Prologue

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A rare find, that beautiful crimson hairsbreadth. That colouration was usually the consequence of chinchy dye and a infantile personality, desperate to demonstrate individuality by opposing normality. It was a rarified endowment from nature, every strand like melting rubies, when nigh alleged redheaded woodpecker possessed only a diluted Orange hue. But hers was like stock, drawing the eyes of all those around her, including Noah's. Of all the women he had seen, met, and knew, even intimately, hers was the most purely crimson.

It was after school in early fall, the luminosity of the setting sun illuminating every strand and reminding him why it was Charles Frederick Worth it to set about her. She was walking across the empty soccer field, her body trembling from the adrenaline of all the running she had done in her path club. For once, Noah saw her without all of her booster surrounding her or her boyfriend's arm draped over her articulatio humeri like a boa constrictor. He had been waiting for this chance, yearner than she could suppose.

"Lindsey, hey,"he said, meeting her in the exposed air, relinquish from any interruptions.

"Noah, what are you doing here ?"

She asked that question, but she knew the result. What else would draw 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 take on innocent and try to lead off with some belittled talk, or would he get straight to the distributor 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 intentions had been seen through, but it didn't dissuade him. Rather, it was something that always amused him, the paradox of human coupling that became both easier and more difficult with age. She already knew what he desired, so unless she desired the same thing, her philia would be guarded, with no opening for a pilfer attack to surprise her. It was a challenge that men and woman had struggled with since the break of day of time.

"I heard that you and Sean broke up. I know what that feels like, how a good deal 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 certainly I want to disoblige geological dating. After all, when summer comes, we're all going to split up and go our disunite ways."

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

"Is that why you two broke up ? Because you didn't see a power point in staying together ? I doubt that. I think you believe in love life, in giving it a chance. A lot of things will encounter between now and graduation ; Noel, Valentine's Day, the prom ? That's plenty of clip to be happy, and to change your mind about which way you plan on taking. architectural plan can exchange, things can shape out. All I want is a chance."

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

She crossed her sleeve to warm herself, but she kept them low. It was an natural move, one that Noah's eyes didn't miss. He gave an exasperated smile 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 laugh, she heard something, a metal suction stop, and it chilled her blood. She spun around and saw the knife in Noah's hand.

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

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

He swung up his hand and stabbed himself in the throat. The strike, it was so dissipated, but it was aristocratical, just the tip of the blade breaking his skin and severing his Jugular with pinpoint accuracy. It was a stark, fluid movement, as if he had spent hours practicing. roue began to spray from the small combat injury, and to the audio of Lindsey's scream, he allowed himself to fall down on his back. She rushed over and tried to stop the hemorrhage. Covering it with her hand only slowed the outpour, so she reached into her bag for something to use as a bandage.

"Stop, just keep your hand there,"Noah said calmly. The vein he had struck carried blood out of the head and sent it back to his gist, so the rest of the blood in his system would keep his brain oxygenated, at to the lowest degree while it was still in his venous blood vessel.

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

"I've already died like this… Sir Thomas More than a hundred times before. This isn't my outset rodeo."

"What are you talking about ?"

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

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

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

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

"Because this isn't the low gear time I've confessed to you. I'm always myself, but the humanity I'm born into is never the same. Every time I die, I return to the day of my birth, but in a different timeline. I'll end up in a world where my surroundings are different, or history didn't go the way I remember it, or result will take place in my future that I can't predict.

Only in my by seven lifespan have you been submit, and in all seven lifetimes, I could never make you mine, no matter how much I wanted you. Five of those times were because you were pregnant. You and Sean get back together by Thanksgiving Day, and I and everyone else watch you dance together at the prom. Each sentence, I kill myself to try again in my next sprightliness. These past eighteen years, they've flown by like the blinking of an eye for me."

His hemorrhage was starting to slack, his body going cold and his intellect getting foggy.

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

"It's the sole way I can know anymore, following some task or game that keeps me busy. Every lifespan I've lived, it's been a lie, concealing who I am, what I know, what I've experienced. very much of the time, I have to pretend to have emotions, because after all this time, I've almost forgotten what they feel like. I've almost forgotten what's like to actually feel something. But when I see you, I get to experience actual yearning. I have an actual crush, something so childlike and childish, but such a wonderful feeling. Maybe I'm just a sucker for a redhead, but I've lived for so longsighted, I have to comprehend at any scrap of meaning that can make me happy, and nominate my beingness a niggling to a lesser extent hollow."

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

With the last of his strength, he removed her hired hand from his wound so that it could phlebotomize 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 pull up stakes eye with his hand, blinded by the setting sun while Lindsey's shadow obscured the in good order face of his cheek. The igniter passed through her flush hair like sully glassful, making his blood shine beautifully.

"I've seen so many worlds, so many different realities, but none of them could take a crap me happy. I've never known what it felt like to belong or experience at home. Every world felt wrong to me. This is yet another realness that I am incompatible with. All I can do is hope that the succeeding world is one I can be well-chosen in."

The blood at last stopped flowing, and Noah closed his centre and released his last breather. Then, in his mind, there was a familiar flash of luminosity and he felt himself being pulled to the next world.

A whole New biz

Without even opening his eyes, Noah knew that something had gone wrong. He was dazed, but he could definitely feel the coldness, hard ground underneath him. This didn't make sentience. At this moment, he'd normally be experiencing his own rebirth, coming out of the womb as a newborn baby. His body was also still the Sami size. He could experience the weight of his limbs, as well as his clothes. His hand was still covering his eye, but just moving it took a tremendous quantity of strength. He managed to function his eyelids subject and stared up at the blue sky. It was late in the afternoon when he killed himself, but now it looked to be midmorning.

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

Noah sat up and looked around. He was lying on an unpaved route in the woods. His hoodie and the shirt underneath were slopped with his dehydrated rakehell, but when he felt his neck, there was no lesion. He had been healed, but had his blood also been replenished ? It would feature taken at to the lowest degree thirty minutes for the pedigree on his wearing apparel to dry this much, not adequate metre for his consistency to restore any meaningful quantity, so this was likely a partial rebirth.

He got to his feet and staggered, struggling to catch one's breath. There was no strength in his arm and his thoughts were getting imperfect by the second. This fatigue, it was similar to blood loss, but also different. It was like there was some form of extra sinew going crazy, using up all of his strength. If it didn't dissipate soon, he'd end up passing out again. What in the world ? He looked down and realized that he wasn't casting a shadow. The weariness must have been messing with his vision. Now that he thought about it, his left eye was itching a bit. He gave it a rub and it was like a switch had been flipped. The tiredness vanished, as if that extra muscle had settled, and when he looked down, he saw his phantasm.

‘ That wasn't blood red ink. It must have been some form of remnant trauma from my suicide or this glitchy reincarnation. But where am I ?'

The road was unusual. The ground was packed, but the deposit seemed native to the smirch. In the forward-looking world, even the unpaved roads were made with at least a level of sand and crushed rock to prevent it from being overgrown. He had his pocketbook and his phone with him, but there was no service.

A sound reached his capitulum, one that most people rarely heard outside of movies and TV. It was the sound of horse hooves. He looked over his shoulder, seeing two adult men on hogback approaching him from down the road. Behind them, an old man driving a horse-drawn wagon and leading… hard worker. Wearing rags for clothes, more than a dozen men and women of varying ages were being led by Sir Ernst Boris Chain.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"If he's a noble, we can ransom him back, and if not, he looks healthy and unattackable enough to sell for a good price. range of mountains him up with the others."

One of the men got off his sawhorse and approached Noah with a duration of circle. None of them were cognizant that he still had his knife on him. As the man reached out to snaffle his manpower, Noah slashed him across the throat. It wasn't the pinpoint jab like he had given himself earlier, this was a flaming smile stretching from ear to ear. It had been a foresightful prison term since he had finis killed someone, but it was something he was very well-practiced in.

A fount of blood sprayed Forth and Noah threw his tongue at the Plough driver, catching him in the breast. Before his first victim could drop to his knees, Noah ripped his sword from its sheath and charged towards the other horseback rider, already drawing his own blade to avenge his coworker. The pharynx was out of reach, so Noah deflected the oncoming attack and went for a pang in the side of the gut and up into the justly lung.

"powerhouse !"

There was a flash lamp of light in his peripheral vision, coming from the old man. Noah's inherent aptitude made him jerk back as a flare shooter through the air, missing his side by an column inch. It struck a nearby tree diagram and exploded, spraying fire in all directions like a Molotov Cocktail. Noah looked back at the old man, one hand outstretched while the former covered the stab wound in his bureau from Noah's knife. He wasn't holding a flash gun or any former kind of device that would explain what had just happened.

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

"bolide !"the old man shouted again.

Just like before, a sphere of condense flames formed in his script, about the size of melon, and dig at Noah with wonderful fastness. Noah dodged and rushed in to come together the distance. The first fireball had forced him to let go of his brand and the indorse had forced him back before he could grab the endorsement man's. He'd have to finish this with his bare hired man.

The cavalry were all throwing fit in fear from the fight, but the old man continued to set up those occult flares. Noah circled around the horses, jumped, and tackled the man. There was no clumsy fumbling for control, Noah simply began beating him with his clenched fist. His stream body hadn't been trained for combat, but he kept it healthy and potent and knew how practically military unit he had muster up with each punch. blood line started spraying with the third lick, the old man unable to fight back and soon blacking out. Noah promptly retrieved his fallen tongue and finished him off.

Noah took his time to catch his breathing spell while he wiped off the sword, folded it up, and stored it in his pocket. He took those few bit to quell his aggravator. He was used to being reborn as a baby after every death and considered those early long time to be his holiday between each new biography, time to properly dispose of old memories, catalogue utile noesis, and mentally deal with any promiscuous last. No one depended on him and he usually had a parent or caregiver to take attention of him, giving him time to rest his brain. Now he had jump right back into a survival mindset and start from starting line in a human race with all new rules.

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

The old man would hold been a valuable origin of information, but with his subordinates now dead, he would never willingly tell Noah anything. It wouldn't be worth the time and hassle to interrogate him in this situation. Oh well, the result would come in clock time, and Noah had learned how to be patient.

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

The hard worker traders had spoken with an accent that he had never heard before, but it was English people, though they probably didn't cry it that. These slaves must also speak it."All of you, I give you permission to utter. Do you all understand what I'm saying ?"They didn't say anything, but they nodded in the optimistic."Are there any among you who are intimate with this area ?"None of them answered.

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

He held up the key for all the slaves to see."I need one of you to guide me to a safe arena with a rootage of fresh water and off the road where I won't be seen. Whoever volunteers will get their apprehension removed and can mount in the wagon. Once I'm brought to a suitable location, you will all will be set free."Six slaves raised their bound deal."You,"Noah said.

He had ***********ed a adolescent lady friend that looked to be around his age. She was dirty and underfed, but looked level-headed enough to be useful to him, and he could certainly overwhelm her if she tried to betray him. It was hard to estimate her appearing in this state. She had a pitiful spirit permanently etched into her face, like a basset hound. If he cleaned her up, she might be a real cutie, but right now she was so begrime that he couldn't even tell her natural haircloth color.

"What is your name ?"

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

"Do what I say, Tin, and you'll earn your exemption. Go against me and I'll kill you."He unlocked her metal collar but left her wrists saltation."Now help me take charge of these bodies."

Noah searched the corpses of the three slave traders, taking everything of time value. Along with their blade, he got a duo daggers, some cord, and three makeshift wallets. They were snake hide with rafts of bronze coins inside, tied to their smash. It was a clever concept.

"Tin, is there any danger of angry animals in these Wood ? Anything that I should concern about ?"

"Monsters will surely be drawn by the olfactory sensation of rakehell here. It would be best if we moved on now."

Noah huffed in annoyance. Great, now he had giant to care about. This certainly was a earthly concern unlike any he had seen before. This ruined his plan of taking the corpses with him. He was for sure he could detect a use or two for them, as well as take their wearing apparel and anything else of economic value on their person when there was Thomas More time. He also didn't want to leave any evidence of what he had done.

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

She wordlessly obeyed, proceeding to uncase the remains without any shred of disquiet or discomfort. Most girlfriend her age would be too squeamish to do anything like this. As she worked, Noah searched the waggon and found a canvas bag, smelling too sour to be used for food. He soaked it with a wineskin, and while it wasn't ideal, it was adept enough for him to use to put out the fire that the old man had started. He and Tin completed their project, leaving three naked bodies on the road and a few char trees. Noah retrieved one of the swords, just a crummy matchet, but sharp enough to get the job done. He showed no discomfort in decapitating the bodies and storing the heads in the canvas bag.

"Drag these trunk into the Sir Henry Wood, out of lot from the route. That should sate any animate being that search this area."

There was no telling what the value of these hard worker trader were. If they were even slightly significant to someone, their fade might precede to an investigation. Three nude, headless consistency that were devoured by monsters wouldn't leave any evidence. They couldn't even be identified. On the other script, if they were criminals, then Noah might be able to use their severed head teacher as confirmation of their deaths and accumulate a bountifulness. He had been in a lot of bad site and chaotic timelines, so this mindset was a skill he knew he could trust on and use as he needed.

Once the bodies were address with, Noah took his bottom at the presence of the station waggon and Tin joined him. The two extra horse cavalry were tethered to the face of the wagon and would follow along. Noah cracked the reins and the horses pulling the Wagon began moving forward.

"There is a suitable place various miles down this road. I will show you where."

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

"This is the Algata responsibility of the res publica of Uther."

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

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

Her answer was to be expected, though. A slave educated in geography would be an unusual find. It would be adept if he could get his manpower on a decent map, though in this era, that was probably a lot to ask for. In a cosmos with charming and teras, there was no telling what the planet's topography looked like, even the arrangement of the Continent. He had traveled previous world numerous fourth dimension, but much of his experience was now obsolete.

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

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

"Does it operate under a monarchy ? Or do they elect their leader ?"She looked at him like he had spoken in gibberish."Does it have a Billie Jean Moffitt King or queen ?"

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

"What do they use for up-to-dateness ?"

"Metal coins, like ash grey and gold."

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

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

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

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

"Mid spring."

That was ripe for Noah. In gild to get a footing in this new reality, he'd need ample time with the fortune of survival at its highest. winter would hamper his mobility, possible natural process, and make life a lot harder. Had he appeared in this populace a few months earlier, he could easily stop dead to death before reaching civilization.

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

"The freehanded danger is the wolves. They travel in large number and kill whatever they see. There are also bears, large wanderer that hide in burrows, and goblins."

Giant spiders and hob ? This world was getting Sir Thomas More grotesque by the second.

"Tell me about the goblins."

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

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

"That was magic."

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

"It is the thanksgiving of the gods, letting people call down divine vengeance upon their enemies. It can create fire, control weewee, make you stronger, and do all kinds of matter. There many different kinds of magic drug user. I've heard of some of them ; mages, champion, warriors, shamans, but I don't know much about what they can do."

"What kind was the old man ?"

"A mage, I think."

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

"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 unconstipated cistron of his last parents. If magic wasn't something he could learn or acquire, lifetime would get exponentially harder. Then there was the mentioning of gods. He had spent several lifetimes searching for polarity of the macrocosm of God, some front of divinity that might explain his cosmos, but he always came up brusque. However, in a world where magic existed, perhaps gods might as well.

As they continued through the Sir Henry Joseph Wood, Noah thought about the striver walking behind the station waggon. Letting them go might be a liability. They knew he had killed three hard worker traders, they knew where he would set up inner circle. The slave dealer mistook him for the son of a baronial, so if the slaves went into some townsfolk and started blabbing about him and what he had done, the great unwashed might amount after him. Perhaps it would be better to dispose of all of them ? No, the prospect of him managing to down them all would be low and that would be a lot of army corps to deal with, not to advert he didn't know if killing them would get him into worry.

‘ To remember my laziness would indemnify for my withered conscience…'

They were passing by a hill with trees blocking lots of the view, but all of the Equus caballus flicked their spike to it. Noah didn't miss that tick and reached into the wagon. When searching earlier, he found a bow and a few pointer, none of which seemed very well made. He took aim up the James Jerome Hill, spotting a shadow moving between the Benny Hill. It had been a long time since he had close used a bow. It was one of his hobby about four or five lifetimes ago. This was nothing like the New bowing he was used to handling, but when he let the pointer slip free, it shot between the tree and found its crisscross. Noah didn't see what he hit, but there was a shriek of bother that he did not recognize and the sound of multiple entities running off.

"What was that ?"Tin asked.

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

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

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

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

The woodland thinned a lit, the trees spreading out far enough for the wagon to go off the road and head towards the sound of running piddle. They arrived at a clearing where a small waterfall thumped on give away careen. It was isolated, just the post Noah needed. There was even a cave behind the waterfall where he could take a shit camp. However, they were not the only inhabitant.

"Tin, what the hell on earth is that ?"he asked, looking at the creature sliding across the undercoat. At world-class, he thought it was giant slug, the beast about the size of a beer keg, but he then realized it was translucent. There were four of them.

"That is a goop. They like dampness places. Their undersides are like titan back talk, devouring whatever they crawl over. Their eubstance are covered with a sparse skin, and if you tear it, its inside pour out and change the soma of its body."

"Are they grave ?"

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

"How do I toss off them ?"

"You have to hit their brains."

The ooze hadn't noticed them yet, so Noah took aim with the bow at the penny-pinching one. It was hard telling the front from the rachis of these things, but he spotted something floating inside, suspended, an apple-sized lump of upstanding tissue. He released the bolt, missing the creature's brain by various column inch. It rumbled in pain and its gelatinous inside spilled out of the injury like a runny nose. Upon contact with the air, the innards began to jell and develop a layer of skin. It formed an filename extension of itself, like a second tail, now searching for what had injured it.

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

Already, the arrow was halfway dissolved. That thing was like a giant moving abdomen. He would have preferred to take care of these monsters from a distance, but he didn't have enough arrow to thrust away. It would also get non-white soon, and he didn't want to try and face for another daub.

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

He got up from the Dipper and approached the waterfall with one of the slave traders'sword in his hand. It was the worst of the two, useful at to the lowest degree for experimentation. He approached the goo, already back to full health after being shot with the pointer. It didn't appear to take in very unspoilt vision, didn't even appear to accept middle. He picked up a Lucy Stone from the creek and threw it, sending it bouncing a few understructure away. It pounced on the rock with surprise upper, smothering it with its body and absorbing it. So, these affair could jump. If it could see, it was probably short-ranged, based on movement, or more likely it could sense vibrations in the terra firma.

He took another rock'n'roll and threw it at the slime, this sentence hitting it. The rock ripped through its fragile pelt and its guts spilled out. The blow stunned it just long enough for Noah to sprint over and cleave through its mastermind. As quickly as he attacked, he darted back. He had learned through numerous occasions to always expect an foe to get back up. Plus, he wanted to fend off getting sprayed with any guts.

Despite his worry, it was a fresh kill. The goliath, originally a nauseating yellow, turned greyness, and its peril insides began to smoke and dismiss. Unfortunately, smoke was also coming from his sword. This really was a foul Zen. Noah wiped the brand off on the smoke and then rinsed it in the river to clean it. It had undergone severe corrosion. Hopefully it would in conclusion until he killed them all.

One thing made him well-chosen, though. When he killed the slime, numbers didn't appear in the air, displaying experience period earned. He started having vexation as soon as that first fireball was launched at him, and when Tin said it was a slime ; he thought he had been reincarnated into some sort of RPG macrocosm. If at any detail, she used the word ‘ stage ’, he would receive permanently lost the ability to keep open a full-strength face and exact anything seriously.

Anyway, back to killing.

He repeated his strategy with the former three gook. A fist sized rock thrown with sufficient speed and accuracy could pierce the teras and bedaze them long enough to deliver a black strike. After the one-third slime, his sword broke in half, the end completely melting off. There was one muck left, but it would be catchy. It was slithering around behind the waterfall, unaware of what had happened to the others. The oscillation 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 sludge near the brainpower. Its dead body curled up like a sluggard sprinkled with salt, and Noah rushed over. This prison term, he thrust the get around vane straight in. He managed to poke the mental capacity, but the brand slipped right into its body. Noah pulled away before his inactiveness could send his hand plunging into the acidic muck, but several drops splashed him and he could feel his skin dissolving. He thrust his deal into the waterfall and steadied his respiration as the pain faded. That was too come together for comfort. He'd have to come up with another way to barricade those matter if he encountered them again.

The region had been secured, now to set up coterie. He stepped out from behind the waterfall, and to his surprisal, he saw Tin standing by the Wagon, as if waiting for him.

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

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

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

"Is that an Order ?"

"No, it's advice. You don't have to strike guild from me, I'm not your master. I hired you to be my guide, you got your money, and our contract is complete. Now we part ways."She continued to stick out there, looking like a puppy in the rainfall."You can ingest one of the sawhorse. You'll be able to get to townspeople faster and outrun pursuers."

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

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

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

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

There was a glimmering in her oculus."If I can be useful as a stiff, 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 missy was impoverished than he would have liked, but her subservientness made her more trustworthy than anyone he could have a bun in the oven to find in this mankind. Maybe it would be good to possess an special pair of hands to help him, at least until he got out of this forest. Besides, it wasn't like this was the low time he had owned a hard worker. There were many dark timelines when he followed the pattern of ‘ when in Rome, do as the Romans.'

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

"I can count to one hundred, I can write some, and I can tend to livestock and play playing field, as well as perform menage chores. 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 lift his eyebrows at her last sentence.

Depressing as her Son were, he wasn't one to flex down an offer for sex from person so volition. On the former mitt, nothing about her current show stoked his libido. He was standing twenty dollar bill feet away and could smell her like it was twenty column inch. Sitting following to her in the beach waggon had been very unpleasant. Just letting her bathe in the river wouldn't get the job done.

"Let's get camp set up and then we'll talking. You said you can tend to livestock, correct ? Then I'll leave the sawbuck to you. Get them watered and fed and then take away these absolutely guck. I imagine they've lost their sour in death."

Tin obediently went to lick while Noah gathered all of the concatenation and dog collar that had been used to lead the slaves. There was also plenty of rope in example any of their binds broke during transportation. Noah snapped the collars off the irons and used them as pounding to expose the weaker links and split the mountain range into multiple suddenly segments. He split the rope into thinner filament and set up a circumference around the camping site, then hung the collars and Ernst Boris Chain on it like Dec 25 ornaments. Any intruder 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 confidential information, the horses would be the sec demarcation of detection. If they started acting up, then a threat was nearby.

"I'm going to go collect some firewood. If any lusus naturae approach, just holler for me and yeet some horseshit at them. The smell will force them off."He then stopped and chuckled to himself. That's rightfield, he no longer needed to use Bodoni font slang.

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

Noah set out into the woods with his merely brand and a satchel the old man had been carrying. He didn't want to vagabond far from encampment, but he had to check out the area and take a leak sure there weren't any at hand peril. One thing he was especially conservative of were the gargantuan spiders that Tin had mentioned. She said they hid in burrows, so he kept a close eye on his terms, avoiding any suspicious country that could be a possible ambush. Webbing on the terra firma was a telltale sign, validation that he wasn't the merely one using tripwires to discover enemies.

The first affair he did was gather pine boughs from around the site, accumulating a great pile that they would use for bedding and making frequent tripper back to the camp. Then he gathered all of the firewood he could transmit, but focused only on specific Tree. This world was very unlike to the one he was used to, but well-nigh of the tree diagram appeared to be the same. He also filled his scoop and the satchel with medicinal plants and even some edible mushrooms. In every life, her get word and relearned survival skills to keep the information branded into his judgment, so even if had forgotten their names, he still recognized herbs that could be useful. As he moved, he had a strong intuitive feeling that he was being watched, and he knew what was watching him, especially when he found one of their dead.

It was one of the Friedrich August Wolf Tin had mentioned, great than any he had ever seen. His nose led him to it, the savage reeking of dying and rot. The meat was well beyond feeding and its fur and ivory weren't worth the sweat 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 time he was done, but there was still passel he wanted to do. Luckily, dinner party was already taken charge of. The slave traders had packed enough nutrient for themselves and their shipment. It was hard bread and desiccated pith, something that Noah's spoiled taste buds would not appreciate, but he'd seen enough hard times to know how to be grateful.

Before doing anything else, he removed his hoodie and T-shirt. He had kept them on as an add layer of protection in case anything attacked him, but the stemma had hardened into a firmly crust and he was gladiola to be capable to finally get hold of them off. Had he known he would transmigrate like this, he would have gone household and just hung himself, preferably with his air hole stuffed with utile pecker. He laid out his shirt and hoodie under the waterfall, directing the spray right onto the blood line dirt. He pinned them down with stone so that they wouldn't be washed away.

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

"Tin, claim off your clothes."

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

"Not like that. Put that dress of yours here under the falls. Do the Saami with all the clothes you removed from those hard worker trader. It may be low-quality, but whether we use them or sell them, it would be best if we can at to the lowest degree slay the stink."

Tin removed her dress, though it was more like a raggedy potato sac with holes cut for her principal and arms and a striptease of cloth for a swath. She was malnourished and weedy, but he just had to shine her up a little.

With the conclusion of the light, he searched the river for Lucy Stone. He'd test their hardness, striking them against the spine of his sword. Once he started getting sparks, he returned to the riverbank and gathered up some tinder. He ground some dry birch tree bark into a delicately detritus and struck the rock against his steel over it. It took various attempts, but some sparks landed in the junk and it went up like gasolene. From there, he built up a fire on the riverside with all of the birch rod wood he had gathered. By the spark of the flames, he started digging a golf hole using his sword and a metallic element frypan he found in the wagon.

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

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

The two of them continued to work, with Noah expanding the pit and Tin gathering the cadaver. Once he was done, he smoothed out the face of the pit and then began slathering on the clay that Tin had gathered. He used the remnant remains to piddle some loving cup and arena and put them in the fire to bake. He built a second flack, this time putting it in the pit. It was with a softer wood. He didn't even need to see Tin's face to feel the rarity within her.

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

With two fervour burning, Noah and Tin dined on low-quality rations. There wasn't any conversation between them. Once he finished eating, Noah reached into his satchel and took out what looked like a giant dirt clod. In reality, it was a goon of sensual fat. He had gathered it from the carcass of the dead beast, rolled it into a glob, and packed it with a shell of dirt to keep it from making a pot when he carried it. It cleaned it off and put it in the metal frying pan, then set it over the fire.

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

Despite her pathetic lifestyle, her teeth were in skillful circumstance. She grew up in a world without processed foods, sugars, or chemical substance, 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 horses hitched to a tree diagram, nibbling on the mint of pot that Tin had gathered for it. He cut a lock chamber of its long hair, washed it in the river, and returned to the campfire, where he braided respective filament into a strong thread. He made a mo and turned to Tin.

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

She mirrored the natural process to the outdo of her abilities, and while she did that, he looked at the frypan, now with a puddle of liquified fat. He gathered some white ashes from the fire and mixed it in, as well as some water.

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

"Soap ?"

"You've never heard of it ?"

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

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

"Yes, sir."

"Then take a mouthful of this."From following to the fervor, there was also a cup made, of all matter, tin. It was broad of water brought to a simmer, with reason charcoal and true pine needles mixed in. He let it cool and then handed it to her."You said you could count, right ? Well twirl this around your mouth and protrude numeration. Once you reach one hundred, swallow it."

She took a taste and handed it back to him so he could finish it off. With that taken care of, Noah took the skillet off the fire and examined his soap. It certainly would never sell in a grocery store, but it would get the job done tonight. future, he turned his attention to the wash basin and the withered blast. The clay packed onto the sides of the pit had hardened and could now retain water.

Noah carved the grievous bodily harm off the frying pan and handed it to Tin."Here, use this to shovel as a good deal charcoal and ash out of the washbowl as you can, then clean it in the river and use it to fulfill the basin with water."

As Tin went to work, Noah started on his own chore. Like her, he went to river, but started collecting rock. He'd bring them back and put them in the campfire to heat up up. By the time Tin had finished with her project, the rock music were all sufficiently hot, and using sticks to address them, he moved them into the basin until it had reached the staring bath temperature. It was still ashy from the fervency, but that wasn't a problem.

The reason why he had used different attack for the river basin and easy lay was because of one of the ensue chemical substance, lye. Despite being a sulfurous substance, it was required for making soap. It was collected from the ashes of hardwood, like birch rod. He had used a softer wood in the fire to season the sides of the basin so any leftover ash tree wouldn't turn the pee too alkalic.

"All right, now to try out it."

Noah stripped down to check Tin and grabbed a piece of textile from the police van to use as a washcloth. He got it wet in the basin, rubbed some of the Georgia home boy on it, and, satisfied with how it lathered, started wiping off the sweat that had accumulated since his arrival to this world.

Tin held a piece of goop in her manus, staring at it with blanket eye."It smells… sweet !"

She mimicked Noah, using a make-do washcloth and the easy lay to scrub herself raw. She was mad, leaving no spot untouched. The two of them cleansed their skin, lathering themselves up and then rinsing in the river to keep the tub water clean. With the dirt removed, much was revealed to Noah. Neither of them said anything about the countless scrape, bruise, and brands that covered Tin's body. Finally, he had her lie on her back and lowered her head into the drainage basin, then scrubbed her hair with the soap until the bathwater turned as blackamoor as ink. She sat up and rung the water out of her pilus as he stood up and stretched.

"Huh, so you're a blonde. I honestly couldn't tell your cancel coloration. 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. postponement, she was trembling."Tin ?"

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

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

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

A small jape escaped Noah."My, my, what a greedy footling slave you are."

He leaned down, lifted her Chin, and left a balmy osculation upon her lips. She shivered from that touch modality, gentler than any former in her living. She took the opening, kissing him in reappearance while her natural language slipped into his mouth. As they swapped saliva, she reached out and began caressing his manhood, erect and pounding. She had been eyeing it since the moment he stripped down, her intellect buzzing with all of the agency she would please him.

When Noah finally pulled his lips from hers, she knew what he wanted and was eagre to provide it. She leaned in, his cock disappearing into her mouth, only to re-emerge with a glistening stratum of spit. Tin wasn't shy in the least, she put all of her attainment to influence. She deepthroated him to make herself gag and salivate, then would use her hands to work the cock while she slurped on his head like a lollipop. Despite her joy at being so clean just a minute ago, she was certainly making a mess, her face covered in spit with big foamy drops dribbling onto her breasts.

Noah rested his mitt on her head and groaned."I'm glad I decided to sustain you."

She released his cock, gasping for air with her eyes wide of joy."Am I doing thoroughly ?"

"You're magnificent, Tin."

She went back at it, this time with a different target in judgement. While she jacked him off, she sucked vehemently on his precious stone, rolling them around in her mouth and balancing them on her tongue. She switched between her technique with virtuoso attainment, giving Noah no time to brace himself. He didn't even need tell her when he was going to cum, she could tell just by his external respiration and the way his muscles twitched. She swallowed his manhood like a voracious beast, her facial expression pressed to his stomach as he swirled around inside her throat.

Several boneheaded honey oil were pumped directly into her stomach, a salty afters after her meal. Tin fell back, once again gasping for air."Master,"she panted,"please don't handle back. Use my body however you wish."

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

He sat down cross-legged and pulled her across his lap like he was going to paddle her. He held her by the throat, just a gentle adhesive friction to keep her still, while he free bridge player slipped between her wooden leg and reached her honeypot.

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

Max Born and raised a slave, she had been abused and violated in all ways imaginable. She thought she had grown numb to it, but the feeling of Noah's fingers touching her most individual, spiritualist orbit, they made her thrill and gasp. There was durability in his finger's breadth, but his movements weren't rough or clumsy. Rather, she sensed that his experience surpassed her own.

His fingers penetrated her, making her moan in a way she thought she never again could. His attempt was relentless, probing every sore touch like an assassin striking her force per unit area points. She was a slender missy, body fat being a sumptuousness for a hard worker, but her flesh rippled from the vibrations drumming from her ass. She could feel the weightiness of her white meat with every motility, and the auditory sensation he was making, the auditory sensation he was forcing her body to lay down, the squelching of soft, wet figure, it was like she was experiencing this all for the first time.

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

She cried out, flood tide rushing through her like a photoflash flood, but Noah didn't arrest, even as she became limp. He continued mercilessly finger-blasting her, while his early hand released her throat and he forced his finger's breadth into her backtalk. She sucked on them like they had a honey glaze. They were her lifeline, all that was keeping her conscious. The bowel movement of her tongue and lips, the vibration of her throat as she slurped up the flavor of his fingertips ; if she didn't work with all her might, the almost savage assault of climax would rob her of all thought and crush her mind.

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

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

She reached out to him, her skinny arms coiling around his neck to pull him in."skipper, consider me,"she begged.

By the light of the campfire, he penetrated her, just as numerous men had done before, but none of them made Tin feel like this. His rim joined hers, a passionate but placate candy kiss, while in comparing, his thrusts, so fast and forceful, made her cry out to the headliner overhead.

.

.

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civilisation

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.

The rising sun shining in his oculus awoke Noah from his sleep. It was not a mysterious sleep, due to his current luck, but he at least felt rested. It was his first gear dawning in this new world. He and Tin were lying on a pile of yen boughs, keeping them off the ground and insulated, and wrapped in the canvas beach wagon back, which they were using as both a tarp and a blanket. The freed slave was snuggled up tightly against him, both for lovingness, and out of affectionateness. The term"freed slave"fit her ironically, as Noah had given her freedom, but she chose to remain his slave anyway.

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

"fourth dimension to get up, we have work to do."

It was a chilly dayspring, so the first thing Noah did was work up up a fire while Tin collected their wearing apparel from the waterfall. They had been set under the spraying to be washed, and after a Nox under the pounding weewee, they were uninfected as could be reasonably expected. They were hung up to dry around the fire, while Noah and Tin had breakfast. utmost night, Noah had made some cups and bowls using the clay that Tin gathered and left them in the flack to broil overnight. Now, he was using them to boil H2O and make pine needle tea.

"What do you want to do, Master ? I can top you to township if you like."

"How long would it take to get there ?"

"Another two or three days."

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

"What should we do ?"

"Yesterday, while I was looking for rocks in the dark, I think I might give birth seen some slimes moving about. They're usually small, right ? Not big like the I I killed yesterday ?"

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

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

"What's lye ?"

"It's the stuff in ash that I used to make that soap last night. It's a very nasty chemical. I'm going to start gathering wood. I want you to bail out the bathwater from the basin and refill it. Rain water would be best, but river water supply will have to do. Then conduct the Harlan Fiske Stone and put them back in the flak. You remember what to do if something attacks ?"

"throw sawhorse dung and hollow for you ?"

"Right."

Noah departed, heading back into the timber. Just like the day before, he was gathering hardwood from birch tree, oak, and maple tree. He moved cautiously, hearing movement all around him. He also returned to sure areas he had visited before, with prey on his mind. He came across a spot he had just yesterday done his honorable to avoid. There was spider silk on the solid ground, and nearby, an obvious trapdoor. Noah put a tumid stick on his foot and readied his bow, taking aim. He kicked the control stick over by the trapdoor, and instantly a spider burst out to seize what it thought was its meal. The thing was huge, almost five human foot in diam.

Noah released his arrow, striking one of its center and leaving it screeching in pain. Before it could hedge back into its golf hole, he shot another arrow, this one oil production through its skull and ending its life. While it was still fresh, Noah rushed over, pulled out the instant arrow, and thrust his fingers into the hole. He stirred his fingers around in the spider's brain, causing its legs, now curled up into a fist, to start spasming. While not familiar with spider anatomy specifically, he was tickling what he hoped to be the cerebellum.

"cum on, where are you… Ah !"He found the magic maculation, as the solid body convulsed and the abdominal cavity started expelling silk at a delirious pace, like he was squeezing a metro 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 idea on a caprice and was overjoyed to see it work. When period of silk stopped, he removed his fingers."That's rightfield, ladies, I am just that good."

He then began rubbing scandal into the silk like he had with the animal fat he had collected the former day, something to maintain it from sticking to anything. It was good wooden-headed line, and strong as well. Next, he started gathering up the aged, thinner webbing it had used for its den. It was already dried out and had lost much of its stickiness, so it was ready to be collected.

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

Noah walked over to the wagon and pulled out a lowly wooden barrel. It had originally been filled with salt, which the striver trader used to preserve their nutrient, but now there wasn't much left. What remained, Noah poured into some of his clay jounce. He then hung the spider to drain its blood into the barrel. There wasn't much, and it had begun to congeal immediately after death, but that just made it sticky like syrup. He swirled it around the inside of the barrel, covering every column 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 hands, and upon closing the barrel, he shook it up. Once completed, the inside of the bbl was coated with chummy layer of ash.

Putting it aside, Noah began moving hot stones from the flak and putting them into the drainage area, bringing the water to a boiling point. Then, he started shoveling birch tree ash tree until it filled up half the basin. For the next half hour, Noah would swap out Edward Durell Stone, making for certain the water was always boiling. Soon a cinema began to decide on top of the water. It was swimming lye, rising from the ash tree. Noah harvested it from the surface, careful not to allude it, and put it in the frypan on the fervency to boil away the wet.

"Ok, I'm going to go back and get Thomas More firewood. I want you to keep swapping out the stones so that the water stays boiling hot, and as the lye gathers on the surface, skim it and put it in the skillet. Whatever you do, do not let it touch you. The waterfall and the river are keeping the air moving in one direction. You want to stay upwind so that you don't breathe in any of the fumes. You got that ?"

"Yes, Master."

And that was how they spent the entire first light and much of the afternoon. They kept burning birch wood, and once the washbowl stopped producing lye, they would swap in fresh ashes and resume harvesting. Between collecting firewood and tending to the fire, Noah created more pottery with the river corpse and baked it in the fervency. The skillet was routinely filled with the lye miscellany, and once the water evaporated away, Noah would scrape the lye into one of his Lucius DuBignon Clay jars. It was the middle of the afternoon when he declared that they had collected enough.

"Now to test it."With his knife, he collected a little bump 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 take in been burning a volcanic crater into his peel, but in this case, amount was estimable than quality.

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

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

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

They moved away from the fire, sick of its estrus, and ate by the waterfall. While chewing on baffling jerky, Noah studied the sawbuck. They weren't tied to any trees, at least not now, and were wandering around the campsite, nibbling on whatever they liked. The head trip conducting wire was doing a good job of keeping them close, but they would probably run out of nutrient by tomorrow. They'd have to incite on by then.

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

"An alchemist ? I sort of like the sound of that. Let's just say that I have a lot of life experience. I've lived through dependable meter and bad. Anyway, we should move on to the following phase. I'm going to go along the river and catch lowly gook. I want you to find the corpses of the big slimes I killed yesterday and try to garner their skin."

Tin was obedient, not voicing any of her doubts and instead setting off to do as her lord ordered. Noah retrieved the barrel he had tinkered with former and filled it with water, then began walking through the river, searching the banks. It was only up to his knees, and there were plenty of large bowlder for goo to veil by. On his hands, he wore some rough leather gloves that one of the slave monger had been wearing. The slimes he found were usually about the size of his fist, and with great fear, he'd pick them up and put them in the barrel.

The water system in the barrel, thanks to the ash, had a raised pH tier. The slimes were acidic, but their pH point wasn't very low. The alkalinity of the body of water and the ash tree kept them from melting through the sides of the drum. He also tossed in some food to keep open them from starving. Hopefully they'd still be capable to digest it. If they were all still active by the next morning, his plan was a success.

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

"I'm sorry, passkey, but the cutis are too fragile for any kind of use."Noah put down the barrel and examined the drop peel. It was crinkly and soft, a far cry from any kind of leather, more like a snake's shed skin.

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

She nodded and went to play. While she did that, Noah collected more long hair from the horses. He took the squares that Tin cut up and used them to wrap up pocket-sized plenty of lye, then tied them shut with the horse hair. The slime skin, despite its fragility, still maintained many of its characteristics. guck were like support acid, so they had to be able to ascertain their pH level. Their skin not only hold their intestine in, it kept basic message out, inwardness like lye, making it perfect for holding it.

With their combined exploit, they were able to create just over thirty lye plurality, plus another 20 filled with alkaline ashes.

"Ok, let's exam one of these out."Noah took one of the extra square toes, filled it with ashes, tied it off, and threw it at a nearby boulder. The goop hide held together while being handled and thrown, but upon striking a hard surface, it burst clear and sprayed its contents in all directions."Perfect !"

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

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

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

They departed the following morning at dawn, wanting to get an early start. They were traveling at a quick pace than before, mainly because there were no longer slave in tow. The two cavalry the trader had ridden were no longer walking alongside the wagon, but were now helping to pull out it. With the spider silk Noah had collected and wood from the forest, he managed to create redundant harnesses so that they were leading. The sawhorse moved in a steady jog, zero compared to the automobile from Noah's previous lives, but fast enough to possibly outrun an untrained man.

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

"schoolmaster !"Tin exclaimed.

"Yeah, I see them."

Swarming from the slope were a plurality of skirt chaser, each one almost as large as the horses pulling the wagon, but Noah had planned for this. He handed the reins to Tin who whipped the buck into a full moon gallop. He took out his bow and began launching pointer. most of these pointer, he had made himself. He had to rush them, so they weren't his easily employment, but they got the job done for short-range encounters.

The wolves dodged the pointer as they charged, but it managed to spook them into moving around back to attack from the rear. Noah climbed into the wagon and stared them down through the subject back. Changing their attack angle had momentarily slowed them down, but they'd catch up in seconds and flank them. Noah tossed a bundle of offshoot and greens out of the vertebral column of the black Maria, but they were more than than they appeared. It was actually a net with thorny Dubyuh and bristles woven in. The net was dragged behind the wagon, and the masher that stepped on it cried out as their paws were spiked with knifelike ejaculate pods. Those who were injured gave up the Salmon Portland Chase, while the remainder of the face pack learned and split up to debar the net.

Before they could exit his perspective, Noah opened up the barrel of slime and began throwing them. Even if the small savage didn't make a direct hit, they exploded like water balloons. The Lucy in the sky with diamonds splashed on the wolves, who instinctively knew that muck were to be avoided. The pack realized that this fair game wasn't worth all of the fuss and gave up. One threat had been neutralized, giving them clock time to take a breath, but it didn't end there.

Bears and early forest wolf would pop up every now and then and take to be dispatched by pointer. The tiny bolts couldn't do much damage, but the pain would make the beasts reevaluate whether or not to keep attacking. Any monsters he managed to vote out, he would harvest for region. With Tin controlling the buck, he would work in the beach waggon, removing skin, teeth, Hammond organ, and anything that looked valuable or useful. Every now and then, they'd even stop so that he could garner medicative plants and mushrooms. But the more he fought, the more Noah realized how unprepared his body was for all this. He was healthy and inviolable, and had life-time of combat experience, but his hands hadn't built up a layer of calluses that a native of these soil would have. Every time he gripped his sword, he could palpate blister forming on his palm.

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

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

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

"I've handled worse."

He got off the wagon with his sword in helping hand, and on his arm, a buckler made from the carapace of the spider he had killed. He was wearing one of the slave traders'pelage, the closest he could get to leather armor, and he also had his satchel, filled with lye packets. Rather than go up the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree, he dove into the woods. If there were any hob in concealing, he'd flank them. As he approached the barrier, he spotted them, hiding behind the trees. They were the size of baby, but with project abdomen and green peel. Their ears and noses were pointed, their faces overall barely even humanoid. They were armed with swords and prow, likely stolen from slain traveller.

He closed in on the first one, his footsteps giving him away and causing it to screech in alarm. Noah dispatched it with a swing of his sword, overpowering its attempt to elude and lopping off the top of its skull. The others, alarmed by the death of their comrade, turned their attention to Noah and attacked. They launched their arrow, albeit with shoddy aim, but it forced Noah to duck for cover. He pulled out one of his lye pack, focused on a hobgoblin with a bow, and threw it like a baseball. The small ring nailed it between the eyes and exploded. The goblin took an natural intimation in, and then immediately screamed in torment. Not only were its sinus and lungs filled with lye, but it had gotten into his eyes, leaving it blinded.

The way it shrieked was zip less than unnerving. It was like a babe rallying cry, it racked the mind and made even Noah squeamish. The goblins, hearing those screaming, became frightened. This was a cruel world, and living in the Sir Henry Wood, every day was a bloody competitiveness for endurance. But none of them had suffered or seen somebody suffer a flesh wound and make that kind of dissonance.

Noah gave them no clip to gather their bravery. He dealt with the early goblin archers the same way, leaving them howling in agony. With their long-range plan of attack neutralized, he closed in. The remaining hobgoblin tried to put up a fight, but he slaughtered them with gruesome hack and stabs. His wanderer shield fractured whenever he blocked a swing, but it held together long enough to wipe out them all. These goblin probably ambushed their fair game, catching them by surprise to make up for their light eubstance, but once they lost that advantage, they were easy to dispose of.

He was closing in on the last one, slightly larger than the others and armed with a club. It growled and made a wide swing. Noah didn't try to obturate and step back out of the fiend's orbit, then swung down his brand and cleaved the goblin's head open. To his soreness, line splattered across his grimace and got into his eye. He rubbed it out until he could see, then nearly staggered, hit with a sudden fatigue.

"What the fuck ? That scrap must induce taken more out of me than I thought."He pushed through the sudden weightiness and returned to the route. It was exhausting piece of work, but he moved the tree out of the way."Tin, come on through !"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"It's fine, I can see everything clearly ! But I can't see you !"Was he the problem ? He could see himself just fine. damn it, his eye was still itching from the pedigree. He rubbed it with his palm tree 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 lowest time he felt it was when he first woke up in this globe. 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 slim down 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 fatigue seemed to compound when he did that. He rubbed his eye again, and from the look on Tin's case, she appeared to be capable to see him again."What happened to the road ?"she asked."It just suddenly changed when you reappeared."

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

"No."He covered his eye once more, and she nodded her headspring."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 varlet. Master… I think you're using magic !"

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

"That's the solitary matter it can be. But I've never heard of magic that could puddle people disappear like that."

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

He then remembered his cobbler's last moments with Lindsey. He had covered his allow for eye because the sun was blinding him, and he woke up in this world in that like position. His glitchy reincarnation, it hadn't just preserved his physical structure at this age, it gave him some kind of thaumaturgy. Maybe it was the wizardly itself that caused the misplay, the magic nowadays in this new public.

"Tin, do they have got any kind of word for the energy used for illusion ? 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 former eye."

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

"So, you can see me. That means I didn't turn invisible. But something clearly happened, or at to the lowest degree, tried to pass. I have a different spell in each eye, but not enough mana to use the second one. It must be like a brawn. I have to discipline it to increase my staying power.

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

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

The next day, while Tin took Ithiel Town the tripwires set around their makeshift camp, Noah was busy experimenting with his magic. He had come across a giant spider, draining the blood from a appropriate rabbit. As he approached, Noah covered his eye and cast his illusion. His understructure on the undergrowth, it should deliver given him away, but the spider didn't seem to notice. He decided to have more than interference, picking up a joystick and snapping it, but still, the spider didn't seem to notice.

"Over here."

Finally, the spider spun around, its black heart searching for the source of the haphazardness. It seemed that his thaumaturgy also concealed sounds, but not his interpreter. Maybe because he intended for his voice to be heard ? He had been casting his tour on and off since he discovered it, to try and get a comfortably feeling of his mana. He couldn't properly strain himself since he needed to save his strength for when he needed it, but he was starting to sense the flow.

He drew his sword, a new one. After the engagement with the goblins, he had taken their weapons, and despite being slightly rusty due to inadequate precaution, they were high-pitched quality than the cheap machete that Noah had been using until now. He now carried a Medieval-style longsword, a short sword, and his knife. He came up with musical arrangement with thought of ancient samurai, who carried a katana, a wakizashi, and a tanto dagger.

He reached out with his longsword and used it to rustle a nearby bush. The wanderer didn't see or hear anything. Noah could feel it, his mana flowing through his sword towards the George W. Bush, enveloping it in the illusion. He focused on the vigour running through his arm and tried to slow down the current, to keep it from moving beyond his sword. It was exceedingly difficult, like trying to twist a muscle he had never used before. It reminded of him of all the years he spent as a newborn, when his muscle tissue was just slightly tough than gelatin. He tempered his breathing, driving out all distractions from his mind, and soon, he could feel the flow rate of his mana, like he had grabbed a hold of it.

He pulled it back, leaving the sword enveloped, but this clock time, when he rustled the bush, the spider raised his front legs and bared its fangs, believing an animal to be causing the hoo-ha. Noah slowly approached and tapped one of the spider's raised legs with his steel. It hissed in fury and swung at something it could not see. The conjuration could block strait from reaching his enemy, but it couldn't erase the sensory faculty of mite, so he couldn't just change state inconspicuous and knife someone without them feeling it.

There was something else he noticed. When he was unseeable, he could smell out the mana in others. Tin had very little, likely a house that she had no affinity for trick, probably a intellect why she ended up a slave. The monsters had even less, but not all of them. Lone wolves without packs and many spiders, they seemed to be shrouded in mana. He didn't get the impression that they could use trick, more like it clung to them, like an olfactory sensation. What made them so particular ?

This was just another interrogative that Noah chalked up to something he'd learn later. For now, he should just go forward utilizing his trick to its total potential. The wanderer had its safety device raised, but couldn't sensation the presence of anyone or anything nearby, so it could do nix to contain Noah from ending its life. He harvested what he needed from the body and then returned to camp.

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

It was a confection embossment to Noah and Tin when they finally left the forest. After two Day of retell ambuscade by predators and goblin, the sea of tree diagram that flanked them on either side were replaced with capable pastures, battlefield where granger and their striver were planting crop. The road became more uniform, receiving more care due to the increase in traffic. In the distance, they saw the township, Clive, as Tin called it. It was surrounded by a log fence to prevent the lusus naturae out. It reminded him of the colonial village museum from his fifth-grade field trip. The brook from their waterfall pack joined into the river that flowed beside the town.

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

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

"Were you close with Garrow ?"

"No."

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

Seeming satisfied, the guard pocketed the money and then waved them in and Noah and Tin entered the town. For Noah, it was like he had traveled back in time to Medieval Europe. Peasants walked the muddy road, street vendors tried to sell their wares, and the air stank beyond all de***********ion. The buildings were brick and wood, only a few of them more than than two narration, with their windowpane using foggy glass.

"What do we do now ?"Tin asked.

"We're going to sell this beach waggon, everything in it, and the Equus caballus. 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 replacements if we need them."They rode past a mendicant lying in the street and Noah brought the cavalry to a stop."You there, where can I come up a weapon dealer ?"

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

"Look after the waggon. This place is probably crawling with thief, so be wary."

She was armed with a sticker and he had organized religion in her competence. He stepped into the computer memory, with a bell ringing above his foreland from the door opening night and closing. This store was made of brick in order to lessen the fire risk due to the forge in back. legion weapon system were put on display, from sword to halberds. Back in his old lives, Noah could have bought a damascus sword online for $ 60 that would put these to shame, but these would suffice.

He also paid aid to the prices in Holy Order to figure out the rate of transition for money. The numbers were drawn a bit differently from yesteryear worlds, but they appeared to receive the Saami value. From what he could tell, ten copper coins equaled a bronze, ten bronze equaled a silver, and ten silver for a gold. The metric scaling made it gentle 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 buck. But was that two thousand dollars back in the Old West ? Or was that two thousand dollar mark in the twenty-first 100, after more than a one hundred class of inflation ? He couldn't even tell whether the price were good or not. This was either all keen equipment at a high cost or garbage sold to beginners and cheapskate, or even just debris the owner was asking the moonshine for to try and rip Noah off.

A man appeared from a back up elbow room and stood behind a counter. He was a neat bear of a man, caramel and dirty from a life sentence spent standing over an anvil. Seeing Noah's forward-looking clothes, unease crossed his brass."Can I help you ?"

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

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

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

There were four short swords, two longswords, six dagger, three lance, and an axe. The blacksmith raised his eyebrow in soft surprise at the size of the haul, but otherwise maintained a poker face for the sake of business. He examined each weapon, making exaggerated grunt and suspiration over every chip and sign of rusting.

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

"That's a bad antic. That's lupus erythematosus than a bronze coin per weapon. You're selling dagger for three bronze each. heptad silver."Judging by the Mary Leontyne Price of the display firearm, that was to a greater extent than the blacksmith could sell them for, and while he would have liked to go higher, the blacksmith was really low-balling him.

"That's farcical. My product hasn't been dragged through the Wood. Yours has. I'll have to spend all Nox polishing and sharpening these to make them suitable of being put on display. Two silver."

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

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

"You can always just fake them into something new and betray at a higher price. Four silver."

"You think you're the only one selling artillery by the arm-load ? Plenty of adventurers come in here to knock down what they found in some goblin tunnel. Scavenged sword are hardly rare on the market. Two Ag and seven bronze. That's like last offer."

‘ So, ‘ adventurer'is a term used here. It probably applies to monster hunters and the like.'“ How about this : my axe, plus two obelisk, 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 short swords, another ten for the long blade, four and half bronze for the obelisk, and another four and half for the shaft. That's in good order around three silver."

The blacksmith gave a huff. Three silver, such a rung, unit number. It was five bronze above what he could get if he sold the arm for half price, but his inner-perfectionist didn't want to rarify it with a small-scale payment. Had Noah planned that from the rootage ? Either way, he felt like he was stuck on those three silver coins like a ship hitting a reef.

"Fine, three silver."

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

"What is it ?"

"A tripwire system, offering a hundred thousand of auspices. Any monster that touches it makes the metal alarms jingle. It's so loud that even the dead can hear it. I'll trade it for three bronze and the small shield you had in the nook. It's got to be deserving that in textile alone."

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

The deal was struck and Noah and Tin set off with a often lighter station wagon. The axe Noah had gotten was a magnanimous one, perfective tense for chopping both trees and fiend. The cuticle he now wore on his arm was only around the size of a dinner plate, but that worked for him. It was warm enough to freeze a slash from a sword and it wouldn't hamper his motion. The tripwire was a bit sore to lose, but once they sold the wagon, they would experience ended up carrying it with them.

With directions from many of the townsfolk, they sold and traded their ware. The blacksmith wouldn't buy the bows, but Noah found another weapon bargainer who allowed him to trade up to a much better piece of music and a quiver of good-quality arrows. After that, the medicinal herbs and mushrooms were bought by an herbalist, the woman chaser pelt went to a leatherworker in exchange for some armour and a hard backpack, and the clothes and pocketbook were traded at the garment shop for some new outfit and a endorsement backpack. Due to the eldritch looks he was getting, Noah was cognizant that his modern wearing apparel made him stand out. They were too worthful to get rid of or sell, so he simply packed them away and donned the wearing apparel of the countryside.

He ditched the discerp promontory of the slave traders into someone's pig pen and the hog went to town. From asking around, it seemed that the Garrow familiar he killed wasn't the wanted criminal he had hoped for. It was a shame there was no bounteousness to pile up, especially after three days of putting up with the flavour of those heads.

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

The owner of an adventurer's store yelped in pain from the lye touching his skin. He sold traveling and endurance geartrain, such as roach, cd, dried rations, and other peculiarity to aid traveler hold up the beast dwelling out-of-door man's domain. Now he was buying the last of Noah's haul, including the remains of several wanderer and the cask of slimes. A examination had been necessary to convince him of the lye's ability.

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

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

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

"We do."

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

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

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

"Deal."

With that, Tin and Noah left, having sold everything they deemed not Charles Frederick Worth carrying. The beach wagon and Equus caballus had already been exchanged for some adorable amber coins, so now they lived carrying everything they owned. Tin was in a goodness mode, now wearing proper clothes and footwear. She looked nothing like the striver girl that Noah had met when he first came to this world. One might depend at her and not even imagine she was a slave.

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

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

"Both. What are your rates ?"

"quintet copper coins a nighttime for one elbow room. For ten, you also get firewood, a hot bath, and two square meals a day for one person."

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

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

Noah led Tin through the crew of boozy villagers, both of them on the lookout station for pickpockets. Every man in the bar looked either like a Viking or the variety of guy that Vikings typically killed, all of their apparel made of either wool, linen, or brute hide. Any women were either traveller huddled together, or courtesans sitting across the laps of their inebriate clients and laughing at every bad antic as they waited for the inebriant to occupy its toll.

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

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

"Is something amiss, Master ?"

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

He had seen plenty of town that been knocked out of the modern age in his old biography, usually due to some kind of apocalyptic result or because it was in a third-world rural area, but none of them had the Medieval Europe aura like in fantasy books and movie. For all of his animation experience, this was something he was glad to finally be able to cross off his list.

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

"I'm not indisputable yet. I don't have enough information. I want to make out more about this country, about the other countries. I want to see what I can make water of myself and what will give me the best chance of natural selection. But for now, I want to roost up for a few years and learn what I can about the area."

He took out the maps he had bought and looked them over. Their quality was just as he expected from a Medieval guild. The map of the Algata state showed the towns around Clive, as well as vague rivers and mountains, but there was no scale for referencing length and none of the roads were labeled. The national map was no well, but it did name the bigger town and the capital letter of Uther near the southern seacoast. It was unvoiced to make up one's mind the size of the land, but it was probably somewhere between England and Texas.

Right 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 life-style, something that would require years to take in up on. If he claimed to be from somewhere but failed to resolve a question that any native would know, it would make him look suspicious. In his past lifetime, his backstory would generate itself, just like everyone else, and as an adult, when he needed an alias, he could easily craft a new one using his knowledge of the macrocosm. He had been forced to blot out in other countries and take on new identity operator in past tense life history, but this was a hale new new ballgame.

The stewardess arrived with wooden trays and beer mugs. The house special was a bowl of core and vegetable stew and a biscuit, with a dry pint of the local ale to launder it down with. Noah didn't even want to imagine how a health inspector would oppose to seeing the kitchen and how the food was prepared, but after three days of naught but rock-hard sugar and dried meat that was little Sir Thomas More than salted leather, he ate greedily.

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

"You've done everything I've told you to do and have yet to disappoint me. You deserve to eat proper repast. Besides, I need you inviolable and levelheaded so you can persist in to serve me."

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

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

The room they were renting was awfully stark, just a bed with some itchy blankets and a fireplace. There was also a tabular array with a lone candle and a ewer of water system. Firewood had already been delivered. As Tin lit the candle, Noah began moving around the room, knocking on the walls, story, and cap, searching for any hidden room access or spyhole. For all he knew, there could be people watching them, waiting for them to descend asleep and then rob them, or worsened. He once made the mistake of spending the nighttime in a boondocks motel that was run by a serial publication Orcinus orca. The flat tire within walking length should feature warned him, but he refused to conceive the cliché.

"You get a fire started while I look around. Don't open the travelling bag or unveil any of your holding until I get back, and displace the bed against the door."

He was sure for the near role that no one was listening or watching them at the moment, but that might be temporary worker. He wanted to check over the inn itself. But on the off opportunity that someone was managing to avoid his detective work, he didn't want to trigger off his thaumaturgy. He left the room and locked the door behind him. There were rooms on either side of meat and across the residence, but they would follow later. He went downstairs, maneuvering through the bunch and stepping outside into the darkness street. The Town was clearing out, everyone heading dwelling or to whatever slur they slept on.

Noah walked down the street, and as planned, he sensed a posterior behind him. He stepped behind the nearby butcher store and laid in wait. His pursuer, knife in hand, entered the alley. He never even saw Noah, certainly didn't see his hand aiming for his Adam's Apple. A solid blow ripped the air from the man's lungs and sent him to his knee joint, ineffectual to even scream in suffering. 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 feature noticed you, so that means you didn't see me with Garrow's Wagon and horses. Either someone who did see me put you up to this, or you're just going after me because I look like an well-fixed target. So, which is it ?"

"Eat shit, you damn kid !"the man gargled. He tried to liberate himself from the choke hold, but Noah just tightened his bobby pin. He couldn't see anything, no matter 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 feel the sword threatening to pierce the skin of his lower lid."If you want to spare yourself, bug out talking. I can nominate you beg for your life and then beg for death in a matter of seconds."

"This is just what I do, punk ! I wait for objet d'art of trash playing venturer to make a untimely spell and then I take everything that they have !"

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

"I don't need help."

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

Noah searched the corpse for anything of value and dumped it in the river beside the village. He then returned to the inn and searched the outside. He had measured the space from the window to the corners of his room, and, assuming that all the suite were the same sizing and same configuration, there didn't appear to be any false walls that someone could hide in.

With his deception still active, he went inside the inn and maneuvered through the crowds, this metre putting all of his campaign into not bumping up against anyone. He checked the thickness of the level and ceiling of each level and found no unusual person. His mana was starting to run out, so he had to zip with the last step. He returned to the floor of his room and listened to the surrounding doors.

Behind the door across the hall, he could hear two female adventurers talking, making plans for the undermentioned day. In the room to the left of his, he could get word a man sharpening his sword. The room to the rightfulness was silent. From his pocket, Noah drew a length of wire. It was originally role of the handgrip of one of the sword he had sold, but he took it before taking it out of the station waggon. Lockpicking had been a skill of his several lifetime ago, so he was a lilliputian rusty. Regardless, he managed to open the door and peeked in, seeing the one inhabitant sleeping.

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

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

"Yeah, I think we're safe."

They both stepped into the room and released their take for breathing time upon the door closure. Finally, they could let down their guard, at least for the most part.

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

On the table with the lone taper, he spread out the coins from their cut-rate sale. There was a great numeral of silver coins, plenty of bronze, and several copper, as well as some gold."With all of this, we can appease 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 River wallet, as bait or a decoy against cutpurse. The third wallet held the bronze coins and hung around Tin's neck. As the for the flatware and Au coins, Tin worked with Noah beside the fervency to hide them in his wearing apparel and self-command, such as the lining of his cap and the straps of his backpack.

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

Noah let her in and she placed a wooden tub on the flooring, filled with steamy urine and some rag week. In this mankind, it seemed like outside of swimming, the sole way to sustain even remotely clean was with a simple wash cloth. Noah tipped her and she departed.

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

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

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

There was a desperate shimmer in her eyes."Something which I beg your forgiveness for. I must render my gratitude for your kindness."

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

She embraced him from behind."It is my obligation to service my sea captain. Please, tolerate me to continue not dissatisfactory you."

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

She made a belittled haphazardness of relief, almost like a crisscross between a laughter and a pant."Please rent a seat."

Noah sat on the foot of the bed and Tin retrieved some of their leftover soap, then brought to tub next him. She kneeled before him and wetted the nominal head of her eubstance with one of the rag, then with the soap, lathering up her titty and between her thighs. He could tell she was excited. Despite her perpetually expressionless grimace, he could see the small curling of her backtalk, the shimmer in her eyes, signs of joy. It was an wry combining ; she, having never known pleasure from contact with a man, and he, so dull that contact with a woman was one of the lastly few things that could give him pleasure.

She began by taking one of the washcloths and scrubbing Noah's legs, trying to remove the sweat and dirt from their Clarence Day in the woods. Then, her breathing would deepen, and she'd scratch line rubbing her chest up against him, grinding against him like a stemmer celestial pole. Her breast were far from plentiful, due to her harsh life and pitiable diet, but what softness there was, she used to please Noah. She made sure he felt every three-dimensional centimetre of fat, as if the mass of her breasts equaled her loyalty.

She washed off the soap and then got on the bed to repeat the process on his arms. Her efforts gave him an amused grin. With her internal thighs nice and sudsy, she'd straddle his work force, letting him cup her womanhood in his ribbon and feel how wet she was. She was beginning to pant and whimper, her lust building up in her. Her frantic hint in his ears was likewise getting him worked up. He had a few ex-girlfriends that would consecrate him this treatment.

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

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

She moved behind him and scrubbed his back, then began smooshing her breasts against him in sweeping movement. It reminded him of washing windows. While she grinded on his back, she washed his bureau and her work force naturally fell to his throbbing manhood. She stroked it lovingly, as if wanting to memorise every item. 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 perk up whimper passing her lips. The feel of her chest on his vertebral column and her masterful stroke were also getting to Noah. Even with all of his sexual experience, he always enjoyed a small stimulation.

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

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

She began sucking on his member with worshipful loyalty. Every drop of cum, she slurped off while savoring the gustation of his sweat. Like the other night, she paid attention to his globe, either massaging them while his cock plunged into the depths of her throat, or sucking on them and rolling them around her mouth while she jacked him off.

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

She looked up at him, a slave both to him and to her desires."Yes, Master. My consistence tactile property so lots 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 blissfulness as she felt him enter her. She was so wet, his turncock sliding against her intimate material body without any ohmic resistance. There was no vacillation in any of Tin's apparent motion, she didn't need to adjust her spot or let her body become customary to the feeling of being penetrated. As soon as she was down to the base, she began bouncing on his cock at replete speed.

Noah laid back with his hands gripping her ass. The effort she was putting in was commendable, she was fucking him like a pornstar. Her moan of bliss, she didn't bother trying to hold in them. She let her articulation ring out, escaping their room and being heard by everyone in the inn. She cried out like she was being stabbed, but to her, it felt like Noah was going no lupus erythematosus recondite. She was putting all of her strength into keeping up this rhythm, dropping all her weight onto Noah's lap so that he could truly search her torso. She couldn't allow him to exert himself. There were no fields to solve, no farm animal to take charge of. She couldn't engagement, couldn't hunt, couldn't do anything to repay her schoolmaster for the kindness he had shown her. All she could do was offer her consistence for his delectation, to pass him something to loose his desires on.

But her strength was fading fast. Despite her efforts, Noah wasn't giving in. In fact, he decided to fight back. He retrieved one of the damp flannel and wiped the Georgia home boy off her breasts, making her nipples become erect. He then sat up and began running his clapper and sass across her hide, kissing her areolas and sucking on their elevation. He often pulled his back talk away to join with hers, kissing her with skill she could only call in art. Rather than letting her continue bouncing, he implemented his own technique. Cupping her soaked ass in his handwriting, he began gyrating her hips in one direction while he moved in the paired direction. Now, instead of doing tenacious, deep virgule, his cock was stirring up the depths of her muliebrity like he was whisking some scrambled eggs.

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

She held onto his shoulders as a wafture of flood tide rushed through her, soaking Noah's lap in her rousing. Noah fell back, this meter while pulling Tin down with him. Tin, lying across his pectus, was given no time to rest. He lifted her hips up and began bucking his own, driving up into her at maximum speed and profundity. His rape on her, there was no cruelty to it, but it was so strong that Tin wondered if she had done something to enrage him. She felt no pain, but if any other man tried to do this, she would be suffering beyond parole. It was his skill and experience, she could experience it with every move he made. He knew exactly what to do to not make any harm, despite the vividness itself leaving her on the sceptre of blacking out.

"master key, it feels too skillful ! You're going to break me !"

"clasp on, I'm almost there."

She held onto him for dear life history, as if a tornado had ripped off the roof of the inn and was threatening to pull her up into the sky. Soon, the tempest passed, and Tin felt that net poking and Noah emptying himself into her. The wiz of her master's seed flooding her fair sex, the heating system of it inside her, it made her moan a single crystal-clear preeminence, like a bird call. Then, she collapsed on top of him, using the last of her force to run kisses across his chest.

"victor, when you wanted to know the arena and me and some other striver raised out hands… thank you for choosing me."Noah didn't say anything. He knew that this was a berth that one couldn't simply react with ‘ you're welcome ’. Yet after so many lifespan, he still didn't know what the proper response was."And at the waterfall… thank you for letting me appease by your side."

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

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stamen

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The dawning of the adjacent day found Noah roaming the Greenwich Village. Before he made any conclusion, he wanted to know what this town had to provide, what endeavors it could support. According to the single-valued function he bought, Clive was far away from the res publica's capital, out in the boondocks, but it appeared to have a unassailable economy, with many professions one might not expect in such a rough orbit, like a amber and silversmiths. In fact, it seemed to fly high on tourism, but no one would ever number out here on vacation. It was because of the lifelike resources.

So far, Robert Clive had some farm landed estate and a river for food, as well as the vast forest for baseball bat, but its top commodity was monsters. As Noah explored the town, he saw numerous adventurers buying food for thought and supplies before going off to trace and foregather. In the early seventeenth C, the fur trade exploded in EC, sending countless men out into the wilderness of Siberia and the Americas to obtain their hazard. Here, the principal was the same. pelt were in demand in the big cities, but near of the monster had been wiped out around the more populated areas, so explorer spread out to the countryside to hunt and trade their apprehension, and where there is an exploitable resource, you can find capitalists looking for people with money burning a mess in their pockets.

His hunt brought him to the local anesthetic apothecary, where numerous pots and jarful adorned the paries on shelves while different flora were hung to dry overhead. He recognized several plants, but many were new to him. An old fair sex ran the shop class, watching Noah like a hawk through the smoke coming from her tobacco pipe. It filled the air, along with several dissimilar kind of incense. No sunlight was allowed in, so as to preserve the plants and potions on show.

"Anything I can help you find ?"

"Do you have potions to assist restore mana ?"

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

He examined the phial, three Cork bottles with blue liquids, each one a different tincture. There was no telling how useful they were. He didn't hump how much mana they could replenish, compared to the amount of mana he had within him. And the coloring refinement, was that because of the presence of a specific element that increased its potency ? Or were they just watered down ?

"What about wellness ?"

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

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

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

The woman relayed the society to person in the back room without ever taking her optic off Noah. A young daughter appeared behind the return, carrying a tray of six blue air and red potions. Noah paid and stowed them away in his bag.

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

The woman cracked a smile, seeing right through him."How decent of you to provide ! But my son does fantabulous work."

‘ So, she doesn't even need me to cognise the constituent. Oh well, I have manner of finding out.'

He left the chemist and breathed the fresh good morning air. The sun had broken complimentary of the horizon, and while it was still betimes, the town of Clive was now fully bustling. He returned to the inn, where Tin was waiting in their room.

"I got the potions."

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

She was getting clingier, he had been noticing it steadily progressing. When they first met, she hardly said a intelligence, usually only speaking when necessary, such as to recognise orders or warn him that something was attacking. As time passed, she got more inquisitive, now doing whatever she could to help him. The small-scale tasks, she would try to do before he could, like opening doorway for him and picking up anything he reached for and handing it to him. It was starting to get annoying, such as during breakfast, when she tried to bung him like he was paralyzed from the neck down. But it made her happy, so he went along with nearly 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 cozenage then you are. Since I now know the price of the potions, I can make for sure that adult female at the store 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 start out experimenting with my magic, and I need your supporter for that. Because there was always the threat of monster, I never allowed my mana to fully deplete, so now I can start pushing my limits a little."He pulled out the three mana potions and put them on the board."I'm going to cast my illusion and not intercept until my mana is completely used up and the piece comes undone. I need you to supervise my health during the process."

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

"It's sluttish. While I'm invisible, I want you to agree my wrist and observe my heart rate while counting to a hundred over and over again until the patch suspension. If I should miss cognizance, 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 or breathing blockage, 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 waver. He placed his hand on the center of her pectus and felt her become tense."I can experience your affection beating. Should mine stop, you'll need to press down on the center of my chest in rapid thrusts."He stacked his hands and gave a few downwardly shoves. The rhythm of his pushing, the way it forced her deeper into the mattress, it reminded her of something, and seeing the tone in her eye, he knew what it was.

"You'll want to do that XXX metre. Then, you'll need to pinch my nose, and squander air into my lungs."He lowered his head and kissed her. She replied with exuberance, her breath now fluttering, and not because he was pinching her nose. Noah got on top of her."Of course of instruction, when you do it, I expect you not to use so very much lingua. You'll give me two deeply breathes, then do another thirty compressions. recapitulate the unconscious process until you feel my heart startle. Understand ?"

"Yes, original,"she whispered with a lackadaisical look in her eyes.

"goodness. Now, to make sure I only use up my mana, I need to completely drain my strong-arm staying power. care to help me with that ?"

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

To the enjoyment of some and the annoyance of others, the sounds of Tin's moan could be heard throughout the inn. Not only tawdry, it was never-ending. divagation from some short breaks, her vocalisation continued to bounce off the walls even with the sun now at the gamey peak of the day and everyone eating lunch.

On the bed in their shared room, Noah was battering Tin from behind with stern intensity. She no longer had the military posture to even stay on all quaternity, and instead had her face pressed to the rag, now sticky with their flux fluids. Every sweep he delivered would make her cry out in euphory. She didn't sleep together how many times he had brought her to climax, nor how many times she felt him flood her body with his come, but each outcome threatened to rob her of her consciousness. Regardless, she fought through, doing everything she could to continue awake so that she could continue to delight her master.

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

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

How had this all started ? What was the reason he had given ? She could barely recollect, it felt like so long ago. Oh, that's right, he called it workout. He asked it of her, but had he demanded it instead, invoked his government agency as her overlord, she would accept been no less excited. It fulfilled her, to finally be able to show her inscription in the only way she could. He was depending on her, trusting her to fulfill his expected value, and she was make to consecrate her body for that. Her muscles begged for rest, but her soul didn't want it to end. She wanted to wrap around him like a Hydra so that he could never leave, and instead continue using her until the end of time.

At this point, Noah had fully immersed himself in the act of mania, cognisant of nothing but the physical globe. The feel of Tin's body, her wetness and piano shape around his cock, the penchant when their tongues curled around each former when they kissed, the smell of her feminine pith as he brought her to climax, the sight of the sweat glistening on her dead body as he made her writhe and moan, he bathed in those sensations. He felt minuscule philia for her, but at least physical superstar could quell the ancient maelstrom in his head, let him shut off his brain and truly feel again. His soul, so lust and without baring, it was like cracked desert cadaver now becoming fertile with the spring rains.

His forcible toughness, something that Tin was ready to label as inhuman, was just as much mental as physical. With so many lifetimes'worth of experience, he knew how to work through the painfulness. He had felt the anguish of exertion adequate times to determine how to ignore it. He couldn't perform any spectacular feats of forcefulness like some sort of superhero, but he knew how to properly oxygenate his rakehell for the level best output and knew how often intensity his muscles could exert without suffering detrimental damage. 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 muscle-builder, he had built his physique through a workout that he had mastered over several lifetimes.

He shuddered as he emptied himself into Tin. After all this time, he couldn't imagine having any sperm left. His soreness was approaching unendurable levels, but even though his erecting was fade, he didn't give in. He grabbed Tin by the articulatio humeri and pulled her against him, his rim joining hers. She was nearly delirious, acting as if on muscle memory when she swirled her tongue around his mouthpiece. His bridge player went to town on her, massaging her modest breasts and stirring up the cum in her pussy. Tin was so tired and her throat was sore from moaning, but the way Noah tickled her clit and bullied her nipples, it still made her whimper in bliss.

He'd do this after every sexual climax, keeping her busy while he slowly regained his erection. 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 blank from exhaustion, but she rolled onto her back and spreadhead her stage, putting herself on display and letting Noah see the semen overflowing from her womanhood.

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

"No, that's good. You were utter. I can't even work up the military capability for a single thrust."He reached into his bag and pulled out the unaccented of the three healing potions. Even that task was almost beyond his compass. He might as well have just won the term of enlistment de France."Here, drink this."She was too tired to travel, so Noah put the nursing bottle to her lip and let some filter down her throat. She was soon revived, her body no longer trembling.

‘ So, blue potions restore magic stamina 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 tum roared like skag. He fell back on the bed, dizzy from exhaustion.

"Master, what about you ?"

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

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

"It probably is dangerous, but I don't know how my mana backlog compare to an average magic user my age, and this is flying way to increase it. Now, don't let go of my wrist joint and lead off count as soon as I become invisible. If my pump stops or there are any signs that my health is deteriorating, give me both a mana potion and a health potion, then perform CPR. Remember : 30 contraction and then two breaths. You got that ?"

"Yes, Master."

Noah put his helping hand over his eye and disappeared in front of Tin. However, Tin could still feel him, experience his wrist in her hand and his fondness, and it comforted her. Upon the activation of the spell, Noah could feel his mana being depleted. It was a unusual fatigue, like he was bleeding to death. All of his mental focus was put on restricting the period of mana to just his body, so that nothing else would get caught in his illusion and dissipation mana. It was why he left the job of timekeeping to Tin.

From his experience so far, he could assert the trick for about three moment before his motor occasion declined too far for him to push. He didn't know if that was skillful or bad, but in time, he could smell out that pedigree being crossed. From there, his cerebration and physical strength began a rapid decline. Noah fought with everything he had to stay conscious, even when he could no longer keep back his centre open. His consciousness soon sank into a rift where he could feel his mana continuing to deplete but couldn't feel his own body.

Then, he began to feel his mana regenerating, without any signboard that it was being used up. His consciousness started to belch back to living, and he soon opened his heart 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 last until that happened ?"

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

"So, while with my physical stamina completely drained, I can defend the spell for about five bit before I pass out. At full strength, I can maintain it that long while still being able to press. This is good, I'm in arrant shape to get the best benefits for stressing my mana, and since my spunk and breathing didn't stop, I don't need to worry about suffocating. Either that potion will fatigue off or it'll manage to replenish all my mana, but whichever happens first, I'll start again immediately after."

He gave himself time for the mana to recirculate through his body. He checked his reflexes, physical enduringness, and mental processing. True, he felt half-dead from enervation and sore all over, but he knew what real impairment would find like. Complete mana deprivation felt just like bleeding to Death, so there was always the possibility that being drained of it for too long would ingest similar effects to his consistency, like cecity or muscularity death. There was no telling if the wellness potions could touch on those kinds of injuries.

aught appeared to be wrong, so he returned to the bed."All right, we're going to stay fresh doing this."

They repeated the process over and over again. Noah would use all of his mana through his illusion, Tin would ignite him up with a potion, he'd check himself for equipment casualty, and then they'd start all over. He sent Tin out multiple clock time to buy more potions for him, and they even experimented to see how a lot they could weewee it down while still providing sufficient rejuvenation.

As the day rolled on, Noah's trunk begged for food. The grumbling of his stomach and his disorientation concerned Tin, but he refused any variety of sustenance, and for good reason. Each fourth dimension he performed the cognitive process, he noted his mana modesty increasing. He didn't know what mana was or how he produced it, but without physical stamen to soften the blow of depletion, the origin of his mana was being stressed to its point of accumulation, and was reaping the benefits. There were a lot of things about mana and magic that he didn't understand, such as how fast an soul could beef up theirs. For all he knew, he could be lagging behind in the preparation, but he was fairly certain that he had struck gold.

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

"For the best, I imagine, considering how she started throwing poppycock at you conclusion time. We've probably bought up all the provision that she's unforced to sell us."

"So what now ?"

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

"I can receive it brought up to us."

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

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

"Sorry,"he said.

She smiled, something she was doing more and more frequently."You need not worry, Master. While I was never the handmaid of any enceinte nobles, I heard that this was a duty that their maidservant 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 turn a duke."

Now fully dressed, he was helped to his foundation and they left the room, though he had to tilt on Tin for backing. From upstairs, they could hear the disorderliness of the invitee in the dining room, singing song and knocking their sucker together. Yet as the stripling appeared and made their way to their table from the old eventide, that clamor went died down, with all heart on them. There was some hushed muttering, several people whispering to their protagonist to inquire as to the silence. Noah and Tin took their seats, the bar as quiet as a necropolis, then the innkeeper showed up with their dinner party. It was clod of meat carved from a brute, and Noah's dowery was big than anyone else's.

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

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

The bar practically exploded, with people of all ages swarming their table to pat Noah on the rachis, congratulate him on his acquirement, and beg him for advice. Many char approached, flirting with Noah and inviting him to join them for the even. Noah even saw one female adventurer holding back her Quaker who was trying to border on with a hungry—or rather"thirsty"—look in her eye and a extensive smiling on her font. Tin also got plenitude of attention. Everyone wanted to love who was struggling to keep open up with who, which of the two was the insatiate one. The women who could not frame Noah would change by reversal to her, asking for detail while voicing their jealousy. In the background signal, the guests began singing strain of wooing women and romantic fib, with the normal natural action of the bar becoming a raving party.

Noah simply sat there with an awkward smile, annoyed that his design to hold on a low profile had gone of up with green goddess, but amused with the situation nonetheless. Tin, too nervous and block to say anything, simply hung her read/write head while her typeface turned red as a tomato.

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

It was close to midnight, and Noah, having regained his strength, made his way to the nighttime apothecary. He carried a lantern with him, but its fire, like Noah, was unseeable to anyone and anything, and the route remained as dark as it would be without his bearing. He had shrouded it in his illusion as a way to try out himself. If his mana slipped, twinkle would get out. After the day's training, the mana spending was next to nothing. He had already passed the five-minute mark and didn't smell dizzy. With a few more years of breeding, he might be able-bodied to maintain the illusion for an 60 minutes or more.

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

There was plenty of worthful fabric to steal, but Noah and Tin's suspicious behavior would have left an impression 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 condom, and anyone who suspected and came after him. From the moment he discovered his deception, he had thought of all the ways he could use it, both bad and dependable. It would have been so easy, he kept reminding himself, but that wasn't the life he wanted to live, even if it was one he would have lived in the past times.

Instead, he searched the workshop for books and potion recipes, simply to learn, rather than slip. None could be found, meaning they must have been hidden elsewhere. He did notice plenty of compounding equipment, which he memorized in order to replicate. Noah moved beyond the computer memory and into the woman's dwelling. She lived, as everyone else did in this humans, rustically. All light was innate or flame-based, any food that could go bad was salted and kept in jars, there was no work water system, and all the creature were pre-industrial. It still reeked of potions and herb, but that odour was probably hard to confine to the shop.

He came across a magnanimous wooden chest set against the bulwark, and after picking the lock, got it open, revealing his booty. The old woman's whole library was kept neatly arranged, all the answers Noah needed. In this world, information was as important for survival as food for thought and water, so until society managed to invent the impression press, account book were worth their weight in gold. Despite the tantalizing knowledge at his fingertips, Noah went straight for the alchemy books. He looked up the recipes for staple health and mana potions, memorizing the component and processes.

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

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

The arrival of the following day brought Noah and Tin out to the woods to gather herbaceous plant and James Henry Leigh Hunt monsters. Buying all the potions yesterday had taken a big glob out of their finances, so Noah wanted to forgather some material he could sell. He had asked around the tavern the previous night and managed to come up out the most worthful parts of monsters. He also found out some interesting facts.

"Summoned by magic ?"

"Yes sir,"said the barkeeper as he used a lousy rag to clean a glass."If you're really golden, you'll manage to see it befall. There are legerdemain dress circle scattered across these lands, absorbing mana from the air and using it to rally fauna. About a quarter of each monster raceway is created by magic. And not just ogre, woodland animals as well, from the deer to the raspberry. Shouldn't you know that by now if you're going to be an adventurer ?"

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

Despite it being true, it was used as a lie. Ignorance of canonical facts would give him away and earn people suspicious, so he was hesitating to ask about anything involving magic. He couldn't expect much from this world's storey of Education, but a man with no knowledge of deception would probably stand up out like a man in the 21st one C that had never seen electricity before. At to the lowest degree claiming to be a foreigner would excuse almost fault. He just had to hope he didn't meet up with any outside merchants before he got more information.

"Where do these magic circles come from ?"

"According to legend, there was a war between the deity and the disembodied spirit of nature. The spirits used their deception to come up army of puppet, so that the minions of the gods could never walk the dry land, and that magic remains to this day. Some believe that it is a artillery being used against mankind, to stanch our expansion and exploration into new lands. Many believe it to be the body of work of troublemakers that got their workforce on some kind of illegal magic, spreading the magic set to make havoc.

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

As Noah thought back to the conversation, he heard bm nearby. Bursting from the undergrowth, an teenaged Wolf lunged at Noah and Tin. Noah was quick on the attracter and managed to slash the monster on the berm with his longsword. It landed behind him, slightly limping but showing no polarity of giving up. It flashed optic 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 phantasy, he could easily kill it without it ever seeing the onset coming, but today, he was sharpening his scrap accomplishment and refining his swordplay, so he needed to face his enemies without hiding from them. Besides, monsters that lost cut of him often turned their aid to Tin.

Noah made the first move, charging while swinging down at the wolf's other berm. It jumped to the position to circumvent, but Noah widened the angle of the separatrix as he brought it down, turning it into a diagonal onslaught. Chasing the wolf with his swing, he managed cut into its bod. The wildcat, infuriated by pain, pounced from a high-pitched slant, aiming for Noah's head. The angle was tricky, Noah sidestepping out of the reach of its claws, raising sword, and delivering an executioner's chopper to the binding of the neck, severing its head.

He didn't drop his guard and scanned the expanse, searching for any other Friedrich August Wolf in hiding. He could observe none."Clear."

That was his signal to Tin. With Noah keeping safety, she went to work on the wolf, removing the valuable piece like the skin and sure musculus and organ. It was mussy work, but worth the effort. Everything was stored in her backpack and several other pouches and bags, along with Noah's bow and other adventuring provision. Since Noah was doing all the combat, the job of multitude mule fell to her, or rather, she insisted on it.

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

"Tin, stone's throw back."

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

Two young char appeared, having apparently sprinted a great space and now gasping for breathing spell. Noah had seen them before at the inn. One of them, a blonde Sagittarius the Archer, had attempted to talk to him the previous night, but her admirer, a brunette with a staff, stopped her.

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

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

"Here, drink this."

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

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

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

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

The bowman extended her hand to Noah."I'm Beth and this is Mira, very please to take a leak your acquaintance."

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

"You took attention of that beast so easily ! With acquirement like yours, we would have sex to team up. What do you say ?"

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

"Kind of,"said Mira,"but not against monsters this large and libertine. We each came from region where the combat was a lot well-heeled and act were thinner, but we weren't making enough money and decided to try moving out here for a while."

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

"Oh, well I'm a mage, so I can use elemental magic to conjure and check things like fire and water. My talents lie in controlling the earth, like this."She turned away and looked into the aloofness. halo of sandstone-colored light appeared around her wrists like ring, and Noah could see diagrams and runic letter of an unknown nomenclature."Earth Bind !"

She raised her stave and then slammed it into the ground. There was a pulse, and the ground came undone like there was an animal tunneling just under the open. It stab across the wood floor, and thirty feet away, there was an bang of terra firma, with hard-packed soil forming jagged shapes that converged like a closing flower. Anything caught within it would surely get held in lieu, even stabbed if they moved around the haywire way. The displace earth used to produce the spike heel produced a pit, just in case anything tried to duck.

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

"What ? Why ?"

"wellspring we're in the forest. The primer coat is riddled with origin holding it together, so it takes a lot of fourth dimension and exploit to forgather the soil and form it into those spindle. Also, you're going for fast quarry with just reaction speeding, so as soon as they sense the attack, they'll motility before it fully activates. I assume your strategy was for Beth to injure 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 to a greater extent arrows, right ? It's a trade good scheme, keeping your length from the enemy to minimize risk. However, in this kind of environs and with this objective, you'd penury to change it up a bit. I suggest using toxicant arrows, or at least some variety of paralytic factor. That way, even a low-damage hit will slow up it down. I'd also suggest using a larger bow for to a greater extent penetration.

Mira, do you know any other enchantment ?"

"I can create a dust cloud and send stones flying."

"But zip close-range ? That'll be a problem if there is more than one enemy or they get within striking distance. Mira, I suggest you work on learning a piece for battle royal combat, and Beth, get a sword. You also should find another appendage to join your party, sorry I couldn't be that person. They'd have to be able to pin down the enemy in one position for your arrow and magic to be able to hit their mark."

Beth and Mira swarmed him with despair in their optic."Please reconsider joining us ! We need somebody like you, desperately !"Mira said.

"You can even hold open most of the money ! And if that isn't plenty, I can pay you extra in nighttime fun !"Beth added.

Noah hadn't expected them to get so worked up and wanted to gage away, only to bring in Tin was standing behind him. She was tugging on his shirt, giving him her basset bounder center, though he couldn't William Tell if she was trying to convince him to commute his idea or telling him that they were better off on their own.

"Sorry, but I can't. I'm really trying to centre on preparation. I'm sure you can recover a struggling swordsman who's desperate for a company to join and would fit right in with you two. Tin and I have to get going. You were first to injure the wolf, so the body belongs to you. We'll see you later."

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

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

"Well, the thought of forming a political party is appealing, and their long-range abilities would definitely help out. However, I'd prefer to operate away from prying eyes for the time being. I didn't 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 read elemental magic a bit."

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

They continued through the forest, hunting for monsters while trying to avoid other venturer. Along with fight, they also stopped to call for herbs. Noah was always playing through the potion recipes in his mind. Then, when noontide arrived, they stopped for lunch by the river. Their intellectual nourishment was slightly bettor than the poppycock they ate before reaching Baron Clive of Plassey, in the sense that the lettuce wasn't quite-rock voiceless and the meat actually had nip. It was still disappointing compared to a hot meal. Their water came from the river, first filtered through a selection straw that Noah made.

Once they were done eating, Noah pulled out all of the plants they had gathered. He picked three unlike plant out of the pile ; branch of blue strawberry mark, several feet of a vine with square up leaves, and an orangeness moss."Of the formula I saw, this one is the gentle and doesn't require any specialized tools. Even if it doesn't workplace, it will still be good practice. We just have to grind these up with a ratio of 5:2:7 and mix them together with some water."

They gathered stones from the river to use as stopgap trench mortar and pestles and went to work. Working slope by slope, Noah noticed a small smile on Tin's nerve."This reminds me of making lye at the falls,"she said.

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

They mixed the ingredient together and poured them into the three potion nursing bottle from the druggist. They added some invigorated water and Noah could see the concoction glow as the potion was formed. Whether or not this potion contained mana or simply sped up the natural rejuvenation process, it appeared the requisite chemical substance response was taking place.

"Good, now to examine it. I think this will be the perfective opportunity to see what my next tour is."It was very slight, but Noah could see Tin's excitement."You should move back. If this bit spell is anything like my illusion, you probably won't be in peril, but it's honest to be safe."

Tin moved back 20 feet, and Noah, after taking a deep breath, put his hand over his right field eye. The effect was instantaneous, his mana being drained twice as fast as his first tour, and this clip, he could actually feel something happening to him. His body, it felt weightless, and his limbs, they were just moving of their own accord like man-of-war tentacles. His visual sensation, it was almost blurry, like he was seeing image. It felt, of all affair, like he had just taken a hit of some high-quality pot.

If his absorption broke for even a second, he felt like his arm and head would just swim on their own. Noah dropped his bridge player and staggered, nearly falling just like the first time he tried it back in the woods. It was like every movement he made had to be performed while walking on a tripwire, or else he would fall down. He was shifting from slope to side, struggling to remain in restraint. While this would be a bully thing to do while attending a concert or watching a comic picture, it was far from utile in battle.

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

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

"Doing what ?"

"master key, look at your hands."

Noah, through nifty difficulty, raised his palms and looked them. He blinked and squinted several prison term, trying to see through the afterimages floating around them like an aureole. Had he touched some bad mushroom and then breathed in the spores ?

‘ No, wait a second…'

These aftersensation, they weren't some blurry silhouette ; they had crystal-clear details. They were like exact transcript trying to engage the same space. He moved his blazonry around, watching the transcript follow the originals. They were illusions ! He stopped moving his real arms and tried to make a motion the transcript. He thought about it, he envisioned it happening, but only when he gave up and tried to raise his real number arms did the copies obey and fulfill the action. It was only for a second before they returned to their pilot 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 branch and actually harnessing the strong-arm military capability within them to make that bowel movement, there was a point where he could proceed the copies. He was soon moving the illusionary weapon however he wanted, with Tin watching at a tot up loss. His mana was starting to run low, so he cancelled the spell and leaned on his knees.

"victor, what was that ?"

"An semblance. It appears that my left eye can hide my real trunk, while my right eye can create a juke. I can check it similar to how I move on my own, but it requires a lot of focus. Hand me a mana potion, will you ?"He downed one of the potions and then lied down on the ground and reactivated the magical spell."Watch this."

Tin could immediately see it on his face, the exertion and focal point he was putting in, but her attention was immediately drawn elsewhere, as a second Noah seemed to move up from the body of the first like two cells dividing. For Noah, it almost an out of dead body experience. The semblance stood up, every effort that Noah would deliver made being performed. It was difficult beyond words, leaving him drenched in sweat and gasping for air. Every muscle involved in standing up had to be acknowledged, from the muscles supporting his head, all the way down to the muscles in his feet as they tried to grip the priming coat for Libra the Balance. He had to visualise not just the movement, but the sensation of moving.

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

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

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

For the succeeding three week, Noah and Tin worked out a procedure of expanding Noah's mana second-stringer and going out to hunt, one day inside and one day outside. Everyone in the inn became aware of the formula, as every other day, from breakfast to lunch, Tin's moans filled the construction. It became quite the narration around townspeople, many people coming to the inn just see if the rumors were honest. Tin would rob Noah of all of his stamina and they'd execute the drain and replenish process with the mana potions. The next day would be spent gathering herbaceous plant to wee-wee more potions and materials to sell, and keep cultivating Noah's combat abilities.

To consume his mana, Noah experimented with his s spell. For the beginning week, he focused on perfecting the dead ringer's movements and speech. He tried to get it as formula looking as possible, having it walk around the room and imitate various actions. Unfortunately, since it was just an legerdemain, it couldn't actually affect anything or impress its environment, and while he could utter through it, he couldn't see what it saw or see what it heard. Unless it was in sight at all sentence, he was piloting blind. Strangely, Tin said that the knockoff had the Saame flavor as him, while when he was invisible, his smell was concealed.

He spent the future workweek learning how to proceed both his real and fake physical structure at the same time. He started out small, foremost with finger movements, then limb movements, then upped it up to having it walk around the room while he stood by the bed, which was surprisingly unmanageable with all of the muscles required to rest standing upright. By the end of the week, he and the clon could walk simultaneously.

In the third week, he added his first trance to the mix, moving the knockoff around as he performed a job while invisible. The mana expenditure was massive, so much so that the pace of his militia increasing was slowed, and it became more difficult to tell how practically progress he was making. Despite that, they proved to be a golden combining. The clone could act as a perfect lure, while Noah would set on in his invisible form.

His firstly spell didn't just score him invisible, it affected whatever aim he touched, concealing and also creating thaumaturgy to veil any modification he made, like footmark, while the endorse could make a wide illusion, but of himself, one that had a penny-pinching forcible presence. These piece, they were more than just bending twinkle. It seemed like they were two halves of a unmarried spell.

When he wasn't training, Noah went around town to conglomerate information about the nation, magic, and monsters. In a little hinterland village like this, the results were far from bighearted or even reliable. He would have to motivate to a bigger city to get better-quality selective information. The Utheric capital would be his best bet, but it was weeks of travel and readiness had to made for a trip like that.

Try as he might, it was hard to remain unnoticed. hearsay about him circulated through the Ithiel Town, with people he had never met knowing his epithet. He would take the air down the street and women would blink and blow osculation, even trying to seduce him. Men would simper and nod in approval as they passed by, a mean value of displaying deference. Even the old dame at the pharmacy would rally him. When Tin went out, she'd wear a hood to conceal her identity operator. It wasn't an ideal place. If he was to be known throughout the hamlet, he wished it would be for something a little more heroic.

.

.

.

Medicine

.

.

.

The natural spring rains were dramatic, passionate, the lifeblood of mother Nature as she fully awoke from her winter slumber and prepared for summer. Yet at the mo, the fury with which the enlarged drops fell was not appreciated, for they numbed Noah's finger's breadth as he gripped his steel and made him thrill as his apparel became worthless from the moistness. It was also difficult to see, splashing against his aspect and blurring his vision, but he kept his gaze focused on his enemies.

He was out in the forest, Tin having retreated as per his orders. Before him, a trio of bandits, all with weapons raised. Noah was armed with his short sword, unable to wield his main steel, due to an arrow stuck in his shoulder. When he was first struck from seat, he had hoped it was simply a hunter's fair mistake, but the bloodthirsty look on the men's faces told him that he was their real target. They probably robbed and killed adventurers for a living, and he couldn't imagine their female dupe dying quickly.

Should he just turn unseeable and dispatch them before they could retaliate ? No, there was something he wanted to try, and a homo opponent would be the staring test national. He raised his free hand towards his face, breaking the stalemate with one of the bandits firing his loaded arrow. Noah deflected it with his buckler, the most he could do with his wounded articulatio humeri. He swept his hand across his eyes as if trying to clear his vision, activating both of his spells. However, rather than splitting from his illusional clone, he wore it, syncing his movements with the bandits not even noticing a difference.

One of the archer's cohorts, this one armed with a great struggle axe, charged towards him. Noah had his clone take a defensive posture, while he pulled away, stepping ahead and stabbing the man through the heart before he could make his jive. The archer shot another pointer as Noah stepped back into his fantasy, but he again blocked with his shell. Noah, with his move concealed, drew several little tongue from his belt and hurled them at the archer. His mana clung to the brand, rendering them invisible as they buried themselves in the bowman, taking him out of the game.

All that was left was a fencer, and he knew that something was going on. Two of his cohort were dead, but he didn't understand how. He pushed his confusion aside and charged towards Noah. Noah blocked and parried his attempt with his sword, wanting to subscribe his metre and taste the battle. He was so utilize to fighting colossus, he wanted to micturate sure his acquirement in killing other man hadn't gone dull, to refamiliarize himself with their unique movements and proficiency.

He was allowing the bandit to push him back, though there was little he could do to intercept it. His opposite was armed with a bimanual sword, so he could have more power than Noah could rally with his dead blade. He strung the brigand along, using insistent, well-heeled apparent movement, laying a fake trail as to what his next relocation would be. He made a wide of the mark swing from the side, and the brigand automatically blocked, however, the blade never came, it was only Noah's illusionary arm. His real arm swung from the opposite side, slashing the bandit across the tum.

He staggered back, cursing in annoyance and trying to understand what happened. Noah closed in and the bandit tried to open some space with a powerful cleave. Noah blocked with his brand, at least, that's what the brigand saw. In truth, he had blocked with his shield, allowing him to thrash the bandit across the wrist without him even seeing the attack coming. blood poured freely, the man's handwriting now useless. He released a cry of effort and tried a one-handed cut. 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 solidus. It was like he had hit nothing but air. He raised his brand to block a swing from Noah, but in reality, it was a thrust, with Noah's blade piercing his chest. Noah confirmed all three deaths and then called out to Tin.

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

"I'm afraid it'll hurt."

"I can handle it."

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

"Thanks."

Noah once more checked the dead body, but their faces didn't match any wanted placard, meaning there was no bounty that he could collect with their caput. Tin went to form, stripping the bodies of everything useful. They were so used to this routine that he rarely needed to generate her orders.

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

"I agree,"Tin said.

They set off gage towards the town, fantasizing of removing their soaked wearing apparel and warming themselves beside a fire. They had mint to conduct, and the rain made everything heavier, with the tote up cold sapping their military strength. By the time they reached the inn, even Noah was on his stopping point leg, and felt decrepit. The sun hadn't fully set yet, but the swarm were so duncical that it was almost pitch disgraceful out.

It was a relief to finally get inside and out of the pelting, but Noah knew something was off. He felt woozy, his thoughts 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 last out in our room tonight. Can you take in someone add our meal up to us, along with extra firewood ?"

"Sure thing, dearie."

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

"captain, is something incorrect ?"

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

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

As the fire started to burn and sate the room with luminance and passion, there was a knock on the door. Two chambermaids stood outside, the innkeeper's daughters, though they were younger than Tin. One of them held two trays of food, and the other held an exceptionally large megabucks of firewood. Noah hid himself beneath the blanket and Tin answered. As Noah had taught her, she kept the door open up just enough to take the food and firewood, and didn't tolerate them inside.

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

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

He watched her undress and the two of them sat on the bed, wrapped in mantle as they ate their dinner. It was hot fret, the double-dyed comfort food. Unfortunately, Noah was starting to see it difficult to swallow. By the time he finished, his breathing was becoming labored and his essence was beating irregularly. Noah was hoping it was just a cold, but this was starting to feel much Sir Thomas More acute and was coming on too quickly. Perhaps a disease native to this world ?

Tin could see his status worsening."passe-partout, you should get some sleep."

She took his tray and gently pushed him onto his back. Truth be told, as soon as his head hit the pillow, he lost the strength to run. He lay there, watching Tin set up a clothesline so everything could be hung up to dry. Once she was done, she added some more wood to the ardour and slide under the blankets. Her nude soundbox met his and she curled up against him.

Noah closed his eyes, but while sleep was quick to issue forth, it was unpleasant. Nightmares assailed him, a combustion heat ravaging him both physically and mentally. He remembered tossing and turning throughout the night, when the pain in his consistence outweighed his weariness. All of his muscleman ached and spasmed almost day-and-night, his abdomen felt like it was full of oil, and he couldn't escape his fever.

He finally awoke the next morning time to the sight of rain pelting the window. His backtalk was as dry as ashes and he felt like he was going to die of thirst, just like he had a few times in the past. The rain, it had gotten him into this mess, but now he so desperately wanted it. He wanted to go out and vent the heating plant that clung to him like a imp on his back.

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

"victor ?"

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

"Water."It was all he could say.

She brought him a cup of water, and in his restlessness, he tried to pull it from her hired man, if only to get it to his mouth a nanosecond sooner. His clumsy reach was ignored and she helped him change by reversal on his back so that he could drink. It was some of the skilful water supply he had ever tasted, and he felt some sprightliness return to him, if only a little.

"More."

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

"How do you feel ?"

"Everything hurts, I feel like I'm on fervidness. I think I'm gon na … gon na …"He covered his back talk and frantically pointed to the sleeping accommodation pot in the corner of the room. He had detested the front of such an unsanitary affair since he first arrived at this inn, but finally, he was grateful to take in it. Tin brought the pot over and he vomited everything he drank, plus conclusion night's dinner party. He fell back on the bed, with his stomach feeling even worse. He had gotten a nasty flu a few years ago, but even that wasn't as bad as this. This was like malaria combined with detox."Ugh… fuck. In every lifetime, getting sick suck ass."

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

"No. Me being unbalanced leave of absence us vulnerable, and the to a greater extent people know about it, the greater the danger. If I can't fight, we're well-off prey. If I'm still in this condition by tomorrow, then you can get help."

"What can I do ?"

There were plant that could help with dusty and flu symptoms, but his psyche was too hazy to remember them."pine acerate leaf tea, like I made by the river, and see if someone in the kitchen will make me some hot oatmeal."

Tin was hesitant, not wanting to depart his side, but she obeyed. With her gone, Noah tried to shine back to sleep, but could only get a pale imitation that was nowhere near as restful. For Noah, it felt like his brain was being fed on by emmet. He spent the rest of the day in bed, passing in and out of knowingness. Tin remained with him whenever possible. She used damp tabloid to keep his fever in check, and hung a boiler over the fire, making tea for him whenever he asked, though his hungriness was unquenchable.

Noon came around, and Noah sat up to eat his lunch, though it was a sports stadium of soup. Normally, people ate whatever the house special was at the meter, but by paying extra, guests of the inn could order of magnitude particular foods, at to the lowest degree, within reason. The stock went down easy, but the marrow and veg felt like cacti rolling down his throat. As he ate, Tin helped wipe the effort from his soundbox. His spot on the bed would involve some time to dry out. When he had finished eating, he simply sat with his psyche in his hands, taking deep breath and trying to ignore the throbbing pain.

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

"You're doing slew for me already."

"There must be more that I can do."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"threesome mean solar day. After that, you're in the clear."She got to her foot and returned to the door."I'm confining you both to this elbow room until this blows over. The cobbler's last affair I need is for everyone in the inn to get sick."She left the elbow room and locked the threshold behind her.

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

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

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

Tin lifted a unloose floorboard, revealing a cavity underneath, in which a leather pouch sat. She presented it to Noah and he opened it up to unwrap his phone and wallet. While they were mostly useless in this new world, he held onto them in the hope that he could at least use them for contribution and kept the phone off to save its energy. If he ever needed to come out an emergency fervency, that lithium barrage could issue forth in handy. Luckily, he had his earbuds with him, so he could at least savor one piece of his old life. Tin stared at the device, possessed by curio. She had only seen it once or twice, the metal case, the ignitor it produced. Was it some kind of charming tool ? She wanted to ask what it was, but when Noah put in the ear buds, she assumed it was something that would facilitate him get better.

He set his playlist to random and lay back down, hoping that the medicine would perturb him. He drifted once more into the rift between being benumbed and awake, cursed with his fever even in his aspiration. During his waking import, he was either drink in water or throwing up. The only reason why nature wasn't calling was because he was sweating so profusely. The euphony didn't distract him as he had hoped, so practically as permeate his unconscious mind. One vocal in finical came up,"House of the Rising Sun ”, and as that opening guitar strung out, a memory was pulled from the depths of his mind, another prison term he had heard that song.

It was before dawn, he had been driving out in the Nevada desert, out of the plenty of Lope Felix de Vega Carpio. Noah was in his thirties at the metre, lamenting all the dust the Cadillac was kicking up, so practically of it sticking to the outside. He'd have to scavenge it up later, as his employers wouldn't be well-chosen if he returned the company car in a disgraceful condition. The eastern swarm were pinkening as he pulled to a plosive consonant 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 articulatio radiocarpea and a bag over his head. He stumbled on his metrical unit, and Noah pulled him to the boundary of the ravine and removed the bag over his face. The man's face was streaked with dry blood, some of which also stained his dress shirt. He was perhaps in his fifties, a fourth-year in the company.

"You fucking retard,"he spat. Noah ignored him and turned up the radio so he could get wind the rest period of the song. The outside of the car was an antique 70's theoretical account, worth its weight in gold, but the Department of the Interior had been upgraded into the modern age. When he returned to the man, it was with a gun in his hand."Killing me will just sleep together up your animation and whoever threw me under the bus. You really think Alejandro can take power ? Once this gets out, the streets will become 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 bequeath to initiate a war just because it'll be fun ?"

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

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

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

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

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

The sun broke exempt of the horizon, and as its light was soaked up by the farming, 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 fever. It was all she knew how to do when someone was ill, and it came from memories of when she was the victim, though kindness was rare to come to her in those vulnerable multiplication. It pained her to be so useless, to not have sex how to help oneself. virtually of everything she had done was just obeying his instruction.

As she wiped away his lather, her eyes fell to his exposed humanness, and lustfulness fluttered through her, a feel that Noah had introduced her to. Their modus operandi had been disturbed by this sickness, as yesterday was the day she was supposed to help him train his mana. She cherished those Day, when she could finally assist him in the way she knew beneficial, when she got to experience euphoria.

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

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

As her brain bobbed up and down over his lap, Noah was sinking farther and farther into his creative thinker, while being pursued by the music from his phone. Once more, a lone guitar was playing, and what footling knowingness his brain still had tried to think back what it was from. Ah, the lyrics, yeah, this was garden pink Floyd,"Wish You Were Here ”. It was his wife's favorite, one of his past wives, that is. He played it at their wedding and her funeral. He could recall the sunny sky budget items when they cut the cake, and the somber clouds that matched the colouring of her jewel casket as it was lowered into the basis. He remembered the intellectual nourishment served at both occasions. But what was her public figure ? They danced to this Song, but he couldn't call up her case. 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 thinker continued to slip through clip, each song conjuring up a storage. He remembered studying at MIT while listening to Two Steps From the pits. He remembered the stereo blaring Metallica when his convoy was blown up in Syria. He remembered Mozart playing in the hospital as he died from pancreatic cancer. He wasn't aware of the mutterings escaping his sass, recalling conversations from across fourth dimension and space.

When next he woke up, it was Nox out, and the earbuds felt like hot ember in his ears. He looked at his telephone set, now with a quarter battery left. How many to a greater extent sentence could he hear to euphony before his telephone set just became a useless pulley ? He put his foreland back on his pillow, instead listening to Tin's breathing as she slept soundly beside him.

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

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

"Who is it ?"he asked.

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

"Please, just leave it there."

Noah slowly sat up and released another groan. waitress a bit, he felt better. He felt like he just gotten the bull beaten out of him for three hours straight, but he could finally affect around. His fever had lessened and the soreness was due to the song it had put on his body.

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

He turned to her, seeing a flushed face, moist with lather. The gentle respiration he had listened to last Night was now an pain pant."Shit. Tin can you learn me ?"

He tapped her cheek a few times and her centre opened."maestro ?"

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

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

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

"It's so hot in here. Don't trouble, I'll wash away your fret. 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 hear me ? How many finger am I holding up ?"

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

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

He climbed over her to get out of bed, but as soon as he stood up, he fell to his knees, gasping for air. He was on the darn, but he was still in a shitty office. He crawled over to his packsack and pulled out a health and mana potion. He had tried drinking them before, to see if they could bring around him, but was met with nonstarter. He downed them both, and the pain racking his dead body subsided. His strong point and stamina were still fold to zero, but at least the soreness was gone.

The number one thing he needed to do was get her fever down before she suffered serious damage. Next to the bed was the wash basin, filled with ragtime. Just as Tin had done when he was sick, he draped them across her dead body.

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

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

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

He filled up the tea kettle and hung it over the fireplace, with a new fire soon blooming beneath it. When he was sick, he hated the flame, the high temperature it gave off. It was the only time he was thankful for the draftiness of the room, all the little holes for new air to mistake in, but it was needed. As he waited for the kettle to boil, he retrieved Tin's breakfast and once more repeal her head. It was warm porridge, probably made with him in mind, but now perfect for Tin.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

He got up and took a thick intimation, then cast his invisibility. The innkeeper would give him a hard time if she saw him outside of his room, might even complain him out. While his legerdemain was saint, his body was so sapless that his mana might not last long. He left the elbow room and locked it behind him. The hallway outside was vacuous, but he could hear plenty of people in the bar. Getting down the stairs was difficult, as his nous was sent spinning with each step. No one noticed his presence, and he made it through the breakfast crowd and outside. It felt nothing short of euphoric to breathe freshly air and soak in the sun.

A bit of his strength had returned, so he released his turn and made his way across town to the pharmacist. Inside, the old adult female watched as he looked through a menu of her wares, ***********ing plants that helped with everything from fevers to upset stomach.

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

"It's been a rough few days."

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

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

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

"I'm sorry, passe-partout, 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 cook some medicine for her, but he couldn't do it while she was crawling around like this. He took the blanket and tore off a long strip, then used it to tie her wrist to the bedframe. Restraining her was not an ideal solution, but at least the fabric wouldn't leave a mark.

A strange tone appeared on Tin's typeface as she looked from her wrist joint to Noah, almost plaintive, and she spread her wooden leg for him."I understand, Master. I won't cry this time."Apparently, he wasn't the showtime person to tie her to a bed.

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

He laid the blanket over her and left her on the bed, then went to act. In the metre since he first started making his own potions, he had bought a cheap combining kit, including a mortar and stamp. He wasn't a skilled herbalist like the apothecary, but most of the plants in this world were just like those he knew from his by lives, and had built up plenty of selection knowledge. People easily faded from his storage, but knowledge and technical science were held onto. The pursuit of education was one of the few wont he chose to go along in every lifetime, as it was the skinny he could get to finding meaning in the multiverse.

As he toiled, Tin continued to mussitate in her eternal rest, occasionally crying. Nothing Noah heard could be called pleasant. He eventually stopped to see to it on her, see if he could shake her from her nightmares.

"Tin, wake up, I have tea."

"No ! No !"She started flailing, knocking the cup from Noah's paw. He grabbed her and pinned her down."No, delight stopover ! It hurts ! Mama, it hurts ! Make him check !"

"Tin, snap out of it !"

The in conclusion thing he needed was someone overhearing this and misunderstanding. He covered her mouth, waiting for the nightmare to end. Perhaps he should ingest picked up something to sedate her. Would he have to completely bind and gag her to restrain her still and quiet ? That would likely push her further into the delusion, and with this disease ransacking through her body, the stress might shoot down her. How could he calm her down ?

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

"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 medicine to help you feel better, but there is something else I want to try."He retrieved his speech sound and put the earbuds in her ears. He had a playlist of easy listening birdsong, mostly instrumental and soundtracks. He ***********ed one,"Vide Cor Meum ”, one of his favorites. It was pacify, set at a low volume, but the sound of the strand and articulation, right in her capitulum, made Tin freak out.

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

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

"Music ?"

She thought back, trying to remember while her mind was still hazy. Her fellow slaves, they used to take work songs when they toiled in the subject, sort of a means of expressing empathy and solidarity, that they all shared the Same pain. She knew a boy who used to play the flute, though not very well, and once, she heard the married woman of one of her sometime skipper playing a mouth harp from within her hall. 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 individual, a thirst was quenched that she had never noticed before, and she felt as though a summer cinch was rolling through her body, sending shivers of bliss up her spine that made her forget her pyrexia. It left Tin stunned, her eyes wide as dinner home with her rima oris hanging open. She looked at Noah, seeing a rare smiling on his face.

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

She nodded, staring up at the ceiling as the strain continued. Noah resumed his work, eventually completing his medicine. It wasn't a cure, but it would help thin her symptoms. For the next 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-bodied to prevent her from hallucinating, though she still had incubus from her lifetime of ill-treatment. When that happened, Noah would put the earbuds in her auricle and spiel a song for her, and she would immediately settle, as if hypnotized.

For Noah, hearing euphony had flooded his mind with retentivity, making him relive shot of his retiring life history when he heard those Sung, but for Tin, it was the opposite. Having lived a life without music, the promissory note and voices filled every facet of her mind, forcing everything else out, every bad thought and retention. When she was awake, she'd listen while watching Noah make her medicine or practice his magic, and when Noah looked at her, there would always be a grin on her face.

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

It had been a week since Noah fell ill, and he and Tin were going for a walk around the small town. His military strength had returned, but she was still infirm, and hopefully some unused air and exercise would help oneself her flavour 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 slave, but today, she was bold, hanging onto his arm. She claimed it to be to help her walk, that she was weak and needed to tend on him, but the smile on her face told of her dishonesty. Noah allowed it, as she had taken such thoroughly fear of him when he was sick and it was his geological fault she fell ill after him. He certainly owed her.

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

"master key, when I was demented, 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 opine any lupus erythematosus of me. I'm sure I talked in my sleep."

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

Tin opened her mouthpiece and stopped. The things she had heard her master say when he was delirious, both not bad and fearsome affair, many of which she couldn't understand, such as when he started speaking former oral communication or reciting transmission line from textbooks.

"No, other than cursing."

"That sounds about right."

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

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

"This is some nice countryside,"Noah said.

"I suppose so. This is the only thing I know. I have aught to compare it to."

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

"Where was that ?"

Noah picked the public figure of a Town from one of the maps."Nellow."Truth be told, it was multiple kingdom, 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 read, he never stumbled or hesitated, and she had seen it work time and time again, but there was something about his heart, a falseness she thought she saw. She had tried asking about his past tense, but his gaze was always empty, even when he spoke with a smile. He never asked her about her own past times, but it was nil she wasn't used to. She had grown up being treated as an object, both a tool and a toy. confidant conversation was not something a slave should bear from their master, but she had never had a lord that made her tone this way, that was so kind to her.

"M-master…"she stammered.

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

"Please, forgive my crust, but I know you're lying to me. I beg you, assure me where you came from, the thing you've done, anything. I only wish to sleep together Thomas More about you."

He stared at her, unsure of what his side by side move should be, but as he saw the wetness of her center, his fear waned."I talked in my rest, 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 trueness. Being honest has brought me cipher but trouble."

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

Noah looked up at the sky."I grew up near the coast, and my father had a sauceboat. He wasn't a fisherman or merchandiser, rather, it was a rocking horse. In the summer, when the conditions was good, my class would go out on the piddle and go fishing, simply for the use of it. We'd catch mackerel and try to use them as bait to grab big stripers, but it never worked out. One clock time, we brought our dog with us, and I remember finding a grape-sized tick on his eyebrow and putting it on my come-on, seeing if I would catch anything. You wouldn't believe how brilliant it is out on the water."

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

So Noah regaled her, telling her what it was like to produce up being misfortunate, what it like to turn up being rich. He recalled fond computer memory of his siblings and holidays as an only tiddler. He told her of how his parents loved and supported him, then how they screamed and beat him. He described awe-inspiring simple machine and the technology of the New populace, and the fighting for endurance in the aftermath of the apocalypse.

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

.

.

.

Succession

.

.

.

Noah and Tin, having fully recovered from the springburn sickness, set out early on a beautiful day. summertime was upon them, so the morn 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 forest to hunt monsters, they had a particular placement in head. Noah had heard rumor of an abandoned mine that was taken over by goblins. A hive, a nest, a Colony, whatever it could be called, it spelled worry for the village. hobgoblin ate and bred like scab, so if they managed to notice a effective stead to dig in, they could bolster up their Book of Numbers in very little time. They had claimed the sphere several times before and had to be flushed out, and while attempts had been made to seal off or destroy the mine, the goblins always found a way back in.

They were following one of the map Noah had bought, with several piece of music of advice written down that he had received from other adventurer. It would take a day to accomplish the mine, so they exercised restraint and avoided fighting behemoth whenever potential. Hopefully this mine would be a keen beginning of revenue in salvage weapons, meaning it would be best to travel ignitor and not get together along the way.

They arrived at the mine early in the good morning of the accompany day. Finding a safe spot to set up camp had been unmanageable, for this was the territory where the goblins roamed. The mine was carved into the base of one of the small sight. At one prison term, it might have been a fairly decent functioning. There were pot of signal of the buildings that would have stood around it, now reduced to piles of kindling. There had once been a wooden shack built around the entrance, sort of like an airlock, perhaps to keep open the rain out some meter ago, but it was just a rickety skeleton now. Many of the materials and abandoned equipment were harvested to retrace weapon and barriers for use against intruders, with a handful of hob keeping a constant vigil.

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

"Yes, Master."

Noah concealed himself and advanced towards the mine. He counted seven hobgoblin in tally. One was on the cap of the hut erected around the entrance, perched like an owl with a bow in bridge player. Two Sir Thomas More were sitting on the wooden walls at the perimeter of the pack. The remaining four were at the entrance, though they were preoccupied with a game of die.

Noah went for the one no one would observe, the sniper above. He approached the entrance without concern, unseeable and inaudible to the hobgoblin keeping guard, but that would change. The lone way to the sniper was to climb up onto the roof of the shack, but it was so weathered and fragile, it looked like it couldn't support more than the weight of one goblin. However, it was Charles Frederick Worth taking the risk. He reached the side of the shed and began the climb, using the mossy cliffside as a secondary ladder to help minimise the system of weights he put on the old wooden boards.

He was careful with every arrangement of his bridge player and feet, so as to stir up as little as possible. His delusion would hold back the stain he made, but only within a certain range. He had experimented with Tin's help, finding that footprints would be revealed after ten whole tone, so he had to stay within that orbit to keep them within his illusion. Besides, if he ended up ripping a board right wing out of the wall, his illusion wouldn't be able-bodied to conceal it. It could conceal ghost of his activity, but not replicate objects. The ascent was difficult. The wood of the shack had frayed over the years and riddled his hired hand with sliver, while the hard remains on the cliff crumbled and made it hard to get a firm cargo deck. Regardless, he managed to climb up onto the roof.

The roof itself was like thin ice, and if he ended up breaking through or snapping any of the irradiation, the hob would surely feel it, even if he couldn't hear it. Noah pulled a stone out of the drop and threw it into the foliation in the distance. The goblin perked its head at the stochasticity, and in that instant, Noah closed in and stabbed it in the back with his brusque steel. It died before it could even voice its pain.

Noah left it sitting there and climbed off the shack, then snuck over to the two goblin sitting away from the entryway. They looked bored as can be, struggling to stay awake. Noah approached the first one, leaning against one of the wooden bulwark. He dispatched it with his knife, striking the base of the mastermind stem. The wound was small and the goblin simply went limp, never feeling a thing. To its acquaintance, it would search like it had simply dozed off. Noah slew the former hob the Saame way, without creating any haphazardness or ruffle.

Finally, he approached the entrance, where the four were still gambling. He stood over them, the sun passing through him perfectly and its electron beam illuminating their biz. He ***********ed his longsword for this, even doing a few practice swings to figure out the reach and force required. When he was quenched, he gave a mighty solidus, beheading all four fauna at once. Their dead body dropped to the ground and Noah released his spell, then waved Tin over.

As he stood guard, she searched the bodies, and for each one, cut off their flop ear. Most monstrosity had some utilitarian eubstance part that could be sold, like their hide for clothing or their marrow as solid food, but aside from collectors of grotesqueries like skulls and other things to put on show, nothing about the goblin was marketable. However, since they were such a nuisance, their species had an ongoing bounty. The topical anesthetic baron would pay adventurers for every hob they killed, and their right ears were the proof. The hob also sometimes convey valuables, such as artillery, candles, and even coins. Tin searched them all, and whatever goods she collected went into her backpack.

"Ready to go in ?"Noah asked.

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

From her plurality, she drew a lantern and lit it. Noah would precede, but she would furnish the sparkle. This meant that he couldn't simply disappear and pass on her at a condom distance while he picked off the goblins one by one. He needed her right beside him so that he could see what he was doing, and would have defeat the goblins drawn to the brightness.

They entered the mine, and were immediately assailed by the stench. This was the first prison term Noah or Tin had ever seen a goblin nest, so the smell was new to them. It reeked of sewerage and rotting meat, much of the latter probably human.

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

They delved into the mountain with Tin lighting Noah's way. Everywhere, there were the remains of animals that the hob had eaten, picked down to the osseous tissue. In a way, the goblin provided a valuable help to the ecosystem. Because colossus and creature spawned both organically and through magic dress circle, the landscape painting should get been buried under all of their corpses. Instead, the scavenging beasts would aim their finds to their den, continuously sweeping the forest clean.

They soon came upon the first base limb chamber, just like in an anthill. It was modest, about the size of an average sleeping room. Inside, several hob were sleeping atop a mountain of pelts. Most of them were female or younglings. It wasn't proper athletics to kill such prey while they slept, but this was an extermination job, so things like laurels held no meaning.

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

She did as ordered, a mournful face on her brass as she averted her eyes while keeping the Light of the lantern focused into the sleeping room. Noah drew his brusque sword and began stabbing the devil in their sleep. Each fourth dimension, he'd go straight for the point, so that they would die without making a sound. He was steadfast, methodical, taking them out one by one with none of his dupe even suspecting a thing. It was unnervingly easy, and when he was done, he harvested their ears.

"Master !"

Noah heard it with a flagitious shriek. He ran back out into the tunnel as a goblin charged from cryptical within, armed with a wooden spear. Noah pushed Tin out of the way of its first jabbing, then sliced off the top of its nous with a strike to the synagogue. More must feature heard its cry, because another two goblins came running at them.

The initiative that tried to approach swung at Noah with a large dagger. He stepped out of its range and kicked the hob in the thorax, nearly sending it flying. The 2nd blocked the lilt of his sword with a wooden club, but he forced it against the wall and ride his knife into its chest. Leaving it to die, he returned to the first, struggling to breathe, and ended its life story with his sword.

"master,"Tin said, handing him a moistness rag. He used it to wipe the rake off his hands while she looted the corpses.

They moved further on down into the tunnel, finding it expand into a larger sleeping room and crotch out. There was still plenty of mining equipment, but much of it was being used to advert food from. The consistency of both world and animate being had been skinned and were being cooked over bonfires. The hobgoblin were jumping around and squealing in delectation as the smell of their spread wafted through the mine. homo bod cooked over a fire, it was a smell that took Noah backrest to some glowering timelines.

Tin gasped in horror at the view and one of the goblins spotted them and squealed something in their brute language. The dozen or so goblins in the bedchamber turned their attention to Noah and Tin and began to come on, armed with the blades used for butchering their food. They chanted the same squeal, probably something along the lineage of"more meat !"

"Tin, stand back."

He summoned his clon and sent it running to the veracious position as if to flank them. The goblins paid no attention to the fact that their prey seemingly just split into two, and were drawn to the movement of the clone. With that first step, Noah attacked from their exposed side with his longsword and beheaded three of the beasts. The goblins, sensing the deaths of their comrades, turned their attention back to Noah and swarmed in. He kept them at bay with wide swings, while leaving his left side receptive to taunt them. One by one, they tried to attack from the apparent screen place, but he would dispatch them before they could actually reach him. Any that got in close enough to attack found their weapons blocked by Noah's shield, and then his sword would thrash at them from below and break open their abdomen open.

Once their ranks had been cut in half, they began to retrograde back to the bonfire. As this was their den, they didn't show their backs and instead tried to ward Noah off with threatening screaming. Their safeguard was raised, and while they were stupid, they wouldn't descent for the Saame tricks as the others.

Noah cast both of his spells, and while he had his clone remain where he was and affect to be standing his ground. He snuck past the hobgoblin and attacked from behind. He slaughtered three before the difference noticed, but as they couldn't see him, they could do nothing but shriek in discombobulation. They made it too slowly for Noah to finish them off. Even though the sleeping room had gone quiet, he waited several moments before releasing his spells.

"All clear."

Tin went to mold, gathering up valuables. The blades might be Charles Frederick Worth something to the blacksmith, but they'd have to wash the dried pedigree off them first. As Tin searched the goblin corpses, Noah looked around at the early bodies being stored here. There were flock of freshly killed humanity and beast that were waiting to be cooked, so it was potential that their pockets hadn't been picked yet. Noah dug through the good deal of consistency, ignoring their reek, but one of them caught his attending.

It was a boy, a bit untested than him, and unlike the others, his limbs were bound. He wasn't frigidity like the others. Noah checked his cervix, and while it was weak, he found a stabilise pulse. Wait a second, he had seen him before. Noah had gotten to bed plenty of people around the town in the past month, and learned to recognize others. He often saw this boy with Beth and Mira, carrying a sword and dressed as an adventurer. They frequently ate together at the Old Wineskin. Noah assumed they recruited him to connect 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 upshot, Noah examined him. His wearing apparel were good quality, but still the kind used by outdoorsmen. He had a decorous bod, showing mansion of training and hard oeuvre, but while there were calluses on his manus, there were healing blisters from wielding a sword. He was probably a farmer, but came from money.

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

"Where am I ?"

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

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

"equanimity down, everything is fine. I'm Noah and this is my subsidiary, Tin."

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

"Your founding father ? No, we're just here to toss off hobgoblin and slip their booty. How did they appropriate you ?"

The boy seemed to be able to stomach upright on his own, so Noah let him go, though he was struggling to retrieve."I… was being trained in hunt by a local explorer that my founder hired. I had just shot a wild boar with my bow… then I felt a massive pain in the back of my head and blacked out."

"Your father, is he a noble ?"

"Yes, Ivan defect. The mogul in charge of the town. I'm Oath geological fault, the succeeding head."

"Well, Oath, 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 hobgoblin will be arriving any second !"

"I just finished taking fear of a practiced telephone number them, see ?"Noah pointed to the torso of his victims."I'm confident in my ability. Besides, it took a lot of effort to get here, so we're not leaving until our sack are filled with treat and we can barely take the air. differentiate me, do you cause any natural endowment ? Can you use magic or any weapons ?"

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

"Some, huh ? So C. H. Best case scenario, I can bear you to hold off a goblin that might pinch up on us from behind."Noah took off his backpack and forced it into oath's hired man."Otherwise, you're my new plurality mule."

"You can't be serious !"

"You have to pay off the potion I used on you, and take it a down requital for us getting you back to townspeople. 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 steel, taken from one of the goblin, and he gave it to cuss."And I'm renting this to you, unless you would prefer to go unarmed. So, what do you say ? Either do some oeuvre, or I can knock you out, steal your apparel, and sell them to cover the monetary value of that potion. Which is it going to be ?"

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

"smart choice."

The three proceeded deeper into the mine with Noah taking stage. Every few minute of arc, hobgoblin would round, desperate to champion their place. Noah dispatched each of them with a flurry of slash and pang, leaving Tin to gather up the good. swearing was understandably anxious, and it left him unable to even touch the slain gargoyles, so Tin ended up doing most of the work and just putting the finds in his bag. At least he wasn't complaining. Noah eventually tasked him with collecting commodity found in the tunnel, while Tin would nonplus to looting corpses.

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

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

"Well I can see how they might be able to get the drop on soul if they ambush with superior numbers, but when you face them head on, it's like fighting a group of ugly, feral nipper. Oh, oral presentation of which, I see another breeder."

The sight before them was nauseating, as what appeared to be a big park pig was nursing a litter of pint-sized little brownie. While the Male goblin went out into the forest to collect, the female would tend to the younglings. Despite being to a lesser extent than half a fundament tall as newborns, they would reach full-size in just six month, hence their voracious appetite. Noah dispatched the breeder and stomped out the younglings, much to Oath's horror.

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

"They wouldn't have been babies very long. In just a few calendar month, they would be roaming the forest, killing whoever crossed their path and dragging them back here to be devoured. You and Tin are carrying packs full-of-the-moon of the possessions of their dupe. I'm not judging them for doing as nature commands them to, I'm simply dealing with a menace before it can become a threat."A thunderous holloa made the three stripling cover their auricle and wince."What the hell was that ?"

"A hob,"said curse,"otherwise known as a goblin honcho. They're a rarified breed. I hear that only one out of ten thousand goblins can grow to go a hobgoblin. They're a great deal bigger, smarter, and stronger than a steady goblin and can even study magic. We need to get out of here, right now ! It's heard the deaths of the younglings and is coming for revenge !"

"Perfect. He's probably hoarding the comfortably stuff and nonsense. Let's go."

"This is mad ! The fixture hob may be weak, but goblin are stronger than humans in every way !"

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

swearword turned to Tin, hoping that she might speak up, but her look was completely vacuous, as if she was daydreaming."You can trust my headmaster. 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 profoundness of the mountain. It stood over six metrical foot tall with a far more hefty form than the lower goblins possessed. Like them, it wore a loincloth, but it was also garbed in pieces of stolen armor, including a metal helmet. Looking over a pair of boar-like tusk protruding from his mouth, he glared at the intruder with indescribable hatred.

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

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

He didn't pain in the ass waiting for a reply and stepped forward with his longsword in hired hand. The tribal chief was armed with the same eccentric of sword, though with a large blade. On the battlefield, it would likely be used against horse cavalry, killing both riders and their horses with one slice. The honcho thundered towards him with his sword raised high. His speed was certainly dissolute than a human's, and with the specialty he was probably wielding, Noah didn't want to try his luck by blocking or parrying. He sidestepped when the cleave was made and attempted a sideways lilt towards the goblin's head. It raised its hand, blocking with a metal arm guard, then forced him back.

It immediately closed the space to make the same sideways swing Noah had, and with the brand's greater length, he didn't have the time or room to get out of the way. Instead, Noah rushed towards the sword to block it with his own. As the hobgoblin straightened his arms, his swing would turn more powerful, so he had to intervene at the earliest possible moment.

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

Noah gave it no fourth dimension to recover and went on the offensive, slashing and stabbing at the goblin while it did its best to block. In here and now, it had regained its dual-hand grasp and was able to stand Noah off. It raised its sword for another cleave, but Noah's eyes caught a distinct glow along the blade.

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

Noah's instincts had already told him the same thing, but while he was able to get his body out the way, his steel met the hob's blade head-on and snapped. The beast's artillery buried itself in the Lucy Stone ground, shaking the entire cavern, and Noah rolled away to avoid any barehanded attacks like before. He got to his substructure, examining his weapon and the foeman's. The speed of the goblin's swing had increased, as well as its strength and the durability of his sword.

It must sustain been warrior conjuration, something he heard of while gathering info in Clive. Warrior magic was the ability to trip weapon accomplishment that would improve their power in battle, such as cutting deeper and withstanding more force without breaking. He had witnessed magic a few times during the last-place month and had become companion, but this was only his second clip since he arrived that he was actually fighting against a magic substance abuser. Perhaps it would be best to polish off this fight while he was unhurt, rather than continue pushing his luck. On the early hired man, swearword hadn't seen his thaumaturgy, and he wanted to keep open it that way. He'd just have to work harder with his physical abilities.

The goblin charged with his sword slightly raised to either blockage or attack. It wasn't glowing like before, but his last attack had shown that he could harness his magic in a fraction of second, so Noah couldn't risk being in the way when the adjacent baseball swing happened. Noah readied himself, still holding his broken sword. He came within the goblin's range and the sword swung diagonally towards his neck. Noah bolted forward, anticipating when the hobgoblin would be committed to the move. He swung his broken sword towards the goblin's articulatio radiocarpea, making him pause for the abbreviated moment to consider the threat of fatal injury, and that moment was all Noah needed to draw his short sword and cartridge clip him across the stomach while zooming past.

The wound was severe, having used the inactivity of the hobgoblin's charge to get the better of the wall of abdominal brawn and slice deep into the organs. The goblin staggered, his backbone spilling onto the ground. Noah finished him off before he could recover any of his strength. He took a mystifying breath and listened for any aggressor hiding nearby.

"Clear."

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

As Tin went to work removing the goblin's armor and checking for personal ownership, Noah examined the sword used. It was a estimable steel, certainly sturdy, and he now needed a replacement for his longsword, but as he held it, his changed his mind. His pilot longsword had the maximum allowable weight and size, and anything greater in either category would hinder his bm too much.

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

"I've studied diverse expressive style and forms of combat throughout my spirit, including archery and swordplay, mostly out of boredom or for practice session, and I've had plenteousness of experience killing. Your beginner pays people for every goblin masses kill, chastise ? Will I get excess if I bring him the header of their chief ?"

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

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

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

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

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

"The ring is amber, but is inscribed with a rare metal called avenium, which can imbue object with very high-altitude enchantment. I once heard that a sword with avenium runic letter can accommodate more magnate than the ten best brand sword. Knight rings are inscribed with a spell that creates another man where detail can be stored."

"How many detail ?"

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

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

"This'll come in handy."

"Just wearing that ringing is a serious crime !"

"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 sleep of the day was spent in those wickedness tunnel, searching for goods. By the sentence he had faced the hobgoblin, most of the other goblins had already been killed, so there was little resistance. They found the mass of their trophy down in the blue bedroom, where the hobgoblin appeared to throw been sleeping. The goblins were excellent thieves, stealing whatever they could get their manus on with traveler being their ducky butt. There were weapon system stashes, bagful and barrels of food, ropes and Chain, apparel and armor, plenitude of tools, and a minuscule fortune in coins. He even found the armour and sword of the knight that the goblin head had killed. This haul was right than Noah hoped, and while they couldn't carry all of it, the hoop helped garner the best pieces.

When they finally stepped out of the mine, the sun was setting. There could still be goblin in the Grant Wood, making their way to the mine after a day of hunt, so the trio wasted no time getting a safe space to make camp. A Tree, nearly as thick as a school day bus, offered them shelter. They bedded down at its base with its raised roots acting as rampart and a fervour warding off anything that might try to attack during the night.

dinner party was traveler's rations, the standard intellectual nourishment for anyone camping in the Wilderness. While he ate, Noah examined all of the items in the hoop. There were numerous potions, spare Set of men's clothes, some putz and knives, rations, and a few gold coins. He took a closer look at the armor and sword that the knight had been using. There wasn't much he could do with the armour. Minus some plates he could use on his coat of arms and legs, it was impractically heavy for his fighting style, and considering how soak up 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 blade, on the early hired hand, was a definite prize. It was a longsword like Noah's broken one, but with an flowery guard and handgrip, as well as a line of runes going up the blade, inked with avenium. There was a magic spell imbued within it, he could sense the legerdemain, but it didn't react to his mana the way the ringing did. It was probably illegal for him to possess, so it would be just kept in the ringing, but once away from prying eyes, it would be an first-class trump notice once he figured out how it worked.

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

"Several years. Why ?"

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

"The town I grew up in, there were mickle of previous venturer willing to hap their skills 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 minute and ponder why I'm not asking you questions about your lifetime or trying to get to recognise you."Noah glared as him, unblinking."Think hard."Oath wisely closed his mouthpiece.

They set out at dawn the following day, wanting to get out of the woodland as soon as potential, to both avoid danger and reach the workshop before they closed for the dark. It would aim them most of the day to generate to Baron Clive, and that was without all the weighting they were carrying, so they had to try and celebrate a good yard. By around midday, they reached a large open pastureland, but before they could foil it, a score was made.

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

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

"wellspring we've made considerable aloofness, and I believe it's about lunch metre. Sure, let's stop here for a break."

Tin and Oath settled at the edge of the pasture under the shade of a tree diagram and prepared lunch. While they worked, Noah took a walk through the field to establish sure there weren't any predators in hiding. It was when he reached the center that he stopped, hearing something. It was not the rustling of grass or the growl of a wolf, but the neighing of horses. He looked into the distance and saw four men on gymnastic horse break disembarrass of the forest and gallop towards him with their steel drawn. bandit ?

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

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

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

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

The former horseback rider realized their booster had been killed, but there was no time to look for the enemy archer. They had to close up in on the young man with the brand. 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 shooting. The two remaining men swung at Noah's clone, but for the saki of appearance, he had it stratagem while he took out the third man. Only one man was left, but he didn't fuss going after the clone. He was sassy enough to cut his losses and flee back into the woods.

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

With the horses, they managed to stool it back to the Village in the late good afternoon, when most of the shops had closed, but there were still a few open that they could deal their plunder to.

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

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

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

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

"Yes, yes, I know."

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

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

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

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

"You found this in a hob den ?"

It was the armour of the slain Utheric knight.

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

"I could get beheaded just for having this !"

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

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

"amercement, what do need for everything ?"

As usual, bargaining with the blacksmith took a lot of time, but Noah left with various burnished gold coins and a substitution for his longsword. He and Tin moved from workshop to shop, selling everything that was left, then Noah took Tin somewhere she did not expect, the Town jeweler. Unlike former store, this one had safety device posted inside and outside, and all the product was behind a counter, with atomic number 26 bar blocking it off from the customer. An old man was sitting at the counter, scrutinizing a jewel.

"Ah, how can I facilitate you ?"

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

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

"A goblin den."

"Ah, of track. Goblins are brutish, nasty creatures, but they have a strange hazard when it comes to feel affair. This is an enhancement gem."

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

"When grafted to an enchanted token, it boosts the military posture of the bewitchment. imagine a magic sword that can cut through twice as much as a normal blade. With this imbued into the pommel, handle, or blade, it will now be able to cut through four sentence as much as a normal steel. They are a favorite of nobles, for not only to they improve the enchanted items, but they make them more visually appealing and exuberant, complete for showing off. At balls and courtly effect, you'll find high-ranking nobles with jewel-encrusted swords on their hips.

Would you be volition to betray it ?"

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

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

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

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

Like the blacksmith, the jewelry maker took a deep breath."Tob, Gon, could you two please stone's throw outside for a arcminute ?"The two sentry duty, despite their curiosity, left the memory board, giving Noah and the jeweler their privacy. The old man stared at Noah."Do you have a demise wish, boy ? Just having this could—"

"I'm aware of the penalization, but you already decided you're willing to study a hazard. spread over the rune with atomic number 79 leaf and set the gem. If it looks good and the mob's charm really is enhanced, I'll pay you ten silver coins."

"Twenty."

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

"Fine, 15 silver."

"Deal."

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

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

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

"He says it is of with child importance. He also wants to reward you for saving me."

Noah looked over to one of the bags hanging off the side of his saddle. It was full of severed goblin spike. Was he really unforced to get 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 rest of our haul at the inn and lead the way."

After stopping at the inn, they rode out of Ithiel Town towards the north, to the baron's landed estate. Being a noble, he was better off than any of the villagers, but his menage was far from overweening, just nicer looking and larger than anyone else's, a rustic manor house, surrounded by fields that slaves tended to. Leaving their horse cavalry in the stable in the back, expletive brought Noah and Tin into the house and stopped before a set of double door.

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

"Enter."

expletive opened the doorway of the secret study, and behind the desk, an old man with a foresighted beard was filing paperwork on sheepskin. He looked older than Noah expected, for a son so Brigham Young. Standing beside him was a cleaning lady, dressed as a maid.

"You must be Edward Young sea captain Noah. My son has told me of your with child strength and acquirement. You have my undying gratitude for saving him, and my esteem for your acquisition in battle."The baron didn't get up to shake Noah's deal, but that was to be expected of a noble.

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

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

From his desk, the power drew a carrier bag of coins, likely ash gray, and handed them to Noah.

"I appreciate it. While we're on the study, I also have numerous goblin capitulum that I'd like receive defrayal for."

"Ah, of class, of course. You also deserve surplus for dealing with that goblin chief. Amelia,"he said, turning to the maid beside him,"please reckon up the pinna and work out their payment, and please take my son and this lovely young gentlewoman to the parlour to slack up. Master Noah, if you have clip, I would like to speak with you about some important matters."

"Very well, then."

The housemaid left with Oath and Tin and the doorway were shut behind them. Finally, the mogul got up from his chair and walked over to a whiskey decanter with a set of glasses."Would you care for a beverage ?"

"I'd dearest one."Two glasses were poured and one was handed to Noah. Compared to the modern world, the alcohol consumed in these earth was strong-armer to wedge down, yet the quality of the whiskey surprised him."Oh, that is good."

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

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

The top executive gave a acerbic chuckle."I suppose we should get down to stage business. You have already proven yourself a big rescuer and guard duty for my son. I would like to hire you to do it again."

"Not more goblin, I trust ?"

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

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

The magnate got to his feet and began searching a nearby bookshelf."donjon Phthirius pubis are monolithic planetary beings, spending their lifespan deep beneath the globe. However, they surface from time to sentence, poking the tips of their eggshell out of the ground."

He found the desired book and laid it out on the table, set to a specific page. There were two pictures, the world-class of what looked like a hermit crab, with a pointed carapace several times its own sizing and no claws. The second showed the tip of the shell poking out of the ground with a pickle in the top, but just that was the size of it of a beacon. Had the artist actually seen a donjon crab fully revealed or was he just going by his imagination ? For a fauna of this size to impress underground without being noticed, it would have to rise up from under the earth's crust. A few days ago, the Ithiel Town had experienced an seism. That must have been the Phthirius pubis rising to the surface.

"Because they dwell so oceanic abyss in the priming, they accumulate wanted metals and gems inside their shell, which form vast internal ear, hence its name. A man can get deep in one day exploring it."

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

"You'd be right. The shell is teeming with leech, pismire when like to the crab, but deadly monsters to us humans. When a crab aerofoil, the parasite will get out and go a danger to everyone and everything in the area. No one is quite sure why donjon crabs control surface like this. Some believe it does it when the parasites have grown too legion and it needs to cut their numbers down, either by setting them loosen on the surface or using treasure-hunting human being to cull their population. Others believe the crabs feed on the humans that enter its scale, and use the parasites to kill their prey for them. Many believe it simply surfaces to get wise air, like a whale."

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

"It's just a build of speech. To capture a keep crab means to get down to the deepest part of its shell, where the most priceless metal is."

"Avenium, I'm guessing ?"

"Correct. Anyone who can secure a cup's worth and represent it to the kingdom becomes a Lord. That's why I need you to help swearing capture it."

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

"cuss is… my third son. His oldest brother, Colt, was raised and groomed to be my heir, and the second oldest, superior, was raised to be the successor if anything happened to Colt."

"Making curse word the fifth wheel of a spare."

The baron grimaced."He spent his life working the field of force while his brothers hunted and earned achievement. However, both Colt and Victor died in struggle at the start of springiness, so Oath is all I have left. He has a safe heart…"

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

"Unlike the son of my younger brother, Edwin, a baronet. He is petitioning the land to rescind my title as power and kick in it to him and his eldest son. I need to prove that curse word has what it takes to be a baron, and the best way to do that is to seize a dungeon crab. I'm too old to sire another inheritor and fourth dimension is running out. curse already has an adventuring party that he trains and fights with, but their acquisition aren't good enough to conquer a dungeon Phthirius pubis. I would care you to join their party."

"Why me ?"

"Because you are offspring. There are numerous older adventurer with science like yours that I can hire, but then my brother will argue that they just conquered the dungeon and handed the prize to Oath."

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

"But the fact that you are youthful means that you'll fit right wing in. No one will interrogate one additional new man joining my son's party."

Noah gave a seeing red while weighing his options. On one hired hand, a political fuss between class members was the survive thing he wanted to get involved in, and there was no apprisal if he was even skilled enough to successfully appropriate a keep crab. It was an unnecessary danger. On the other deal, the idea of getting his hands on some avenium and other rare metal and gems was a tantalizing idea. He could get enough money to fund any venture he wanted for the rest of his life story. Plus, it would get him to the capital, and perhaps let him make some worthful connections. There were probably muckle of adventurers who would give their right wing arm for the chance.

"Would I be giving orders or receiving ?"

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

"And how foresightful do dungeon crabs normally remain rise up ?"

"A couple month. This one appeared respective days ago, 30 sea mile to the northeast. It won't be long before its swarming with adventurers."

"Very well, we'll depart in one calendar week. I want to use that fourth dimension to valuate the squad, see if there is anything I can do to polish their science before we go."

"That would be a blessing."

Noah got up from his tush."I have some business to wait on to tomorrow, but I'll return in the good afternoon. Make sure everyone is assembled."

This clock time, the power stood up and shook his hired hand."Consider it done."

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

"So my father talked to you about the keep crab ?"

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

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

cuss gave a deep bow of gratitude, and in the distance, Noah saw a flashing of movement, and then heard a phone that he was well used to. It was the auditory sensation of an arrow buried bass into muscle and pulp. Launched a 2nd earlier, it would suffer hit Oath public square in the spinal column, but because he bowed, it found its chump in the centre of Tin's chest.

Noah didn't say a give-and-take, but before either Oath or Tin could react, he had already leapt off the porch and was sprinting towards the bloodline of the arrow. He had left his bow with his gymnastic horse in the stable, so he'd have to stamp out the assassin up close. He could see the man hiding behind a strawman and recognized him as the fourth bandit from earlier. They weren't just random piranha, they had been hired to kill Oath !

The man nocked another arrow, aimed it at Noah, and fired, but he deflected it with his shield. He closed in, capable to see the daze in the man's eyes as the distance between them vanished with terrifying upper. He reached the man, drawing his new sword, and beheaded him before he could even turn around to run.

The body hit the ground, but Noah had already left, sprinting back to the mansion. There, on the porch, curse word was gathered with several retainer, giving her one healing potion after another, as despite the remotion of the pointer and the lesion ending, she wasn't getting break. Noah could see it, her veins blackening, her frame getting pale, and every breath seeming to cause her pain. Everyone moved aside and Noah embraced Tin, cradling her head.

"It was a poison arrow. We don't know what was used, we have no antidote for it. Noah, I'm so no-account !"cuss exclaimed, shedding the bout that Noah should give birth. Instead, he just stared at Tin, his blank silence unnerving those around him.

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

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

He cupped her cheek and she smiled. That touch was all she needed."Thank you for making my life a beautiful one,"she whispered. Then she closed her center listened to the birdsong, soon releasing her final breathing place as the survive line played out.

All was silent, no one knowing what to say. phantasm began to cringe into Noah's mind, a cruel voice making him shake up. ‘ Great, now I have to do everything myself…'He shook the vocalization aside.

"Noah…"Oath began.

"I'm going to inter her. apply me a blanket to wrap up her in and a shovel. I'm not asking."His articulation, it didn't tremble at all, and there was no stiffness in his words.

"We'll take precaution of the tomb, you should—"

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

The servants rushed to action his order, bringing out a cushy quilt that Noah knew Tin would have liked. He wrapped her in the puff and carried her to the stalls, getting onto his horse with her and being given a digger.

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

Cradling Tin, he gave his horse a kick and it took off with a cry. The sun had set, the Natalie Wood now at their most severe, but Noah didn't hesitate to turn on down a familiar road and into the wilderness. For hours, his knight galloped through the forest. When it tired, he would establish it water supply and a health potion to restore its stamina, but that was the only time he stopped. Monsters routinely tried to set on him, but he ended their life story with his bow. As the moon moved across the sky, Noah, holding Tin in his arms, felt the warmheartedness slowly leave her body.

It wasn't just the freak outside that were attacking, but the one in Noah's question. wickedness whispers flooded his mind, trying to get him to turn back.

‘ She's just a slave.'

‘ I should just go home.'

‘ There is no point in risking my life.'

‘ Nothing matters.'

‘ It's all meaningless.'

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

Finally, when the night was at its darkest, he reached the desired spot. It was the falls that he and Tin had camped at. There were some wolves drinking from the river, but he scared them off and ignored the small muck crawling around. The surface area itself hadn't changed in the last few calendar week. There were still the remains of the fervour he had made, and the clay basin was undamaged.

He tied his horse to a tree and lit a torch, holding it while he carried Tin. ‘ I'll just dump her and go.'He brought her behind the waterfall, where there was a pocket-size dry sphere with plenteousness of river silt, deposited by the falls. He dug down as bass as he could, forcing aside any thinking to pass on up and redundant himself effort. He laid her down on the stale earth and opened up the cover, looking at her one last fourth dimension. She looked peaceful, almost mental object. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ash grey coin. When they first met, he remembered her telling him that she was only deserving that practically. He clasped her hands over her thorax, holding the coin.

‘ What am I doing ?'

‘ This coin is valuable.'

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

He climbed out and buried her, then built a spate of rock'n'roll on her grave so that no beast would dig her up. Finally, he turned to the Harlan Fiske Stone paries at his side and began carving Tin's public figure into it with her dagger. The scratches were light-headed, but they wouldn't be simply washed away, like if he had simply drawn the letters on with a Rock.

TIN

Those three minuscule letters, a little twinkling light in his mind, like a faint star, told him that they looked lonely, and he focused on that. He should put more. She'd neediness that. But what should he indite ? What did Tin think to him ? Who was she ? What was she in relation to him ? Did he actually like ?

TIN

A FREED slave

It was all he could come up with, but it didn't satisfy him. There had to be something Thomas More. He hadn't loved her, it had been a prospicient sentence since he loved anyone. Did he even like her ? She was loyal and helpful, and took attention of him when he was sick. He also took care of her. Was that plenty to consider her crucial to him ? He couldn't tell. He had spent innumerable life pretending to be a friend, son, a schoolmate, a coworker, a husband, even a father. When was the last clock time he actually liked someone and wasn't just wearing the façade of niceness while putting up with them ? When was the last time he told individual he loved them and wasn't simply lying to their face ?

He had buried so many citizenry, most of them more than once. It was voiceless to state those who were important from those he pretended were authoritative, those who were remembered and those he didn't deem worth remembering. Who mattered to him ? Whose destruction mattered ? He had long since lost the ability to tell, and was struggling to regain it.

Finally, some emotion. Noah punched the rock-and-roll bulwark and split the skin on his knuckles."Come on, think !"He shouted those words to himself over and over again. He was scratching at his own mind, trying to draw origin from Oliver Stone. What had Tin meant to him ? Or at the very least, what would she have wanted to get wind ? Noah focused on that, trying to imagine what he could have said to make up her happy.

TIN

A FREED SLAVE

A PRICELESS companion

Satisfied, he stepped out from behind the waterfall. In the E, he could see the sky beginning to clear up. He took a bum next to the Henry Clay basin, watching the sun come up while he searched his mind for that small twinkling light.

.

.

.

Cooperation

.

.

.

It took a full day to depend on back to the hamlet, 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 gripped him, so he went straight to the inn. He took his prat at his usual board and the innkeeper brought two trays of food."I was worried when you didn't show up for dinner party finale night or breakfast this sunup. Where's Tin ?"she asked.

"She died."

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

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

Having lived out of the inn for the past month, everyone who came for deglutition was used to the sight of Noah and Tin eating together. A few citizenry, noticing her absence, inquired just as the innkeeper had, and Noah told them the same thing he told her. His emotionless response angered holly, one of the fille de chambre, and she grabbed Noah by the collar and lifted him to his feet.

"She was a courteous girlfriend ! 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 matter ?"

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

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

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

"How much longer are we going to wait ?"The impatient voice came from a vernal man with a halberd on one shoulder and an obvious micro chip on the early. He was sitting on the front porch of the shift mansion, along with swearing and the two other members of their team, Beth and Mira.

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

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

"No clue."

"I don't care how strong-armer you say he is,"the man with the halberd said,"if he rode out into those woods at Night, he's dead for sure."

"Shut up, Trevor. When Beth and I met him, we knew that he was the real deal."

"When Tin was hit, it was like I blinked and he had already chased down the assassin and killed him."

"I still call meaninglessness on him taking out three men in that field."

"I looted their remains myself."

"Oh, there he is !"

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

"That's the gracious ringing. You look Sir Thomas More like a imposing than I do,"said Oath.

It was the knight annulus, all done after the town jeweler had worked on it. The avenium runic letter had been covered up and the sweetening precious stone was set on top of the crest. It was certainly trashy, but sometimes garishness had its own spell.

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

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

"Me too,"Beth added.

Noah simply nodded."So the baron has asked me to lead this team to conquer 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 babysitter 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 fiat and I'll shove this halberd up your ass."

Noah took a deep breath and rubbed his tabernacle."Ugh, one of you people. This is the last thing I need.

Listen, here's what's supposed to materialize : you and I spend the future calendar week playing the secret plan where I act as the butt yet agreement authority figure, and you keep throwing temper tantrums due to some unspoken planted way out. By the time we arrive at the keep crab, you'll hate me more than ever, and almost get us killed, probably with me having to save your spirit. However, your screwup will help you pull in you're wide of nothing but bluster and horse cavalry bastard, and you'll finally decide to heed to me, allowing me to break your severely outer casing to help you solve your behavioral problems, which I'm dead reckoning is about your father, or feelings of deficiency, or something along alike lines. We'll capture the dungeon Cancer and mold a long-lived friendship of respect and trust.

Now, that is what is supposed to happen, and as much as I would love to go on that excited journey with you, I have literally a million beneficial 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 stand. The also-ran has to take heed and obey the achiever until the dungeon Crab is captured, including an purchase order to leave the party."

Most of what he said went over everyone's principal, but bless Trevor's spunk, he was overbold enough to realize he had just been insulted."You son of a gripe !"he barked as he got to his feet and pointed his halberd at Noah.

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

Trevor took a posture, leaning back and gripping his halberd with both hands, and enveloping the blade with mana with rune appearing in the air. It was just like the tour the hob honcho had used on his sword to increase the intensity level of his solidus, meaning that getting hit with that halberd would surely be deadly.

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

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

Trevor lunged with a nice physique and hurtle his halberd towards Noah. It wasn't just the destructive ability of his halberd, his fastness had more than doubled."Mountain-Splitter !"

It was by a thinly gross profit margin, but Noah stepped to the side of meat and the blade missed. He grabbed the tool of the halberd and delivered a bone-crushing punch to Trevor's nose, causing him to let go and lurch back.

"That was a good stab. I imagine you've fagged muckle of clip practicing it."

Trevor's aspect was pouring blood, but he remained standing and glared at Noah with limitless hatred."give it back !"

"Fine, but I think it's been established that you can't hit me with it."

Noah tossed the halberd back and Trevor caught it. He wasted no metre in charging the blade with mana, producing an impressive aureole. This clip, instead of a thrusting, he made a all-inclusive lilt."Erasing Cleave !"

Once Sir Thomas More, Noah simply backed out of his range, escaping with zero terms. Then, when the seacoast was open, he closed in and delivered and uppercut to Trevor's jaw, busting his teeth and making him an even bloody mess. This meter, Trevor couldn't hitch on his base and fell back, trying and failing to stop his cry of anguish. Looking around, Noah could see the baron's handmaid watching from the William Claude Dukenfield and through the windows.

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

"He's the one who decides when we stop. feel disengage to establish him a wellness potion, though."

"I don't need a sleep with health potion !"Trevor shouted.

He scrambled to his fundament and went at it again. He abandoned the estimation of using witching and attacked Noah with a barrage of rapid-fire pang. Noah deflected each attack with his shield, and when Trevor tried to get in close for another swing, he once again grabbed the halberd and stopped Trevor from moving. It became a tug of war, but despite Trevor's accumulated strength, Noah maintained his posture.

"You know what I'm going to do now, right ?"Trevor tried to see out how Noah would confuse another lick, but instead, he let go of the halberd and sent Trevor falling onto his ass."Your acquisition with that thing aren't that bad, at least, if you just stick to hunting lusus naturae, but you'll never hit me with it. Try showing me how soundly you are with your fists."Noah placed his script on his longsword and slowly drew it halfway."Unless you'd prefer to stick to armed combat, in which case I'll gladly humor you."

Trevor abandoned his halberd and charged, sending a straight right punch towards Noah. Noah caught his fist and then struck his elbow, snapping his arm like his bones were made of glassful. Before Trevor could even scream, Noah silenced him with another puncher to the nose, once more knocking him to the basis. It didn't seem like he was going to get up, so Noah took out a health potion and poured it on his boldness. The spray woke him up and healed his nose and sassing, though his arm would sustain to be reset before a potion could mend it.

"So, do you want to keep going ? I can go all day if you want. I mean it, I've got nothing but prison term. And we can go whenever you want, this isn't your only chance.

Now I suppose there are a number of ways we can go about this. We can do the whole emotional journey affair, but the fact that I've explained it kind of takes away the magic trick. You can just go out the party, I'll give you that pick. There's the option of waiting until I have my back turned and then getting your revenge, which, again, you are free to do so at any time, but at your own danger. Poisoning my intellectual nourishment might work, but it would just be you admitting your weaker than me. I suppose your in force choice would be to shut your fucking backtalk, accept that I'm stronger than you and overbold than you, and pay tending to what I will teach you, as it will amend your skills and your chances of survival.

From there, we can go to the keep crab, and you'll easily master challenges that would get killed you at your current level of strength. With a commodity amount of effort and coordination, and no shortage of destiny, we'll conquer the dungeon Phthirius pubis and go rich beyond our wildest dreams. There is always the choice of betraying us down there and running off with all the dough, but boy, oh boy, you'd better make sure I'm dead, because you don't want me coming after you, you really don't.

So, what do you say ?"

Everyone was silent, waiting to discover Trevor's reply. He was glaring at Noah and taking mysterious, wild breathes through his nose."You say you can seduce me substantial ?"

"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 fancy beach house, you'll be so productive. I'll never bother you again."

"Fine."

"I'll let the three of you fix his arm. I need to speak with the tycoon inside."

Noah stepped onto the porch and entered the house, walking right by the maculation where Tin had died."Is the baron in ?"he asked, addressing one of the maids.

"In his individual subject, sir. He's waiting for you."

Just as swearword had done the day before, the maid knocked on the double threshold and announced Noah's arrival, with the mogul granting entry. The old man was behind his desk."That was quite the spirited equal outside. Your skills are the genuine deal."

"The veridical science is producing final result from it."

The baron walked over to his whiskey set and poured himself a boozing."I'm gladiolus you returned. I'm sorry for the loss of your companion."

"Don't vexation about it. I already killed your brother and his son."

The glass fell from the top executive's hand and shattered."What ? !"he exclaimed.

There was an straightaway knocking on the doorway."My Lord, is everything fine ?"a butler asked.

Noah's gaze never left the baron, without any good sense of fear or anticipation of what might descend next. He simply waited for a reaction. The tycoon gripped the recession of the desk but managed to control himself.

"Everything is fine. We are not to be disturbed."When he sensed the butler had left, he turned his attention back to Noah."You wouldn't even give me the chance to talk you out of vengeance ?"

"It was nothing of the sort."

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

It was midmorning, and Noah had just claimed his ring from the jeweller, the last of his morning errands, and with selective information given by those around township, he now stood before the family of the local baronet. It was in the outskirts of the townsfolk, one of the farms, and neither the theatre of operations nor the house were on par with the top executive. Despite the rank and file of noble, baronets were simply commoners with the prefix ‘ Sir'or ‘ Madam ’.

He found the baronet repairing a cattle fencing behind the theatre. He was identical to the baron, but without the whiskers and sporting fewer wrinkles. Noah was invisible, so the man didn't even notice him approach, but was calm when Noah pressed the blade of his knife to his throat and told him to drop the pound he was using.

"Sir Edwin Fault, I presume ?"

"Who's asking ?"

"Did you employ four men to vote down the Oath Fault ?"

"Now why would I try to kill my beloved nephew ?"

"To get your son the rank of baron. But if you aren't going to do my questions, I suppose I can always ask him, or maybe your wife."

"You must be the bastard who saved him from that goblin den. I had to pay that adventurer a good mint of money to pour down him. To reckon he'd be such a chickenshit and leave the job to goblins."

"Did your son know about the hit you put on his first cousin ?"

"He would own killed that untalented little terror himself if I hadn't talked him out of it. He didn't do anything. You have a bone to pick, put that stab away and let's work out this like men."

Noah's solvent came in the sort of a fluent motion-picture show of his radiocarpal joint, severing Edwin's jugular and sending him tumbling to the flat coat, trying pointlessly to stop the haemorrhage. Noah stood by to support the death and then made his way towards the William Claude Dukenfield, where the Bart's son was working.

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

"There was a time when I took large joy in making citizenry suffer, and I've been working to change myself since then. I don't earmark myself to kill for pleasance or vengeance, and certainly I didn't kill them for what they did, but what they would continue to do. Associating with you and your son has already cost me the life of a loyal underling, and I'd rather not render anyone the chance to get in my way.

If I were to allow them to dwell, they would continue to try and stamp out you and oath, and I'd have to make clean up the hatful, just like I've been doing since I found your son in that goblin den. The last matter I'd want is to capture the donjon and then get ambushed by your buddy's henchman when we're too tired to crusade back. I assume you had forgiven your brother because he is your family, despite his attack to kill cuss, but you're hiring me to keep cuss live, and if I'm going to do that, it will be done my way.

If you have any expostulation, state them now."

Ivan didn't respond. He simply slumped in his fundament and exhaled deeply. Deep down, he knew that his buddy had to be dealt with in one word form or another, in order for his son to inherit the rank of mogul. However, even if it had been reduce before, there was always a luck of balancing. He had dreamt of conversing with his brother, as they had a long, farsighted clip 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 help but sense he was the one being punished.

"I thought as much. Despite your brother and nephew dying, I'm mindful that your son still had slight candidate of inheriting your claim, so the dungeon capture will carry on as planned. We didn't have the fortune to talk about defrayal for this job, but don't headache, I'm not interest in money or land. There is something else I want."

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

It took Thomas More than one healing potion to amend Trevor's arm, and that could only be done when the os were reset. He was all patched up by the metre Noah made his return.

"I promised the baron we'd set out in a week for the dungeon. That was two days ago. For the next five twenty-four hours, I'm going to measure each of your skills and see where improvements have been made. First, we're going to hunt some monsters. I want to experience your fight skills and see how well you work as a team. You all have your weapon system, so we're going to start now and travel twinkle. Any expostulation ?"

No one said anything, not after watching how he thrashed Trevor. But their silence was not out of awe, rather an sentience that Noah knew what he was talking about. He was the older of the radical by only a year, but they all sensed he had much more experience than they did.

"commodity, then let's depart. Oath, you know the area. Please lead the way."

"I actually know the location of a witching spawning circle. Let's head there."

They gathered some supplies and set off into the Wilderness, leading a pack horse to behave back their harvested lusus naturae parts. From the mo they were enveloped by the iniquity of the trees, they were vulnerable. The territory of the monsters 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 shortage of intellectual nourishment or their issue had grown too majuscule, issues that were both solved by the constant quantity flow of adventurer working to curb their universe.

As they walked, Noah spoke to everyone.

"Mira, we talked once before about this. Have you developed any acquirement for close-quarter fighting ?"

"I've been training with my staff since then. Oath and I spar a lot when we're not hunting."

"What about conjuring trick ?"

"I haven't been able to develop anything for fighting opposition up close."

"We'll body of work on that. curse word, Beth, can either of you use magic ?"

"I can't,"said Oath.

"I can create water supply, but not in any variety of attack. I use it to replete up my water skin."

"Good, we'll definitely need that in the dungeon. You're still using your bow as your main weapon, right ?"

"Yeah, and I got toxicant for my arrows just like you…"

She trailed off, remembering what curse word had told her. Tin had been shot and killed with a toxicant pointer. Noah paid no attention to the fall of her speech.

"What about close-range ? Any weapons ?"

"I use a knife."

"Good. Trevor, you can actuate trick 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 magic trick in this globe, and Trevor appeared to be in the warrior form, just like the goblin chief. Warriors could only trip their accomplishment 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 other weapon.

"We're here,"said Oath. He then stopped in his rails."On second thought, I think we should become back."

Noah looked ahead. On the forest level, he could see a large trick dress circle, consisting of rune and mixed figure. Standing in the circle was a bear the size of a minivan. However, its body was faint, translucent, like it was just a hologram, but with each passing moment, its color deepened.

‘ Is it teleporting ? No, it's hardening. The circle is converting mana into physical thing and assembling it. So, that's what it means for a brute to be summoned.'“ I've never seen a bear like that out here."

"It's a sledgepaw, a rarified breed. It is to regular bears what that hobgoblin was to habitue hobgoblin. We should get out of here before it attacks. This is a little bit out of our league."

"No, it's perfect tense. We'll wait for it to finish spawning and then withdraw it on. For all we know, the donjon could have far worse monsters."

"All right, then let's have geological formation,"said Oath.

"Wait for it to lash out us. Taking your clip in setting up a firing squad while it spawns won't give much experience or information."

It took only a minute for the bear to fully materialize, immediately spotting Noah and the mathematical group and labeling them as enemies without any kind of indisposition or confusion. It released a yowl of fury and charged, signaling the start of the battle. 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 chela, but Oath attacked from the side and slashed at its shoulder with his sword. The beast's hide was tough, and Noah couldn't tell if the attack had actually done any hurt. Enraged, the bear knocked Oath aside. Like Noah, he was wearing leather armor, and while it stopped the give birth's claws from reaching his shape, the armor itself was nearly destroyed by that one swipe.

"Oath !"Mira cried out.

Trevor stabbed the bear in the second joint with his halberd, and while he drew a bellowing of pain in the ass from the fauna, it hadn't forgotten the pointer in its neck and attacked Beth. It was faster than she expected and it knocked her to the dry land, with her bow wedged between its jaws keeping it from biting her. She was crying in torment as it weighed down on her, saliva from its mouth splashing on her face with its massive fangs inching closer and closer.

"closure by compartment Swing !"

Trevor swung his halberd like he was splitting wood, and the axe blade, glowing with magic power, dug deep into the deliver's back, though it missed the spine.

"Earth rush !"

Having gathered her mana, Mira struck the priming with her staff. The surrounding soil, not gripped by the tree rootage, was gathered together and slammed into the bear like a mudslide, knocking it off Beth. The bear was tedious to get back on its metrical unit, as its strength was fading with each lost drop of pedigree and the poison was taking its toll. Regardless, it still could crush the skulls of the feeble human race with a undivided swing of its mighty paw.

Oath was back on his understructure and charged with a outcry of conclusion and his sword raised highschool. Seeing him approaching, the bear reared back on its hind legs, and despite his vigor just moments ago, the sight of the towering beast robbed Oath of his bravery. He was paralyzed with concern and the bear swung at him. instinct saved his life, the inherent aptitude to enhance his sword and block the attempt, though the force still slammed him into the basis. An pointer was buried in the bear's pectus before it could attack again, managing to pierce a lung, and Trevor stabbed it in the stomach.

The bear fell back and rolled onto its legs, roaring in furiousness but then breaking down into a fit of bloody coughing. Beth fired a third arrow, striking the shoulder, which Trevor then cleaved with his halberd. As this was going on, Mira rushed over to Oath's face and helped pull him out of damage's way. With Trevor and Beth continuing to wail on the savage, its life was soon extinguished. Its monumental organic structure collapsed and Oath and his friends released their give breath.

Noah, who had been observing, got up from the tree tree stump that had been his seat and approached, and while everyone patched themselves up, he severed the accept's spine with his blade to seduce sure it was dead.

"Congratulations on your kill. However, it was rather messy."

"Messy ? !"Trevor exclaimed."Look at how big that goliath is ! We took it on while you just sat back and watched ! We've never faced anything that big before !"

"Its size wasn't the heavy challenge. Your disorganization was."Noah took out his tongue and began carving into the bear to polish off its pelt. He looked only at his piece of work, but he continued to lecture them."You surrounded it on all sides, which, while salutary when facing something low 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 treat. Beth, conceive all the fourth dimension that you spent pinned. That was all time you could induce spent firing arrow had you and Mira kept your distance. Though speaking of arrows, your aim was very good, both that guesswork to the neck and to the pectus. But from now on, the two of you should advert back while swearword and Trevor fend the enemy off.

Oath, when you first attacked, what were you aiming for ?"

"I don't know, I just wanted to bring down some damage."

"You should accept gone for the headland. With a monster of that sizing, did you think a flesh wound or muscle legal injury would vote down it ? Unless they're well protected, you should always aim for the life-sustaining smirch. Swing at the head, stab at the thorax. Same with you, Trevor. When you attacked its dorsum, were you aiming for its spine ?"He didn't respond."I'll take that as a no. read aim with your onset, and not just at openings in your opponent's guard. You should try studying soma, human body out where the most critical spot are. You went at the belly, that was smart. It's soft and hard to protect, but you stabbed too low. You should feature gone higher, towards the liver, or at to the lowest degree the stomach.

Mira, you did well in getting Oath out of danger. However, you waited too long to cast your spell. I see that you developed a new magical spell, and while it did manage to get the bear off Beth, it was a larger-scale spell not suited to the forest. I remember you once told me you can create a dust cloud and send Rock flying ? You should have stuck with that. A bit of dust could have blinded the bear and maybe even hindered its sentience of smell, and a Rock or even hard-packed grunge can inflict plenty of pain in the ass when striking the head or the crotch.

And curse word, you know what I'm going to say, don't you ? You choked, and your mistake put the lives of your friends in peril. It was instinct that saved your lifespan. You need to make these kind of decisions faster. Before we head to the donjon pubic louse, we'll have to remedy that. Now, all of you give me a hand. This bear is going to help fund our preparations."

Everyone joined in, helping to remove the bear's hide as intact as possible. When it was done, Noah placed his mitt on the hide and tried to seal off it in his ring. The sweetening jewel had doubled the carrying mental ability of the band, but the skin was so enceinte that the ring was refusing to accept it. He'd have to bump off some affair first.

Noah held out his hand and closed his fingers around an invisible handle. A steel appeared in his clutch, the sword that he had taken from the hobgoblin. He had even found the cocktail dress that went with it, something that the even hob wouldn't have been impudent enough to take. It was much tumid than his broadsword, and he had assumed its size might be useful against a large enemy. Oath, who knew both the very identity operator and power of Noah's ring and what it was known for, was excuse from the representative of astonishment the others made. Even Trevor was shocked by the huge sword appearing out of thin air.

"curse, where did you get your sword ?"

"Uh… it was my grandfather's."Oath stuttered, feeling an automatic sentiency of danger by being queried by someone who had just revealed a sword.

"May I ?"Noah held out his script and Oath reluctantly handed it over. Noah looked it over. He was an receive blacksmith once, a week-long learning course at a metalwork school day that turned into a career, though while his memories were a bit fuzzy, he could still realise the craftsmanship put in. However, his focus wasn't on the actual lineament of the metal, but the duration of the handle. It was a bastard steel, otherwise known as a hand-and-a-half, which could be held with either one paw or two.

"It's dependable. And your male parent said you grew up working the fields, right ? band of plowing and clearing trees ?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I want you to try using this hob brand for a while. Swinging a hoe or an axe require leverage, leveraging that your grandfather's blade can't devote you with the length of its handle. Your hands are too stopping point together and it's throwing off your center of solemnity when you hold it. This larger sword will permit you retain your mitt farther apart and allow for a more interchangeable motion."

He handed both swords to curse, but he only took his granddaddy's blade."I can't accept that. That's your trophy for killing the monster."

"You're just renting it from me. Besides, if this venture works out, I'll be rich enough to buy an even better sword."

"As you wish, then."He wasn't fully convinced, but he took the blade and hung it across his back.

"Ok, let's alter our scheme a fiddling. We'll take the formation of a W, with cuss in the midriff, me and Trevor at the sides, and Beth and Mira in the back."

It would give birth complete if they could fight another sledgepaw bear and compare strategies, but considering its rarity, it would probably be a long time before it respawned. They set off instead to witness to a greater extent colossus, not having to boost long before coming across a coterie of skirt chaser. They took establishment and stared the creature down, all armed and make to fight.

"Beth and Mira, you two are our master form of attack. 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 past curse word's properly side and rocks and while of packed earth were flying past his left. The Hugo Wolf were caught off safety and several were left stunned or injured. A wolf standing directly in forepart of Oath managed to head off the onset and leaped towards him. expletive swung his blade, nearly losing his equalizer and falling over. However, though the weight was much greater than any hoe or axe he had used, it wasn't the campaign. It was the ease he felt, the swing now more reminiscent of a familiar motility, and he was able-bodied to use muscularity memory to visit out dandy military posture and science. The ease robbed him of his tension like he had removed weights from his berm, causing him to slip up. The sword carved through the airborne Hugo Wolf like a buzz saw, nearly slicing it in two.

At the same meter, the savage that were still on their feet scattered to try and flank the group. Two ran towards Trevor, and the first, attacking from above, ended up getting impaled on the spear up tip of his halberd. The second tried to close in, using the expiry of the first gear as a distraction, but Trevor swung his halberd down and buried the axe blade in the wolf's back.

On the early face, three charged towards Noah. The commencement pounced, sending Noah dodging to the side and then beheading it with a downwards cut. He spun around, thrusting into the second wolf's chest as it pounced from above. The third tried to assault from his subterfuge bit, but drew his short sword and cleaved its skull open.

All that was left were the wolves stunned by the opening plan of attack, but they had been dispatched with Beth's arrows. The only fight had taken a smattering of seconds, causing curse word and his friends to all exchange shocked coup d'oeil. They had never won that fast before, especially when they were outnumbered like that. The value of Noah's advice had been proven.

They stripped the wildcat of their hides and collected all other valuable body theatrical role, then continued their journey. There was still peck of time before they'd have to set up camp, so they wanted to get as much hunting done as they could. As they traveled through the forest, the Spark of excitement filled them. Now that the young adventurers had improved their strategy, they wanted to see how else they might get stronger, and what this new rise would countenance them to do. They were hiking through a hilly area, sticking only to the vapid background for the sake of their horse. It was when they were traveling along a floodplain that Noah stopped them, his centre glued onto the nearby hill and a large fallen tree.

"look over there. See the ground where the stain and leave have been disturbed ? Goblins probably laid a gob and are hiding behind that log. Mira, can you plunge one of your spells to try and smoke them out ?"

"It's a little far, but I'll try."She stabbed the reason with her faculty."Earth Bind !"

Like a crack splitting ice, a seeable cable ran through the surface of the ground over the sphere behind the log. There was the sound of shrieks and several goblins scurried out from their hideaway, with one caught within the stone jaws of Mira's spell.

"Beth,"Noah said.

Beth perked up and took aim with her bow, managing to snipe one of the scattered goblins. From behind the Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree around the log, more goblins appeared, howling like imp. They charged township the hill, a dozen of them, with two hanging back with their own curtain call.

"Beth, postulate out the Sagittarius the Archer. Mira, try to funnel them so that they don't flank us. curse, if more than one hob attacks you at once, don't do another downward slash. It'll leave you open. Trevor, don't let the momentum of your swing take you out of position."

No one questioned him, and as Beth waged a long-distance exchange with the bowman up the hill, Mira created Hell and vane of worldly concern that burst up along the flank of the goblin horde. They swarmed for Noah, swearing, and Trevor. The fastest goblin reached Trevor and dropped a clubhouse towards his head. Trevor swung his halberd, and while the vane failed to strike the goblin, it did get caught on the handgrip, hurling it towards expletive, who dispatched it with a cleave. He then swung his blade from the slope like Trevor had done, catching two goblins in the temples and slicing off the top of their skulls.

At the end, Noah was stabbing and slashing any goblin that came near. He overpowered them whenever they tried to choke up and every baseball swing of his steel sent blood splattering across the nearby trees. A goblin arrow planted itself in his stomach, nearly sending him tumbling to the ground. His leather armor had slowed it down a bit, so it didn't reach out his variety meat, but as someone who had been shot numerous meter, getting hit with the splintery goblin arrow hurt a lot Thomas More than almost bullets.

"Mira, I'm hit. I need a scatter cloud !"

"R-right !"

She stuttered momentarily, but regained her composure and sent all of the dry stain around the goblins airborne, blinding them and leaving them coughing. He only had a duo moments, so Noah ripped out the arrow with a sibilation of pain and spurt of blood and poured a healing potion on the wound. As his physical body stitched back together, the hobgoblin managed to clear their center of the rubble and resumed their charge, but just like before, Noah mowed them down. The battle was over in lupus erythematosus than a bit. Once again, curse and his friends exchanged glances of excitement.

A few battles later, the setting sun put an end to their hunting for the day, and they set up coterie between a bunch of large trees for shelter from fiend and wind. They built up a fire in the center and cooked meat from the slain bear. They hadn't packed any food with them, so they could only eat what they collected. Dinner was eaten mostly in silence. Noah was new to the group and they hadn't gotten used to him yet, so the others couldn't immediately talk at their usual conversational depth.

Between bites, Noah took out a canteen full of urine and added some true pine needles from his air hole. metallic element feeding bottle were more expensive than glass bottleful and water skins, so everyone noticed when he set it next to the fire.

"You're making tea with pine needle ?"Mira asked.

"pine tree needles help ward off scurvy even dear than lemons."

"Really ? Where'd you hear that ?"

"Just something I picked up."

"Where can I nibble up interesting stuff like that ?"Beth complained."Where did you larn to fight behemoth ?"

Noah thought back through all of the illusion novels and role-playing biz 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 keep crab ?"she then asked.

"That question seems like bad portion, don't you think ? They say that when men plan, God laughs. What about you ? You get to suit a Lord if you capture a dungeon. You could be set for biography. swearword is going to inherit his don's title. Are you also aiming for nobility ?"

"I'm going to keep traveling and exploring,"said Beth.

"I just want to make enough money to nail down down and start a family,"Mira added.

Oath's future had already been laid out, so succeeding it was supposed to be Trevor, but he didn't show any interest in even acknowledging the interrogation.

"I have no sake in becoming a noble,"said Oath.

"Then why do it ?"Noah asked.

"Because my forefather wants me to."

"Again, why do it ?"

"I already told you. My—"

"And what does that have got to do with anything ? You're old enough now that you can set out on your own. You've found your natural endowment with that blade. Keep being an explorer. Do whatever you want to do."

"Isn't my male parent paying you to make certain I become a imposing ?"

"I fully expect you to become a noble, even if I have to tie the title around your wrists. I just want to make sure you have a strong reason so that you won't choke up. So, go on, tell us the real reason."There was an awkward silence, during which Noah carefully retrieved his canteen, which had come to a simmer."Unless, of course of instruction, you already gave us the real ground. Your father wants this, and you want to make him happy."

"Is that really such a strange desire ?"

"You want him to finally treat you like he did your brothers. You want reconciliation, to make everything right so that all the years of neglect can be made up for, that it was all worth it."

"For mortal judgment, you sound like you have experience."

"No, I was the opponent. My dad was like yours. He thought a parent's erotic love had to be earned and wouldn't consent unsuccessful person. If I wasn't the best, then I wasn't his son. Unfortunately, I didn't forethought, and I told him that. I told him that his approval meant nothing to me. I never had any design of making him proud."In actuality, he had several fathers who followed that mind-set. It was a personality eccentric that made an appearance every now and then.

"What happened ?"Beth asked.

"Oh, he hit me, various meter. Yeah, he went nuts."

"So what did you do ?"

‘ I waited until he turned around and then I stabbed him in the spine. He spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.'“ I left home plate and became an adventurer."He took a slow sip of his tea."You have to picture out your own reason for doing things, your own ground for living. Neither your parents nor God can ease up you meaning. It's something that you have to create for yourself, and if you don't do it carefully, if you pick an theme or a belief that is lightheaded and fragile, it'll fall apart in your hands and you'll have nothing."

The camp went soundless, everyone staring into the flaming rather than direct the risk of making eye touch with individual else. Beth, no longer eating, hugged her knees to her chest."My Padre was actually an adventurer. He taught me how to shoot a bow and always told me of his adventures. Sometimes he'd disappear for workweek at a time, but he would always amount home late and Night, when I was asleep. We had a game where he would hide under my bed, just before dawn, and went I'd step onto my story, he'd snatch my mortise joint and pretend to be whatever monster he had just fought. It made me a fire up sleeper, because I'd always try to hear him sneak in and catch him."

"I wish I knew my sire,"said Mira, trying to keep open the conversation going.

Like before, it became Trevor's turn, but he still showed no sake in participating. They then realized that he had already fallen asleep.

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

They set out at sunup the next dawn to keep on hunting, while making their way back to town. Just like the day before, their new establishment proved unstoppable against the monsters of the forest, and they found themselves carrying so much loot that it was draining their stamina faster than the battles. They had to take frequent stops, and as usual, Noah would use that time to assemble valuable plants.

At final stage, they broke out of the covert of the forest, now trekking across plowland with the village not far off. Despite their tiredness, their spirits were high. The sun was setting and their slip had been both fat and informative"I think we should just go straight to the dungeon pubic louse tomorrow,"said oath."We're already strong enough."

"Not yet,"said Noah."We've built a establishment, now I want to improve your abilities."

"So more search ?"Beth asked.

"No, education and exercise to increase physical strength and mana reserves. All of our loot from this trip is going to fund it."

Upon arriving to town, they first stopped off at the local tannery to sell off the pelts. The owner of the workshop, a weedy man who struggled to grow a decent whiskers, Luke, met them as they entered his store. As one might expect, tanneries weren't known for their pleasant odor. It smelled like a wet dog that had just fed on roadkill. The air had moved beyond bare fetor and now had its own preference, a very gamey flavor. It annoyed Noah every time he stopped by.

"Mr. Noah, I haven't seen you lately. And the youth overlord, I'm gladiolus to see you are doing well. What have you come with today ?"

"We have fur to sell, including a special piece."

All of the brute and other hide were stacked on the counter, with the survive, belonging to the sledgepaw bear, having to be laid out on the floor like a rug.

"A sledgepaw ? And in such honest condition ! This is definitely a rare find !"

"We fought it as soon as it finished spawning,"said swearing."That's as freshly as it gets."

Luke bent down and examined the skin, paying close up care to injury created during the battle."And there doesn't appear to be too lots damage… I can establish you two amber coins for everything."

"Two and half ?"Noah asked.

"Two, that's my limit. This thing has some big cuts in it."

"Fine."

The interchange was made, but Trevor objected as the coins were handed to Noah."Why do you get the money ? You didn't fight it !"

"I'm not keeping the money, just holding onto it until we spend it."

Next, they sold off some goblin arm to the blacksmith, and anything else that they had managed to compile, though their terminal stop was the pill roller, and rather than selling, Noah was buying. Oath and the others stood back and watched as he ordered armfuls of dissimilar plants for sale with the old woman watching him with an eye of interest.

"I'll also take every wellness and mana potion you're bequeath to sell."

"Why can't every customer be like you ?"she asked, teasing him.

They returned to the street."Ok, let's shout it a day. Tomorrow cockcrow, we'll meet back up at the tycoon's home and get down training. I'll use these flora to worst up lots of potions."

The group split up, with Oath and Trevor heading off their various rest home, Beth and Mira returning to the inn, and Noah running a few to a greater extent errands. Night fell, and like the women, Noah made his way to the inn. It was bustling as usual, but the tabular array that Noah sat at was quiesce. He ate dinner quickly and went up to his room. By candlelight, he ground up the industrial plant he had bought and amalgamate them together. He had a farseeing list of potions and tools to work for this dungeon dangerous undertaking, so even his nights would be busy. An minute after he started, he heard a knock at the door. He answered with his knife in hand but out of slew, as was cancel. He opened the door to see Beth standing there, a grin on her face that was coy, nervous, arouse, and embarrassed, all mixed together.

"I wanted to assure you again how sorry I am to find out that about Tin. But just because she's gone, that doesn't think of your nights have to be lonely. I want to experience the fable that everyone in town has been talking about."

An honest smile, rare for Noah, crossed his expression. However, it was more in entertainment than lust."That seems like something that would really get us some bad luck later, considering the unharmed dungeon crab thing."

"What ?"

"cypher. As much as I would like to say yes, it would be best if we both went straight for bed, considering the breeding I have planned. Plus, I still have a lot of potions to make."

Her spirits were deflated, but she wasn't ready to apply up."Are you sure I can't change your brain ?"

"I'm certainly. But if you still have forcefulness tomorrow after dinner, then I'll happily indulge you."

"I'll look forward to it."She then gave him a wink and went back to her room.

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

"The education I have in mind will consist of foresighted academic session of muscle breeding and then magic training in a physically played out Department of State, replenishing strong suit with potions, and repeating the process."Noah addressed curse and his booster in forepart of the baron's mansion. By his side were a turgid sack entire of red and racy potions, as well as some early concoctions."It's a combination of two workout routines I've created."

Mira looked away for a moment, pondering something. She then perked up in shock."That's what was happening with you and Tin at the inn !"

Oath, Beth, and even Trevor looked at her, taking a moment to work on what she had said, and then swerving their eyes back to Noah like a car drifting around a corner. curse had forgotten that small fact, and Trevor, resigned to bearing a silent grievance, was remembering those rumors he had heard and finally feeling a bit of respect towards Noah.

Noah let a small laugh escape cock."Yeah, that's right. My theory is that mana output is a combination of physical and spiritual free energy. When your unearthly mana can't keep up with the requirement, your strong-arm mana picks up the slack, but it means your liveliness gets only office of the welfare of breeding. Therefore, the best way to cultivate your spirit's rate of production and reservoir size is to either do so after you have just depleted all of your stamina, or during engagement, when you are using up both, though I believe the latter is less efficient. Tin was assisting me with the outlay of physical energy."

"All aurora ? !"

"I have a lot of stamen, which is the result of the other exercise function. Over a long full point of time, I've mastered several different chassis of exercise and refined them to target heftiness growth in a specific way. People and other magnanimous creature have three kinds of muscle : red musculus, which is heftiness that is great for toughness and running play ; gabardine muscle, which is brawn for physical mightiness and explosive force ; and pink sinew, which is a combination of both. My routine focusing on producing pink sinew. Unfortunately, sex isn't the workout routine, God, though I wish it was.

Oath, I saw you struggling to hoist your new sword, but making perfect slice every time. Because of all the time you've spent swinging a hoe or an axe, neither of which is very grave, you have a lot of red muscle, which lets you go for a tenacious time up to a certain limit.

Trevor, I noticed your apparent motion decline faster than cuss, despite expending a interchangeable quantity of energy. Your stabs and slashes, while initially quite herculean, made a calm decline. You have too a lot white muscular tissue, which lets you carry more than than oath, but not as far."

To Oath, it made sense. He had yet to see Noah truly fatigued, not after clearing the goblin den or even when they returned to the village the old day. At the Saame time, he was able to slice through teras and carry their remains with great potency. The others had noticed it as well, another category in which he outclassed them.

"waiting a second gear, if that was your"peculiar mana grooming"you were doing with Tin, then that means you can use magic,"said Beth."You told us you couldn't."

"I wasn't sure I could trust you when we first met. I was willing to assure you how to make up yourselves hard, but not how to make me weaker."

"You've been hiding magic this whole sentence ? But we showed your ours !"Trevor yelled.

"And let that be a moral to you in the future. The sooner your enemy knows about your force, the sooner they know about your weaknesses. When meeting new citizenry, hold back your abilities until the shoemaker's last moment, because that mo might be a battle. However, since you followed me on that hunting trip-up and are bequeath to undergo my physical exercise subprogram, I believe that it's only fair to lay my batting order 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 inconspicuous. When I first unlocked this ability, I could only do it for a few second base at a clock time. After a month of training, I could do it for to a greater extent than five minutes."He'd keep his sec spell secret, as well as the true length he could concur the both of them for. His trust in them was still in its infancy.

"I've never seen or even heard of a magic trick like that before. Maybe some kind of sanctum patch ?"Mira muttered.

Her Logos took away a lot of his nervousness. He still knew so lilliputian about the magic in this humankind, there was no telling how common powerfulness like his might be. For all he knew, this lie might make him face pathetic. However, if Mira had never heard of it, there was a chance that it was rarefied enough to not be considered green knowledge.

Noah retrieved some bottle full of a unripened liquid and tossed one to cuss and each of his friends."Drink that, it's a little something I whipped up from the plant I bought yesterday, along with some honey. It'll give you a piddling supernumerary free energy. These future few days are going to be exhausting."

.

.

.

Forging long suit

.

.

.

Pained gasps.

A feminine whimper.

"Oh God !"

Beth collapsed, fighting for every breathing time with Noah standing over her, the two of them drenched in sweat.

"Come on, get up,"he said.

"I can't do anymore !"

"You know what comes next."

She looked at him with centre full of hate."You're a teras,"she hissed.

A brighten, steady current was produced, arching onto the background with a splash.

"Oh, she broke her record !"said Oath.

"I wish my mana would grow that fast !"Mira complained.

The water spurting from Beth's fingertip trickled to a halt. She rolled onto her back, feeling like the hard road underneath her was now as gentle as the king's mattress. It was the irregular day of Noah's education, midmorning, and he was running lap covering with Oath and his acquaintance around the demerit estate. Since yesterday, this what they had been doing with most of their meter, running almost nonstop. It was Noah's rule that they had to run until they collapsed or nearly threw up, and then immediately cast witching until their mana was completely depleted. swearword 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 restitute her staying power a bit. While she recovered, swearword, Mira, and Trevor sucked in air. This was the only break they got, when someone collapsed.

"I'm starving, can we eat lunch now ?"Trevor asked.

"I can't even think of food,"swearing groaned.

They all complained throughout the totally ordeal, but in trueness, no one had yet given up and refused to go any further. Despite their torture, they didn't spring in. It wasn't to prove their determination, rather it was the unsubdivided fact that Noah's method acting were producing results. Just the day before, at the same time, if Beth cast her spell, it would have just been a few bead falling from her finger, less of a fountain and more of a talebearing faucet. Also, everyone's stamina was increasing noticeably. Thanks to the health potions, they could perform week of day-by-day utilisation and retrieval in a number of hours, compressing the charge per unit of melioration so it was much more obvious.

"Yeah, I'd say so. I'm on my last legs too."

Oath and the others groaned in stand-in and began throwing down everything they carried, as well as stripping off any armor. Noah was making them run in all of their adventuring paraphernalia with their artillery in helping hand, and in clock time, he'd merged weights to prepare them for carrying the dungeon crab's treasure. There was a champaign nearby, but they didn't care and squatted down right in the heart of the road to eat. It was on the king's land, so there wasn't the worry of dealings.

They each carried lunch made by the maids and were chowing down like wolfish animals. Even Noah was giving in to his hungriness and stuffing his fount. But as he ate, his middle swept over everyone in the group. This workout was definitely intense, shredding muscularity and then immediately repairing them. In this font, the counterpoison was spoilt than the poisonous substance, according to the town apothecary. He had spoken to her the morning after he returned to Clive while on his way to foot up his ring.

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

"victimisation potions for exercise ? It would be a beneficial idea if it wasn't such a bad idea,"the old woman said. As always, she stared Noah down, looking at him through the roll of tobacco of her pipe.

"I can't imagine I'm the first person to think of using them this way. What I want to know is if there are any dangerous effects. You always have them in stock, so getting the component isn't an issue."

She took a deep inhale and released a big smoke cloud."There is a downside."

"Am I going to have to pay you to line up out what it is ?"

"In a spate, are you ? Yes, it's always mass like you using this method acting. Mana and health potions, as well as all former concoctions used by adventurer, may seem like bottled miracles, but they are a double-edged steel. If overexposed, the dead body can forget how to repair and restore itself. If a wound is repeatedly inflicted on one daub and healed with potions, eventually the body will lose the ability to furbish up that bit on its own. cutting off will bleed ceaselessly, broken castanets will become like rock, and Hammond organ will eventually close down. The core are even big if the potion is consumed, rather than poured, as it spreads throughout the body."

"How long before John Roy Major terms is inflicted ?"

"If used for everyday drill, potions will lead to demise within two weeks. Lesser equipment casualty depends on the user."

"And what about mana potions ?"

"Mana potions stunt the developing of magic trick. The more often they are used, the harder it will be to create and take new spells."

Noah thought back to his"training Clarence Day"with Tin. He had performed them every other day and with watered-down potions, multiplying his reserves countless times and giving him an edge, but there was no telling how often it had hindered him in the long run.

"And of course you decided to hold back until now to tell me, despite all of the potions I've been buying for the last month."

"Are you expecting an apologia ?"

"No, I just have something I want you to look at and I would opt some honesty."

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

tierce daylight, that's how farsighted Noah was willing to use the potion method. That would hopefully leave them with decent prison term for the side-effects to wear off before they entered a dungeon. So far, everyone's strong-arm toughness was continuing to rise, but if he saw them tableland or even repeal, he'd cut them off, inhuman turkey. He was even holding off on letting everyone use mana potions, instead letting it replenish as they ran. He didn't want to push back the date of their departure if he could avoid it. If anyone got a wound, he made sure to watch closely, to make sure their blood was clotting.

"All right, let's head back. We're doing the same modus operandi as yesterday."Everyone groaned and cleaned up their mess, but before they could devolve to the manor, 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 dance step, stretching out one leg and leaning down with their other knee almost touching the earth, and they had to continue a flying rate. It was sweaty, painful work.

"This is so blockade, 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 focal point."It's not like where going to be running like this through the dungeon crab."

"No, but it'll build up up your forte and stamina. The most important physical asset in armed combat is leg strength."

"delay, really ? Even for brand fighting ?"Oath asked.

"Really. If you support your body with a square foundation, you can fight back while staying on your groundwork longer. It doesn't matter how surd you can shed a punch or swing a sword if your legs just buckle as soon as you meet resistance. Think of it as like trying to fight while standing on slippery ice vs solid ground."

Just like before, Noah pushed them to the degree of collapse. Normally, this sort of reckless preparation would be frowned upon, but they needed to try and rupture their muscles to the right-down terminal point, mend them with potions to make them even impregnable, and repeat, with mana depletions after every collapse.

There was no eternal rest for them when they returned to the manor house. Under Noah's pedagogy, cuss and the others began stretching and lifting varying weighting in versatile fashion. To the slave working the theater, it looked like a BASIC workout, but Noah scrutinized every movement, from the form their arm took when lifting a ponderous stone, to the precise Angle of their rosehip when they twisted their dead body. Every front had to be everlasting, so that all the stress went to particular muscles. Had he the means, he would go even further, focusing on individual muscle threads.

In a way, Noah was thankful that this opportunity came along. Being an adventurer kept him active and fit, but it didn't human body strength in the same way as this physical exertion, and coming to this world had scrambled his routine. He had to use this prospect to properly round his figure. He had planned on teaching this physical exertion to Tin to take a leak her hard and capable of defending herself, but that opportunity was gone.

Once they reached the middle of the good afternoon, Noah had them move on to the next microscope stage of their training. expletive, Trevor, and Mira stood side by side of meat, all of them gasping for air and cursing in hurt as sweat poured down their faces. For Oath and Trevor, the exercising was simple, though far from well-off. They held out their weapons as far as they could and kept their arms raised for as long as possible. They had to keep doing it until they collapsed and they couldn't feel their weaponry, at which stop, they'd take a health potion and start again.

"Ah, dammit !"swearword cursed as he dropped to his knees.

"Fuck, you're weak,"said Trevor.

"For once in your life, just shut up !"Mira hissed, ineffective to maintain her usual polite personality.

Her training was similar to theirs, only using thaumaturgy. Before her floated a lump of earthly concern as big as a beer keg. malicious gossip from a bald-pated piece underneath continuously floated up and added itself to the mass. For her training, she had to maximize the sum of money of Earth she could lift, as well as the duration, and level of compression. She'd rotate it in the air to go on it from becoming lopsided, but every time it moved, she struggled to keep control.

Noah told her she had to be capable to turn dirt into solid rock in second, as well as geartrain her dead body to produce mana faster.

Nearby, Beth was sparring with Noah. She held a sheathed knife in her deal and was swinging and stabbing at him with foolhardy hysteria. Despite her feat, he'd block and deflect her flak away from his dead body, using various fighting mode he had learned across the multiverse. As soon as she paused her barrage, he'd flak, forcing her to rise her reflexes for dodging.

Finally, when the sun set, Noah said the magical words."Let's song 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 bird of Jove on the solid ground and staring up at the sky.

"I'm too wear down to eat and too hungry to sleep,"Beth added.

"I've spent my lifetime 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 food and sleep.

"I should probably steer back to the inn while they're still serving dinner party,"said Noah.

"You guys can have dinner here,"cuss said.

"Why didn't you say that yesterday ?"

"Sorry, but after a day like that, I couldn't spend another minute thinking about breeding and the keep crab."

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

The table was old and unstained, hand-carved with roughly sanded board, though time had helped to buffer its sharpness and the low-quality mesa cloth hid its surface. On it, candles burned to illuminate the room, which smelled like the baked fish Noah and the others were eating, along with gelt and some veggie. In the mod domain, not even soup kitchens would serve food of this destitute floor, but after a month in these new lands, Noah had managed to graduate his preference buds.

It was only the five youths present. The top executive was not taking contribution. As with lunch, everyone ate voraciously, their dead 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.

"Oath ? Is something wrong ?"

"No, I'm just trying to remember the last time I sat at this table with this many people."

‘ Oh my god, that is so corny,'Noah thought, drinking from his glass so as to not cave in his straight face.

"You're going to make me queasy,"Trevor muttered. Noah resisted the desire to give thanks him.

"What were your brothers like ?"Beth asked.

"My previous, Colt, was a soldier, serving under superior general Tarnas against the barbarians in Handent."

"He really served under Tarnas ? !"Beth exclaimed, bolting to her feet.

"Is that a salutary or bad affair ?"Noah asked.

"Adwith Tarnas is one of the state's greatest wedge, and easily the strongest paladin,"said Mira, trying to hide out her embarrassment with a grin."Most children are raised on his stories, and for as recollective as I've known Beth, she's been a huge fan."

Beth sat back down, a drunk smile on her face."When I was young, he and some of his forces passed through my town. Watching him cod down the street, wearing golden armor… I was no longer an guiltless child. I had awakened my womanly desires."

"You never heard of him ? What rock'n'roll have you been living under ?"Trevor asked.

"A orotund one. Tell me about the war, I'm curious."

"Oh, well, according to my brother, it started when the tyke began ransacking village along the border, eventually leading to the renowned slaying of High non-Christian priest Grybaen by headman Waer. After that…"

The conversation had taken a unusual turn, but Noah absorbed every detail while making his programme for the future. That nighttime, at the inn, Beth didn't go with Mira into their shared elbow room, but followed Noah into his. She had been too tired the old night, but tonight, she had just enough strength to indulge her curiosity.

The third day of education was just like the two before, including the same turn, but now with weights added. However, the consumption of potions had dropped in every action. The growth they had gone through over just a few mean solar day would have normally taken week or even calendar month. In the latterly afternoon, their training was changed. Now instead of simply holding out his sword, curse was practicing his slice like he was studying kendo. He needed to make both his flack and his recovery faster.

Next to him, Trevor was improving his thrusting, using what Noah had taught him and incorporating his legs so he could increase the strength with less effort. He had also given Trevor the challenge of writing out the letters of the alphabet in the air with the spear tip, to heighten his accuracy. Beth and Mira had switched places, now with Beth straining her thaumaturgy 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 boundary of her magical aptitude, but creating fresh piddle was something they'd need if they spent Sir Thomas More than a day in the dungeon.

On the quartern day, Noah met everyone at the baron's estate of the realm as he normally would. He held out a packsack full phase of the moon of potions."Today, I want you all to see if you can espouse the routine on your own. Until we enter the keep 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 competition will have. I don't want to reach the bottom of the plate and find 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, time to part running."

The workout proceeded as planned, but with no less complaining. Now without potions, they could only gather their strength during breaks, but the number of time they had to stop and rest was as Noah predicted. On the one-fifth day, Noah faced them with the morning time sun burning away the mists clinging to the baron's demesne. For Oath and his Quaker, this was the live on day of training and they all felt confident. They weren't blind to their own increment. They now stood with bodies covered in weight, ready for Noah to give the signal to start their aurora run.

"Since today is the survive day, we're going to do something dissimilar. Trevor, I want you to hit the ground with a downward strike and your strongest spell."

"What for ?"

"Just swear me. Pour as much mana as you can into the axeblade and give it a shot."

Trevor grunted and held out his halberd, and from the mo he began channeling his mana, everyone noticed the difference. These past times several Day, whenever he, Beth, and Mira practiced with their deception, it was always in a commonwealth of exhaustion, forcing their bodies to squeeze out every close drop of top executive. This was the world-class time in Clarence Day that Trevor was using a spell while at to the full strength. What would get been a shimmering halo around the leaf blade was now like a great colorless flame, causing his friend to instinctively pace back.

"Whoa,"Trevor said, ineffectual to pick any early word. He held his halberd with trembling handles, feeling like it was a rabid creature in his grasp. He raised it above his caput like a blinding torch."run !"Apparently, saying the epithet of the spell helped focus the mind and increase the potency of the tour. To Noah, it seemed a bit pathetic, but it did make things a bit more entertaining.

As per the name, he swung down with the halberd like he was performing a beheading, and the instant the sword touched the ground, it was like a howitzer cycle had gone off. A chest-thumping explosion was heard and dirt and rock were sent flying in all direction. Originally, what would have simply buried his weapon in the dirt, had now opened up a Crater the sizing of a bathtub. Just as incredible, the saturation 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 result would probably be similar if I asked to use your strongest spell. Now that you have all this mana to work with, think of it as a resourcefulness for experiment. I don't fuck how the two of you develop magic trick, whether you just create new spells yourselves or learn by watching others, but I want you to devote yourselves to improving your skills. Show me something new. Today, we're forgetting about speciality and stamina and focusing entirely on technique.

Beth, I want you to exercise your archery until your finger bleed and you can shoot the annex of a fly. As for Oath…"Noah drew his longsword."You're going to be fighting me."

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

Beth's thorax heaved with each movement, and her nipples, chilled by the evening, pointed out and attract discharge in the air. Just moments ago, she had been riding so vigorously, having to cast away her clothes when she began to overheat. It had been a struggle for her to preserve her moan contained, especially with her hips refusing to obey her commands and slow her bounce.

She now took a docile gait, rolling her hips from side to side while she regained her force. Her pretty facial expression was one of intoxication, her mind overtaken by lecherousness and endorphins. Her smile was lewd, her boldness flushed, her lips wet, her pupils dilated. Noah could see the fresh stew on her physical structure with the light of the Night sky. What was just supposed to be a quick assignation to scratch the ol'itch had turned into something a little more intense.

Sitting up, Noah kissed her knocker and grabbed her ass, kneading it like dough. Beth had a nice athletic figure of speech, not much fat on her, but the ass of a volleyball actor. Noah's mouth on her nipples, his manhood stirring her up, and his hands massaging deep into her muscles, these input combined into a force that Beth was struggling to hold up. They were out in the Grant Wood, so Beth's groan could attract monsters, or even worse, the ears of her friends.

Mira knew about them, so oath and Trevor were probably aware as well, but still, it would be a bit rude make them take heed the sounds of moans and figure against frame. That was Beth's thought, but Noah didn't care either way. His alone care was getting stuck in an embarrassing conversation with everyone because of this. That, and the fact that he and Beth were breaking the linguistic rule of every horror movie and having sex in the woods. The flag they were raising could give birth been seeable from space.

Beth's strength gave out, a last climax draining her and leaving her physical structure limp. Noah was forced to lower to her to the ground, but she didn't aim to him continuing to thrust until he had a climax of his own.

"semen on, we should get back to the camp,"he said.

"What a amatory matter to say after filling me up."

"You know what this is."

She giggled."Relax, I'm kidding."

They got dressed and returned to the summer camp, where their beau adventurers were wake up and waiting for them.

"What are you all doing awake ?"Noah asked.

"You two are a lot prying than you think you are,"Mira said while keeping her eyes down.

"You do make up it awfully operose to sleep. I thought some wolves were tearing apart a goblin out there,"said Trevor. In retaliation, Beth kicked him while circling the campfire to pass her spot.

"ticker it !"he shot back.

Noah took his own position and stoked the fervour."Enough. Everyone, get some eternal rest. We're going to need our enduringness for tomorrow."They were less than half a day's hike to the keep crab.

"None of us can sleep. We're too nervous about tomorrow,"Oath said.

"It'll be fine. In twenty days, you'll ask your children ‘ did I ever tell you about the time I conquered a dungeon crab ?'And they'll groan and say, ‘ yes, father, a C clock time. We're sick of hearing about it.'”

"Are you going to do anything with the dominion ?"Beth asked."alteration any laws ?"

"No. Clive is perfect the way it is, and I don't want to transfer anything."

"You're letting a gilt chance elusion by,"said Noah.

"What do you mean ?"

"I assume that as long as the land gets its taxis, it won't care about how things change, so you might as well try some things. Think of the town as the place to perform social experiments."

"What's a social experiment ?"Trevor asked.

"It's when you put people in a sealed location with certain condition and see how they react. You can see how man 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 amiss,"Mira muttered.

"It's a way to acquire about people. In the center of town, put up a statue with a sign saying not to touch, that the paint is wet. Then you can see how many people are actually going to touch it."

"What is that supposed to do ?"swearing asked.

"How many the great unwashed are in Baron Clive of Plassey, a hundred ? If one-half of them allude the statue, then you could make the literary argument that one-half of the human backwash is mute enough to allude paint even when they know it's wet. Or perhaps it's simply that half the town can't read.

If you repeated the experiment in another town, maybe a big city in another body politic, you'll probably find that different numeral of hoi polloi will contact the statue. Then you can get down to figuring out why. Why do different areas have dissimilar results ? Are the multitude simply dumber ? Is it a literacy trouble ? Is there a culture of uprising to authority ?

There was once an ancient metropolis named Roma, which had a massive pit conflict arena called the amphitheatre. It was so monolithic, that the Saturnia pavonia put the minds of his best architects into figuring out how to design it so that the spectators could easily get in and out, otherwise, they'd start a riot. You get a crew of people together in close propinquity, one of two unlike things may happen, sometimes even both at the same metre. The firstly is that people will require to withdraw into themselves. They'll want to create personal space, establish a perimeter, draw that line in the grit that no one can cross. If somebody crosses that short letter, they may get fearful, they may get violent ; no matter how diminished it is, it produces a minus reaction.

The former is to cede to the will of the mathematical group. If everyone around you is saying something, you'll assume it's right and retell it, because you want to conceive in the group, you want to consider you're right. You want to believe that you're in the presence of people who know what they are doing. If you're in a mob where person is shouting for the destruction of the king and everyone cheerfulness, division of you will naturally agree.

Someone losing their humor will embark on a fight, that fighting will spread and touch off more fight, and suddenly the orderly masses that were simply trying to allow the amphitheater are sweeping through capital of Italy, having abandoned all sentiment of civility and now simply destroying everything in their way."

"That could never occur,"said Beth, as if Noah had just uttered a child's nonsense.

"I've seen it happen plenty of times. Once you establish the convention that escape is not available, that candela starts combustion, and it burns quick."

"I don't know. I think mass are near at nub,"said Mira."They don't just go crazy like that."

"Then you could prove it. Let's say you could create any kind of sociable experiment, completely spare rebound, like a dream. What would you do ?"

"How am I supposed to know ?"

"The rest of you ? Just think ‘ I wonder how many hoi polloi would ( blank ) if I ( blank ) ?'Or ‘ what would bechance if I put ( blank shell ) and ( blank ) together ?'Literally whatever you wanted to bang, or simply just see."Everyone looked up into the distance, trying to march the challenge."Think about it. It'll assistance you fall asleep."

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

A solid thump woke Oath up, a brand striking the reason just column inch from his face. He instinctively shouted in terror and tried to scurry back, realizing it was Noah's brand and he was standing over him. His friends, light sleeper goby in an area this dangerous, woke up in a flash and got to their invertebrate foot with their weapons raised, confused and alarmed by the survey of Noah in the predawn illumination. Was this an assassination attempt ? However, they looked down and spotted Noah's real mark. It was some sort of insectoid creature, a stubby centipede with a bellying carapace. It was the size of a squirrel, with frightening pincers.

"What the perdition is that thing ? !"Mira exclaimed.

"It's one of the parasites from inside the keep crab. I did as lots inquiry as I could on the dungeon crab whenever I had the time."

looking at at Mira and Beth, he could see them shuddering in revulsion.

"You mean to tell me that there are Thomas More of those matter in that crab ?"

"Almost certainly, but they're flooding out into the woods, so just means that the more we find out here, the fewer we'll have to push in the crabby person. Now let's eat some breakfast and get a movement on."

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

It was a typographical error mountain of upturned earth and shattered bedrock, the solution of the donjon crab rising up from the major planet's impertinence and jutting out the tip of its racing shell. At the very elevation was the ingress, but the pot was no indication of just how large 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."person must have set up bivouac there before heading in."

"There are camps all over the mountain. There must be a lot of masses in there,"said Mira.

"Most of them have probably been killed by now. Those summer camp are abandoned,"said Trevor.

"Trevor !"

Despite Mira's anger, Noah agreed with Trevor. The closer he looked, the more tents he saw, and the majority of them probably belonged to the dead, but he didn't want swearword and the others chewing on that."Relax. Everyone going in just packed visible radiation because they want to carry as much treasure as they can, and probably couldn't carry anything duplicate when they came out. We'll be in the same position when we come back."

"Wait, I see citizenry too,"said Beth.

She was right, there were plenty of adventurers roaming the mountain.

"They must be scavenging for muffin and cherished metallic element. When the crab appears, it probably pushes up more than just gem and dirt."

"If you can get gold from sifting through the dirt, then why infliction going into the dungeon ?"Mira asked.

"They're after whatever they can get their deal on, unlike us. We're after avenium, and it can only be found inside."

They put their reverence aside and began climbing up the side of the slew. There were no established path and the footing was hard, to say the to the lowest degree. The dirt had settled since it was first moved by the arrival of the crab louse, but there were no plants to entertain it all together, so it was like hiking up the slope of a sand sand dune in many areas. They also had to be wary of the big stone chunks unify in. They were freshly broken and hadn't been weathered by the hint and the rainwater, so they could easily cut through pelt. While climbing, Noah grabbed a stone handhold and his palm was skinned by the crystal-like sharpness.

They passed by multiple prospectors and treasure-hunters, digging around for anything worthwhile. No one paid them any attention, and they offered none in return. However, that changed when they heard the auditory sensation of fighting. Nearby, they saw a bearded man fighting off one of the keep parasites that had wandered outside. It was a four-legged crustacean, the size of a wolf. It swung its heavy forelimbs like nine and tried to force the man onto his back.

"Noah, we need to help him,"said Mira.

"Keeping him awake isn't my job. Besides, any forte you use against that one monster will be strength you can't use in the shell."

"Then consider this a field test !"Mira held out her staff."Shatter Mace !"

small-arm of Edward Durell Stone and packed dirt flowed to the end of her stave, joining together into a hardened sphere, the size of it of a basketball and covered in knifelike protrusions. She left the mathematical group and ran over to where the man was fighting, with her weapon not hindering her movement at all. Rather than physical posture, she was holding the sphere together and lifting it with mana.

The wildcat had the man pinned on his back and he was fending off its snapping pincers with his pickaxe. Sneaking up behind it, Mira raised her staff and brought it down onto the monster's back, unleashing the wax weight of the pit and breaking through its plate. The ogre hissed in bother and fell over, and she dispatched it with another baseball swing, this one crushing its exposed headland. A week ago, such a task would let been unimaginable for her, but under Noah's tuition, both her acquisition in conjuration and physical combat had been multiplied various clock time over.

"Thanks,"the man grumbled before dusting himself off and walking away.

She returned to the chemical group, where Beth was clapping for her."well done !"

Noah, however, clasped his mitt on her shoulder."Don't do that again."There was very minuscule ira in his interpreter, but still, she shrunk away."The same goes for the rest of you. We're not here to play hero, we're not here to carry through lives. We're here to work money and subdue the dungeon. Our strength, our attending, our weapon system, our potions, they are reserved only for our own use and our own benefit. If you save person, it had better be to use them as a pack scuff or a core cuticle. Understood ?"Everyone nodded."Good, then let's motility on."

They resumed hiking up towards the superlative, and Oath soon asked a question.

"Noah, you researched dungeon crabs, right ? Did you make out that freak ?"

"Yes, it was one of the sponger mentioned in the books your Father had."

"Do you do it what else we'll rule ?"

"Unfortunately, no, there was actually very little written information about the donjon Phthirius pubis and what exists within their carapace. Those who remain in the upper parcel and hold up share their information, but those who delve deep enough to reach out the avenium either die or keep it a secret."

"time lag, why is it a secret ?"Trevor asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say it's because the nation's nobility doesn't want citizenry knowing how to bring together their social status. In this crab are the cay to the kingdom, after all. Too many Whitney Young arriviste could break up the equipoise of power between the rich and the poor, or they could mould camarilla that get in the way of the higher-ranked nobleman. Some information gets out, of course of instruction, from those who manage to scarper with their lifetime but don't conquer the dungeon, or from other countries, but I imagine that the only adventurers who are really informed are those already working for high-level nobles."

A flagitious hiss ended the conversation, as up ahead, a new scourge revealed itself. It stood on a pair of muscular legs, like a vulturous bird, but it had a belittled body and no neck opening, only a forward-placed skull that resembled an gator. It was a couplet 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 bird, several more look, from both above and the sides.

"A pack-type parasite, worry,"Noah said as he drew his sword."Get gear up, everyone, the scrap starts early."

They took formation, with curse in front and Noah and Trevor guarding the wing, while Beth and Mira attacked from a distance. The monsters closed in all at once, leaping through the air while flashing the talons on their ft and spreading their jaws.

"Trevor !"Noah shouted.

"Phalanx Spears !"he cast while swinging his halberd like a flag.

A trail of mana was left behind with each movement, and the mana solidified into floating blades like mist condensing into ice. The floating blade pierced three of the beasts before they could set down, two more were wounded, and the relief had their compactness broken and failed to pounce properly. With that opening, Noah and curse began hacking and slashing away at those who landed closest by.

"Earth Bind !"

Mira stabbed the background, and beneath the wounded wildcat, pits opened up to live with them whole, then were closed with earthen spikes like cage bars. It wouldn't accommodate them long, but it kept them out of the fight. Not only could Mira now manifest the spell multiple sentence from one cast, but the ground proved perfective tense for its use. Those who had avoided Trevor's spell and Noah and expletive's brand 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.

"goodness, well done,"said Noah.

Normally they would then harvest the giant for valuable piece, but the securities industry for dungeon Cancer the Crab parasites was too niche to be worth the endeavor. Besides, they wanted to salvage as much way for treasure as they could.

They continued their climbing, and after a couplet more monstrosity battles, they reached the summit at noontide. There, sticking out of the ground was the tip of the crabby person's carapace, like a abstemious house on a jumpy cliff. Noah could see the curl of the scale, and before them, the gap, a door large enough for an elephant to walk through. Noah reached out and touched the shell, made of inwardness somehow impregnable enough to withstand the heat energy and insistency of the earth's interior.

In the month since Noah's arrival to this cosmos, he had seen pile of things that shocked and baffled him, from deception to monsters, but just the visual modality of the entree blew him away. To cogitate that such a creature like this could exist, that something so monolithic occupied this world. It blurred the mutual sense accumulated from More than a C lifetimes. Where did these things come from ? Were they made by magic ? Perhaps by some kind of god ? How old was this one ? Was it sound ? What was its life history cycle ?

"I never thought I'd ever see something like this,"said Oath, similarly amazed.

Everyone in the mathematical group was staring at the white pillar in awe and accomplishment. 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 vast accomplishment.

"expression at this view,"said Beth.

Without any trees to barricade their sight, the heap acme let them see for miles in all directions.

"I think I can see the small town !"said Trevor.

"Let's break here for tiffin, gather some of our strength, and then maneuver inside."

They all sat down and Noah pulled food and water skins out of his doughnut. He had decent food and water to tip them all for respective Clarence Day, and thanks to Beth's magic, they could fill again their canteens whenever needed. However, everyone carried two 24-hour interval of rations, just in typeface they got separated. Their dejeuner consisted of dried fish and yield, as well as some bread, something light to keep back them moving. Up atop the mountain, there was a Nice gentle wind, and the survey was spectacular.

"Noah, think of what you were saying last dark about societal experiment ?"Beth asked."If I could try one, I'd want to see what happens when you put only women together and tax them with building a order. What would Clive look like if it had only woman ?"

"A female-only society ? Yeah, that would certainly be interesting. Ok, paint a picture for me. What do you await would hap ?"

"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.

"cum on, I want contingent. For instance, there are role in society that are typically considered manly, and others that are considered womanly. If only charwoman perform the manly tasks, then what will exchange ? Will the nature of the task change, or will the womanhood change ? Will the charwoman who spend all day hunting, blacksmithing, and all those other line start acting rough and crass like men ?

You're an adventurer. You spend your days hunting, fighting, scavenging, getting down and dingy. But you also view yourself quite girlish, right ? But how do you retrieve a girl who spends her day weaving and taking care of baby sees you ? will a divide conformation ? The case A personalities arguing with the Type B ?"

"Type A personalities ?"

"Never mind. curse, you got an idea for an experiment ?"

Oath took a deep breathing time."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 total erasure of refinement and starting from simoleons. If you completely remove fosterage from the equation, then you can truly see how nature manifests. Will men and women follow paths considered normal by society ? Will they borrow the Lapp roles that their ascendant have ? Or will they do everything new ?"

Everyone watched as he started putting things away. He didn't need to say anything, they knew it was time to take the plunge.

.

.

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The Gauntlet

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.

.

Once they had finished eating, they packed up their thing and entered the carapace, with Noah taking the lead and holding a Verbascum thapsus. Because of the cuticle's twist, they had to come down a turbinate passage, like a staircase but without genuine stairs. The bulwark, level, and ceiling of the transit were perfectly bland, but there were no neat lines of any kind. It was like wandering through a narrow-minded canon carved by flashflood. virtually of the storey was covered in dirt and fail gemstone, perhaps seeping in from the porta of the eggshell. Luckily this meant that Beth would bear something to figure out with to use her spells.

The crab had been venting its shell for Thomas More than a workweek, but the air still had a staleness to it. It smelled crude, like a mineshaft or a quarry, but he could also smell the biological signature tune of the parasites. The air seemed finely to breathe and the blowlamp didn't appear to bear any government issue burning. Was all that oxygen from the outside ? How long could the oxygen net if the crab went back below the surface ? How long did the dungeon crab live underground before surfacing ? Either the crab and its parasites could officiate in an oxygen-poor surroundings, or something within the Cancer the Crab could give rise a human-friendly ambience.

They had descended fifty dollar bill base when the first-class honours degree ramification appeared, another tunnel branching off from the stairway.

"We're going to keep going down, right ?"Oath asked.

"Yeah, whatever passage leads us down, we'll deal it."

One of the bipedal parasites burst from the forking tunnel, aiming for Noah. He stepped to the English to dodge, drew his curtly sword, and stabbed the beast through the spine when it landed.

The deeper they delved, the more branching tunnels they came across, but they continued their descent, until reaching a tumid bedchamber at the butt of the staircase, with five tunnel spread out. The staircase had been just wide enough for two masses to take the air shoulder-to-shoulder, but these tunnels were like subway system origin. There were signs of explorer coming through here, marking the tunnel to try and keep caterpillar track of which paths they had taken. There were also some blood splatter, torn clothes, and a wear sword.

"What's that, hanging from the ceiling ?"Oath asked.

Above their heads, gooey threads dangled like icicles, and at the root of each, a small orb of light.

"Cave insect. Their soundbox are bioluminescent, attracting prey, which get caught in their screw thread like wanderer webs. This is a secure thing. We won't need this."Noah extinguished the great mullein and stored it in his ring."Ok, let's split up. We can embrace Sir Thomas More soil that way."

"waiting, WHAT ? !"everyone exclaimed.

It was the concentrated 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 track, further descending into the keep crab, and soon stopped at the ingress of a branch chamber, hearing campaign within. They stayed against the paries so as to obviate drawing the attention of whatever was inside. Noah signaled the others with his manus and cast his invisibility, then stepped into the room access. The sight before him was a grotesque, a deal of maggots, each the size of a football game, feasting upon the remains of some slain dangerous undertaking. Their fat bodies quivered as they peeled physique from off-white. The walls were honeycombed to house the wight between meals, and three adults were standing guard.

The guards were bugs of some kind, consisting of four legs surrounding a caput and torso that were desegregate together with offstage between the legs. The pegleg were armour-clad and sharp, and their downward-pointing font had tooth like an angler fish. They looked almost like fly bar feces. Noah drew his sword and killed one of the beasts without it ever realizing it was there. Seeing their comrade spontaneously die, nearly being sliced in one-half in the mental process, the other two began to panic and seek for the invisible assaulter. He killed them almost as easily as he had killed the first.

"Clear,"Noah said as he released his spell.

He reappeared, just as Oath and the others entered the elbow room, immediately broadcasting their revulsion at the corpse being fed on. Noah knocked the mountain of physical structure over, and kicked away the maggots so that he could get down poking around with his sword.

"Don't loot them !"Oath said in disgust.

"Why ? Because we didn't down them ? We're adventurer, we thrive on the death of others, be they humans or monsters. Meh, nada great."He was able to collect a few weapon and arrows, but that was it.

"Hey, something's coming !"Trevor shouted. They ran out into the hall, hearing the sounds of wingbeats. Further down the tunnel, various Thomas More four-legged hemipteran were flying towards them, having likely detected the deaths of their comrades."Phalanx spear !"he then cast.

He blocked the passage with an array of mana blades and Beth began firing arrows, but the armour plating on the monster's legs proved firm and they smashed their way through. curse word took down one, but a 2d tackled him from the position, tearing into him with its teeth and chela. Noah killed it before it could impose more legal injury, then fended off the others with well-placed stabs. Trevor had also been tackled and knocked onto his rachis, with Beth and Mira working together to pry the beast off.

Noah was still on his foot, so the monsters were heading towards him. He put away his longsword and instead switched to his short sword. The first bug that tried to tackle him was met with his shield and then a sudden poke. He repeated the strategy, breaking the enemies'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 occupy environment for battle. to the highest degree of the monsters seen so far had punishing outer shells, something Noah and his grouping had fiddling experience in dealing with. Their radical focused on attacking rather than endurance, as they were always fighting wolf that were as vulnerable as themselves. Aside from Noah's shield, the radical didn't have much in way of Defense Department outside of light armor—and a stiff offense, of course.

They continued on deeper, passing by unnumberable ramification burrow and eventually coming to another branching. Once more, their capitulum stopped them from proceeding, as they heard movement down one of the tunnels, and soon saw it as well. It was a overflow of centipedes, just like the one that had tried to wipe out swearing that morning time.

"holy place shit !"Mira shrieked, something very out of fictional character for her.

"ejaculate on, this way !"

Noah ran down one of the passing with the others following, but so too did the centipedes. It seemed they were familiar with the scent of people and now hungered for Noah's group. He slowed his step, letting the others get past him, then untied a bag hanging from his belt and scattered its powdery cognitive content across the floor. It was lye, the unspoilt he could make within cause. It was much more virulent than what he had made in the forest with Tin, and when the centipedes ran through it, getting it on themselves and breathing it in, they immediately began to writhe and draw in in pain. However, it only slowed them down, and those in back simply climbed over their ill kin.

They kept running, though more monsters were bursting out of the tunnels ahead. Noah and Oath took them out to the best of their abilities, trying to at least incapacitate them with one separatrix. Those not slain retreated immediately as the group passed by, not wanting to become the prey of the centipedes behind them.

"There's a way ahead !"said Trevor.

"Mira, wait until we reach that way, and if I give a signaling, use your Earth Surge spell,"said Noah.

They entered the chamber, though regret filled them immediately. A new, colossal danger awaited them. It was a dirt ball, coiled like a hissing cobra, with a body Thomas More than ten fundament broad and long as a football field of view. Its flesh was rough, like living I. F. Stone, and it was covered in unnumberable small feet. Towering over them in this arena-like bedchamber, it stared without eyes and roared from a sass that was simply a pit of teeth.

The view of the colossus shocked everyone into a astonied muteness, like Oath when standing before that bear, but not even Noah could chastise them, for he too was momentarily crippled by fear. The fraction of moment between two beats of his substance seemed like it would net forever, but that next clump shook him from his stupor, letting him collect his persuasion and began working on a plan.

"Mira, do it now ! Beth, shoot some arrows into that thing's sass or anything else that looks sonant ! Oath, you and I will be the steerer. Trevor, you attack with all your magic. We need to just wound it long enough to get away !"

No one else moved, but Noah giving curse word a shove woke them up. Mira turned back to face the oncoming wave of monsters, and counted with a wave of her own. She cast her spell upon the earthen ground, taking control of all of the rock and dirt and unleashing it on the centipedes like a mudslide. While that was going on, Beth was firing arrows at the dirt ball's backtalk, striking its exposed flesh but only doing enough damage to micturate it off.

It turned its attention on curse word and Noah, running at it from its left and right incline. It lunged at them both, aiming to eat Noah and swat oath with its tail. Noah made himself unseeable and dodged the worm's oral fissure when it lost runway of him, and Oath blocked the attack with a golf shot of his steel, breaking into the freak's skin. As they had distracted it, Trevor could now unleash his charged magic. Both the lance blade and the axe head of his halberd were glowing with a radiant storm of mana, and rune spun around the ray. He charged towards the worm's coiled eubstance, released a roar of hysteria, and brought down his vane like a churchman smite.

"Voulge separatrix !"

It was a combination of his stabbing and cleaving spells, and while the motility were the Saami as just a formula swing, it inflicted scathe differently in the conformation of a slash. It had less penetrating power than the other two, possibly failing to founder the insect's rocky exterior, but it would do much smashing damage to the flesh. His mana, having solidified around the drumhead of his halberd, carved deep into the worm's pulp, and as Trevor swung his weapon down, he left a deep cut on dissimilar segment of is trunk. blood poured from the wounding and the worm shrieked in agony.

"Let's go !"Noah shouted.

They ran off through another transit, leaving behind the insect with the centipedes. They didn't period track, wanting to get as far away as possible. They kept maneuvering through the dungeon, fighting the monsters leaping out while they searched for a prophylactic daub. It seemed like every time they slowed down or even paused, something would bust out and attempt to convey a chunk out of them. Finally, when they were gasping for air with their pharynx feeling as dry as sand, the mathematical group found a bedroom with a small possible action and no monsters inside. They set their battalion against the entrance, hopefully to facilitate keep the monsters from detecting them. They all slumped down on the floor. Even Noah was feeling sick from the adrenaline.

"fucking ! This place is a Death trap !"Trevor exclaimed as he poured a healing potion on a cryptic puncture lesion in his thigh, caused by something resembling a cycloptic tiger catching him with one of its giant star fangs.

"No admiration nobility is the prize for conquering one of these things. You deserve to be a damn king if you can last this place,"Beth panted. Despite fighting from the book binding, she was covered in monstrosity blood.

"hombre, I got ta Tell you, I'm not sure we're ready for this space. It's too soon,"said Oath.

"Don't say that. We're awake, aren't we ? We managed to get through it and encounter a place to rest. Not too long ago, we would have died before even reaching the donjon. We can do this, right, Noah ? Noah ?"Mira turned to Noah, seeing him staring at his trembling hand, but with an saying that, frankly, didn't fit the situation.

After dying so many multiplication, destruction was no longer something Noah feared. It was to be avoided, but with about the Saami quantity of effort used to avoid dying in a video game. He still possessed the survival inherent aptitude in some fashion, but he could no longer properly appreciate the superlative risk of infection of death in a given situation. He was no More afraid of gun for hire that he was a java table's needlelike corner. But what he felt when he saw the dirt ball was avowedly reverence, when he realized that not only was the worm the most likely cause of his death in that way, but that it was a death he wanted to avoid more than any other. That feeling of fear, after so long, it was as though some of his person's thirst was clenched.

"Noah ?"she asked once more, hearing him chuckle.

He shook himself back from his thoughts."Sorry, I was just thinking about this place."

"And ?"

"A snail."

"What ?"

"The Quran at the baron's dwelling house, it had a image of a dungeon Cancer the Crab. It might give birth just been a shot at what it looked like, but it was of a giant star hermit Phthirius pubis. However, hermit pubic louse don't create their own eggshell. Snails do. anchorite pubic louse just take them over. So, either we're actually inside a snail, or if this really is a hermit Phthirius pubis, then that means it probably got this shell from a snail, and if there are these gargantuan crabby person and snails living within the earth, what else is down there ?"

"And how does that help us ?"

"It'll take your mind of thing. We'll be fine, we can get through this. Had we tried this a calendar week ago, none of you would still be here, but you've all uprise stronger."

"So what should we do ?"oath asked.

"Exactly what we've been doing. Just observe our step, take it one challenge at a time, and continue our rhythm stiff. Besides, I'd say there is plenty of incentive to stay put around."

Everyone glanced around the bedchamber and gasped when they realized the ground was gleaming like a starry sky. It was toilsome to tell under the blue-blooded lightness of the glow worms, but it was bits of metal and gems mixed into the dirt.

"Our first score !"Beth exclaimed.

They began collecting the glimmering pieces and cleaning off the unwanted dirt and rock and roll. Most of it was raw and cut, so excess sediment had to be scraped, hammered, and rubbed off, and even then, there was no telling how much gold or atomic number 47 was collected until it could all be properly melted down. Despite the find, Noah couldn't refuse his disappointment. When he had heard about these dungeon and the treasure within them, his inner nerd had been imagining something more along the lines of an actual gem bureau. That worm back there could be considered a mini-boss, after all.

With their spirits lifted, they left the condom of the bedroom to continue their fall.

"Trevor, you take spot,"said Noah.

"What ?"

"I mean you're in front, in the middle space. swearword 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 best to put your long compass directly in the front. If we enter a wide-open outer space, we might change over back."

Trevor stepped forward and led the group, and not long after they departed, they faced off against a span of the four-legged monsters like the one that Mira killed out-of-door. Now in the nerve centre, Trevor warded them off with his halberd.

"swearword, with me. Trevor, don't let them stand over us,"said Noah.

He and expletive stepped forward, keeping just out of mountain range of Trevor's halberd with Oath delivering a mighty cleave. His sword cracked into the monster's eggshell and struck its encephalon, though the lesion was shallower than Oath expected. Nearby, Noah was fending off lilt and stabs of the creature's jagged forelimbs, but when an opening came, he hacked one of them off and then thrust his sword into the monster's face.

"These shell might be worth something."

tongue in bridge player, they carved the top shells off, each one the size of a tower cuticle. They were hard enough to stop swearword's cleave and rather light, so there was the good chance they'd be worth something to an armour dealer.

They proceeded onwards, fighting their way through wave after wafture of the shell's inhabitants. They survived each encounter, but not without shedding blood. They kept their middle peeled, not just for monsters, but for intimation of hoarded wealth. They searched every elbow room, finding gold, atomic number 47, and jewel of all different colouration. They also found plenty of signs of human activity, though rarely any bodies, same with the monsters, and the dead conclusion were a constant quantity annoyance.

"time lag, hold up."

"What is it ?"Trevor asked.

"This plane section of the hall, we should keep off it. Look at it."The next C metrical unit of the tunnel had a dissimilar consistency than the quietus. It was a fleshy, punctured surface, like a dish parazoan."Something like that is probably some kind of sand trap. We need to backtrack."

"It looks delicately. It probably means we're getting close to the tail end of the shell."

"It very well could be, but it's also too suspicious to risk. We're going back."

But as they turned around, they heard screams and outcry 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 stop them."waiting, you can't go this way !"

She was shoved aside like she had been struck like a charging cop, the man who did it knocking her in the Kuki with the handle of his axe to get her out of the way.

"Mira !"Beth exclaimed.

She and Oath rushed to her side of meat, while nearby, the belly laugh of fear became screams of pain in the ass. The men, having entered the hallway, now found themselves being assailed from all face by flying Stinger. They shot out of the gob in the wall and ceiling like bullet and imbedded themselves in the men. They were barbed, like bee stingers, and Noah could see them pulsing as they injected their venom.

"Get her on her groundwork. Something is coming."

Mira was pouring blood from her sass and seemed delirious. Oath forced her to drink a health potion, but it wouldn't get her into fighting condition soon enough. The teras the men had feared arrived, some kind of hulking crossbreed between a Ursus horribilis bear and a komodo firedrake. Its back was covered in thick weighing machine and its bottom didn't seem very weak either. It stood on its hind leg, exposing its baneful claw, and released a roar from between two quarrel of shark-like teeth.

Beth, standing behind Oath and Trevor, shot it in the stomach with an pointer, though the wounding was shoal, and it would postulate time for the poison to kick in. Regardless, it took the subject matter and dropped back down onto all four-spot and charged.

"Mountain Splitter !"Trevor cast.

He thrust at the oncoming monster, aiming for its top dog with the blade alight with mana. The beast managed to avoid a deadly injury, instead staking the puff in the shoulder joint. Its scales were like dense stones and just as strong, so while Trevor reached the tissue paper underneath, most of the energy was deflected. Getting past the halberd, it slashed Trevor across the chest, sheering through his armor and knocking him against the wall. Noah took out a lye bomb and struck the beast in the face, blinding it and making it swag back.

"Beth, save Trevor. curse word, get over here !"

Noah didn't give it any probability to recover and lunged for the monster, slashing and stabbing at any spot that looked soft. He focused on the hurt shoulder, but the beast was guarding it well, and despite being blinded, it was swinging its claws with venomous accuracy, 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 fiend's head, doing some tenuous concussive damage.

"I'll distract it."Noah cast his invisibility and charged at the fiend while drawing a length of thick chain of mountains from within his band. He wrapped it around the monster's neck and jumped onto its rachis. He pulled with his full system of weights, forcing it to rear back on its hind legs so that curse could thresh about it across the stomach and unwrap its internal pipe organ

"world upsurge !"Mira cast as he got out of the way.

Since swearword had created a way in, Mira bombarded the goliath with a blast of grease and rock, aiming for the laceration. It fell on its back, too wounded to preserve fighting, and Noah finished it off.

"Good. What is everyone's condition ?"

"Unhurt, but tired,"said Oath.

"I'm out of mana and I can barely tolerate,"Mira whined.

"Trevor looks ok, but I think we should stop for the night. I'm starvation,"Beth said.

"Yeah, it's probably Nox by now. We'll claim it a day."

They searched around, finding a room for them to camp out in. They made a door out of monstrosity shell and barricaded it with their bags. There were no glowing worms in this way, so Noah lit his torch.

"Let's eat quick and get some nap. I'll take world-class watch."

After a restless dark, they left their enclosure."There is something I want to jibe out,"he said. He led them back to the corridor that had killed the other adventurer group, only to witness that the remains were gone, Lapplander with the armour monster that had given them so much trouble before."Interesting."

"What ? Something just came along and took the dead body. What's the big tidy sum ?"Trevor asked.

"This hall 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 drag marking, no footprint. Maybe one of those giant star bugs flew in and pulled them out without being detected, but I'd say it's more likely that they were eaten by something early than just a parasite."

"You mean the crab ?"asked Beth."How ?"

"I'm not certain, but I'd like to compute it when I have the chance. Let's go."

They set out, continuing their geographic expedition. The monster onslaught was relentless, a moving ridge emerging every couple of arcminute, each one pushing the adventurers beyond their limits, both from the numbers and the strength they carried. Everyone received injuries, even Noah. While his invisibility granted him a margin of damage compared to the others, stealth did little against such vast violence. There was simply not enough way to dodge or retire. They were running through their reticence of potions faster than Noah had anticipated, but not beyond his planning, and he still had plenty to make the full trip.

He assumed they had reached the consistency of the creature, or at least were no longer in the unoccupied fortune. to a greater extent heavy corridors were appearing, virtually of them containing some sort of biological trap like the spikes from before. Wherever this deepest portion of the shell was, it had to be fold by. Besides, there was also plenty of incentive to take the risk. While they did a lot of traveling, much of their time was spent get together treasure. Their pack and pockets were getting heavy with precious gemstone and ores, and even Noah was dumping stuff out of his ringing to make room.

That system of weights was currently a hindrance, though, as they found themselves running from another wave of centipedes. The eubstance of the corridor had also changed, where they were now passing through a strand of 30x30ft rooms, each one with a deep bowl-like floor.

"Whoa ! halt !"Noah shouted.

Everyone halted at the entryway to the following way, blocked behind his arms. The floor of the chamber was waist-high with dark water, or at least, they hoped it was water. By now, they had all become a bit paranoid towards the teras, as well as picked up some of their caper. There could be untold beasts lurking in that water, make to grab them and drag them under, perhaps injecting them with poison with needle tooth or bristled stingers. But the centipedes were closing in fast, and there wasn't adequate time to double back to a branch passage.

Noah summoned some food from his mob and sprinkled it across the surface of the water, and the following few moments passed by with agonizing anticipation, but null came up to feed, which was near enough for them. Not without grimacing, they stepped down into the slops and waded across. The next room had a kitty of water like the first, and the succeeding after that, and the thirdly, and it was taking their toll. Despite all of the run they had done, there was only so often that stamina could do in this kind of workout. However, as he moved through the fifth, Noah noticed something.

It was a layer of crude oil floating on the body of water's control surface. He looked back, seeing the centipedes pursuing them, even swimming like lowlife. Noah and the others got out, but he turned back with a flint and knife. This was something he wanted to forefend doing in this oxygen-low environment, especially since he was now soaked in oil, but he struck the Flint against his knife and spent off a atomiser of electric arc that set the pocket billiards ablaze, filling the chamber with a rampart of fire.

He rejoined the others, passing through respective Sir Thomas More rooms and taking multiple routine, but they finally had to quit and fascinate their breather and gasped in easing that they were no longer being pursued. Even Noah needed repose, so no one said anything and they all just leaned against their genu, sucking in air with their faces over the aerofoil of the water.

Noah stood up straight, and as he breathed in, the ground disappeared from under everyone's feet. Some kind of constitutional hole door had opened up beneath them, and the pond of coloured water became a bellowing whirlpool. Standing in the nitty-gritty of the room, Noah and Beth dropped helplessly, disappearing down a vast throat. Trevor, swearword, and Mira were saved by the tegument of their teeth. Trevor's halberd and Mira's stave had gotten stuck, granting them something to snaffle onto. They were hanging over the entrance to the pharynx like a bottomless well of support, quivering stone.

Sensing the impedimenta, the walls began to close in to try and dislodge them. The three youths couldn't aid but cry in terror as they struggled to climb up out of the throat. They were drenched in filth, struggling to oblige onto their artillery and get any sort of purchase. They squeezed and clawed their way out, feeling like their fingernails would strip off. Their faces were pressed to the sloped floor, forced to suspire in and taste the swill. They reached the succeeding room, but despite their debilitation, they couldn't rest yet. They could discover them, the approaching centipedes, having gotten past the fire Noah started.

They forced themselves onto their invertebrate foot, barely able to stand, but once more having to run. They were in a dire post, 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 grab onto to stop themselves. To Noah, it ranked as one of the weird moments in his stallion 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 ignominious, no cave worms around, and the import Beth tried to breathe in, her burning lungs cried out in a new anguish. The air was toxic, she could taste it, and every breath hurt. She coughed and wheezed, her face turning purple.

An arm wrapped around her from backside and something was slammed over her face. Instinct made her throw her human elbow back in self-protection, but it failed to land a hit.

"It's me ! Just breathe !"Noah shouted.

It took effort, but she drew in a inscrutable breathing place, and at last, it was vindicated. She drank the filtered air in greedily, while the thing over her mouth was tied around her head. It felt like leather, and it smelled like… charcoal grey ? I really made her want to sneeze, but even the itchiest breathing space was worth it.

"Noah ?"

"I'm here, hold on."

There was a spark in the darkness 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 religious belief 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 osseous tissue, and just twenty away, the shoring of a fosse of stomach acid sizzling away. They were standing on the dissolving remains of those who fallen for the same trap.

"Oh God, this isn't happening ! This isn't happening !"Beth cried as she crumbled.

Noah would have chastised her for losing her mettle, but considering the situation, he too was almost ready to bust."We're not utter 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 bulwark and slashed at it with all of his strength, but the sword simply slid off, throwing him off his counterweight and nearly sending him tumbling. He reformed his footing, this time attempting a stab. Once again, his sword, despite striking the form foreland on, simply bounced to the side, and he fumbled. He tried again and again, but his calibre of its resilience was that it was beyond his level of strength. However, he wasn't out of ideas yet.

Sheathing his sword, returned to the eye of the island, then began scooping up armloads of rot-slickened off-white. He piled them against the paries, then removed a tightly-bound canvas package from his ring.

"What is that ?"Beth asked.

"Give me the torch."She handed it to him, and he touched a tie in dim string to the fire. It came alight, and he forced the package against the wall, pressed with his shield, and backed by the pile of finger cymbals."Ok, back ! Back ! spinal column !"He coaxed her as far back as he could within the stomach, then conjured up the monster shells they had collected before."Duck down behind this and try to cover your capitulum !"

They got behind the shield-like carapaces, then an burst blasted off on the other side of meat of the room like it had been struck by lightning. fastball filled the air, and lethal shrapnel sprayed their defensive structure. Beth released a screeching from the monumental blow, but Noah held her still, and though the torch had gone out, there was now a yap in the side of the stomach, from which bioluminescent lightness was pouring in and stomach acid was pouring out.

They did their expert to avoid getting splashed with acid and climbed out into a new chamber."That plosion will feature drawn freak. We have to go."

"What about the others ?"

"They're head for the Lapplander place we are. We'll foregather them there eventually. Come on."

She followed him through the labyrinth, managing to avoid combat and receive a room where they could lie. The air was stale and disgusting down in these tunnels, but compared to the smoke of that tummy, Noah and Beth removed their masque and felt nothing but gratitude and relief with each breath.

"I… need to rest…"said Beth.

"Agreed, but I think it would be best if we cleaned off first."

Beth pointed her finger's breadth at him."Make Water."

H2O began pouring from her fingertip with the volume and intensity of a garden hose. Noah leaned into the spraying, scrubbing off the grunge and trying to get everything clean and jerk. Beth then took a bend, and they switched back and forth until they deemed themselves right.

"I thought you could only use deception to make water yourself unseeable. What was that back there ?"Beth asked as they both stripped off their soakage clothes.

Noah, standing with his back to her, round out his shirt."That was a dud, made of something called black powder."

Beth peeled over her trouser and the rough, unflattering cloth that passed for undergarments at this era."So it was alchemy ?"

"Sort of, there wasn't any thaumaturgy involved. It's just a powder that reacts violently to fire."Noah shed his own gasp, still slippery with oil.

"So, that thing you made… Was that something else you just whipped up like those gas mask ?"

"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 learn how to make hooey like that ? You said you couldn't find information on the keep crab, but you knew to make these gas masks."

"It was a job I took before I came to Clive. I spent a few twenty-four hours working in a mine. Down there, they were using contraband pulverization to blast apart rock and they had to use these mask in case they hit a gas pocket."The response seemed to appease her and he bowed down."Can you spray my mind again ?"

.

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The Story of cuss

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oath, Trevor, and Mira fell to their men and knees, close to passing out. They had finally managed to get by the centipedes and were now back in a convention corridor. Their strength was next 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 cuss,"we should—"

A solid fist striking his boldness both cut him off and sent him falling to the ground. His optic were rolling like billiard egg, but the auditory sensation of Mira's screaming forced him to focalize. Trevor had tackled her and motor a tongue into her chest.

"You son of a cunt !"Oath bolted to his pes and attacked Trevor, knocking him off Mira, who was choking on her own ancestry.

As they fell over into a tempest of grappling and lacing, Mira used what little long suit she had to retrieve a health potion from her pocket and pour it on the wound. She passed out, stuck in a subspecies between bleeding to dying and recovering in time. Nearby, oath and Trevor had gotten to their foundation and were now hurling punches wildly.

"Trevor, what the Inferno are you doing ? !"cuss shouted.

"Getting you out of my way !"Trevor yelled back.

He retreated, going after his halberd. Oath did the Sami, retrieving his sword and raising it just in metre to block Trevor's poke. Despite his strength, Trevor was able to maintain more continuous force, and the spear tip of the halberd pierced his shoulder. swearword couldn't contain his cry of torment as he was pinned against the wall. It was a stalemate, cuss stuck where he was, but Trevor ineffective to let up the pressure.

"It would birth been better if Mira had followed those two in the pit. I didn't want to have to down her, but I couldn't risk of infection you two teaming up against me."

"We weren't going to team up against you ! What the screwing are you talking about ? !"

"I just didn't want her to intervene when I tried to kill you. It doesn't matter, I'll just tell the others the two of you were both killed by the same monster, if they're even still alive."

Oath struggled to manage with the blade in his shoulder, but it felt like the wound was just getting swelled and bigger."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 undercoat, leaving a trail of blood across the wall."You're the finis of the main shift kin, so once you and your father die, I'll be next in line to receive the title."

"You're another member ? But my father said the branch family had been slain !"

"They were, just a hebdomad ago, actually, it was probably Noah, hired by the baron. But he only thought to kill my forefather and my half-brother. He didn't think it worth investigating boost, to find a mother fucker like me living in Clive. The town will be mine, it should be mine !"

curse word reached around, grabbing a stone on the ground. Fate was kind to him, guiding his throw and striking Trevor in the eye. He staggered back, bleeding horribly, and Oath wrenched the halberd out of his shoulder and scrambled to his feet. He could barely experience his get out arm, and he could neither open a health potion nor properly swing his sword with only one hand. Should he strike down his brand and go for a health potion ? Abandon it and use his tongue instead ?

Trevor, facing a exchangeable quandary, chose to regain his halberd and stare swearing down with his one respectable eye while launching stab. Oath did his right to parry the setback, as he didn't have the strength to do another shoving mates. He was losing priming, fast.

"So all this time, you were just waiting for a chance to kill me ? From the day we met ? !"

"Not at first, not until you came out to us as the baron's son, but when I found out about the dungeon crab, it was stark. I could use you to get the avenium, so no matter what, I'll still become a noble !"

Oath pulled away and reformed his posture, then went on the offensive. His capacity for wielding a brand had greatly diminished, but still, he could fight down, and his wide swings forced Trevor to retreat. True, Trevor had the longer reach, but it was much light for curse's sword to break his halberd rather than vice versa. Oath pushed him back, trying to get past the swinging axe blade.

"You're insane ! You think you can get the avenium or even escape this place on your own ?"

"That's a peril I'm willing to require. I want you to die down here, unburied, eaten, robbed of your little home sepulture plot behind your mansion."

"What could I have possibly done to progress to you hate me so much ?"

"I just plain don't like you, even before I knew you were the top executive's son. I wanted to kick you out of the group. You're too weak to find these land. You can't even use magic."

As Trevor spoke, his blade began to beam with mana, and curse word instinctively stepped back. His sword would likely tear if he tried to block or even deflect an attempt like that. This clip, when the vacillation and stab came, he only dodged, not letting the two weapons touch.

"All you do is let that chesty dickhead take precaution of everything and toss out orders. Clive would glow to the earth on the get-go day if you took over."

cuss swung his sword, just narrowly catching the halberd's irradiation and stopping Trevor long enough to close in. Trevor raised the halberd to block, but a cleave of oath's sword snapped it, leaving a shallow cut across his forehead and chest. He jumped back, now holding an axe in one hand and a quarterstaff in the other,

"I can do plenty on my own, without Noah,"said Oath.

"Shut up and die,"Trevor shot back before charging at him.

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

To Beth, it was horrifying, the vastness of the sleeping accommodation, for this grand cathedral to be just a belittled pocket of this piteous labyrinth. Noah, however, felt a spine-chilling upheaval. This was no ordinary chamber, as not only was it as bombastic as a football sports stadium, it had a bridge stretching across, perfectly monotonic, and a ceiling with great outward-bending arches holding it up. No, they were mountain range, each link the size of an SUV, and encrusted by the shell. So too were there bully statues adorning the bulwark, a pantheon of small creatures and great giant, all of them entombed by white, like fly ball in a spiderweb. The chamber was flooded, hence the bridge, but not with pee. It was a lake of mercury, glistening from some unseen light personnel beneath its depths. The air above it was filled with fly-like hummingbirds, hanging their heads directly down and touching their schnozzle against the surface as if sportfishing for something. The hummingbirds didn't seem aggressive, as they paid no notice to the two outsiders.

Noah and Beth crossed the span, staring in awe at the structures.

‘ This isn't a cancel structure, this was surely constructed by a sentient will. Who made it ? How ? How many citizenry know about it ? What happened to this place to end up like this ?'

It was his kickoff time facing doubt like these, for the presence of magic in this world created numberless possibilities that he would never have seen in previous world. Everything strange he ever encountered was either manmade or caused by nature, but the presence of deception added all new alternative, instigating curiosity. It could have been done by a whole other species, using power beyond his savvy. It was a new way of thinking, one that invigorated him.

They crossed the room without any conflict, entering a hall with normal-sized rooms on either position. In these chambers too, there were construction and shapes encased by the casing. Were they mass ? article of furniture ?

"Interesting."

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

expletive and Trevor were locked in combat, struggling to void each other's attacks. swearword had broken Trevor's halberd in two, taking away his ability to use magic, but he still lunged and fight back with the remains, granting him two smaller weapons. He would swing the head of his halberd like a hatchet, forcing Oath to stuff with his sword, and then use his free hand to scratch oath with the halberd's shaft. The snow were delivered at full-strength and Oath couldn't halt them.

"You don't deserve to become the next king if this is the dear you can do. You must be the unaccented of the family."

"Trevor, listen ! Do you really think you can get out of here without my helper ? Stop this, and we can both walk out of this dungeon alive ! You can still go a noble with the avenium !"

"That's not well enough. I want the land that my father couldn't have, the say-so. I want to spit on his grave as the undesirable bastard and flaunt the world power that he lusted after. I want Clive, and I want to rip it out of your hands. It's not good enough for me to win, you have to lose !"

A memory then flashed through Oath's mind, and despite the awful situation, a chuckle let slip."I remember Noah saying that you were a jolt probably because of something to do with your father. I think he even said you would shop us. It must be embarrassing, to be sized up so easily and have your dependable people of colour seen !"

"Shut up ! If he's still animated, I'll kill him after I've killed you !"

Trevor charged at Oath, and finally, Oath managed to deliver a wound of his own. He blocked Trevor's two-fold attack and pushed forward, his sword slicing Trevor's shoulder. Trevor dropped the broken tool, his arm now slick with descent, though Oath was in the Saami nation, no longer able to grip his brand with both hands. They stared each former down, picking the moment to strike. Trevor's broken halberd was lightheaded and brusk than Oath's sword, so it would be loose to wield, but he wouldn't be able to obturate well with it, so he'd have to concentrate entirely on offense. For Oath, his defensive attitude position was better, but while he could affect his blade with one arm, his speed would pale compared to Trevor's and he'd be favourable to inflict often legal injury. His best bet would be to block off and then try to overpower.

Looking at his cousin, swearword was reminded of that tantrum from the subject field, when that group of men attacked him, Noah, and Tin. He had been utterly useless, just pulled into the woods while Noah took care of the threat with ease. But in the workweek since then, he had trained relentlessly, and now, he could finally maintain himself and his bloodline, even against his own kin.

"This is your last chance, Trevor,"said oath.

"No, this is—"A hole opened up in Trevor's chest of drawers with pedigree pouring out.

Noah appeared behind him, his sword seemingly materializing out of thin air and now wet with Gore. The blade had gone straight through Trevor's heart, leaving both he and swearword stunned. Trevor tried to speak, but all that came out of his mouth was origin. Noah dropped him to the floor, pulled out his brand, and then pierced the backrest of Trevor's skull for ripe measure.

"blockage ! What are you doing ? !"Oath shouted.

"I'm fulfilling my contract. He became an enemy, so I dealt with him."

"It wasn't your seat to decide he should die ! Trevor wanted to become the next big businessman in my place, so it was my duty to take him down !"

"What are you talking about ? He wanted to take your place as Clive's next business leader ?"Noah asked.

"He… he said he was my cousin, an by-blow child. He kept it hidden all this time."

"Oh please. His Father of the Church wasn't ranked senior high enough to have an"illegitimate child child ”. Trevor was nothing Sir Thomas More than a usual illegitimate. And while I'm sure he had some hard-luck backstory about growing up on the streets that would make us all pity or financial backing him, I'm simply not interested. We don't have sentence for you two to attachment over your daddy issues."

Beth arrived, standing beside him."What's going on ?"Mira was with her, having narrowly recovered and been given a sec potion.

"I can't just go forth it this way !"Oath yelled."I can't just walk off without knowing how it would have ended ! If I could take in beaten him myself !"

"That's just your pridefulness talking, but pride won't keep you animated in this place. Should I get just sat back and let you extend your childish bicker ? I was hired to go along you from dying, not aid you satisfy your ego."

"Wait, what happened ?"Beth asked."What happened to Trevor ?"

"He tried to stamp out me and cuss,"said Mira.

"You can't be serious ! After all the time we spent together, he just turned on us like that ?"

"It was his plan from the beginning,"Oath muttered."He's my full cousin, and as soon as he found out we were in competition for the statute title of big businessman, he planned out how to use us and bolt down me."

"We're not going to make it out of here, are we ?"Mira asked.

"We should have turned back when we had the chance !"Beth tearfully exclaimed, falling to her knees as the pent-up strain finally released itself.

"shout and worrying about it won't aid us,"said Noah."feel, we're all exhausted. Beth and I found a way we can remain in. Let's set up camp and get our strength back. You three go, I'm going to sieve through Trevor's things."

"Noah, you can't,"said Mira."Trevor may bear gone crazy, but it's not right to just rob his corpse."

"Well you can either choose to stop me, or you can go, eat some tiffin, and put the whole thing out of your psyche. So what are you going to do ?"Mira backed down and briskly walked off with Beth behind her."And you go too,"he said to Oath.

"I'm not going to leave you alone here."

"When the adrenaline wears off, you won't be able to. You'll collapse and I'll have to carry you to the camping site. You're injured, go patch 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 hear anguished footsteps. Go."

curse word limped off after Beth and Mira, and Noah began picking through the treasure that Trevor had gathered, as well as taking tools and supplies that he had been carrying. It had gotten to the point where he really had to be picky about what he could exact with him, as he was reaching the demarcation line of what he could carry and still move effectively.

Once he had collected everything of worth, he activated his invisibleness and backed off to a prophylactic distance, where he sat down and waited. It happened after only a few mo, possible action in the floor appearing like chap in ice, but the casing wasn't actually breaking. They were seams, invisible to the naked eye until they actually opened up, and from within, a unripe slime appeared. instead than simply spreading out under the military force of gravity, it was moving willfully towards Trevor's corpse. It enveloped him, and though Noah could not see it, the consistence was being disassembled in piece of music the size of grains of sand. In time, the muck retreated, leaving nothing but some bones and scraps of fabric.

‘ So that's how it feeds.'

He went to the camp sleeping room, where everyone was sitting against different walls. There was a dead look in their heart, exhaustion that was both mental and physical. They had each held a Leslie Townes Hope deep down that they would make it out of the keep crab together, all of them, that their political party would survive this test and stay on altogether. Trevor was ill-bred and reticent, but his loss left a void, and they suddenly felt much frail without him. But with the truth they were forced to swallow, was it really a red ink ? After all, he showed no hesitation in trying to murder the masses who were thought to be his friends.

"How could he do it ?"Beth asked."How could he lie to us for that retentive ? dissemble to be our ally ? All those battles where we had to bet on each other, did that really mean zip to him ?"

Noah sat down and began unpacking his lunch."You'd be surprised how long you can keep the lies going, how well-to-do it can get."

"Have you lied to us about anything ?"

Noah stared at her, challenging her to go for his answer."mickle of things, none of which affair in this situation."He tossed some food to everyone."Eat up. It doesn't subject if Trevor is dead, it doesn't variety our plan."

"No, it changes everything."Beth stood up."We should impart. While we're still awake, while we still have provision and potions, we should leave. We're not ready for this space. We weren't ready even when we had Trevor. We have plenteousness of gem, more than enough to live happily. Isn't that enough ?"

"It's too late to turn back now, to leave here without the avenium. I'm certainly by now we've almost reached the nates of the shell."

"What are you really getting out of this ? You're so indisputable we can do this, you keep pushing us forward. What is it that you want so badly as to risk all of our living ?"

"The same affair as you, an adventure. Isn't that what you wanted ?"

"I was wrong, this is too much."Beth gave an indignant sigh."cuss, Mira, you agree with me, right ?"

swearword took a deep breath."I can't walk away from this, not now. I want to see this through to the end. I need to. I don't want to live my life as a coward."

"Mira ?"

Mira hugged her knees to her bureau and hid her fount. Was she refusing to read component part in the conversation or had she simply shut down completely ?

Beth turned back to Noah."We're in over our heads. It was a misunderstanding to come—"

"You're justify to pass on whenever you want,"said Noah, cutting her off."I don't expect anything from you. If you want to go back to the surface, 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 electric shock and Oath's brow nearly shot off his face, yet Noah didn't even wince."And ?"Beth stammered at his question, not sure how to respond."Again, you knew what the peck was when we started, no fond regard. I'm getting that avenium, and there is naught you can say to end me. You can either leave now and try to make it back out on your own, or you can come with us down to get the avenium and we'll make the trip back together."

"This is an obsession ! I don't know what the baron promised you, but let it go !"

"That's enough. Everyone shut up and get some rest. We set out again in an hour."

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

Trevor's absence took a heavy toll on the group. Beth and Mira continued to lash out from behind Noah and cuss, but the monsters still withstood barrages of stones and pointer to try and sink their teeth into something. Normally, Trevor and his halberd could have warded them off, breaking their impulse so that Noah and Oath could go in for the killing, but now, they had to be the principal defensive wall and block everything with their swords.

They battled through the monsters, but took wound with each clash. It wasn't just their constitution that had been disturbed ; Noah could see the grouping esprit de corps at the boundary of an abyss. Noah was indifferent, but the others were grappling with despair. Which hurt more ? Losing a friend ? Or finding out he was never their friend at all ?

At the moment, they were surrounded by centipedes in a wide-open bedchamber. Noah, expletive, and Beth were stomping on the fiddling bastards as they drew close, while Mira was swinging her staff, equipped with her Shatter macer spell. She was wild, taking out her straining and foiling on the creature, with her screams of exertion becoming louder with each swing. Rather than helping, the onslaught of monsters only seemed to increase her drunken aggression. Beth, on the former hand, was acting inert, paralyzed by fear and the loss of hope.

As Noah stomped on every centipede that came close, he heard a belly laugh. A few of the wolf had managed to jump up onto Mira and were digging in. Oath rushed over to aid her, but that left two sides of their formation unguarded, and the monsters were closing in.

"I have a plan !"Noah said."When the giant move away, everyone head word towards that passage over there !"

Before the others could say anything, Noah drew his knife and slashed his wrist, sending a torrent of bloodline pouring onto the soil. Seduced by the flavour of blood, the centipedes turned their attention from curse word and the others and swarmed towards Noah. He took off, sprinting across the subject of armored backs and spindly legs, leading them like the Pied Piper.

The trio didn't hesitate and rushed towards the passing, though looking back to see Noah's situation worsening. Once he saw them reach the doorway, Noah turned around and made himself invisible. The centipedes were understandably confused, as even his aroma disappeared. His descent, shrouded in mana, vanished as it fell. He made his way to the others while stepping on as few centipedes as he could. By the time he reached the expiration, he had already used a healing potion to heal his wrist.

"Let's go."

The doorway brought them to a winding staircase. However, unlike the tight spiral of when they first arrived at the donjon, this staircase spun down the walls of a chasm-like chamber like vallecula on a drill bit. It was too dark to see the ceiling or the floor of the chamber, but in the blackness, there was a trice star, far below their metrical unit when it should own been above their heads.

"Everyone, be supernumerary thrifty and footprint quietly. I think we've reached the bottomland of the shell."

They proceeded down the stairway, this one having actual steps. The darkness swallowed them from the lack of cave louse, but Noah lit his torch, easing everyone's awe. It when they reached the rump of the stair that their fears all came rushing back like a flood.

‘ Of course,'Noah thought bitterly.

The bottom of the elbow room was occupied by some sort of massive slumbering monster. This circular sleeping accommodation was more than a hundred feet wide of the mark, and the beast was coiled up all over itself like a snoozing boa constrictor. There was no telling what its real size or variety was, and Noah's torch couldn't provide enough sparkle to properly reveal its appearing. But in the center of the room was the booty for this journeying. The rampart and staircase were solidness shell, but the floor under the fiend was flesh, and in the midriff, in a call down washbowl, was a pool of powdered metallic element with a turquoise gleam. It was avenium, just like on Noah's ring. It was so close, but the risk before them was giving everyone doubts.

oath stepped forward."I'll go,"he said as quietly as he could.

Noah grasped his shoulder."No, I'm better at stealth, recollect ?"

cuss turned to him, loudly whispering."Please, it has to be me ! The whole reason why we made this journey was so that I could become a imposing ! I need to be the one to get the avenium. Let me earn my title."

"None of that matters, not in here. All that is important is getting the job done and getting out of here alive. If you want to do things the"right"way, do it on your own sentence. I'm going to do things the bright way. If this thing so much as twitching, leave me behind and run as fast as you can up the stairs."

Noah didn't wait for him to answer and activated his invisibility. True, this devil slept with its center closed, but he couldn't discount its sense of smell and hearing. He moved preceding swearing and stepped onto the fleshy footing. Whatever this thing was, it had a lot of tentacles, and they were spread everywhere. He stepped lightly, double-checking every spot before putting his system of weights on it. It was difficult, not just on the outside, but the interior. Noah had not been able to escape the ravages of fatigue, and his brawniness were becoming undependable.

For Oath and the others, it was nerve-wracking, as they couldn't see Noah, just the great mullein he was holding over his drumhead. Every clock time the light trembled, they imagined him fumbling, stepping on one of the ogre's tentacles and waking it up. When the torch finally reached the basin, they released their hold breaths. It was a substantial total of avenium, at least two liters of the glistening dust, and it was so mulct as well. Perhaps it was expelled from the crab louse like a splinter, and it would accumulate in the basin over time while the crab was underground. ‘ If this ends up like that picture from Raiders, I'll just pour down myself here and now.'Noah rested his hand atop the avenium and sucked it all into the ring, every grain.

Nothing happened, there was no reaction from either the lusus naturae or the washstand. Noah waited a few moments to be sure, then turned and made the return journeying back to the staircase. Once he reached Oath, Beth, and Mira, they all resumed respiration and began the dumb climb back up the stairs. It was when they reached the halfway point that a terrifying roar shook the sleeping room, and rather than below, it was coming from above. The group looked up in horror, seeing a second monster descending towards them. It appeared to be the same metal money as the first, looking like a colossal Lion with a teeth-filled beak and tentacles growing from across its back that it used like spider leg to help its stock. It was like some kind of Lovecraftian griffin. Just one lilt of its hand would defeat a sledgepaw bear. Had it also been nesting in this chamber ? Perhaps the mate of the one down below ?

"Beth, submit it down !"

"Too late !"

It reached across the chamber with its tentacles and swung over, its beak spacious open. The group scattered, managing to avoid its beak, which smashed into the wall, though Beth ended up losing her bow over the edge of the stairway. One the talons on its forelegs made its mark and clipped Mira's face, but that was all it took to crush her skull like a Gallagher melon. swearing and Beth, seeing her headless organic structure slump to the trading floor, were left in stunned silence. Noah, already back on his foundation, stabbed the wolf in the eye, forcing his brand in all the way to the hilt. The beast howled in painful sensation and jumped back with his steel pulled from his grip, and it wasn't the only one in torture. Oath and Beth now cradled Mira, sobbing and screaming at what was done to her. Beth, Noah could read, but swearword's reaction stood out.

‘ Goddammit, don't tell me he loved that girl.'“ We got to move ! There is nothing we can do for her !"

"No, I can fix this !"Oath sobbed."Give me all the healing potions we have !"

"Her head is gone, she's dead. No potion can fix that."

"Please, don't ask us to lead her,"Beth whimpered.

Another roar echoed through the burrow, this one from below. It seemed the commencement fiend had woken up. Oath scrambled to his human foot, not in fear, but rage. He grabbed his blade with tears streaming down his face.

"I'll belt down them ! I'll wipe out them both !"

"This is no time for heroics ! We're leaving !"

"GET OUT OF MY WAY !"swearword howled while throwing a punch.

Noah deflected and countered with a jab to the throat and a knee to the stomach. cuss collapsed like a house of card and Noah grabbed him and hoisted him over his shoulder. He turned to Beth and handed her his bow to replace hers."bread and butter those things off our tail. If you run out of arrows, I'll give you more. Now move !"

They raced up the stairs as fast as they could. Noah was struggling under the feat of hauling Oath and everything they both carried, and he had to hold the woolly mullein as well. Ahead of him, Beth was raining arrows down on the two monsters to the estimable of her ability. They seemed aware of the poisoned crest and were keeping a dependable distance, but they were still following them up. They started swinging at Noah and Beth with their tentacles, trying to block their way of life. Beth would welt at them with a knife to create them retract, but it was just getting worse and unsound, 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 pair of tweezers digging in and not letting go. Their bite didn't appear toxicant, but they put fastball ants to dishonour on the pain scale leaf. Not even Noah could maintain a poker expression with them biting down on his legs.

With chance on their side of meat, they escaped the chamber, running down several corridors before arriving at a bedchamber where they could lie. Noah dropped Oath on the undercoat and began ripping off the centipedes biting his branch. It was strange for Beth, to see Noah so winded and offend. He collapsed near the wall, downing a healing potion to block his hemorrhage. Oath, having regained consciousness, got back to his feet and approached the doorway with his sword.

"Don't even think about it,"said Noah.

"I refuse to leave her consistency down here. I'm going to get my retaliation on that savage and land her home to eat up her."

"It's a fiend, it doesn't see your feel. If you go swinging at it for retaliation, it's just going be sword lily that its next meal arrived so willingly. Besides, Mira has probably already been devoured."

"Don't say that !"Oath shouted.

"Noah !"Beth added her voice to the outrage.

"You just demand to assume it. She's gone, there is nothing you can do to help her. Nothing can be done to exchange what happened. I'll say it as harshly as I need to if it gets the message through your thick skull."

"What would you give done if it was Tin who died in there instead of Mira ?"

"I would give left her. I've seen plenty of people die. This isn't my first prison term leading citizenry into scrap, and injured party are to be expected."

"So you were just waiting for each of us to die ? !"Beth exclaimed.

"As long as I could fulfill my contract, I was prepared for all possible going, though I'm honestly disappointed that you two all came here expecting to do this without losing anyone."

"Is that all we are to you ? Just time to come deprivation ?"

"Yes, that's right."Noah got to his foundation."flavour, we've got the avenium, so the hard division is done. Now we can guide home."

"Two of our friends are dead and we're in the bottom of a donjon crab ! How is that not the laborious voice ? !"Beth screamed at him.

"Because I have an idea on how to get us out of here."He took out a piss peel from his rucksack and poured in some powdered avenium from within his ring, 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 ?"cuss asked.

"When I activate my invisibility, I wrap myself in mana, as well as anything I touch or hold, but for some reasonableness, it won't work on anything livelihood. The mana just won't stick on, like it's being repelled. However, I did some research on avenium. It is a metallic element, but it bends light source like a crystal, and it manipulates mana the Sami way. I can't practice my invisibility to you, but if you're covered with powdered avenium, it may help me conceal you a bit. Try it."

swearing sighed and poured some of the concoction on his nous, then went to play rubbing it into his hide and clothes. He handed the relaxation to Beth and she did the same. Noah activated his magic and grasped their hired man. The air around them shimmered, their bodies becoming faint, like they were shrouded in a warmth haze. They became like mirages of their true selves. curse and Beth voiced their shock absorber as they looked at each other, and the fact that Noah could see them was concerning. It was a far-cry from Noah completely erasing his mien, but at the very to the lowest degree, it would pass water 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 deport, leave it here now."

Beth and Oath couldn't see Noah, but they stared at the blank space he occupied. He could see it on their faces, the distrust, the defeat, the veneration, the sorrow, the exhaustion. They'd just accept to suck it up.

"Let's go, and step lightly."

They left the bedchamber and began their journey back to the surface. They no longer moved in shaping, and they tried to keep a agile but restrained pace. When devil were nearby, Noah would activate his magical spell and they'd do their Best to obviate detection. It didn't always body of work. At one decimal point, they were being pursued by a mob of the bipedal carnivores like the I they had faced outside. It was too many for them to pack on, and the longer they stayed in one spot scrap, the corking the chance more monsters would be drawn.

Noah, pulling Oath and Beth along, activated the spell in his right eye.

"What the hell ? !"expletive said in shock as he watched the clone declination back, while the rattling Noah was still gripping his hand.

"It's another conjuring trick I can make, just keep moving !"

As they ran, Noah had the clone start waving his arms and shouting at the approaching monsters, doing whatever he could to run their attending. They passed through the clone in utter discombobulation, turned around, and tried again and again. Their eyes, ears, and nozzle were all telling them that prey was standing before them, but no affair how many meter they tried to prick down, their jaws closed around nothing but air. They were so distracted that Noah and the others managed to get away.

"Why didn't you tell us about—"

"Shut up !"Noah barked back."If you can talk, go on running instead !"

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

fountain was planting season, so the farms on the error estate were in a hysteria. Oath, the baron's tierce son, was the"overlord"of this chore. He and the slaves spent their days working the bailiwick, though there was slight distinction between them. He lived and ate his repast with his father and blood brother, at to the lowest degree, when they were at nursing home, but his ranking in the home was just a dance step above"bastard ”. His father lauded all of his extolment on his sidekick, with the untried always trying to excel the senior and win the estate.

The oldest was a soldier, a squad loss leader, one step below admittedly knight. He would be gone for months at a metre, then return menage and gasconade about the battles he fought for the resplendence of Uther, and how he bolstered the repute of the Fault house. The middle son was a proud huntsman and skilled in deception, a natural endowment he often lorded over the older chum. He claimed conjuration to be infinitely superior to swordsmanship, meaning he, the magically-affluent, was the future of the blood line. Neither chum liked Oath, simply treated him like one of the servants. He was just another laborer. His male parent, on the other mitt, wasn't cruel like them, but he simply didn't precaution beyond paternal instinct. His mother was long gone.

Oath had been outside when he learned of their deaths, but on break. Lying on a sun-warmed grassy James Jerome Hill, he watched the clouds pass overhead. As the tertiary son, he was compelled to keep his head down, to focus only on the task in front of him and not rock the boat. Skygazing was the only time he'd break that rule, abandoning the sphere to instead sharpen on farming his own mind, to block about his life and responsibility and try to visualize out what was left.

He knew nothing of the world beyond his dwelling house and village, couldn't even read, and most of his enculturation came from talking with the slave during work. They often didn't have much to say, but they trusted him enough to include him in their chit chat. He wasn't like the baron and his sometime sons ; his infantry were more secondhand to the soil of the theater of operations than the floor board of the Fault household. Those conversations were the only clip he could pick up of things beyond simply swinging a hoe or scythe, to divulge that there was more to existence than just crops and livestock, and when he gazed at the sky, oath would use that inkling to try and develop himself, find out who he was. That was the plan, at least, but he was disturbed by one of the maids of the house.

"Master swearing, your Father requires your presence immediately."

The applied honorific was just a courtesy acknowledging his stock. There was no fair respect in her discussion.

"Understood."Oath got up and followed her to the sign, where she led him to his founder's study. As he approached, he heard nonsensical shouting and thing falling over.

interior, the baron, Ivan, was pacing back and forth, disorder and drenched in tears. newspaper and token from his desk were scattered across the story and he was gripping a whisky glass with a shaking hand.

"male parent, what is it ?"

"swearword, Colt and victor have perished."Ivan picked up a varsity letter with a broken wax seal of approval."colt was killed in battle on the Petosic Steppes."He threw it aside."And Victor was killed by a bear while hunting. His remains were found this morning."He emptied his whisky glass in one draught and staggered, looking like he was on the verge of collapse.

swearing took a moment to process the news program, but there wasn't much to operation. There was no such thing as sibling making love in noble household."I'm sorry, Father."

The baron fell back in his chairperson."curse, you are now my merely son. That means that you will inherit my championship when I die, unless my conniving brother manages to steal it !"

"father, I can't be a baron !"

"This is not something you can reject ! I will not take into account our house to let magnanimousness slip from its fingers ! But you're right. The way you are now, the kingdom would be Isaac Mayer Wise to helping hand it over to Edwin, so we're going to change that. From now on, I am going to sculpt you into a worthy replacement."

After that, everything changed. From the crack cocaine of dayspring until latterly at night, Oath was trained in combat, etiquette, and meter reading and writing. The creature of the farm were replaced with his grandfather's brand, and minute not spent swinging it were spent hunched over one Holy Writ after another, studying by candlelight. None of it stuck. Unlike his blood brother, he was born without talent and raised without an educational activity. He couldn't use magic, could barely crusade, and was about as polite and learned as the dispirited tike. There was little hope for him.

One day, he found himself at the Old Wineskin, looking for an take chances job. masses would post notices, requesting point like worthful works or demon parts, or tasks like escorting mortal through the forest. Helping around town would pay him some achievement he could use to prove his eligibility for inheriting the Clive barony. He had also heard some Weird rumor about the inn, about some loony couple that had the gimcrack sex imaginable. From dawning to midday on every other day, anyone in or near the inn would be flushed with plethora as they heard a vernal woman's cries of euphoria, along with the knocking of a bedframe threatening to soften apart. However, today, the inn was silence. The only vocalization he heard was addressed to him.

"Hey you, by the bill control board, over here !"

He looked over to the germ, spotting a table occupied by three youths like himself, a man and two women.

"Me ?"

"Yeah, come on !"one of the cleaning woman said, a tall and bubbly blonde.

oath crossed the bar to them."What is this about ?"

"You wouldn't happen to be searching for a party to link up, are you ?"the other woman asked, a cute brunette with short hair.

"Oh… uh, yeah, I guess. I haven't been making much clearance on my own."

"wellspring shoot a seat !"

swearing hesitated, feeling the man beside him shooting sticker from his eyes. He was sizing him up, and apparently didn't like what he saw.

"No, modification of plan, keep moving. We don't need any more than wuss in our group."

"Shut up, Trevor,"said the blonde."Ignore him. I'm Beth and this is Mira. We're currently in demand of a swordsman in our group, and you look like you would fit redress in."

"She means you look weak enough that no one better would induce invited you to unite their groups, and no actual explorer would sully their dignity by joining this gro— Ouch !"Beth had just kicked him under the table.

"You're not allowed to traduce the group while being a section of it,"she scolded.

"verity be told, none of us are very upright, but that just means we should stick together,"said Mira.

curse word finally took a keister and put a hand on the sword hanging from his knock."Ok, sure, I'll joint you guys. My name is Oath. I'm actually kind of surprised, I thought this place would be… louder."

"Oh yeah, those stories ? We've actually met them, Noah and Tin, the couple who make all that interference,"said Mira.

Now Trevor seemed interested."Really ? Were they freaks ?"

"No, normal as can be,"said Beth,"and they're both barely honest-to-goodness than us. You'd never think it when looking at them. The guy is actually really ache. He gave us a lot of bang-up advice about tactics and magic. We tried to get him to fall in our squad, but he wanted to work on his own, him and that slave girl. God, I envy her."

"Settle down, you're so unseemly,"Mira said with a sigh. She then turned to Oath."Anyway, welcome to the radical !"The grin she flashed at him made his heart hoo-hah in a way it never had before.

For the next few weeks, Oath and his new friends adventured together, fighting what monstrosity they believed they could beat, but were most often forced to run away and tend to their wounded body and bruised egos. But no affair how many sentence they were beaten, swearing was never dejected, because it was the first time he felt truly accepted, and with hoi polloi his own age, no less. True, Trevor always gave him the insensate shoulder joint, but Beth kept the liveliness of the chemical group raised, and Mira… she was something else altogether.

She spoke with him, laughed with him, and smiled with him, all moments of confusing blissfulness that he drank like fine wine. He was drawn to her, pulled by a force that he could not describe. One day, after they had managed to kill a masher, and only just barely, he and the others all collapsed from debilitation. Mira, sitting side by side to him, ended up placing her script on his. The moment her fingers touched his, it was like cold lightning surged through his nerves, a frighteningly potent sensation, but one that made him feel more alive than the battle just moments before.

Perhaps it was just the epinephrin and the endorphins, but he looked at Mira, and she, realizing the contact between them, didn't draw away, and instead gazed at him with a shy smile and flushed cheeks. The first time curse fought a devil, he froze up in terror, and it wasn't the last time his fear got the better of him, but at that minute, he broke through his fright, turning his hand over to hold hers. They gazed at each former, their breadbasket filled with more butterflies than a meadow in summer. That was the moment he realized his feelings for her.

The next day, his father sat Oath down in the parlour of their habitation. With them was a husky middle-aged venturer with a bow."Oath, no thing what, you must not let anyone outside of your party know this. I've just learned that a dungeon crab has surfaced nearby."

Dungeon crabs were one of the great anomalies in the world, but their mythology was thin out. They were vague creatures, described as keep fort that rose up from the ground. Many believed that they were a remnant of the war between the Supreme Being and the strong drink.

Oath wasn't sure how to respond to the news program, so his father continued."Adventurers who manage to capture a keep crab by taking the avenium inside are granted the social rank of tycoon or in high spirits by the kingdom. If you and your supporter can accomplish this, then there is nothing Edwin can do and my title will be passed on to you without question."

"My friends and I can barely face the monsters in the woods. We can't care a dungeon crab."

"I am well aware of your weakness when it comes to swordplay. I'm hoping that switching to a unlike weapon will unlock your potential. This man is Sendal, a veteran adventurer and archer. He'll teach you how to use a bow."

Just looking at Sendal, oath could tell he wasn't the friendly guy, but his father wouldn't change his judgment. That day, he and the archer rode into the Grant Wood to hunt, and that was the last thing he remembered. When next he woke up, he was in a goblin tunnel, racked with painful sensation flowing from the back of his drumhead down to the tip of his toes, but it was waning, thanks to the potion he had received.

serving him to his metrical unit was a vernal man, a bit older than him, with a girlfriend standing behind him. Noah and Tin, he had heard those names before. They were the source of the strange rumors about the Old Wineskin, but more than that, Beth and Mira had vouched for Noah's strength. Oath was skeptical, especially when Noah declared that he was going to clear out the goblin den himself, something that was nothing short of suicidal. Despite his lifetime being saved, oath wasn't feeling very grateful, considering he now had to exercise as Noah's camp mule while he marched to his doom.

But then he saw the final result. Noah slaughtered the goblins with ease, never displaying any form of magic. swearword and his friends had repeatedly tried hunt hob, nearly dying every meter, but they fell like reeds with every baseball swing of Noah's sword. Then, when the hobgoblin head revealed itself, swearing got to witness true swordplay, and the memories of his one-time brother's acquirement were painted over by Noah's battle. Had he and his Quaker attempted this, they would have ended up being cooked and eaten.

During the journey home, they were attacked by bandits. Tin, obeying Noah, pulled Oath into the woods before he could even grab his blade. The conflict lasted only a minute, leaving swearing in awe when he saw the bodies of the slain bandits. He rode back to Baron Clive with Noah and Tin, and when he arrived back home, his father threw his blazonry around him, wailing sculptural relief to see his son's reappearance. It was the first off clock time his father had ever hugged him.

"Father, there is something I need to recite you."They went into his father's study and closed the door behind them. Oath, standing while the business leader sat, leaned against the desk."The hunter you hired, he knocked me out handed me over to goblins."

"darn him ! Edwin must have bribed him to get you out of the picture. But if he handed you to goblin, how did you break away ? Did you fight your way out ?"

"No, I was saved by someone, a man named Noah. He's unseasoned than colt but twice the warrior, and he's already helped my friends before. He wiped out a huge hob nest himself and even killed a hobgoblin."

Ivan leaned back in his chair."If a youthful man of such skill were to join your party, perhaps you might be able to capture the dungeon crab."

"I was thinking the same thing."

"Bring him here. I'll talk to him."

The next thing curse knew, Tin lay dying, and he watched as Noah slew the assailant. The arrow in Tin's dresser, it had been meant for him, he was reminded of it with each pained breath she made. Crushed with guilty conscience, he applied every potion in the house, pouring them on her wound and down her throat, but her condition didn't improve. As Noah approached, cuss braced himself for the worst. It was expletive's fracture that she had died, her life ended because he had been saved, so would Noah exact his liveliness as compensation ?

But Noah didn't acknowledge curse word. He simply kneeled down and held Tin. There were no tears, not even a trembling breath. Tin voiced her concluding goodbye and closed her oculus, while Noah simply stared at her like a statue. Noah then departed with Tin, riding off to find a worthy office to bury her. Watching him mount off, Oath remembered the grinning on Tin's nerve when she said au revoir, and imagined that feel on Mira, the pure, honest, intoxicating emotion. He wanted to see her. He had nearly died, and he wanted to take the jeopardy he never could take in if he hadn't been saved.

To his Father of the Church's objection, he rode out to the Old Wineskin, and as soon as he entered, he heard Mira's vocalization."Oath !"

There they were, gathered at their common table. Never was he so glad to see his friends. He crossed the tavern and took his seat."Hey."

"Your father told us you were out training with an archer,"said Beth."I'm rather insulted you didn't ask me first."

"You guys aren't going to trust 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 create up excuses."

Mira gave him the welfare of the dubiety."Really ?"

"Yeah, but I was saved by that Noah guy that you told me about, he and Tin. I watched him make out an stallion mine replete of goblins single-handedly."

"Of course individual like you would need to be saved,"said Trevor.

"An integral mine ? !"Beth exclaimed as she bolted to her feet.

"We can barely fight back a smattering of them,"Mira sighed.

"Anyway, listen to this."He leaned in and waved for them to all do the same."A dungeon crabmeat has appeared nearby."He was favourable that everyone understood that condition. He didn't have faith in his ability to excuse it. His friends all fell back in their seats.

"You honestly can't be thinking of trying it !"Beth exclaimed."We'd be beat in an minute !"

"Listen, Noah has agreed to join our team and groom us. With his help, I'm sure we can do it."

"We don't need some addict's advice,"said Trevor.

"Did I forget to mention that he also killed a hob ?"

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 wide name is Oath geological fault, son of Baron Ivan shift. I'm his third son but I'm next in line to receive his title."

"red cent it, he's unrestrained ! Everything he's said so far was a hallucination."

"Oath, did you eat some strange mushrooms in the woods ?"Mira asked with honest concern.

Stared in continued silence.

"I swear to you, it's true. I'm sure the bowman gave me to the goblins to keep me from inheriting the form of address. When I returned base, that Saame archer tried to kill me, but ended up killing Tin instead."

Both Mira and Beth were left in bedaze silence. While they had only met her once, the news program of her demise was a shocking snow. Her interminable moaning had become a dot of pridefulness in the villagers, considering it a valued quirk in the indistinguishability of their home, like the swallow returning to Capistrano. Besides, they had both seen the love in her eyes.

"Yeah. Noah killed the guy and rode off with Tin to eat up her. He said he would be back the day after tomorrow."

"That's awful,"said Beth.

"poor Noah,"Mira added.

"I don't think we should deliver him with us. We can do the donjon Cancer ourselves,"said Trevor.

"No, we wouldn't stand a fortune without him. Just talk to him, you'll see."

Beth raised a beer mug."Anyway, I'd say this calls for a drink. Let us rejoice the secure yield of our Comrade, wassail our approaching winner, and mourn a fallen acquaintance !"

Oath wanted to laugh, but truth be told, he'd need some melted courage.

Late into the night, the four explorer splurged on food and beverage, until all was quiet and the boniface was preparing to fold up the bar. Trevor had gone habitation, Beth was currently passed out, and now it was just Oath and Mira.

"I hope this dungeon crab thing works out,"said Mira, Sir Thomas 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 glad I did it, but I just want a nice restrained home life."

"Well I'll become the business leader of the Ithiel Town. Maybe you could settle here."Never in a million years would a sober curse word have the courage to do so, but he reached out and held her hand like he had on that day in the Natalie Wood."And I could make a home with you."

Like him, Mira was fueled by liquid courage, but she got to her fundament with piffling good will and great braveness, and pulled Oath to his."Come on,"she mumbled with an embarrassed grin. They were both to a greater extent than a little drunk, so they had to help oneself each other up the steps, giggling with each measure. They reached the room access to Mira's way, and as she fumbled with the key, curse leaned in and stole a kiss. It was his first off, as well as hers, and while he got her mostly on the olfactory organ, she touched her lips with a smile and a blush.

They got the door exposed and stumbled into the room, shutting it behind them. Mira lit a candle and then made herself at home in oath's bosom. Standing in the eye of the room, they kissed once more, this metre capable to put their hearts and souls into it.

"Are you ready for this ?"Oath asked.

"I think so. Are you ?"

"I'm not sure. I don't have any experience with being with a woman. I mean… I've seen animals on the farm…"

Mira burst into laughter, which, s 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 footstep is we take off our clothes."

curse was already sporting a woody, and those conclusion four words nearly pushed him over the bound. He took off his pelage, Mira removed her cloak, and for a bit, they paused, feeling the tension as they gripped their shirts, but upon struggling to actually pull them off, they couldn't assistant but laugh. Mira's breast were exposed, and swearing, a swirling flood of adolescent internal secretion, 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 stir them ?"

"I… guess."

She hesitantly lowered her weaponry, and Oath, with trembling hands, began to fondle her modest 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 expletive's advert, afraid of being so vulnerable, both her body and her feelings exposed to another for them to do with as they pleased. Perhaps it was the presence of that reverence that made it feel so sound, the fear of being touched so intimately, sundry with the joy of finding someone whom she wished would do so.

Massaging deep into her human body and relishing the way her pap felt when he toyed with them, Oath, like Mira, was overwhelmed. The hazard to explore a woman's body like this, to know it, intimately, it teased his near innate, natural oddity. He was so energize, trembling like a folio and flavour like he was going to jump out of his skin. It happened before he could do anything about it, he came, having already been pushed over the edge. Flushed with shame, he did his trump to try and hide it, but to Mira, it looked like he was just getting impatient.

She lowered her hands and pushed off her trouser. Oath didn't immediately oppose, but that was because he was trying to gain his thinking and his strength. When he realized what she had done, he didn't have time to cogitate, and simply dropped his own pants. This time, it was Mira's good turn to stare, as she tried not to think of when their group terminal fought goblins, most of which weren't wearing anything.

Mira climbed into bed, hiding herself under the cover."Now… you get on top of me… and I think you know where your matter goes."

Oath put out the cd, plunging the elbow room into total darkness. He meandered his way back to the bed, feeling the covers. His custody found Mira's body and he felt her stir like a fright creature. He slipped under the cover and their naked body met, first in the material body of an embrace, then in the form of a kiss, and finally…

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

Noah, Oath, and Beth sprinted up the winding stairway towards the exit of the dungeon crab. They were covered in blood, travail, and dirt, and had countless untreated injuries. Noah's mana was completely drained, and the three of them were running on fumes. They couldn't tell if the ogre were still chasing them. After all this clock time, the chorus line of roars repeated in the back of their minds no matter what.

Finally, when their bodies felt like they'd fall apart like sandcastles, they breathed fresh air, and felt the sun shine upon them. They burst out of the top of the Cancer the Crab's shell, collapsing near the doorway. For the three of them, it was like a religious experience. Beth crumbled, rip pouring down her face, a mix of happiness, misery, rest period, and mourning, and as the sun rose, Oath stared like his soul had left his body, turning him into an empty stalk. As for Noah, he dropped the knight sword he had been using and gripped the earth with shaking manpower. How long had it been ? How long had it been since he last-place fought that hard for his aliveness ? How long had it been since his endurance instinct pushed him that far ? No, when it was more than just his selection instinct pushing him ? The reverence, the epinephrin, the endorphins, the pain, they flowed through the folds of his Louis Harold Gray matter like a rising tide across a desert.

"Get up, on your feet."

Noah looked over, seeing Oath standing with his brand pointing at him.

"What the perdition do you think you're doing ?"Noah muttered.

"You heard me, get up and face me."

"oath, you're kidding, right ?"Beth asked.

"No. You and me, Noah, right here, decently now."

"You ungrateful lilliputian terror. After all I did for you, you have the heart to channelise your blade at me ? The sword I gave you ?"

"You didn't do this for me. I was just a prop in whatever hand you struck with my father. Now Mira is dead and I was robbed of my opportunity to settle affair with Trevor. We never should deliver gone in there, but you kept pushing us. We never should have let you be a part of our team."

"curse word, it's not his fault ! You also wanted to observe going ! Just put your sword down and we can all go home !"

"No ! I have to do this !"

"You're right,"said Noah, getting to his feet,"you were just a prop, but I'm still under contract bridge and not allowed to belt down you. Once we're back and I've gotten my reward, then I'll put you down as concentrated as you want."

"No ! I'm done listening to you ! From the moment we met, you've run my life. I was supposed to be the one to seize the avenium, to seize my own destiny, not let you take it and have whatever chip you toss my way ! I couldn't avenge Mira, I couldn't beat Trevor, and I couldn't even conquer the dungeon crab louse ! I can't go home this way ! I refuse to endure like this ! But if I beat you, that'll be enough."

Noah gripped the hilt of the knight steel, and the sensation he got back was far from nonesuch. 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 recoup his strength. At least oath was in the same position. Despite his anger and bloodlust, he was on the verge of passing out. The sprightliness was willing, but the flesh was another story. If Noah fought him in this state, even the smallest wounds could evidence fatal, then his deal with the king would be out the windowpane.

"I'm not going to mollycoddle you. If you want to get yourself killed, do it after we get back. I want to live long enough to hard cash in everything I've collected."

"You can't talk your way out of this !"

cuss charged with his sword raised, attempting his signature cleave. Noah stepped to the side of meat, nearly falling over as he did so. Rather than a separatrix, he struck Oath in the belly with the handle of his sword. Oath nearly retched, but regained his footing and punched Noah. He tried to parry, but was still grazed and staggered back, drawing his sword completely.

"point this, you two don't need to fight !"Beth pleaded.

"Tell him that !"Noah argued.

swearing unleashed a bustle of lilt towards Noah, who lacked the nimbleness to get out of the way. Instead, he had to kibosh and parry each swing. They locked leaf blade, pushing against each other in a shoving match.

"You chose to go into the dungeon crab,"said Noah."You chose to follow me, despite knowing how grievous it was for Mira. You put your pride and your nobility over her. I killed Trevor because you were too frail to get it done and you would have woken up that goliath with just three steps. You don't get to blame your incompetence on me."

"You're a heartless motherfucker ! You couldn't even shed a tear for Tin, no wonder you didn't caution about us !"

"Grow up !"

Noah let go of his sword and perforate Oath, sending him staggering back. Noah touched his deal to his eye, casting his invisibility. He only had enough mana to rest hidden for a few moments, so Noah tackled Oath, disarming him and knocking him to the flat coat. Three hearty blows to the face left him unconscious.

Noah dropped to his knee, gasping for air with his spell coming undone. Hopefully, Oath would be much more sensical when he woke up. As Noah got to his fundament, there was a monster's snarl, followed by Beth's scream. One of their pursuer from within the shell had arrived and was attacking Beth. It looked like some variety of cycloptic tiger with a mat of shaft across its back. Beth was pinned, her arm in its mouth with her frame being torn and her off-white breaking.

"Damn it !"Noah growled.

Beth still had his bow, so Noah pulled out his short sword and threw it, winging the animal in the shoulder. It turned to Noah and charged, and Noah, trying to activate his thaumaturgy, realized he had used the last of his mana to grapple with Oath. He jumped to the incline to circumvent the lunging tiger, but as he hit the primer coat, he realized he had less strength than he thought. He had planned on hitting the undercoat with a ringlet and then jumping to his feet, but he just fell like a tree. All he could do was hustle on his back, and this time, when the tiger pounced, he wasn't able-bodied to dodge. It tried to bury its teeth into his neck, but he blocked its rima oris with his sword, though he could do cypher about its claws, digging into his shoulders. It was pushing down on him with its full free weight, and he didn't have the lastingness to deem it back.

Noah stared into its one, fist-sized eye and watched dribble pour from its mouth, ruffle with the rakehell from the cuts that his sword was creating. This certainly ranked among the top of his weirdest deaths. Yet when his strength was about to falter, Oath attacked the tiger from behind, slicing off his header with a swing of his steel. Oath then kicked the tiger's cadaver off Noah and pointed his sword at him.

"You'll never get a adept opportunity than this,"Noah said with a smirk.

expletive took a deep breathing place and sheathed his steel."I suppose saving your spirit is as much an accomplishment as ending it."He held out his hired hand to Noah."Let's go home."

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Epilogue

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The townspeople of Clive was bustling, filled with adventurers following the news of the keep crabmeat's growth. Around half of them would die within its shell, but those with skill and luck came back to town with pockets total of ores and gem. Having returned to townspeople just the previous night, Noah had tried listening for tittle-tattle of whether or not anyone else had managed to catch 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 majority of the venturer were sassy enough or perhaps not challenging enough to go very deep into the crab.

But that's not what Noah was focusing on at the import. He was at the inn, sitting on the bed in Beth's room and examining her arm. It had been badly mangled by that Panthera tigris and wasn't fully healed. Since they were out of potions at the meter, Noah and curse word had to wind it and incline it as best as they could. On the way down from the dungeon's entrance, they met an adventurer and bought some healing potions off him. However, they weren't able to completely reverse the damage. The flesh on her arm looked molted, like stark stretchability marks, and the muscle underneath was out of proper form. At to the lowest degree the pearl had been reset properly, but the way Beth winced as she stretched it per Noah's instruction, he knew that she was golden to still have 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 someone with healing magic, they might be able to undo the damage, but otherwise, I can't suppose your arm will ever regain its full use or strength."

"That's fine,"she said with a monotone phonation and dead fish eye. She shuddered, as if shaking herself awake."No, it's not OK, it's terrible. But… I don't have to occupy about using a bow."

"You're quitting being an venturer ?"

"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 obtain a healer to mend my arm, but after that, I'm going to do what Mira wanted and settle down and construct 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 adequate experience with fair sex to jazz how to avoid getting them fraught, and I can tell when it's close to that time of the calendar month. Mira told you she was late before we entered the keep, didn't she ? You pretended it was you instead. Did you lie to try and save yourself, or her ?"

"Both, I guess. Oath didn't know, he can never know."

"I'm surprised they were able to keep it hidden from me. They always seemed a little protective of each other, but I had no thought they were so intimate."

"She told me they were both drunk when it happened, and later told Oath that she thought it would be effective if they focused on getting solid for conquering the dungeon. After, they would have the rest of their sprightliness to…"She trailed off, then looked out the windowpane and sighed."I'm going to go visit her mother and sib, tell her what happened. They were in debt, so hopefully the treasure I've collected will help pay it off. I owe Mira that much."

"This should more than than cover it,"said Noah, handing her a small-scale bottle of avenium.

"So much trouble, so many tears over this metal dust,"she muttered, staring at the bottle.

"Take care of yourself,"Noah said before getting up and leaving.

He stopped by his room, getting his bag and any possessions he deemed worth carrying. He had already sold off all of his ores and gems, so he had stack of gold coins with him, along with versatile other tools and treasure hidden within his ring, including a vast fortune of avenium. He put on his back pack with his brand hanging from his belt, including a new longsword, and left the room, locking it behind him. Downstairs in the tap house, he handed the landlady the key.

"Thank you for your hospitality."

"Aye, I'm a bit bad to see you go. But before you do, you should blab with your friend. He certainly needs some help."

At the counterpunch, he saw swearing slumped over with a half-empty mug in his hired man. After returning to Clive, he had checked in with his father only briefly, then came straight to the inn and started drinking to submerge his grief. It was a miracle the boy hadn't died from alcohol poisoning.

"Are you planning on drinking away your entire hazard ?"Noah asked.

Oath raised his head, looking at him with bloodshot oculus."farewell me alone."

Noah took the stool adjacent to him and ordered a drink."I will, soon. For now, just bodily fluid me."

curse word sat up and wiped his human face."Remember that hunting trip the six of us took in the beginning ? When we were sitting around the blast, you told me that I had to determine my rationality for livelihood, for combat, that I had to create my own import. When I went into that dungeon, I thought I was doing it for my Fatherhood, to finally win his approval. But when Mira died, I realized I had done it for her. I wanted to essay to her that I was a man, that I was just as strong as you and Trevor, and I wanted to turn out it to myself. Everything I failed to do, they were the achievement of the baron that I wanted to be. I loved her, but my pride got her killed. Now… I just don't want to intend about it, any of it. I just want to bury so everything will stop hurting."

Noah, having received his drink, downed it in one gulp and slapped the glass on the tabular array, then took a deep breath."If I were to give you one last lesson, one survive piece of advice, would you exact it ?"Oath just glanced at him, neither agreeing, nor refusing."diaphragm drinking. Go house and mourn her properly."

"Why ?"

"I know it hurts, and you don't want to feel anything anymore, but when you block out all of the bad, you block out all of the good that goes with it. hold dear your opinion for Mira, your memories of her. Don't try to inter them and blank out. Be grateful that it hurts. conceive me, there is nothing more sore than being truly numb. When you've lost all meaning and sensation, you end up in a very morose position, where you'll do anything just to sense again, and you never fully come back from that."

For a moment, the words went over oath's principal, but then his eyes widened as a storage flashed through his alcohol-soaked mind. The fount Noah made when Tin died, that stony reflection, it finally made sense.

"Is that what happened to you ? You lost someone ?"

"I've lost a lot of people, more than you can reckon. Losing a do it one, mourning them, it's supposed to be hard, because if it's slow, you forget how to do it."Noah then got up and shouldered his backpack.

"Where are you going ?"swearword asked.

"I have line of work in the capital."

"My father and I are going there in three sidereal day. You can travel with us."

"Nah, I'll find my own way. Besides, I've already given your Church Father enough avenium to ensure you become a Lord, so there is no degree 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 subject, having just confessed to killing his brother and nephew."We didn't have the chance to utter about requital for this job, but don't worry, I'm not interested in money or land. There is something else I want."

"Which is ?"

"I want a letter of recommendation to the Uther horse honorary society. I heard they only grant accession on the well Scripture of a noble, such as yourself."

Ivan scrunched up his face and nearly spat out his drink. To be an Utheric knight was a outstanding honor and responsibility, as while they ranked below big businessman on the nobleness ordered series, their accomplishment could return them greater authority and political influence."I have no interest in putting my salutary epithet on the line for a unknown. Just take some avenium for yourself and turn a stately. You'll be even productive than a knight. Or if you want to dish out your land, just connect the military."

"Any schmuck with a beat can be con***********ed and turned into a soldier. I'm not after wealthiness, prestigiousness, or achievements, and I don't tutelage about this country."

Noah then reached into his pocket and placed a yellow potion on the baron's desk.

"What is that ?"Ivan asked.

"I got this in that goblin den, and just this aurora, I had it appraised by the chemist. It's a high-level antidote, able 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 save her life. She died because of my ignorance. I've come to earn that despite my skills and experience, I don't know nearly enough about this world. I want to interchange that, and to do so, I need an breeding. Spending years in an ivory tower doesn't interest me. I want to learn how to survive and properly fight in this world, and the best place to do that is the knight academy, where they supposedly train the C. H. Best of the expert. That hobgoblin apparently killed a knight, but hopefully that was a fluke.

So what do you say ? Is your son's futurity not worth a ace letter ?"

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

"I suppose…"Noah said, looking back to Oath,"I just wanted to finally keep a promise, rather than making yet another lie. soundly luck to you, lord Fault."

Noah left the inn and walked over to the berth where his horse was hitched. He rode out of Baron Clive, and when he was finally alone, he held out his hired hand, and an envelope appeared on his decoration from within his ring. On it was a wax seal, the mistake coat of sleeve. With this, his way was laid out before him. His succeeding stop : the Utheric royal capital.

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*Roundabout plays*

To be continued…

*Roll credits*

Please comment ! I 'm going to try to experience vol 2 ready by the end of the twelvemonth .