Traveling at night was dangerous, especially when the destination was the forest from which no one had ever returned alive. Even though there was a possibility that Sila, a mber of the sli race, might be an exception, he still didnt dare to be carefree. He decided to rest under a big tree surrounded by a spacious green field that enabled him to have a good look of surroundings.
Sila placed Bow under the tree and asked Lookhin to take care of her. However, a minute later, he checked on them and saw Bow and Lookhin peacefully sleeping together.
He broke several tree branches for a bonfire, while Vata took out a lighter to ignite it.
Nevertheless, Sila didnt look at her, instead activating Orbiting Cosmos to infuse fire into his palm before throwing firewood into the pile of tree branches.
Vata looked at Sila with astonishnt and put her lighter away. She leaned her body on a nearby rock and placed her shining magic wand next to her.
Sila broke the silence by asking her a question, Miss Vata, what are you doing here?
No need to add Miss. Youre Varees boyfriend, arent you?
Thats not it. Were just friends.
Huhu. Your answer is exactly like Varees. It makes feel more suspicious~
Sila ignored Vatas tease and continued, Back to the topic, what are you doing here? I have heard that this location is very dangerous. You shouldnt be alone.
Who told you I ca alone? I was in a raid party with around a hundred people yesterday. However, Im the sole survivor of that party. I survived because I was in the rear since Im a spellcaster. My Rhythm also helped .
Sila didnt know what a Rhythm was, but he guessed that it must be so kind of special skill. He rembered that Cross had used one against him too. Since it might be a personal secret, he didnt ask.
However, it seed Vata could tell that Sila might be clueless about Rhythms, so she asked, Sila, dont you know about Rhythms?
Sila shook his head. No, but you dont need to tell if its a secret.
Its not that great of a secret nowadays. A Rhythm is the second stage of the energy reinforcent skill that is unlocked once the player has a complete understanding of their own personality and ability.
I personally think that energy reinforcent is already good by itself. Why do we need Rhythms?
Rhythms arent ordinary skills. They are more like secret moves... Well, they used to be secret but not anymore. If it is activated, the flow of the battle may even be reversed.
Is that so? nonchalantly said Sila.
Vata frowned at such a reaction. I will show you mine, then.
Eh? You dont need to. Since its a secret move, it wont be good for you to show it to without a proper reason.
However, Vata didnt care. She just stood up and swept the dust off her body. Rhythm of the Western Wind, said the young woman, before so kind of semi-transparent light green mist covered her body. Her eyes glowed with a green light and her cloak fluttered even though there was no wind.
This is... just cladding your entire body with normal magic power reinforcent, isnt it?
Thats right. Excluding her glowing eyes, what she was doing was no different than cladding her body with magic power reinforcent.
Vata furrowed her brows. Only a handful of skilled players were able to use Rhythms, but the skill was now regarded as normal.
Its not the sa. While Rhythm of the Western Wind is active, my casting speed is doubled and I can move freely even when Im casting a spell that would normally force to stay still. I can even read the wind's current. It may seem like Im bragging, but no one has ever bested Western Wind in a hit-and-run battle.
Sila was starting to beco curious about Rhythms, but Vata misinterpreted Silas serious expression and told him sothing that he wasnt particularly interested in knowing.
Oh, Western Wind is my title, for the record.
I see. Is there a downside or a limitation to using Rhythm though?
There are. First, Rhythms can only be used for a short period of ti and have a cooldown, though it varies between players. Secondly, Rhythms are a secret move so their information doesnt show up in a system window. Players need to study their Rhythms ability, activation period, and cooldown by themselves. Lastly, you have to say your Rhythms na out loud every ti you activate it.
How can we know our Rhythms na though?
You can co up with anything that sounds cool and suits you. I have incorrectly pronounced my Rhythms na two or three tis but it still activated just fine.
Vata sat down again. They werent particularly close, so there were not many conversation topics to choose from. It was mostly just Vata telling Sila stories about Varee when she was younger.
If Varee was considered a calm and collected type, Vata would be considered her polar opposite as she was very energetic. Based on Rashanes description, he had thought that Vata was rather quiet. It seed his guess was wrong.
Its getting very late. Why dont you use a Returning Scroll to rest in town? asked Sila.
We have already entered Stone Forests territory and the use of Returning Scrolls has been prohibited. The system window should have already told you though, so why arent you aware of that?
Sila just rembered that he no longer had a system window with him to give alerts like that. He had co to the Stone Forest a long ti ago and was aware that he wouldnt be able to use Returning Scrolls after a certain point. Nevertheless, he was still curious. He was sure that its territory should be deeper in the forest than their current location.
But, we havent reached the point where the use of Returning Scrolls is prohibited, have we? I recall that the territory has petrified trees and thats one of the markers used to find the edges of it.
Vata didnt know why Sila hadnt heard the system alert. She figured it was because Sila had muted system notifications, so she didnt think too hard about it.
This is another mystery of Stone Forest. Recently, its territory has been widening greatly. It has almost reached the edges of the whole forest, blocking the usage of Returning Scrolls until the outer parts. I thought you knew, as I saw you prepare a bonfire.
The reason Sila set up a bonfire wasnt because he had known about this. It was just that he planned to go ahead once morning ca.
Miss Vata, Its very late at night so it will be quite dangerous for you to travel. I suggest that you continue your journey in the morning. Just move toward the sunrise and you will arrive in Beginning Town before midday.
Eh? Wont we return together?
No. I have business within Stone Forest.
Everyone said that. But, its really dangerous, so dangerous you cant imagine it. There are a lot of scary slis and they are very aggressive.
I think I can handle them. You can just go back without worrying about .
No way! Sila is Varees friend so you are like my little brother! I cant let you go to such a dangerous place like that alone. Please listen to for your own good, co back with and we will join another raid party before going there. But, if you insist on continuing without waiting for others, I will be coming with you!
Sila was troubled. He understood that Vata was just worrying about him, but if Master Viola was actually in the forest, those aggressive slis that she had ntioned were only a warm-up for whatever awaited him.
Vata was Uncle Rashanes daughter, so he couldnt bring himself to put her in danger.
Sila breathed a heavy sigh. In that case, please get so rest. Well be heading into the forest early in the morning.
Vata nodded, took her small tent out from her system window and entered it. She didnt forget to tell Sila that if she woke up and didnt see him, she would enter the forest and search for him.
Both sisters are difficult to deal with, muttered Sila.
Sila could depend on qi circulation to alleviate fatigue and didnt have to sleep, so he planned to spend the entire night practicing Orbiting Cosmos. However, this only lasted for a short while before he ran out of magic power again. As magic wasnt his main energy type, he didnt possess any supportive skills that helped him regenerate his magic power faster.
When his magic power ran out, all he could do was drink magic potions or just wait for it to naturally regenerate.
It wasnt a fruitful mont for Sila. Actually, he had planned to return to the mansion to take out magic potions, but, based on what Vata had told him, he wouldnt be able to do that.
Sila took the black card out of his pocket and tried activating it by saying, Go to the Mansion of Secrets.
Silas body emitted a white light and, a mont later, he found himself on the yard in front of his mansion. Eh? It works?
He shrugged and entered his treasure room to retrieve all fourteen highest-grade magic potions currently stored there. It was fortunate that Julia had put a label on them. Their appearances resembled small test tubes and each of them could be swallowed in one gulp. Then, he stopped by the card zone and took a Pink Sli Card with him.
Training in the mansion would be more effective as his energy recovery rate would be increased. However, Sila was afraid that Vata might wake up and think that he had left her to enter Stone Forest and go ahead without him. Thus, he teleported back to his previous location.
He placed all of the magic potions next to him and started practicing again. When his magic power ran out, he would drink a magic potion. For the record, each magic potion gave off the feeling of very fresh air flowing into his lungs.
Sila practiced Orbiting Cosmos until sunrise. Although racial skills didnt have skill levels, he could tell that he was getting better at using it, though it was still far from a level that would allow him to use Divine Raint. Now, the best he could do was holding three elents within him, which was clearly better than before when he could only hold a single elent.
Vata exited her tent while yawning. She said good morning to Sila before her eyes locked onto the empty test tubes lying on the ground.
Arent they... Fountains of Life, the highest grade magic potions?! What have you done, Sila?
Sila was confused. What? They are magic potions, so of course I drank them. What's wrong with that?
G-Genuine... One, two, three, ... How many have you drunk, Sila?
Eight. What about it? Why are you so surprised?
How can I not be? The price of each of them is around 10,000 gold!
10,000 gold?! How can they be that expensive? I thought they were just ordinary magic potions.
Ordinary? You are dead wrong. Other than its ability to instantly refill your magic power, it can increase your maximum magic points capacity by ten percent. Its a rare consumable item, so not many dare to use it.
A Fountain of Life seed to be the magic-type version of an Emperor Qi Pellet. However, more than one person could refine it and its ability was far below the pellet, so its price was significantly cheaper (though it was still considered expensive by most players). Most skilled magic-type players tended to carry at least one with them in case of ergencies.
Ah, I see. No wonder I could use my skill for longer. I thought that it was a result of my training though.
Are you that rich? You are not like what Varee told .
Im not... But, theyre just in-ga materials and they are ant to be used anyway, right? Um If Miss Vata would like to have...
I dont want one or anything, really. I also have... one... for myself but Ive been putting off in using it. I was just... shocked to know that you drank a lot of them.
Anyway, you have to take this card with you if you want to enter Stone Forest. Sila handed the card that he had retrieved from the treasure room to Vata.
F-grade Pink Sli Card? Vata read the cards description.
Yes. Ive always thought that its ability to prevent the slis to attack you first was ridiculous. It turns out to be useful in the end.
Um... This card is getting expensive too, lately.
Is that so? Sila showed a gentle smile while recalling the ti when ten cards would be needed just to trade for a asly 1 silver. The economy was really too hard for him to understand.
Vata equipped the card and asked, Sila, you already have one for yourself, right?
Im a mber of the sli race so I dont need it. Slis wont attack anyway.
Ah. I forgot. Varee told about that. There were posts about it in the ga forums as well.
Vata stored her tent in her system window while Sila put Bow back inside his clothing. As for Lookhin, although it was his pet, it was a bird. He wasnt sure whether slis would attack it so he decided to seal it inside the ring just to be safe.
Both players departed together. Sila noticed that Vatas speed wasnt inferior to Varees or his. It seed that what she had said about being the best at hit-and-run tactics was true to so extent.
Stop.
After an hour had passed, Vata told Sila to co to halt.
Ahead of those boulders, there will be slis waiting to ambush us. Although, with the card, we might be able to pass without being attacked this ti.
Sila noticed a line of sli-shaped boulders around two ters wide, long, and tall. There was a ten-ter gap between each of them; it was as if all of them were a border separating two nations.
There were ssages engraved on each of them, so Sila narrowed the distance to take a look.
Vata quickly followed. You dont need to bother reading them all. The massages are the sa on each of them. People used to think that they were so kind of code, but now they are no longer minding them and believe that they are just pranks.
Once Sila moved closer, he was certain that they were surely not pranks nor secret codes, but orders. The ssages had the sa handwriting as the ones engraved on the giant and tiny slis, and Bow had told him that it was Violas handwriting.
Sila instantly understood what he had to do since the ssages clearly stated:
The Actual Trial - Mark 2: Dont attack. Dont dodge. Violation of these rules will result in death.
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