“But, before telling you what happened after, I need to give context on the situation of the continent at the time.

  The continent at that time was exiting a food crisis due to the rising population after The Empire Of The Dawn was born, unifying the sapient races of the continent and ending centuries of wars.

  This unification brought peace, stability and population growth across all the races some more than others depending on fertility rates but that is beside the point

  The thing is, with the population growth there was obviously a need for more food, that after a while became a problem since the growth was so immediate that farmers had difficulties supplying people with it after a while.

  For a decade or so after that, food had to be rationed and even though the amount never touched critically low levels it was still very little food.

  The crisis ended after a new Flora spell was invented by our peoples to boost the production of farmland without destroying the earth beneath it.

  After this discovery things had started to return to normal.

  The council that governed the empire, made from the rulers of the individual races, released this method to the public since it was discovered by a team of researchers directly under the employ of the elven king.

  Some of the other rulers, especially the ones from the races that didn't have access to flora magic, like the dwarves, demons and giants, were sent teams of Flora magicians, elves or otherwise, based on the population of the race in question to help in their fields.

  With this discovery the empire was on the path to recovery, but tragedy would strike again, a red portal would appear on top of the mountains overlooking the capital.

  It was big enough that it was visible from every part of the city and, since a connection point never appeared of that color before the human leader at the time, who was the best space mage in the world, was tasked to investigate it.

  So he did, when he returned he had obviously very bad news, since even though the details weren't public the first thing they did was evacuate the capital.

  After that, they assembled an army to protect the civilians and created a mandatory quest for the adventurers to do the same.

  Everyone was sent to different cities and divided for ease of transport and defence, I was sent here.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  None of us that were sent here ever saw the leaders again, so it's assumed they are dead, and as the wall of monsters that is blocking us from checking if other cities have survived continue to get gradually stronger and stronger we are in dire situation since the average mana level of the population is not rising fast enough to counter it.

  This will spell doom for our little nation in probably a decade or so, maybe two or three decades if we are lucky and nothing changes.

  Raia closed the book for a second just to search for the publication date, 930 5 years after she was born.

  “Is the situation really that bad?”

  Raia asked herself while reopening the book to continue reading it.

  “Yes, yes it is little girl.”

  Raia looked towards the voice, she was confused as her mana sense didn't pick up any signature.

  What was happening, she didn't pick up any signatures.

  There were methods to hide one's mana signatures but those were rare and expensive.

  You could use a spell, but it had to be tailor made for the person cause it had to hide one's personal mana signature, and both cases were not good.

  She was the apprentice of the royal knight captain, and that came with a bit of prestige and danger to herself from people that are against the crown or entitled nobles who think that she doesn't deserve the position.

  Both cases don't bode very well for her, but at the same time are not that plausible.

  Unless they eclipse her in power they would not be able to kill her in a city after having announced themselves like this.

  Still she reacted calmly even though she was not calm at all.

  Shel slowly got up, picked up the book and said “Sorry I didn't hear you coming.”

  “Don't worry girl, I'm not going to do anything, I just wanted to warn you.

  The world is a dangerous place and this outpost is the deadliest for newbies so always watch your back.

  What happens in the wild is not always reported as the truth both by good and by evil.”

  With that the voice just disappeared.

  “I'm gonna have a terrible time am I?”

  After the encounter the first thing she did is go back to the adventurer guild and ask for Mira, which she was told was at the Bloodlust guild building, after she got the directions she went there as fast as she could.

  After she entered she instantly went to the receptionist near the entrance and asked for Mira which the receptionist called.

  When she arrived Raia started “Mira I have a problem and a big one at that.”

  “Ok come with me, the hall is not the best place to talk.”

  Raia followed Mira through a few corridors till they arrived at an office.

  “Ok this is my office here we can talk in private.

  What is the problem?”

  Raia recounted what happened at the library and if the facial expressions her mana sense where picking up were accurate Mira was as expected not happy about.

  “So… what do I do?”

  “First, no one messes with our recruits.

  I'll have to tell the Guild Master.

  Second, why do you think someone would waste either a very costly potion or have a spell made for themselves to hide their mana signature just to do this.”

  “Cause they are confident that they can kill me while I am on the field?”

  “Well yes but I didn't mean it that way, I meant why waste those resources on you?

  You are a spell creator but you are not that important yet.”

  “Wait, you mean that you haven't recognised me?”