XXXVIII

  Fatigue washed over Kaz as he exited his [ Mana Regeneration ]. After the battle had wrapped up and all the Bandits were secured, everyone began recovering, whether it was to recover their health or their energy source. Elmdiara was the only one who didn’t go into her state of recovery, stating someone has to keep watch even though the threat had been dealt with.

  The death of the Dwarf still couldn’t leave his thoughts. He shouldn’t feel awful about it, as he was removing someone who has terrorized the people around this area, even himself, and possibly even killed others who weren’t willing to part with their earned rewards.

  Due to his unstable emotional state, his [ Mana Regeneration ] was not as smooth as it should be, making him have to focus on controlling the mana. At times when he would get very emotional, he felt like he would burst, his mana surging and causing himself to feel this stinging sensation. But oddly enough, the feeling of his mana surging and stinging him felt… right.

  Before he could experiment more with his mana, he felt like he couldn’t recover anymore, so he reluctantly opened his eyes, exiting his [ Mana Regeneration ]. He noticed he was drenched in sweat, but he quickly got up, losing balance as his body hadn’t caught up with his intentions just yet. Kaz then nodded at Elmdiara, telling her, “You can go into meditation now, I can handle looking over them.”

  “Thank you. Mera and Broff should be good soon as well,” she tiredly replied, but with some concern in her eyes. With one last look at Kaz, she closed her eyes and entered a similar pose to Kaz’s [ Mana Regeneration ], although hers seemed a lot more relaxed and casual than his usual rigid and stiff pose.

  Kaz recounted the previous battle over his head, trying to ignore the trauma of him killing the Dwarf, and analyzed how the more experienced Adventurers fought against the whole group, while working very well together as a team. He knew that they had gone through their first Revelation already, but seeing the strength they possessed enlightened him that the power difference between the two tiers was noticeable.

  Although they seemed to struggle with the Bandit Leader, who had a very unique Skill set, he was glad they came out of it relatively unscathed, thankfully to Mera who was an amazing Healer. Kaz again broke out into a cold sweat once he realized again that without this group appearing when they did, he would be dead or even worse.

  This would teach him a lesson on never straying from the main road again due to his curiosity. While it was definitely beneficial for Ranking up his Skills, which he had to check as his [ Archive ] was already trying to open itself, it was not worth the danger he was in.

  With a sigh, he opened his [ Archive ], and began inspecting his changes.

  Not even checking his Resonance, he went straight to his [ Skill Abilities ] page, and there were two new Ranks laid out in front of him:

  — [ Skill Abilities ] —

  [ Mana Burst ]

  Rank 21 > Rank 23

  [ Mana Shield ]

  Rank 16 > Rank 17

  —

  His [ Mana Burst ] Ranked up to Rank 23, but there were no changes to the actual description, just his damage to Health Points increased to 32. It was the same story for his [ Mana Shield ], although his Ability only Ranked once, going up to Rank 17. Only? Why have I suddenly become unimpressed with Ranking another Skill? He quickly shook his head and tapped his forehead, and not lightly, in self-admonishment.

  Switching over to his [ Passive Abilities ], he noticed quite a change in his Ranks:

  — [ Passive Abilities ] —

  [ Mana Regeneration ]

  Rank 12 > Rank 14

  [ Evasive Step ]

  Rank 18 > Rank 21

  [ Glaive Novice ]

  Rank 13 > Rank 15

  His [ Mana Regeneration ] went up two Ranks, now sitting at Rank 14. His [ Evasive Step ] saw a big change, going up three Ranks, now at Rank 21. And finally, his [ Glaive Noice ] went up to Rank 15, also another two Ranks.

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  Considering his big improvements in his Passive Abilities, Kaz admonished himself again, wondering why he was disappointed with only a small increase in his Skill Abilities. He was already advancing towards his first Revelation at an incredible rate from what he has understood so far.

  Speaking of Revelation, he closed that page, and decided to summon his [ Status ] page, and he took a look at his Resonance. Kaz’s Resonance was now 18. He had gone up a whole 2 tiers. How was this possible?

  He only gained one Resonance after narrowly defeating the bear, which required him to push himself to his absolute limits. Kaz did fight hard against the Dwarf, but it was nowhere near the intensity of the battle with the bear. Why doesn’t it make sense? Probably another question he would have to ask Elder Aelon.

  101 Mana points stared right at him, right below his Resonance. He finally hit 100 Mana Points. While this was probably a small number for basically everyone, he finally had the average Mana Points of people who were starting out. It meant a lot to him, and he was glad he finally reached the triple digits. His Health Points were up to 109, and he was slowly closing in with his Mana Points, although it is not really a competition, but these kinds of small things did something to him.

  While he was finishing up his check of his newest advancements in his Skills and his Resonance, he noticed Broff stirring, and it seemed the Dwarf didn’t have the pose he was used to seeing, due to him just looking like he took a nap. Perhaps he actually did a nap to recover his Health Points, as he did notice that whenever he was recovering his own Health Points, he would get sleepy, especially after a potion.

  Kaz decided that he would move on from the group, as he didn’t want to be involved in whatever the Town Guards were going to do, and also he still had his own Quest to do. He approached Broff, who was now eating some kind of ration of dried meat, happily eating away at the ration, obviously starving after his near death battle.

  “Hi Broff, I just wanted to again thank you for stepping in. I mean, I know it was your Quest anyways, but it doesn’t change the fact that you and your group showed up before anything could’ve happened to me—” Kaz rapidly said, rambling and fumbling over his words, looking straight at the ground.

  Broff raised his hand, interrupting Kaz as he wanted to continue rambling. Smacking his lips, he managed to piece together some words that Kaz barely understood, “Don’ ‘hank us, be glad yer ha’ som’ luck today.”

  Kaz just nodded awkwardly, and plopped himself down next to the feasting Dwarf, slightly disgusted from the display, but he himself was not hungry at all. After some time, when Kaz noticed that he was slowing down, and drinking down his food, he decided to speak up again.

  “I will be taking off now, I still have two Quests that I have to do, and honestly, I don’t want to be here when the Guards come. It’s not like I am some criminal or something, but I don’t want to be involved in this whole situation if I am able to.”

  With a nod of his head and wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Broff replied soundly, back to the voice of Broff he knew, “Understandable, lad. I don’t find any fault with that. Good luck with your adventure. Ask for us at the Adventurer’s Guild when you get back. We should all get some food and have a normal discussion.”

  Kaz was slightly taken aback by this invite, and couldn’t help himself from saying, “What do you mean? Why would you want that with someone like me?”

  Broff looked weirdly at him, opening his mouth and closing it several times, unable to form any words.

  Startling him, a soft, yet tired voice came from behind him, “We would love to spend some more time with you, Kaz. You are an interesting guy, and we would like to get to know you better.”

  Looking behind him, he saw Mera standing there, and she approached the two, taking a seat on the rough grass next to them, hugging her knees.

  She continued on speaking, “You know, you don’t usually meet Mages who are like you, and if Elmdiara were here with us, she would agree. Also, we can all feel your power, even though you haven’t had your first Revelation. It would be an honor for us to be on your good side, as your potential is something the rest of us can only dream of.”

  It was Kaz’s turn to open and close his mouth as he wasn’t able to form any words, although his mind was racing. My power? I know I am pretty strong, it was apparent back at the Mage Academy, but Elder Aelon said it was because of my Adventuring. Also, my potential? How would she know anything about that? Obviously not to discredit her, but I don’t see this potential she speaks of.

  “I guess… I guess I will then, thank you so much for everything, and I will see you all soon when I finish my Quests.”

  Before he could say anything else that would embarrass him, he fixed his bag’s positioning, gripped his glaive, and began walking away from the group, making sure to look back and wave at the group. This group was powerful, but they didn’t act like it, they were genuinely good people. I hope one day I can be part of a group with people like them.

  “He’s truly an odd one, that Kaz, although he is powerful for his age. I wonder what his story is,” Mera wondered out loud when Kaz was out of range.

  “Indeed. I wonder what Elmdiara has to say about him, wonder if she was able to find out what was so special about him,” Broff remarked, keeping his eyes on the young Gnome Mage walking off in the distance.

  ? ? ?

  Kaz wearily trudged along the rough path, trying to fight off the exhaustion that was trying to tempt him into a deep slumber. He wanted to get some distance away from the group, just so that if any of the Guards got a bit excited to explore the area, they wouldn’t run into him. So, he decided to walk for a few hours, even though the sun was already set, the dark night sky starting to expose the various stars that populated the darkness.

  After walking for a few hours, he finally found a nice tree that would support him on its lowest hanging branches. Climbing up the tree with the last of his strength, he finally settled in, trying to get comfortable. The bed he slept in at the Adventurer’s Guild spoiled him, as this was almost unbearable. If he wasn’t so exhausted, he wouldn’t have been able to fall asleep on this tree. But thankfully, he was exhausted, so as soon as he closed his eyes, he was out.

  Kaz approached the smiling Dwarf who was looking at him, begging him to come at him, to finish the deed. Kaz ran at the Dwarf, raising his glaive over his head, and slashed down, blood spraying all over him, blurring his vision. With rage, he kept on stabbing with his eyes closed, feeling the blood splatter on to him.

  After he was exhausted, he finally wiped the blood from his eyes, and when he did, the face of the Dwarf was not the Bandit, but of Viragor, his old friend back from Forith. With a scream, he quickly backed away. Then, to his horror, the Dwarf, who was now Viragor, sat up, crying at Kaz, screaming at him, “Why would you do this to me?”

  With a start, Kaz woke up screaming, tears flowing down his eyes. He gripped the branch of the tree as he almost lost his balance. With his ragged breathing, he wildly looked down at his hands, and saw they weren’t covered in blood.

  Bad dream again.

  It’s been a while since he had such a bad dream, although not uncommon for him, just this one felt so real to him. With a shake of his head, he decided to begin his journey onwards, the sun already shining brightly in the sky.

  While walking along the path for a few more hours, he finally reached the main road, the one he drifted off, regrettably. Although he had managed to gain a lot of Ranks, Resonance, and meeting new people, it was filled with death.

  Death almost took him while he fought the bear, and he took the life of another person, deserving, but still, a death. His whole journey was filled with constant battle, brushes with death, still getting into altercations, but Kaz again tried to shake off the thoughts that were starting to return, getting angry at himself for returning to that train of thought. He was just tired of it.

  The new monsters from his Quest. He needed to find them. And quickly. For his own sanity.