and now hungered for Noah's group. He slowed his pace, letting the others get past him, then untied a bag hanging from his belt and scattered its powdery subject matter across the floor. It was lye, the best he could make within reason. It was much more acerbic 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 worm and coil in infliction. However, it only slowed them down, and those in back simply climbed over their ill kin.

They kept running, though Thomas More monsters were bursting out of the tunnels ahead. Noah and oath took them out to the best of their power, trying to at least incapacitate them with one slash. Those not remove retreated immediately as the chemical group passed by, not wanting to get the fair game of the centipedes behind them.

"There's a room ahead !"said Trevor.

"Mira, wait until we reach that elbow room, and if I give a signal, use your globe Surge magic spell,"said Noah.

They entered the chamber, though regret filled them immediately. A new, colossal danger awaited them. It was a worm, coiled like a hissing cobra, with a body Sir Thomas More than ten feet wide and long as a football field. Its form was crude, like living Harlan Fisk Stone, and it was covered in countless small understructure. Towering over them in this arena-like chamber, it stared without optic and roared from a mouth that was simply a pit of teeth.

The sight of the monster shocked everyone into a stun silence, like Oath when standing before that bear, but not even Noah could objurgate them, for he too was momentarily crippled by fear. The fraction of second between two beatniks of his heart seemed like it would hold up forever, but that next clunk shook him from his shock, letting him collect his persuasion and began working on a plan.

"Mira, do it now ! Beth, shoot some arrows into that matter's mouth or anything else that looks voiced ! expletive, you and I will be the decoy. Trevor, you attack with all your legerdemain. We need to just thread it long enough to get away !"

No one else moved, but Noah giving Oath a shove woke them up. Mira turned back to face the oncoming wave of behemoth, and counted with a wave of her own. She cast her spell upon the earthen ground, taking control of all of the rock and scandal and unleashing it on the centipedes like a mudslide. While that was going on, Beth was firing arrows at the louse's back talk, striking its exposed shape but only doing enough impairment to piss it off.

It turned its attention on Oath and Noah, running at it from its left field and veracious side. It lunged at them both, aiming to eat Noah and swat expletive with its tail. Noah made himself invisible and dodged the insect's mouth when it lost raceway of him, and expletive blocked the attack with a swing of his brand, breaking into the monster's cutis. As they had distracted it, Trevor could now unleash his charged illusion. Both the spear blade and the axe headspring of his halberd were glowing with a radiant tempest of mana, and rune spun around the shaft. He charged towards the worm's coiled soundbox, released a holla of rage, and brought down his blade like a divine smite.

"Voulge Slash !"

It was a combination of his stabbing and cleaving go, and while the motion were the same as just a normal swing, it inflicted damage differently in the form of a cut. It had less penetrating office than the early two, possibly failing to break up the worm's rocky outside, but it would do much greater scathe to the human body. His mana, having solidified around the head of his halberd, carved deep into the louse's build, and as Trevor swung his weapon system down, he left a deep cut on different segments of is organic structure. Blood poured from the wound and the worm shrieked in agony.

"Let's go !"Noah shouted.

They ran off through another passage, leaving behind the dirt ball with the centipedes. They didn't occlusive running, wanting to get as far away as possible. They kept maneuvering through the dungeon, fighting the monsters leaping out while they searched for a safe spot. It seemed like every time they slowed down or even paused, something would burst out and attempt to call for a ball out of them. Finally, when they were gasping for air with their throats feeling as dry as sand, the group found a chamber with a small opening and no monsters inside. They set their packs against the entrance, hopefully to facilitate keep the monsters from detecting them. They all slumped down on the trading floor. Even Noah was feeling sick from the adrenaline.

"nookie ! This spot is a expiry trap !"Trevor exclaimed as he poured a healing potion on a deep puncture lesion in his thigh, caused by something resembling a cycloptic tiger catching him with one of its giant star fangs.

"No wonder nobility is the prize for conquering one of these things. You deserve to be a shit king if you can survive this place,"Beth panted. Despite fighting from the backbone, she was covered in teras blood.

"guy cable, I got ta tell you, I'm not sure we're ready for this office. It's too soon,"said Oath.

"Don't say that. We're alert, aren't we ? We managed to get through it and incur 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 hand, but with an expression that, frankly, didn't fit the place.

After dying so many times, last was no foresightful something Noah feared. It was to be avoided, but with about the same total of sweat used to nullify dying in a video game. He still possessed the survival instinct in some mode, but he could no longer properly appreciate the greatest risk of death in a given berth. He was no more afraid of guns that he was a deep brown board's sharp corner. But what he felt when he saw the worm was true fear, when he realized that not only was the worm the most likely cause of his expiry in that way, but that it was a death he wanted to forefend to a greater extent than any former. That feeling of fright, after so long, it was as though some of his someone's hunger 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 account book at the big businessman's home, it had a movie of a dungeon Cancer. It might experience just been a supposition at what it looked like, but it was of a giant troglodyte Cancer the Crab. However, hermit crabby person don't create their own carapace. escargot do. Hermit crabs just read them over. So, either we're actually inside a snail, or if this really is a anchorite crab, then that means it probably got this scale from a snail, and if there are these elephantine crabs and snails living within the earth, what else is down there ?"

"And how does that help us ?"

"It'll carry your idea of things. We'll be fine, we can get through this. Had we tried this a workweek ago, none of you would still be here, but you've all grown stronger."

"So what should we do ?"Oath asked.

"Exactly what we've been doing. Just watch our footstep, take it one challenge at a clock time, and proceed our cycle stabilize. Besides, I'd say there is good deal of inducement to stick around."

Everyone glanced around the sleeping accommodation and gasped when they realized the ground was gleaming like a starry sky. It was hard to secernate under the profane light of the incandescence louse, but it was fleck of alloy and gems blend into the dirt.

"Our first score !"Beth exclaimed.

They began collecting the inkling pieces and cleaning off the unwanted dirt and rock 'n' roll. Most of it was raw and stretch, so nimiety sediments had to be scraped, hammered, and rubbed off, and even then, there was no telling how very much amber or Ag was collected until it could all be properly melted down. Despite the uncovering, Noah couldn't traverse his disappointment. When he had heard about these dungeon and the gem within them, his privileged nerd had been imagining something More along the lines of an actual treasure dresser. That worm back there could be considered a mini-boss, after all.

With their feeling lifted, they left the safety of the bedchamber to cover their filiation.

"Trevor, you take full point,"said Noah.

"What ?"

"I mean you're in front, in the middle space. swearing will now be opposite from me, where you once were. In these narrow tunnels, we don't need to worry about an enemy circling around to Beth and Mira, so it would be beneficial to put your long compass directly in the front. If we enter a lawless space, we might alternate back."

Trevor stepped forward and led the group, and not long after they departed, they faced off against a duo 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 digest over us,"said Noah.

He and Oath stepped forward, keeping just out of mountain range of Trevor's halberd with Oath delivering a mighty cleave. His sword cracked into the teras's shell and struck its brainpower, though the wound was shallower than cuss expected. Nearby, Noah was fending off swings and stabs of the beast's jagged forelimbs, but when an opening came, he hacked one of them off and then throw his sword into the monster's face.

"These shells might be worth something."

Knives in hand, they carved the top eggshell off, each one the size of it of a tower buckler. They were hard enough to stop cuss's cleave and rather ignite, so there was the practiced chance they'd be worth something to an armor dealer.

They proceeded onwards, fighting their way through wafture after Wave of the shell's inhabitants. They survived each encounter, but not without shedding bloodline. They kept their eyes peeled, not just for monsters, but for glimmer of hoarded wealth. They searched every room, finding Au, silver, and gems of all different colors. They also found plenty of signs of homo activity, though rarely any bodies, same with the demon, and the suddenly destruction were a incessant annoyance.

"postponement, hold up."

"What is it ?"Trevor asked.

"This section of the hall, we should avoid it. Look at it."The next hundred pes of the tunnel had a different consistency than the quietus. It was a fleshy, pierced control surface, like a dish sponge."Something like that is probably some sort of gob. We need to backtrack."

"It looks fine. It probably means we're getting close to the bottom of the shell."

"It very well could be, but it's also too suspect to risk. We're going back."

But as they turned around, they heard shrieking and shouts and terror, and from the way they just came, another adventuring party appeared, a group of respective adult men with low-quality leather armor.

"It's coming ! It's fast !"one of them screamed.

"Run ! You have to get out of here !"another shouted when he spotted Noah and his group.

Mira stepped forward to try and block up them."delay, 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 face, while nearby, the screams of fear became screams of annoyance. The men, having entered the hallway, now found themselves being assailed from all English by flying Stinger. They shot out of the holes in the walls and ceiling like bullet train and imbedded themselves in the men. They were barbed, like bee cut, and Noah could see them pulsing as they injected their venom.

"Get her on her pes. Something is coming."

Mira was pouring blood from her mouthpiece and seemed delirious. Oath forced her to pledge a wellness potion, but it wouldn't get her into fighting stipulation soon enough. The demon the men had feared arrived, some kind of hulking crossbreed between a Ursus arctos horribilis bear and a komodo flying dragon. Its binding was covered in thick musical scale and its underside didn't seem very infirm either. It stood on its hind legs, exposing its mortal claws, and released a roar from between two rows of shark-like teeth.

Beth, standing behind expletive and Trevor, shot it in the stomach with an arrow, though the wounding was shallow, and it would take fourth dimension for the poisonous substance to recoil in. Regardless, it took the message and dropped back down onto all fours and charged.

"passel Splitter !"Trevor cast.

He thrust at the oncoming monstrosity, aiming for its chief with the blade alight with mana. The savage managed to avoid a lethal injury, instead staking the coke in the shoulder. Its weighing machine were like thick stones and just as hard, so while Trevor reached the tissue underneath, most of the Energy was deflected. Getting past the halberd, it slashed Trevor across the thorax, sheering through his armor and knocking him against the wall. Noah took out a lye bomb and struck the animate being in the face, blinding it and making it stagger back.

"Beth, save Trevor. Oath, get over here !"

Noah didn't kick in it any chance to recover and lunged for the giant, slashing and stabbing at any spot that looked soft. He focused on the wounded shoulder, but the fauna was guarding it well, and despite being blinded, it was swinging its pincer with deadly truth, and even Noah ended up with some deep cuts across his thigh. Oath came out from behind Noah and brought down his sword on the freak's question, doing some slight concussive damage.

"I'll distract it."Noah cast his invisibility and charged at the fiend while drawing a length of thick chain from within his tintinnabulation. He wrapped it around the monster's neck and jumped onto its rear. He pulled with his full weight, forcing it to rear back on its hind branch so that Oath could strap it across the stomach and bring out its inner electric organ

"earth spate !"Mira cast as he got out of the way.

Since curse word had created a way in, Mira bombarded the monster with a blast of dirt and rock-and-roll, aiming for the laceration. It fell on its backbone, too wounded to keep fighting, and Noah finished it off.

"trade good. What is everyone's shape ?"

"Unhurt, but tired,"said Oath.

"I'm out of mana and I can barely stand,"Mira whined.

"Trevor looks ok, but I think we should stop for the night. I'm starving,"Beth said.

"Yeah, it's probably night by now. We'll call it a day."

They searched around, finding a elbow room for them to bivouac out in. They made a doorway out of monster shells and barricaded it with their bags. There were no glow dirt ball in this elbow room, so Noah lit his torch.

"Let's eat quick and get some sleep. I'll take number 1 watch."

After a unsatisfied nighttime, they left their natural enclosure."There is something I want to check out,"he said. He led them back to the corridor that had killed the other adventurer group, only to ascertain that the stiff were gone, like with the armored giant that had given them so very much fuss before."Interesting."

"What ? Something just came along and took the bodies. What's the big quite a little ?"Trevor asked.

"This hallway probably kills whatever enters it with those spikes. Only something heavily armored like that bear-thing could have gotten to them, but there are no retarding force Simon Marks, no footprints. Maybe one of those giant bugs flew in and pulled them out without being detected, but I'd say it's more in all probability that they were eaten by something former than just a parasite."

"You mean the crab ?"asked Beth."How ?"

"I'm not sure, but I'd like to enter it when I have the fortune. Let's go."

They set out, continuing their exploration. The lusus naturae onrush was relentless, a wave emerging every couple of minutes, each one pushing the venturer beyond their limitation, both from the Numbers and the strength they carried. Everyone received injury, even Noah. While his invisibility granted him a leeway of damage compared to the others, stealth did little against such vast personnel. There was simply not enough room to duck or retreat. They were running through their reservation of potions faster than Noah had anticipated, but not beyond his planning, and he still had enough to make the wide-cut head trip.

He assumed they had reached the body of the creature, or at least were no longer in the unoccupied portion. More overweight corridors were appearing, most of them containing some kind of biological trap like the spike heel from before. Wherever this bass portion of the shell was, it had to be last by. Besides, there was also peck of bonus to take the risk. While they did a lot of traveling, much of their clip was spent get together gem. Their inner circle and pockets were getting sullen with precious gemstone and ores, and even Noah was dumping material out of his doughnut to form room.

That weight was currently a hindrance, though, as they found themselves running from another undulation of centipedes. The consistency of the corridor had also changed, where they were now passing through a chain of 30x30ft rooms, each one with a deep bowl-like floor.

"Whoa ! Stop !"Noah shouted.

Everyone halted at the entering to the side by side room, blocked behind his arms. The floor of the chamber was waist-deep with saturnine water, or at to the lowest degree, they hoped it was water system. By now, they had all become a bit paranoiac towards the giant, as well as picked up some of their antic. There could be untold wildcat lurking in that water, ready to grab them and scuff them under, perhaps injecting them with poison with acerate leaf teeth or barbed stingers. But the centipedes were closing in fast, and there wasn't plenty sentence to backtrack to a leg passage.

Noah summoned some food from his mob and sprinkled it across the surface of the water, and the next few instant passed by with agonising anticipation, but nothing came up to feed, which was safe enough for them. Not without grimacing, they stepped down into the pigswill and waded across. The next room had a pool of water like the initiatory, and the future after that, and the third, and it was taking their toll. Despite all of the running they had done, there was only so much that stamina could do in this kind of workout. However, as he moved through the fifth part, Noah noticed something.

It was a layer of raw oil floating on the body of water's surface. He looked back, seeing the centipedes pursuing them, even swimming like dirty dog. Noah and the others got out, but he turned back with a flint and knife. This was something he wanted to ward off doing in this oxygen-low environment, especially since he was now soaked in oil, but he struck the Flint River against his knife and spent off a spray of sparks that set the pocket billiards ablaze, filling the chamber with a wall of fire.

He rejoined the others, passing through several more rooms and taking multiple turns, but they finally had to take leave and becharm their breath and gasped in stand-in that they were no longer being pursued. Even Noah needed relaxation, so no one said anything and they all just leaned against their knees, sucking in air with their faces over the airfoil of the water.

Noah stood up straight, and as he breathed in, the ground disappeared from under everyone's feet. Some variety of organic hole doorway had opened up beneath them, and the pool of dark water became a roaring whirlpool. Standing in the center of the room, Noah and Beth dropped helplessly, disappearing down a vast throat. Trevor, Oath, and Mira were saved by the skin of their dentition. Trevor's halberd and Mira's staff had gotten stuck, granting them something to snap up onto. They were hanging over the ingress to the throat like a bottomless wellspring of living, quivering stone.

Sensing the obstruction, the walls began to close in to try and shift them. The three youths couldn't help but vociferation in little terror as they struggled to rise up out of the throat. They were drenched in dirty word, struggling to hold onto their arm and get any kind of purchase. They squeezed and clawed their way out, feeling like their fingernails would discase off. Their faces were pressed to the sloped floor, forced to respire in and taste the swill. They reached the next elbow room, but despite their exhaustion, they couldn't residuum yet. They could hear them, the approaching centipedes, having gotten past the fire Noah started.

They forced themselves onto their foundation, barely able to remain firm, but once more having to run. They were in a dreadful situation, but Noah and Beth were even worse off. They were forced down a pit of flesh, gasping for air and feeling around for anything they could catch onto to block up themselves. To Noah, it ranked as one of the weirdest moments in his integral multi-life history. They were soon tossed out, dropping through open air before making a hard landing on what felt like a pile of firewood. It was pitch black, no cave worms around, and the moment Beth tried to pass off in, her sunburn lungs cried out in a new anguish. The air was toxic, she could try it, and every intimation damage. She coughed and wheezed, her face turning purple.

An arm wrapped around her from ass and something was slammed over her case. Instinct made her stroke her elbow joint back in self-defense, but it failed to land a hit.

"It's me ! Just breathe !"Noah shouted.

It took effort, but she drew in a deep breather, and at last, it was clear. She drank the filtered air in greedily, while the thing over her sass was tied around her promontory. It felt like leather, and it smelled like… charcoal ? I really made her want to sneeze, but even the itchiest breath was worth it.

"Noah ?"

"I'm here, hold on."

There was a spark in the dark and a torch 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 keep, though I'm not sure how much organized religion should be put in them. We should get out of here, quick."

Beth looked down and shrieked. The rough 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 dissolution 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 accept chastised her for losing her nerve, but considering the situation, he too was almost ready to snap."We're not dead yet. Here, hold this."He handed her the torch and looked around. There was a section of the island touching the wall, so the acid was frothing just under his feet.

He leaned over towards the wall and slashed at it with all of his strength, but the sword simply slid off, throwing him off his symmetry and nearly sending him tumbling. He reformed his terms, this time attempting a stab. Once again, his blade, despite striking the flesh head on, simply bounced to the side, and he fumbled. He tried again and again, but his gauge of its resilience was that it was beyond his layer of military posture. However, he wasn't out of ideas yet.

Sheathing his sword, returned to the center of the island, then began scooping up armloads of rot-slickened bones. He piled them against the bulwark, then removed a tightly-bound canvas packet from his ring.

"What is that ?"Beth asked.

"Give me the torch."She handed it to him, and he touched a connected calamitous string to the flames. It came alight, and he forced the package against the rampart, pressed with his carapace, and backed by the pile of bones."Ok, back ! Back ! Back !"He coaxed her as far back as he could within the stomach, then conjured up the teras shells they had collected before."duck's egg down behind this and try to cover your ears !"

They got behind the shield-like shield, then an explosion blasted off on the other side of the room like it had been struck by lightning. grass filled the air, and lethal shrapnel sprayed their United States Department of Defense. Beth released a scream from the monumental seismic disturbance, but Noah held her still, and though the blowtorch had gone out, there was now a hole in the slope of the stomach, from which bioluminescent light was pouring in and stomach acid was pouring out.

They did their near to avoid getting splashed with battery-acid and climbed out into a new chamber."That explosion will have drawn monsters. We have to go."

"What about the others ?"

"They're heading for the Lapplander seat we are. We'll receive them there eventually. Come on."

She followed him through the labyrinth, managing to forfend fighting and get a room where they could rest. The air was moth-eaten and disgusting down in these tunnels, but compared to the exhaust of that stomach, Noah and Beth removed their masks and felt cypher but gratitude and relief with each breath.

"I… need to rest…"said Beth.

"Agreed, but I think it would be best if we cleaned off first."

Beth pointed her finger at him."Make Water."

Water began pouring from her fingertip with the volume and strength of a garden hosiery. Noah leaned into the spray, scrubbing off the filth and trying to get everything clean. Beth then took a bout, and they switched back and forth until they deemed themselves decent.

"I thought you could only use magic to make yourself unseeable. What was that back there ?"Beth asked as they both stripped off their soaking clothes.

Noah, standing with his book binding to her, rundle out his shirt."That was a dud, made of something called black powder."

Beth peeled over her trousers and the rough, unflattering fabric that passed for undergarments at this era."So it was alchemy ?"

"form of, there wasn't any magic involved. It's just a powder 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 masks ?"

"Yeah. It's been a while since I made one, plus I couldn't really experiment to lay down 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 study how to make stuff like that ? You said you couldn't find information on the donjon crab, but you knew to make water these gas masks."

"It was a job I took before I came to Robert Clive. I spent a few days working in a mine. Down there, they were using bootleg pulverisation to nail isolated rock 'n' roll and they had to use these masks in case they hit a gas pocket."The reply seemed to placate her and he bowed down."Can you spray my read/write head again ?"

.

.

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The Story of Oath

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.

.

curse, Trevor, and Mira fell to their hired man and knees, close to passing out. They had finally managed to break loose the centipedes and were now back in a normal corridor. Their strength was adjacent to zero, and Trevor was knocking back potions. Only once all was calm did they finally get back on their feet.

"We need to find Noah and Beth,"said curse word,"we should—"

A unanimous fist striking his case both cut him off and sent him falling to the priming. His eyes were rolling like billiard balls, but the sound of Mira's screaming forced him to sharpen. Trevor had tackled her and driven a knife into her chest.

"You son of a kick !"expletive bolted to his feet and attacked Trevor, knocking him off Mira, who was choking on her own line.

As they fell over into a storm of grappling and whipping, Mira used what lilliputian forte she had to retrieve a health potion from her pouch and pour it on the combat injury. She passed out, stuck in a airstream between bleeding to decease and recovering in clock time. Nearby, Oath and Trevor had gotten to their feet and were now hurling slug wildly.

"Trevor, what the hell are you doing ? !"curse shouted.

"getting you out of my way !"Trevor yelled back.

He retreated, going after his halberd. Oath did the same, retrieving his sword and raising it just in metre to block Trevor's thrust. Despite his strength, Trevor was able to exert more continuous force play, and the spear tip of the halberd pierced his shoulder. Oath couldn't contain his cry of anguish as he was pinned against the bulwark. It was a stalemate, swearword stuck where he was, but Trevor unable to let up the pressure.

"It would make been dear if Mira had followed those two in the pit. I didn't want to have to kill her, but I couldn't danger you two teaming up against me."

"We weren't going to team up up against you ! What the nooky are you talking about ? !"

"I just didn't want her to intervene when I tried to shoot down you. It doesn't matter, I'll just tell the others the two of you were both killed by the Lapp monster, if they're even still alive."

Oath struggled to contend with the brand in his articulatio humeri, but it felt like the wounding was just getting bragging and expectant."Why are you doing this ? !"

"I need you out of the way so that I can become the baron. I wanted to do it after I got the avenium, but I couldn't let this opportunity slip by."Oath was forced down towards the ground, leaving a track of rip across the wall."You're the close of the main Fault family, so once you and your father die, I'll be adjacent in blood to find the title."

"You're another appendage ? But my sire said the branch family had been slain !"

"They were, just a week ago, actually, it was probably Noah, hired by the baron. But he only thought to pour down my father and my stepbrother. He didn't think it Charles Frederick Worth investigating further, to find a whoreson like me living in Clive. The town will be mine, it should be mine !"

Oath reached around, grabbing a stone on the ground. Fate was kind to him, guiding his throw and striking Trevor in the eye. He staggered back, bleeding horribly, and curse word wrenched the halberd out of his articulatio humeri and scrambled to his understructure. He could barely feel his left arm, and he could neither open up a wellness potion nor properly swing his sword with only one hand. Should he fell his blade and go for a health potion ? desert it and use his knife instead ?

Trevor, facing a standardised predicament, chose to retrieve his halberd and stare curse word down with his one estimable eye while launching stabs. Oath did his best to fudge the reverse, as he didn't have the strength to do another shoving match. He was losing priming, fast.

"So all this prison term, you were just waiting for a prospect to kill 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 crab, it was gross. I could use you to get the avenium, so no affair what, I'll still become a noble !"

swearword pulled away and reformed his stance, then went on the violative. His capacity for wielding a brand had greatly diminished, but still, he could fight, and his wide of the mark swings forced Trevor to pull back. True, Trevor had the longer reach, but it was much easier for Oath's sword to pause his halberd rather than vice versa. Oath pushed him back, trying to get past the swinging axe vane.

"You're insane ! You think you can get the avenium or even escape this stead on your own ?"

"That's a risk I'm volition to learn. I want you to die down here, unburied, eaten, robbed of your niggling family burial secret plan behind your mansion."

"What could I have possibly done to make you hate me so much ?"

"I just plain don't like you, even before I knew you were the baron's son. I wanted to kick you out of the mathematical group. You're too weak to rule these lands. You can't even use magic."

As Trevor spoke, his brand began to glow with mana, and expletive instinctively stepped back. His sword would likely snap if he tried to block or even deflect an onslaught like that. This meter, when the swings and stabs came, he only dodged, not letting the two weapon touch.

"All you do is let that chesty prick take tending of everything and toss out ordering. Clive would burn to the ground on the first day if you took over."

swearword swung his sword, just narrowly catching the halberd's shot and stopping Trevor long enough to close in. Trevor raised the halberd to freeze, but a cleave of Oath's brand snapped it, leaving a shallow cut across his brow and dresser. He jumped back, now holding an axe in one hand and a quarterstaff in the other,

"I can do plenty on my own, without Noah,"said Oath.

"Shut up and die,"Trevor stroke back before charging at him.

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

To Beth, it was horrifying, the greatness of the chamber, for this grand cathedral to be just a diminished air hole of this pathetic internal ear. Noah, however, felt a spine-chilling excitement. This was no ordinary bicycle bedchamber, as not only was it as enceinte as a football stadium, it had a bridge stretching across, perfectly flat, and a roof with great outward-bending arches holding it up. No, they were irons, each link the size of an SUV, and encrusted by the shell. So too were there peachy statues adorning the walls, a pantheon of small creatures and great titans, all of them entombed by white, like tent flap in a spiderweb. The bedchamber was flooded, hence the bridge deck, but not with urine. It was a lake of Hg, glistening from some unseen light source military group beneath its depths. The air above it was filled with fly-like hummingbirds, hanging their head directly down and touching their schnoz against the surface as if fishing for something. The hummingbirds didn't seem aggressive, as they paid no placard to the two outsiders.

Noah and Beth crossed the bridge, staring in awe at the structures.

‘ This isn't a natural structure, this was surely constructed by a sentient will. Who made it ? How ? How many hoi polloi know about it ? What happened to this place to end up like this ?'

It was his first time facing dubiousness like these, for the bearing of magic in this creation created unnumberable opening that he would never induce seen in previous worlds. Everything unusual he ever encountered was either manmade or caused by nature, but the presence of magic added all new choice, instigating oddment. It could throw been done by a totally early coinage, using power beyond his understanding. It was a new way of thinking, one that invigorated him.

They crossed the room without any difference of opinion, entering a hall with normal-sized suite on either side. In these chambers too, there were bodily structure and shapes encased by the cuticle. Were they mass ? piece of furniture ?

"Interesting."

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

Oath and Trevor were locked in fighting, struggling to avoid each early's attacks. Oath had broken Trevor's halberd in two, taking away his ability to use magic, but he still lunged and fought with the remains, granting him two smaller weapons. He would swing the promontory of his halberd like a hatchet, forcing Oath to hinder with his blade, and then use his free hand to expunge Oath with the halberd's ray. The blows were delivered at full-strength and curse couldn't stop them.

"You don't deserve to become the next baron if this is the best you can do. You must be the decrepit of the family."

"Trevor, listen ! Do you really think you can get out of here without my supporter ? Stop this, and we can both walk out of this dungeon alive ! You can still suit a noble with the avenium !"

"That's not good enough. I want the kingdom that my father couldn't have, the authority. I want to ptyalize on his grave as the unwanted bastard and flaunt the power that he lusted after. I want Baron Clive of Plassey, and I want to rip it out of your hands. It's not good enough for me to win, you have to lose !"

A store then flashed through cuss's judgment, and despite the dire office, a laugh softly let slip."I remember Noah saying that you were a tug probably because of something to do with your father. I think he even said you would give away us. It must be embarrassing, to be sized up so easily and receive your true vividness seen !"

"Shut up ! If he's still alive, I'll kill him after I've killed you !"

Trevor charged at Oath, and finally, Oath managed to deliver a lesion of his own. He blocked Trevor's two-fold attempt and pushed forward, his sword slicing Trevor's shoulder joint. Trevor dropped the broken shaft, his arm now slick with rakehell, though Oath was in the Same state, no longer able to grip his blade with both paw. They stared each other down, picking the moment to strike. Trevor's broken halberd was clean and shorter than oath's sword, so it would be easier to wield, but he wouldn't be able to block well with it, so he'd have to focus entirely on umbrage. For swearing, his justificative billet was better, but while he could incite his sword with one arm, his f number would pale compared to Trevor's and he'd be lucky to bring down much damage. His best bet would be to stymie and then try to overpower.

Looking at his first cousin, Oath was reminded of that scene from the field of force, when that chemical group of men attacked him, Noah, and Tin. He had been utterly useless, just pulled into the woods while Noah took maintenance of the threat with ease. But in the week since then, he had trained relentlessly, and now, he could finally defend himself and his bloodline, even against his own kin.

"This is your last chance, Trevor,"said Oath.

"No, this is—"A cakehole opened up in Trevor's breast with profligate pouring out.

Noah appeared behind him, his blade seemingly materializing out of slenderize air and now wet with panel. The blade had gone straight through Trevor's heart, leaving both he and swearword stunned. Trevor tried to mouth, but all that came out of his mouth was rakehell. Noah dropped him to the base, pulled out his sword, and then pierced the backbone of Trevor's skull for adept measure.

"Stop ! What are you doing ? !"expletive shouted.

"I'm fulfilling my contract bridge. He became an enemy, so I dealt with him."

"It wasn't your position to resolve he should die ! Trevor wanted to go the following tycoon in my home, so it was my responsibility to drive him down !"

"What are you talking about ? He wanted to take your stead as Baron Clive's succeeding baron ?"Noah asked.

"He… he said he was my first cousin, an illegitimate shaver. He kept it hidden all this time."

"Oh please. His Father-God wasn't ranked eminent enough to have an"illegitimate child child ”. Trevor was cypher more than a common bastard. And while I'm sure he had some hard-luck backstory about growing up on the streets that would make us all pity or support him, I'm simply not concern. We don't have clock time for you two to hamper over your daddy issues."

Beth arrived, standing beside him."What's going on ?"Mira was with her, having narrowly recovered and been given a 2nd potion.

"I can't just leave it this way !"oath yelled."I can't just walk off without knowing how it would have ended ! If I could have beaten him myself !"

"That's just your pride talking, but pride won't hold you alive in this place. Should I get just sat back and let you keep on your childish squabble ? I was hired to retain you from dying, not help you fulfill your ego."

"delay, what happened ?"Beth asked."What happened to Trevor ?"

"He tried to pop me and Oath,"said Mira.

"You can't be serious ! After all the time we spent together, he just turned on us like that ?"

"It was his program from the beginning,"Oath muttered."He's my cousin, and as soon as he found out we were in competition for the title of big businessman, 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 take in turned back when we had the chance !"Beth tearfully exclaimed, falling to her articulatio genus as the pent-up strain finally released itself.

"tears and worrying about it won't aid us,"said Noah."flavour, we're all exhausted. Beth and I found a way we can reside in. Let's set up camp and get our long suit back. You three go, I'm going to sort through Trevor's things."

"Noah, you can't,"said Mira."Trevor may have gone gaga, but it's not right to just rob his corpse."

"fountainhead you can either opt to stop me, or you can go, eat some tiffin, and put the whole thing out of your mind. So what are you going to do ?"Mira backed down and briskly walked off with Beth behind her."And you go too,"he said to Oath.

"I'm not going to leave you alone here."

"When the epinephrin wears off, you won't be able to. You'll collapse and I'll have to behave you to the campsite. You're offend, go plot of ground yourself up. I'll be fine."

"I guess you will, won't you ? Nothing ever gets to you,"Oath muttered.

"I hear talking when I want to discover pain footsteps. Go."

Oath limped off after Beth and Mira, and Noah began picking through the treasure that Trevor had gathered, as well as taking prick and supplies that he had been carrying. It had gotten to the decimal point where he really had to be particular about what he could take with him, as he was reaching the limit of what he could deport and still actuate effectively.

Once he had collected everything of worth, he activated his invisibility and backed off to a safety distance, where he sat down and waited. It happened after only a few minutes, openings in the floor appearing like gap in ice, but the eggshell wasn't actually breaking. They were wrinkle, unseeable to the naked eye until they actually opened up, and from within, a Green River slime appeared. Rather than simply spreading out under the force of sombreness, it was moving willfully towards Trevor's corpse. It enveloped him, and though Noah could not see it, the body was being disassembled in slice the size of it of grains of guts. In time, the goo retreated, leaving nil but some pearl and scraps of fabric.

‘ So that's how it feeds.'

He went to the campy bedchamber, where everyone was sitting against different rampart. There was a abruptly spirit in their optic, exhaustion that was both mental and physical. They had each held a hope deep down that they would make it out of the donjon crab together, all of them, that their party would hold up this run and rest whole. Trevor was uncivil and reticent, but his loss left a nothingness, and they suddenly felt much debile without him. But with the truth they were forced to go for, was it really a red ? After all, he showed no waver in trying to hit the people who were thought to be his friends.

"How could he do it ?"Beth asked."How could he lie to us for that long ? Pretend to be our friend ? All those battles where we had to depend on each other, did that really mean naught to him ?"

Noah sat down and began unpacking his lunch."You'd be surprised how long you can keep open the lies going, how easy it can get."

"Have you lied to us about anything ?"

Noah stared at her, challenging her to admit his answer."Plenty of thing, none of which matter in this situation."He tossed some food to everyone."Eat up. It doesn't matter if Trevor is suddenly, it doesn't modification our plan."

"No, it changes everything."Beth stood up."We should allow. While we're still alive, while we still have supplies and potions, we should leave behind. We're not make for this place. We weren't ready even when we had Trevor. We have flock of treasure, more than than enough to live happily. Isn't that enough ?"

"It's too late to plough back now, to leave here without the avenium. I'm trusted by now we've almost reached the bottom of the shell."

"What are you really getting out of this ? You're so sure as shooting we can do this, you keep pushing us forward. What is it that you want so badly as to risk all of our lives ?"

"The same thing as you, an adventure. Isn't that what you wanted ?"

"I was wrong, this is too much."Beth gave an indignant sigh."Oath, Mira, you agree with me, right ?"

Oath took a deep intimation."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 life as a coward."

"Mira ?"

Mira hugged her stifle to her chest and hid her face. Was she refusing to consider part in the conversation or had she simply shut down completely ?

Beth turned back to Noah."We're in over our head word. It was a mistake to come—"

"You're free to leave 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 and cuss's eyebrow nearly shot off his face, yet Noah didn't even flinch."And ?"Beth stammered at his doubtfulness, not for sure how to react."Again, you knew what the mickle was when we started, no affixation. I'm getting that avenium, and there is nothing you can say to block off me. You can either go away 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 head trip back together."

"This is an obsession ! I don't know what the baron promised you, but let it go !"

"That's enough. Everyone shut up and get some respite. We set out again in an hour."

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

Trevor's absence seizure took a sound toll on the radical. Beth and Mira continued to round from behind Noah and Oath, but the lusus naturae still withstood barrages of Edward Durell Stone and pointer to try and sink their dentition into something. Normally, Trevor and his halberd could consume warded them off, breaking their impulse so that Noah and curse could go in for the kill, but now, they had to be the primary defensive wall and stoppage everything with their swords.

They battled through the monsters, but took combat injury with each clash. It wasn't just their organization that had been disturbed ; Noah could see the group morale at the edge of an abyss. Noah was indifferent, but the others were grappling with despair. Which hurt more ? Losing a ally ? Or finding out he was never their ally at all ?

At the here and now, they were surrounded by centipedes in a wide-open chamber. Noah, Oath, and Beth were stomping on the lilliputian whoreson as they drew close, while Mira was swinging her staff, equipped with her Shatter Chemical Mace spell. She was crazy, taking out her strain and frustration on the savage, with her wow of exertion becoming louder with each swing. kind of than helping, the onset of freak only seemed to increase her boozy aggressiveness. Beth, on the former hand, was acting torpid, paralyzed by concern and the loss of hope.

As Noah stomped on every centipede that came close, he heard a howler. A few of the beasts had managed to jump up onto Mira and were digging in. cuss rushed over to help her, but that left two slope of their formation unguarded, and the freak were closing in.

"I have a plan !"Noah said."When the goliath move away, everyone forefront towards that musical passage over there !"

Before the others could say anything, Noah drew his knife and slashed his wrist, sending a inundation of blood pouring onto the ground. Seduced by the smell of blood, the centipedes turned their attention from Oath and the others and swarmed towards Noah. He took off, sprinting across the field of armoured backs and spindly legs, leading them like the Pied Piper.

The triplet didn't hesitate and rushed towards the passing, though looking back to see Noah's billet declension. Once he saw them make the room access, Noah turned around and made himself inconspicuous. The centipedes were understandably confused, as even his scent disappeared. His ancestry, 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 prison term he reached the departure, he had already used a healing potion to mend his wrist.

"Let's go."

The doorway brought them to a scent staircase. However, unlike the tight spiral of when they first arrived at the dungeon, this staircase spun down the walls of a chasm-like chamber like grooves on a drill bit. It was too dark to see the ceiling or the story of the chamber, but in the blackness, there was a instant virtuoso, far below their feet when it should get been above their heads.

"Everyone, be extra careful and measure quietly. I think we've reached the bottom of the shell."

They proceeded down the staircase, this one having literal stairs. The darkness swallowed them from the lack of cave worms, but Noah lit his torch, easing everyone's fears. It when they reached the bottom of the stairs that their fear all came rushing back like a flood.

‘ Of course,'Noah thought bitterly.

The nates of the room was occupied by some kind of monumental slumbering colossus. This broadsheet chamber was more than a hundred feet across-the-board, and the beast was coiled up all over itself like a snoozing boa constrictor. There was no telling what its real sizing or form was, and Noah's woolly mullein couldn't provide enough light to properly give away its appearance. But in the center of the room was the award for this journey. The walls and stairway were firm shell, but the floor under the monster was soma, and in the middle, in a raised basin, was a kitty of pulverize metallic element with a turquoise gleam. It was avenium, just like on Noah's ring. It was so conclude, but the hazard before them was giving everyone doubts.

swearword stepped forward."I'll go,"he said as quietly as he could.

Noah grasped his shoulder joint."No, I'm better at stealing, remember ?"

expletive turned to him, loudly whispering."Please, it has to be me ! The whole reason why we made this journey was so that I could go a noble ! I need to be the one to get the avenium. Let me bring in my title."

"None of that thing, not in here. All that is significant is getting the job done and getting out of here alert. If you want to do matter the"right"way, do it on your own time. I'm going to do things the smart way. If this thing so much as twitches, leave me behind and run as fast as you can up the stairs."

Noah didn't hold for him to reply and activated his invisibility. True, this demon slept with its eyes closed, but he couldn't discount its sense of tone and auditory modality. He moved past times curse and stepped onto the heavy primer. Whatever this thing was, it had a lot of tentacles, and they were spread everywhere. He stepped lightly, double-checking every patch before putting his weight on it. It was hard, not just on the outside, but the inside. Noah had not been capable to lam the depredation of fatigue, and his muscle were becoming unreliable.

For swearword and the others, it was nerve-wracking, as they couldn't see Noah, just the great mullein he was holding over his pass. Every time the light trembled, they imagined him fumbling, stepping on one of the monster's tentacles and waking it up. When the great mullein finally reached the basin, they released their held breaths. It was a solid quantity of avenium, at least two liters of the glistening dust, and it was so fine as well. Perhaps it was expelled from the crab like a sliver, and it would conglomerate in the basin over time while the crab was underground. ‘ If this ends up like that aspect from Raiders, I'll just kill myself here and now.'Noah rested his deal atop the avenium and sucked it all into the closed chain, every grain.

Nothing happened, there was no reaction from either the lusus naturae or the washstand. Noah waited a few moment to be indisputable, then turned and made the homecoming journey back to the staircase. Once he reached cuss, Beth, and Mira, they all resumed external respiration and began the silent climb back up the step. It was when they reached the halfway detail that a terrifying roar shook the chamber, and rather than below, it was coming from above. The chemical group looked up in repugnance, seeing a second teras descending towards them. It appeared to be the same species as the first, looking like a prodigious Leo the Lion with a teeth-filled beak and tentacles growing from across its rear that it used like spider legs to serve its descent. It was like some kind of Lovecraftian gryphon. Just one swing of its paws would drink down a sledgepaw bear. Had it also been nesting in this chamber ? Perhaps the match of the one down below ?

"Beth, take it down !"

"Too late !"

It reached across the chamber with its tentacles and swung over, its nib wide of the mark unfold. The radical scattered, managing to debar its beak, which smashed into the bulwark, though Beth ended up losing her bow over the bound of the staircase. One the talons on its forelegs made its Deutsche Mark and clipped Mira's side, but that was all it took to crush her skull like a Gallagher melon. expletive and Beth, seeing her headless body drop-off to the floor, were left in daze silence. Noah, already back on his feet, stabbed the beast in the eye, forcing his sword in all the way to the hilt. The beast howled in pain and jumped back with his sword pulled from his grip, and it wasn't the only one in excruciation. Oath and Beth now cradled Mira, sobbing and screaming at what was done to her. Beth, Noah could understand, but cuss's reaction stood out.

‘ Goddammit, don't tell me he loved that girl.'“ We got to make a motion ! There is nothing we can do for her !"

"No, I can fix this !"curse sobbed."feed me all the healing potions we have !"

"Her headway is gone, she's dead. No potion can fix that."

"Please, don't ask us to provide her,"Beth whimpered.

Another roar echoed through the burrow, this one from below. It seemed the first monster had woken up. oath scrambled to his feet, not in fear, but rage. He grabbed his blade with bust streaming down his face.

"I'll kill them ! I'll kill them both !"

"This is no clip for heroics ! We're leaving !"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY !"curse howled while throwing a punch.

Noah deflected and countered with a jab to the throat and a knee to the breadbasket. Oath collapsed like a house of batting order and Noah grabbed him and hoisted him over his berm. He turned to Beth and handed her his bow to supersede hers."Keep those affair off our tail. 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 crusade of hauling swearword and everything they both carried, and he had to reserve the torch as well. Ahead of him, Beth was raining arrows down on the two monsters to the easily of her ability. They seemed aware of the poisoned point and were keeping a prophylactic distance, but they were still following them up. They started swinging at Noah and Beth with their tentacles, trying to block their path. Beth would slash at them with a knife to make them resile, but it was just getting worse and spoilt, as ahead, they could see the centipedes swarming down the staircase, having followed the radical down.

"Noah, what do we do ? !"Beth exclaimed.

"Run and fight ! That's all we can do !"

They continued their charge up the stairs, stomping on the centipedes and ignoring the feel of their pincers digging in and not letting go. Their sting didn't appear poisonous, but they put bullet ants to shame on the pain scale. Not even Noah could exert a poker grimace with them biting down on his legs.

With portion on their side, they escaped the sleeping room, running down respective corridors before arriving at a chamber where they could remain. Noah dropped curse on the footing and began ripping off the centipedes biting his legs. It was foreign for Beth, to see Noah so winded and injured. He collapsed near the wall, downing a healing potion to kibosh his bleeding. Oath, having regained consciousness, got back to his understructure and approached the threshold with his sword.

"Don't even think about it,"said Noah.

"I refuse to leave her body down here. I'm going to get my revenge on that beast and play her base to swallow up her."

"It's a teras, it doesn't understand your touch. If you go swinging at it for retaliation, it's just going be glad that its next meal arrived so willingly. Besides, Mira has probably already been devoured."

"Don't say that !"swearword shouted.

"Noah !"Beth added her voice to the outrage.

"You just need to accept it. She's gone, there is cypher you can do to help her. Nothing can be done to change what happened. I'll say it as harshly as I need to if it gets the message through your thick skull."

"What would you have done if it was Tin who died in there instead of Mira ?"

"I would have left her. I've seen hatful of people die. This isn't my initiatory prison term leading people into fighting, and fatal accident are to be expected."

"So you were just waiting for each of us to die ? !"Beth exclaimed.

"As long as I could fulfill my declaration, I was prepared for all possible 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 futurity losses ?"

"Yes, that's right."Noah got to his feet."smell, we've got the avenium, so the laborious portion is done. Now we can head home."

"Two of our friend are dead and we're in the bottom of a dungeon Phthirius pubis ! How is that not the hard constituent ? !"Beth screamed at him.

"Because I have an estimate on how to get us out of here."He took out a H2O tegument from his rucksack and poured in some powdered avenium from within his gang, 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 reason, it won't work on anything livelihood. The mana just won't stick on, like it's being repelled. However, I did some inquiry on avenium. It is a metal, but it bends illumination like a crystal, and it manipulates mana the same way. I can't utilise my invisibility to you, but if you're covered with powdered avenium, it may avail me hold back you a bit. Try it."

Oath sighed and poured some of the concoction on his read/write head, then went to work rubbing it into his tegument and clothes. He handed the rest to Beth and she did the same. Noah activated his magic and grasped their workforce. The air around them shimmered, their eubstance becoming faint, like they were shrouded in a heating haze. They became like mirages of their lawful selves. oath and Beth voiced their jounce 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 bearing, but at the very least, it would urinate 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 impart, result it here now."

Beth and expletive couldn't see Noah, but they stared at the space he occupied. He could see it on their faces, the distrust, the frustration, the fear, the sorrow, the exhaustion. They'd just give birth to suck it up.

"Let's go, and step lightly."

They left the chamber and began their journey back to the surface. They no longer moved in establishment, and they tried to keep a quick but quiet stride. When colossus were nearby, Noah would trigger off his while and they'd do their best to avoid spying. It didn't always work. At one point, they were being pursued by a pack of the bipedal carnivores like the ones they had faced outside. It was too many for them to occupy on, and the longer they stayed in one spot combat, the greater the prospect more goliath would be drawn.

Noah, pulling Oath and Beth along, activated the spell in his right eye.

"What the hell on earth ? !"Oath said in jounce as he watched the ringer fall back, while the material Noah was still gripping his hand.

"It's another delusion I can create, just keep back moving !"

As they ran, Noah had the knockoff start waving his blazon and shouting at the approaching lusus naturae, doing whatever he could to draw their attention. They passed through the clone in utter confusion, turned around, and tried again and again. Their eyes, auricle, and noses were all telling them that prey was standing before them, but no matter how many metre they tried to bite down, their jaws closed around nothing but air. They were so deflect that Noah and the others managed to get away.

"Why didn't you tell us about—"

"Shut up !"Noah barked back."If you can sing, keep running instead !"

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

Spring was planting time of year, so the farms on the geological fault land were in a frenzy. curse, the top executive's third son, was the"Creator"of this labor. He and the slaves spent their days working the fields, though there was lilliputian eminence between them. He lived and ate his repast with his Padre and brother, at least, when they were at home, but his ranking in the household was just a step above"bastard ”. His father lauded all of his praise on his brothers, with the younger always trying to surpass the erstwhile and win the land.

The oldest was a soldier, a squad leader, one step below true horse. He would be gone for months at a fourth dimension, then pass home and brag about the battle he fought for the aura of Uther, and how he bolstered the reputation of the Fault family. The midriff son was a gallant hunting watch and skilled in illusion, a talent he often lorded over the older Brother. He claimed magic to be infinitely higher-up to swordsmanship, meaning he, the magically-affluent, was the hereafter of the stock. Neither brother liked Oath, simply treated him like one of the servants. He was just another laborer. His father, on the other hand, wasn't cruel like them, but he simply didn't care beyond paternal instinct. His mother was long gone.

Oath had been outside when he learned of their deaths, but on recess. Lying on a sun-warmed grassy mound, he watched the clouds go overhead. As the third son, he was compelled to go along his head down, to focus only on the task in battlefront of him and not sway the boat. Skygazing was the only fourth dimension he'd interruption that rule, abandoning the study to instead concenter on farming his own idea, to leave about his life and responsibleness and try to enter out what was left.

He knew nothing of the world beyond his dwelling house and village, couldn't even read, and most of his socialization came from talking with the striver during work. They often didn't have a lot to say, but they trusted him enough to include him in their chin wag. He wasn't like the business leader and his former sons ; his human foot were more used to the grease of the field than the floorboards of the error home. Those conversations were the only time he could learn of things beyond simply swinging a hoe or scythe, to break that there was more to existence than just crops and stock, and when he gazed at the sky, Oath would use that glimmer to try and develop himself, receive out who he was. That was the programme, at least, but he was disturbed by one of the maids of the planetary house.

"professional Oath, your founding father requires your presence immediately."

The applied honorific was just a courtesy acknowledging his pedigree. There was no good esteem in her words.

"Understood."Oath got up and followed her to the mansion, where she led him to his Padre's field of study. As he approached, he heard nonsense yelling and things falling over.

Inside, the power, Ivan, was pacing back and Forth River, unhinged and drenched in tears. newspaper publisher and particular from his desk were scattered across the story and he was gripping a whiskey looking glass with a shaking hand.

"Father, what is it ?"

"expletive, colt and superior have perished."Ivan picked up a alphabetic character with a broken wax SEAL."colt was killed in battle on the Petosic Steppes."He threw it aside."And superior was killed by a bear while hunting. His stiff were found this morning."He emptied his whisky ice in one gulping and staggered, looking like he was on the threshold of collapse.

swearing took a moment to treat the news, but there wasn't much to process. There was no such matter as sibling sexual love in noble households."I'm sorry, Father."

The tycoon fell back in his chairperson."swearing, you are now my only son. That means that you will inherit my title when I die, unless my conniving pal manages to steal it !"

"male parent, I can't be a tycoon !"

"This is not something you can deny ! I will not allow our household to let noblesse sideslip from its fingerbreadth ! But you're right. The way you are now, the land would be wise to hand it over to Edwin, so we're going to vary that. From now on, I am going to sculpt you into a suitable replacement."

After that, everything changed. From the crack of dawn until late at Night, expletive was trained in combat, etiquette, and reading and written material. The cock of the farm were replaced with his gramps's steel, and hours not spent swinging it were spent hunched over one book after another, studying by candlelight. None of it stuck. Unlike his crony, he was born without endowment and raised without an breeding. He couldn't use deception, could barely fight, and was about as cultured and learned as the lowest barbarian. There was little Leslie Townes Hope for him.

One day, he found himself at the Old Wineskin, looking for an adventuring job. People would post notices, requesting token like valuable plant or monster region, or tasks like escorting somebody through the wood. Helping around town would grant him some achievements he could use to prove his eligibility for inheriting the Clive baronetcy. He had also heard some weird rumour about the inn, about some half-baked couple that had the forte sex imaginable. From dawn to midday on every other day, anyone in or near the inn would be flushed with embarrassment as they heard a young woman's watchword of euphoria, along with the knock of a bedframe threatening to discontinue apart. However, today, the inn was muted. The only voice he heard was addressed to him.

"Hey you, by the notice control board, over here !"

He looked over to the origin, spotting a table occupied by three youths like himself, a man and two women.

"Me ?"

"Yeah, come on !"one of the women said, a tall and bubbly blond.

Oath crossed the bar to them."What is this about ?"

"You wouldn't come about to be searching for a political party to connect, are you ?"the early woman asked, a cute brunette with short hair.

"Oh… uh, yeah, I guess. I haven't been making practically headway on my own."

"fountainhead involve a seat !"

Oath hesitated, feeling the man beside him shooting daggers from his optic. He was sizing him up, and apparently didn't like what he saw.

"No, modification of architectural plan, keep moving. We don't need any more wuss in our group."

"Shut up, Trevor,"said the blonde."Ignore him. I'm Beth and this is Mira. We're currently in motive of a swordsman in our group, and you look like you would fit in good order in."

"She means you look washy enough that no one better would have invited you to join their radical, 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 badmouth the radical while being a part of it,"she scolded.

"Truth be told, none of us are very unspoiled, but that just means we should sting together,"said Mira.

expletive finally took a posterior and put a hand on the brand hanging from his belt."Ok, sure, I'll junction you guys. My name is Oath. I'm actually kind of surprise, I thought this place would be… louder."

"Oh yeah, those story ? We've actually met them, Noah and Tin, the twain who make all that randomness,"said Mira.

Now Trevor seemed matter to."Really ? Were they freaks ?"

"No, convention as can be,"said Beth,"and they're both barely aged than us. You'd never think it when looking at them. The guy is actually really smart. He gave us a lot of great advice about tactics and wizardly. We tried to get him to connect our squad, but he wanted to work on his own, him and that slave girl. God, I envy her."

"settee down, you're so unseemly,"Mira said with a sigh. She then turned to Oath."Anyway, welcome to the group !"The grinning she flashed at him made his heart flutter in a way it never had before.

For the next few weeks, curse word and his new Quaker adventured together, fighting what monstrosity they believed they could beat, but were most often forced to run away and tend to their wounded bodies and bruised egos. But no matter how many multiplication they were beaten, Oath was never dejected, because it was the first time he felt truly accepted, and with hoi polloi his own age, no to a lesser extent. True, Trevor always gave him the cold shoulder, but Beth kept the spirit of the group raised, and Mira… she was something else altogether.

She spoke with him, laughed with him, and smiled with him, all moments of confusing bliss that he drank like alright wine. He was drawn to her, pulled by a force-out that he could not describe. One day, after they had managed to drink down a masher, and only just barely, he and the others all collapsed from exhaustion. Mira, sitting succeeding to him, ended up placing her hand on his. The moment her finger touched his, it was like cold lightning surged through his cheek, a frighteningly hefty sensation, but one that made him palpate more awake than the struggle just moments before.

Perhaps it was just the Adrenalin and the endorphins, but he looked at Mira, and she, realizing the contact between them, didn't pluck away, and instead gazed at him with a shy smile and fortunate cheek. The first fourth dimension swearword fought a monster, he froze up in little terror, and it wasn't the last time his reverence got the comfortably of him, but at that consequence, he broke through his fear, turning his mitt over to hold hers. They gazed at each other, their breadbasket filled with More butterfly than a hayfield in summer. That was the mo he realized his feelings for her.

The next day, his begetter sat Oath down in the living-room of their home. With them was a gruff middle-aged adventurer with a bow."Oath, no subject what, you must not let anyone outside of your company know this. I've just learned that a dungeon crabby person has surfaced nearby."

Dungeon crabs were one of the cracking anomaly in the world, but their mythology was thin. They were vague animate being, described as living fortresses that rose up from the ground. Many believed that they were a leftover of the war between the immortal and the heart.

Oath wasn't sure how to react to the news, so his father continued."explorer who manage to capture a dungeon Cancer the Crab by taking the avenium inside are granted the rank of magnate or in high spirits by the kingdom. If you and your ally can accomplish this, then there is zilch Edwin can do and my title will be passed on to you without question."

"My ally and I can barely face the goliath in the Ellen Price Wood. We can't deal a dungeon crab."

"I am well mindful of your weakness when it comes to swordplay. I'm hoping that switching to a different weapon will unlock your voltage. This man is Sendal, a stager adventurer and Sagittarius the Archer. He'll Edward Teach you how to use a bow."

Just looking at Sendal, Oath could tell he wasn't the friendly guy, but his father wouldn't change his thinker. That day, he and the archer rode into the woods to hunt, and that was the last affair he remembered. When future he woke up, he was in a goblin tunnel, racked with pain flowing from the backrest of his principal down to the tips of his toes, but it was waning, thanks to the potion he had received.

serving him to his feet was a immature man, a bit older than him, with a young woman standing behind him. Noah and Tin, he had heard those names before. They were the rootage of the unknown rumor about the Old Wineskin, but more than that, Beth and Mira had vouched for Noah's forcefulness. Oath was skeptical, especially when Noah declared that he was going to clear out the hobgoblin den himself, something that was zippo little of suicidal. Despite his life sentence being saved, swearing wasn't feeling very thankful, considering he now had to work as Noah's pack mule while he marched to his doom.

But then he saw the results. Noah slaughtered the hob with ease, never displaying any kind of deception. expletive and his friends had repeatedly tried hunting goblins, nearly dying every time, but they fell like reed with every swing of Noah's brand. Then, when the goblin chief revealed itself, Oath got to witness true swordplay, and the remembering of his older brother's acquisition were painted over by Noah's battle. Had he and his protagonist attempted this, they would have ended up being cooked and eaten.

During the journey rest home, they were attacked by brigand. Tin, obeying Noah, pulled oath into the Ellen Price Wood before he could even take hold of his sword. The fight lasted only a min, leaving swearing in awe when he saw the dead body of the slain bandit. He rode back to Clive with Noah and Tin, and when he arrived back home, his founding father threw his munition around him, wailing relief to see his son's retort. It was the first prison term his Church Father had ever hugged him.

"Father of the Church, there is something I need to say you."They went into his Fatherhood's study and closed the door behind them. curse, standing while the baron sat, leaned against the desk."The Orion you hired, he knocked me out handed me over to goblins."

"damn him ! Edwin must have bribed him to get you out of the moving-picture show. But if he handed you to hob, how did you escape ? Did you press your way out ?"

"No, I was saved by someone, a man named Noah. He's younger than Colt but twice the warrior, and he's already helped my booster before. He wiped out a huge hobgoblin nest himself and even killed a hobgoblin."

Ivan leaned back in his hot seat."If a youthful man of such skill were to link your party, perhaps you might be able-bodied to capture the dungeon crab."

"I was thinking the Saami thing."

"Bring him here. I'll talk to him."

The following thing curse word knew, Tin lay dying, and he watched as Noah slew the aggressor. 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 feelings, he applied every potion in the house, pouring them on her lesion and down her throat, but her condition didn't improve. As Noah approached, Oath braced himself for the worst. It was Oath's fault that she had died, her lifespan ended because he had been saved, so would Noah demand his life as recompense ?

But Noah didn't acknowledge Oath. He simply kneeled down and held Tin. There were no tears, not even a trembling breathing spell. Tin voiced her last bye and closed her oculus, while Noah simply stared at her like a statue. Noah then departed with Tin, riding off to find a suitable place to swallow up her. Watching him ride off, Oath remembered the smile on Tin's look when she said good-bye, and imagined that look on Mira, the pure, honest, intoxicating emotion. He wanted to see her. He had nearly died, and he wanted to take the hazard he never could have if he hadn't been saved.

To his father's protestation, he rode out to the Old Wineskin, and as soon as he entered, he heard Mira's spokesperson."swearing !"

There they were, gathered at their usual table. Never was he so happy to see his friend. He crossed the tavern and took his seat."Hey."

"Your founder told us you were out training with an Archer,"said Beth."I'm rather insulted you didn't ask me first."

"You guys aren't going to believe this, but I swear this really happened. That archer knocked me out and handed me over to goblins. I was even taken to their den."

Trevor just scoffed and Beth was likewise skeptical."I'm actually not that mad, you don't have to draw up excuses."

Mira gave him the benefit of the doubt."Really ?"

"Yeah, but I was saved by that Noah guy that you told me about, he and Tin. I watched him straighten out out an integral mine full of goblins single-handedly."

"Of course someone like you would necessitate to be saved,"said Trevor.

"An entire mine ? !"Beth exclaimed as she bolted to her feet.

"We can barely push a smattering of them,"Mira sighed.

"Anyway, listen to this."He leaned in and waved for them to all do the Saami."A dungeon crab has appeared nearby."He was lucky that everyone understood that term. He didn't have faith in his ability to explain it. His Friend all fell back in their seats.

"You honestly can't be thinking of trying it !"Beth exclaimed."We'd be dead in an hour !"

"Listen, Noah has agreed to fall in our squad and train 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 note that he also killed a hobgoblin ?"

Trevor didn't respond.

"I don't know. I think it's way too early for us. Why ? Are you really that broke ?"asked Mira.

"There is something I haven't told you guys. My full phase of the moon name is oath Fault, son of business leader Ivan Fault. I'm his 3rd son but I'm next in line to obtain his title."

"Damn it, he's delirious ! Everything he's said so far was a hallucination."

"curse, did you eat some strange mushrooms in the woods ?"Mira asked with honorable concern.

Stared in continued silence.

"I swear to you, it's honest. I'm sure the archer gave me to the goblins to keep me from inheriting the championship. When I returned home, that same archer tried to kill me, but ended up killing Tin instead."

Both Mira and Beth were left in stunned silence. While they had only met her once, the news of her death was a shameful blow. Her endless moaning had become a point of pride in the villagers, considering it a valued quirkiness in the identity element of their home, like the swallows returning to Capistrano. Besides, they had both seen the beloved 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 awesome,"said Beth.

"poor people Noah,"Mira added.

"I don't think we should have him with us. We can do the dungeon crab ourselves,"said Trevor.

"No, we wouldn't stand a opportunity without him. Just talk to him, you'll see."

Beth raised a beer mug."Anyway, I'd say this calls for a crapulence. Let us rejoice the prophylactic take of our associate, toast our approaching achiever, and mourn a fallen friend !"

curse wanted to laugh, but truth be told, he'd want some liquid state courage.

Late into the nighttime, the four adventurers splurged on food and boozing, until all was quiet and the innkeeper was preparing to close up the bar. Trevor had gone home, Beth was currently passed out, and now it was just Oath and Mira.

"I hope this dungeon pubic louse thing 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 mother'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 lull home life."

"wellspring I'll become the business leader of the town. Maybe you could settle here."Never in a million years would a sober swearing have the courage to do so, but he reached out and held her paw like he had on that day in the woods."And I could puddle a nursing home with you."

Like him, Mira was fueled by smooth braveness, but she got to her feet with lilliputian grace and capital courage, and pulled Oath to his."Come on,"she mumbled with an abash grinning. They were both to a greater extent than a petty sot, so they had to assist each other up the stairs, giggling with each stride. They reached the door to Mira's elbow room, and as she fumbled with the key, Oath leaned in and slip a kiss. It was his starting time, 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 loose and stumbled into the room, shutting it behind them. Mira lit a candle and then made herself at home in Oath's embrace. Standing in the middle of the room, they kissed once more, this meter able to put their nub and souls into it.

"Are you ready for this ?"Oath asked.

"I think so. Are you ?"

"I'm not trusted. I don't have any experience with being with a adult female. I mean… I've seen animals on the farm…"

Mira explosion into laugh, which, second to her yelling at him, was the absolute last reaction he wanted at a moment like this."Beth has told me how to do it, don't worry. Now that we've kissed, the next step is we take off our clothes."

curse word was already sporting a woody, and those last four Son nearly pushed him over the edge. He took off his coat, Mira removed her cloak, and for a moment, they paused, feeling the tension as they gripped their shirts, but upon struggling to actually pull them off, they couldn't help but jest. Mira's breast were exposed, and expletive, a swirling violent stream of adolescent endocrine, was caught like a deer in the headlight. 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 bear upon them ?"

"I… guess."

She hesitantly lowered her implements of war, and swearword, with trembling handwriting, began to caress her low shelf. That softness, that smoothness, he was drawn to them like sugar. He was clumsy ; not brutish, but his technique was ill-refined, as was to be expected. Regardless, Mira shivered and purred from swearing's touch, afraid of being so vulnerable, both her eubstance and her feelings exposed to another for them to do with as they pleased. Perhaps it was the presence of that concern that made it palpate so dependable, the fear of being touched so intimately, mixed with the joy of finding someone whom she wished would do so.

Massaging deep into her flesh and relishing the way her nipple felt when he toyed with them, Oath, like Mira, was overwhelmed. The fortune to explore a woman's trunk like this, to sleep with it, intimately, it teased his to the highest degree innate, instinctive curiosity. He was so excited, trembling like a foliage and feeling like he was going to jump out of his tegument. It happened before he could do anything about it, he came, having already been pushed over the edge. Flushed with ignominy, he did his Best to try and blot out it, but to Mira, it looked like he was just getting impatient.

She lowered her workforce and pushed off her trousers. Oath didn't immediately react, but that was because he was trying to assemble his thoughts and his military posture. When he realized what she had done, he didn't have fourth dimension to think, and simply dropped his own knickers. This time, it was Mira's turn to stare, as she tried not to mean of when their chemical group lastly fought goblins, about of which weren't wearing anything.

Mira climbed into bed, hiding herself under the blanket."Now… you get on top of me… and I think you know where your thing goes."

Oath put out the taper, plunging the elbow room into total dark. He meandered his way back to the bed, feeling the natural covering. His hands found Mira's physical structure and he felt her stir like a frightened brute. He slipped under the blanket and their au naturel bodies met, first in the form of an embrace, then in the form of a kiss, and finally…

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

Noah, cuss, and Beth sprinted up the winding staircase towards the way out of the dungeon crabmeat. They were covered in pedigree, sweat, and dirt, and had countless untreated combat injury. Noah's mana was completely drained, and the three of them were running on fumes. They couldn't William Tell if the monsters were still chasing them. After all this fourth dimension, the chorus of roars repeated in the back of their mind no subject what.

Finally, when their dead body felt like they'd fall apart like sandcastles, they breathed fresh air, and felt the sun effulgence upon them. They burst out of the top of the Phthirius pubis's case, collapsing near the threshold. For the three of them, it was like a religious experience. Beth crumbled, bout pouring down her human face, a mix of happiness, miserableness, embossment, and mourning, and as the sun rose, Oath stared like his soul had left his body, turning him into an empty-bellied husk. As for Noah, he dropped the knight sword he had been using and gripped the earth with shaking hired hand. How long had it been ? How long had it been since he finale fought that hard for his life ? How long had it been since his endurance instinct pushed him that far ? No, when it was more than just his survival instinct pushing him ? The fear, the adrenaline, the endorphins, the pain, they flowed through the sheep pen of his gray matter like a flood across a desert.

"Get up, on your feet."

Noah looked over, seeing swearword standing with his sword pointing at him.

"What the hell do you opine you're doing ?"Noah muttered.

"You heard me, get up and confront me."

"Oath, you're kidding, right ?"Beth asked.

"No. You and me, Noah, right here, right now."

"You thankless little holy terror. After all I did for you, you have the nerve to show your sword at me ? The sword I gave you ?"

"You didn't do this for me. I was just a property in whatever deal you struck with my father. Now Mira is absolutely and I was robbed of my luck to settle thing with Trevor. We never should have gone in there, but you kept pushing us. We never should possess let you be a part of our team."

"Oath, it's not his mistake ! You also wanted to keep back going ! Just put your sword down and we can all go home !"

"No ! I have to do this !"

"You're right,"said Noah, getting to his base,"you were just a prop, but I'm still under contract bridge and not allowed to shoot down you. Once we're back and I've gotten my reward, then I'll put you down as knockout as you want."

"No ! I'm done listening to you ! From the moment we met, you've run my life story. I was supposed to be the one to take over the avenium, to appropriate my own destiny, not let you take it and consent whatever scraps you toss my way ! I couldn't avenge Mira, I couldn't beat Trevor, and I couldn't even conquer the dungeon Cancer the 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 champion he got back was far from ideal. His consistence was at its limit, he could barely even stand. He was out of potions, they all were, so there was no way he could quickly reimburse his metier. At least expletive was in the same position. Despite his anger and bloodlust, he was on the verge of passing out. The feeling was willing, but the flesh was another floor. If Noah fought him in this state of matter, even the modest wounds could prove black, then his deal with the tycoon would be out the window.

"I'm not going to cocker you. If you want to get yourself killed, do it after we get back. I want to subsist long enough to hard cash in everything I've collected."

"You can't babble your way out of this !"

Oath charged with his sword raised, attempting his signature cleave. Noah stepped to the side, nearly falling over as he did so. instead than a diagonal, he struck Oath in the stomach with the handle of his sword. Oath nearly retched, but regained his footing and punched Noah. He tried to dodge, but was still grazed and staggered back, drawing his blade completely.

"blockage this, you two don't need to fight down !"Beth pleaded.

"Tell him that !"Noah argued.

curse unleashed a flurry of vacillation towards Noah, who lacked the lightsomeness to get out of the way. Instead, he had to block and parry each swing. They locked blade, pushing against each former in a shoving match.

"You chose to go into the dungeon crabmeat,"said Noah."You chose to follow me, despite knowing how dangerous it was for Mira. You put your pride and your nobility over her. I killed Trevor because you were too weak to get it done and you would consume woken up that demon with just three steps. You don't get to find fault your incompetence on me."

"You're a hardhearted bastard ! You couldn't even shed a tear for Tin, no wonder you didn't aid about us !"

"Grow up !"

Noah let go of his brand and perforate swearing, sending him staggering back. Noah touched his bridge player to his eye, casting his invisibleness. He only had enough mana to stay blot out for a few import, so Noah tackled swearing, disarming him and knocking him to the soil. Three solid blows to the face left him unconscious.

Noah dropped to his knees, gasping for air with his charm coming undone. Hopefully, Oath would be much more sensical when he woke up. As Noah got to his feet, there was a monster's snarl, followed by Beth's scream. One of their chaser from within the shell had arrived and was attacking Beth. It looked like some kind of cycloptic Panthera tigris with a mat of calamus across its back. Beth was pinned, her arm in its oral fissure with her bod being torn and her bones breaking.

"Damn it !"Noah growled.

Beth still had his bow, so Noah pulled out his short steel and threw it, winging the creature in the shoulder. It turned to Noah and charged, and Noah, trying to trip his illusion, realized he had used the endure of his mana to deal with expletive. He jumped to the position to dodge the lunging tiger, but as he hit the ground, 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 Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree. All he could do was roll on his back, and this time, when the tiger pounced, he wasn't able to dodge. It tried to sink its teeth into his neck, but he blocked its mouth with his sword, though he could do nix about its claws, digging into his shoulders. It was pushing down on him with its full weight, and he didn't have the military posture to hold it back.

Noah stared into its one, fist-sized eye and watched slabber pour from its back talk, mixed with the blood from the excision that his steel was creating. This certainly ranked among the top of his weirdest deaths. Yet when his strength was about to stammer, oath attacked the tiger from behind, slicing off his head with a swing of his sword. Oath then kicked the tiger's remains off Noah and pointed his brand at him.

"You'll never get a better chance than this,"Noah said with a smirk.

Oath took a deep breath and sheathed his sword."I suppose saving your life is as much an accomplishment as ending it."He held out his hand to Noah."Let's go home."

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Epilogue

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The town of Clive was bustling, filled with venturer following the news of the dungeon Cancer's emergence. Around half of them would die within its shell, but those with attainment and circumstances came back to town with pocket full of ores and gems. Having returned to town just the previous Night, Noah had tried listening for gossip of whether or not anyone else had managed to capture the 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 do with everything else they found. The bulk of the adventurers were overbold enough or perhaps not ambitious 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 curse word had to wrap up it and tend it as best as they could. On the way down from the dungeon's entering, they met an adventurer and bought some healing potions off him. However, they weren't capable to completely reverse the damage. The flesh on her arm looked molt, like dangerous stint marks, and the muscleman underneath was out of proper bod. At least the bone had been reset properly, but the way Beth winced as she stretched it per Noah's instruction, he knew that she was favourable to still give it at all.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think you'll be able to draw a bow or lift anything heavy anytime soon. If you find mortal with healing legerdemain, they might be able-bodied to undo the price, but otherwise, I can't imagine your arm will ever regain its full use or strength."

"That's fine,"she said with a monotone voice and dead fish eyes. She shuddered, as if shaking herself awake."No, it's not fine, it's frightful. 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 see a healer to repair my arm, but after that, I'm going to do what Mira wanted and root down and build a family."

"That's for the best, I suppose."

"Thanks. And Noah, about what I said to you in the dungeon, about how I was…"

"You're not significant. Mira was."

She looked at him in shock."How'd you know ?"

"I have enough experience with cleaning woman to have it off how to fend off getting them meaning, and I can tell when it's close to that time of the month. Mira told you she was recently before we entered the dungeon, didn't she ? You pretended it was you instead. Did you lie to try and save yourself, or her ?"

"Both, I guess. Oath didn't know, he can never know."

"I'm surprised they were able to go on it hidden from me. They always seemed a slight protective of each other, but I had no idea they were so intimate."

"She told me they were both wino when it happened, and later told curse word that she thought it would be practiced if they focused on getting stronger for conquering the dungeon. After, they would receive the balance of their sprightliness to…"She trailed off, then looked out the window and sighed."I'm going to go visit her female parent and sibling, tell her what happened. They were in debt, so hopefully the treasure I've collected will help pay it off. I owe Mira that much."

"This should more than covering it,"said Noah, handing her a small nursing bottle of avenium.

"So much trouble, so many weeping over this metallic element dust,"she muttered, staring at the bottle.

"take care of yourself,"Noah said before getting up and leaving.

He stopped by his room, getting his bag and any possessions he deemed worth carrying. He had already sold off all of his ores and muffin, so he had heap of gold coins with him, along with various former tool and treasure hidden within his ring, including a vast fortune of avenium. He put on his backpack with his swords hanging from his belt ammunition, including a new longsword, and left the room, locking it behind him. Downstairs in the tavern, he handed the landlady the key.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

"Aye, I'm a bit sorry to see you go. But before you do, you should talk with your friend. He certainly needs some help."

At the counter, he saw Oath slumped over with a half-empty mug in his hand. After returning to Clive, he had checked in with his father only briefly, then came straight to the inn and started drinking to drown his sorrows. It was a miracle the boy hadn't died from inebriant poisoning.

"Are you planning on drinking away your intact fortune ?"Noah asked.

Oath raised his head, looking at him with bloodshot optic."parting me alone."

Noah took the toilet next to him and ordered a drink."I will, soon. For now, just humor me."

cuss sat up and wiped his face."Remember that hunting trip the six of us took in the beginning ? When we were sitting around the fire, you told me that I had to adjudicate my cause for livelihood, for combat, that I had to make my own meaning. When I went into that dungeon, I thought I was doing it for my father, to finally win his approval. But when Mira died, I realized I had done it for her. I wanted to turn up to her that I was a man, that I was just as strong as you and Trevor, and I wanted to prove it to myself. Everything I failed to do, they were the achievements of the big businessman that I wanted to be. I loved her, but my superbia got her killed. Now… I just don't want to recall about it, any of it. I just want to forget so everything will hold back hurting."

Noah, having received his drink, downed it in one gulp and slapped the glass on the table, then took a late breath."If I were to reach you one last lesson, one last small-arm of advice, would you take it ?"cuss just glanced at him, neither agreeing, nor refusing."occlusive drinking. Go home and mourn her properly."

"Why ?"

"I know it hurts, and you don't want to palpate anything anymore, but when you block out all of the bad, you block out all of the soundly that goes with it. cherish your look for Mira, your memories of her. Don't try to swallow up them and forget. Be grateful that it hurts. Believe me, there is nothing more painful than being really numb. When you've lost all meaning and sensation, you end up in a very dismal billet, where you'll do anything just to feel again, and you never fully come back from that."

For a moment, the words went over oath's head, but then his eyes widened as a memory flashed through his alcohol-soaked mind. The nerve Noah made when Tin died, that obdurate expression, it finally made sense.

"Is that what happened to you ? You lost somebody ?"

"I've lost a lot of people, more than you can opine. Losing a loved one, mourning them, it's supposed to be hard, because if it's prosperous, you forget how to do it."Noah then got up and shouldered his backpack.

"Where are you going ?"Oath asked.

"I have commercial enterprise in the capital."

"My father and I are going there in three days. You can travel with us."

"Nah, I'll find my own way. Besides, I've already given your father sufficiency avenium to ensure 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 baron, after Tin died.

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

Noah was sitting in the baron's study, having just confessed to killing his chum and nephew."We didn't have the chance to sing about payment for this job, but don't concern, I'm not interested in money or land. There is something else I want."

"Which is ?"

"I want a letter of the alphabet of passport to the Uther Knight Academy. I heard they only grant entree on the good word of a noble, such as yourself."

Ivan scrunched up his face and nearly spat out his drink. To be an Utheric knight was a great honour and responsibility, as while they ranked below mogul on the nobility plate, their achievement could give them greater authority and political influence."I have no interest in putting my good epithet on the blood line for a stranger. Just take some avenium for yourself and become a noble. You'll be even fat than a knight. Or if you want to serve your country, just fall in the military."

"Any schmuck with a pulse can be con***********ed and turned into a soldier. I'm not after wealth, prestige, or achievement, and I don't care about this country."

Noah then reached into his pocket and placed a yellow potion on the tycoon'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 upper-level counterpoison, 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 salvage her life. She died because of my ignorance. I've come to make that despite my skills and experience, I don't know nearly enough about this world. I want to change that, and to do so, I need an training. Spending twelvemonth in an ivory tower doesn't interest me. I want to get wind how to live on and properly fight in this earth, and the serious place to do that is the knight academy, where they supposedly train the salutary of the best. That hobgoblin apparently killed a knight, but hopefully that was a fluke.

So what do you say ? Is your son's future not worth a unmarried letter of the alphabet ?"

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

"I suppose…"Noah said, looking back to swearing,"I just wanted to finally keep a promise, rather than making yet another lie. sound hazard to you, master 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 helping hand, and an envelope appeared on his palm tree from within his ringing. On it was a wax sealing wax, the Fault pelage of munition. With this, his path was laid out before him. His next occlusive : the Utheric royal capital.

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*Roundabout plays*

To be continued…

*Roll credits*

Please gossip ! I 'm going to try to have vol 2 prepare by the end of the yr .