The High Peak of Brenn [southern shores of Fuminao Legacy Kingdom], local time [1794.01.06]

  ========Lesser Landlord Lucas Esmonde Lurona-Kazotaro Della PoV========

  His hands involuntarily balled into fists, tearing apart the report he was reading.

  “Useless!” he hissed through clenched teeth.

  It took him a few deep breaths to calm his raging emotions. Tired of dealing with the paperwork and this nonsense, he stood up and walked to one of the windows to refresh his mind.

  As mesmerizing as the city was from up here, he couldn’t ignore how lifeless and empty it appeared. Even after almost a week of constant efforts of the Council, the Landlords, and even the Temples, the streets still weren’t safe enough for commerce and traffic to return to normal.

  A shadow covered his eyes as he tilted his head downward. His mind returned to the darker thoughts after seeing the sorry state of his lands. Of his city.

  He was in a dire situation.

  His betters promised him ascension to the full Landlord title if he did well in subverting Sepia Familia Guild’s preparations for the Duels. The deal was balanced, though, as he would also officially receive the less-sought-over lands on the outskirts of the previously abandoned district to care for. It would be a money sink and nothing more, but for the legal purposes, he would need more land anyway.

  He thought nothing of it at first – a small organization like that Guild, new to the city and its politics, shouldn’t be able to resist his wealth and means. Only, it turned out much more challenging. He had quickly learned that the Guild managed to recruit a few talented or known figures from around the city. And one of their Heads stemmed from the notorious group from Leilucia Temple.

  It was then that he understood why other Landlords wanted him to be an intermediary in this conflict. Why they wanted him to take a more… direct approach. It was still a very much doable venture and, in his eyes, worth the risks.

  He sighed heavily and turned around. The pile of documents on his desk was casting a long shadow over the floor. He felt like it was here to swallow him whole.

  “Such waste…” he murmured, shaking his head regretfully.

  He had spent much of his wealth on this operation. Many of his specially-trained warriors had perished. His spy network was firstly damaged, then incapacitated. And now, he was struggling to put his business back on its feet after that fateful night.

  And it wasn’t even the end of his worries. Thanks to his efforts, he was paired with Kwan Gewong herself for the Duel.

  All of that, and more, for what? he asked himself, chuckling darkly. For a failure… Being used like a street rake by those bastards… Our lineage’s name, tarnished…

  He stopped himself and took another deep breath.

  The most infuriating thing, though, was that Sepia Familia thrived. Even after all they tried and did to the Guild, they were coming victorious.

  Spying? After the purge done in the night of the attack, the whole compound was put into a lockdown. Even if they wanted to plant new spies, it was simply not doable anymore. Not in the timeframe of ten days.

  Maybe backstabbing Theron Nalani wasn’t a good move, after all, he admitted to himself while moving unhurriedly to the desk. No, there is no sense in digging in the old wounds. The man disappeared, like the rest of them.

  He couldn’t even tell what the Heads of that Guild were up to. All of them were either missing or unreachable. Aisha Zora disappeared somewhere right after the new New Year celebrations. Makani Borre and Zeph Einar hunkered down in the Blackwind Tower. Ghrughah-jiji and the Gremling bunkered down in the tunnels of the Guild’s headquarters while Kwan Gewong administered a full lockdown on all their major buildings.

  Within the first day of the new year, he was stripped of any and all insight into their internal operations. But that was only the beginning of his woes.

  He wasn’t the only one who was left without insiders in that Guild. Because of that, all of the biggest players decided to focus on dealing with the turbulences in their territories and on preparations required for the Tournament.

  An armistice of a kind.

  Instead of wasting their time, they threw this job on him.

  Then, Gewong managed to cleanse, secure, and revitalize her small district in a record time. Merchants and even some Lesser Landlords flooded them with business deals in hopes of getting ahead of their competition, especially after what the Guild showed during the New Year festivities. Working with a fully operational and, truthfully, rapidly developing partner that was open for partnership while bringing new ventures was an exceptional occasion for most of them.

  The waves shifted. While Sepia Familia’s political and economic position in the city were consolidating, he was left with the mess made by his incompetent subordinates, the echoes of the last attack, and irrational demands made by his own superiors.

  “I should start preparing for the worst-case scenario…” he mumbled, putting his chin in his hand while plotting a new path for the future. I need to prepare new instructions for my family…

  ============================================================

  They left their damaged sailboards to a few kids interested in the coppers and started walking further into the plateau.

  It was already dark, but the hour was still young. The plan for today was to reach their destination and build a shelter, then spend the next two days hunting. They would return to Lurona on the day of the Tournament, but the first day was reserved for inauguration, organization, and announcements either way, so they just had to be there before dusk. Also, the caravans were moving much faster when returning because they were only re-selling local products from the western part of the lands, if any locals needed them. No delays were expected and they already received information about when to expect a fitting ride.

  They were trudging through the snow-covered, flat fields in the direction of a distant coniferous forest as a bright light of the moon illuminated the way ahead. The terrain looked a little like a desert, with snowdrifts accumulating in seemingly random places. They made sure to avoid them, though, as some could be hiding shrubbery underneath. Local wildlife liked to spend the winters in such places.

  “So… If I understood Carrick correctly, we can only hunt a few chosen species?” Zeph asked, more to kill time than to actually get information.

  “Eh, we don’t really have to worry about that. There are only three dominant species living in the woods that are active in winter and those are always free to cull. As for the stealthier ones, or the ones using Mana attacks – we just need to make sure to not kill too many. They are best for training Skills and Spells, though. Also, don’t forget to not mangle them too much – their bodies are worth quite a bit. P’pfel and Ghrughah would be happy to have them,” he explained, getting a little breathless at the end there.

  “Well, that’s good for them. What are the three common species?”

  “A few subspecies of Lepus. Felidae with different, or even unique, bodily advancements. And flocks of predatory birds, but there is one species that is predominantly showing up during winter – the Lignum Strigiformes. All of them are some of the best-adapted animals in the region, so they reproduce rapidly.”

  So, some kind of hare, big cats, and owls? Doesn’t sound that hard. “Any hive animals in the vicinity? And what levels are we talking about?”

  Makani shook his head. “No animal hives would survive here. There are some insects, but they should be inert in winter. They aren’t to be killed, either way. Well, excluding the ones relocating down from the mountain itself, but it’s a rare sight. The swarm would have to develop individuals resistant to lower Mana density. Those could cause quite a bit of damage to the environment if left alone, but if we spot something like that this close to the plateau plains, it would be a bit too late. Which isn’t our problem, either way, so we should just run for it. Anyway, the levels at the outskirts of the forest should oscillate between 40 and 70. The gradient isn’t that visible because the terrain is almost flat, and Mana density is stable.”

  “Hmmm… I get that on the mountain things are a little wilder?”

  Makani snickered. “That’s a big understatement. I’ve heard that Custos’s Shrine is located on the peak. That Onji has his own methods of rewarding the strongest specimens. It’s quite unclear what are his goals, though.”

  Zeph shrugged. He wasn’t interested in that freak of a god. He was rather pleasantly surprised that System, Library lady, and Lailucia were so human by comparison. “By the way, I did some calculations earlier. If I double my Class level, it will majorly influence my contaminations…”

  Makani froze for a second before looking away and continuing his walk as if nothing had happened.

  Zeph’s eyes narrowed.

  “Hey, Makani?”

  “Yes? Any more questions?” the man asked, now at least looking forward but not gracing him even with a glance.

  “You forgot about my Soul contamination balance, didn’t you?”

  “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he answered with a stone face, playing innocent. “You should have your exchange set up already. How much will that influence your leveling speed, anyway?” he tried to change the topic.

  Zeph snorted, shaking his head. “That doesn’t change the fact that you should have checked that with me. For someone with your experience, you sure are forgetful. I wonder how Aisha will react when she hears about it…”

  Makani grimaced. “It’s not every day when someone needs a quick leveling! Please, spare me the humiliation. I will even pay for your next visit in the Tower,” he suggested defensively.

  “Now we are talking,” Zeph smiled. “I wanted to visit its laboratories for some time now.”

  Makani could only nod in resignation.

  “Anyway, the Instable Iron Alloy contamination will recover by itself, but my internal Mana manipulation will suffer a little because of that, I think. My exotic one isn’t really influenced by the leveling process for some reason. But my Space contamination has to be supported. Same with Gru’s. It eats around one-third of my Soul fragments… I think.”

  Summing all of the handicaps, Zeph was leveling around ten times slower than he should, but Gru’s method of harvesting Soul fragments was balancing that out, allowing him to level up around five times faster than other people.

  “Eh, that shouldn’t be a problem, then,” Makani nodded to himself, somewhat relieved. He knew how fast Zeph could level up from their old discussions, so he could make the rest of the math himself. “Did you consider dropping Gru’s share?”

  “I did, but… How much did you plan to get from this excursion?”

  “At least half a standard level in two and a half days,” he shrugged. “Would be more, if someone wasn’t that inept at internal Mana manipulation,” he said, giving him a dirty look. “But it should be enough for you.”

  Zeph whistled. That would give me like… three levels in my Class and three in my Profession. “I thought it’s harder to level up for you guys,” he said, a little confused.

  Makani frowned irritably. “Says a guy who never had to work for his Universal Points. You will see what a pain it is when you try to raise your contaminations by exchanging Soul fragments. I would like to see how you will sing then.”

  Zeph laughed awkwardly. “Sorry but not sorry. Anyway, those are good hunting grounds.”

  “That’s why the city is making sure there is a queue. There are limits as to how many people can be here at one time… Now be quiet. We are getting closer to the forest. We are going to use a more efficient method for hunting, but it can become dangerous if we don’t secure the perimeter first.”

  “So, detection Spells’ training?” Zeph asked, excited a little.

  Makani nodded. “Yes. Try two things – covering as much area as you can and constructing your Spells as fast as possible. I will be doing a double-check after you. Also, tell me if you find any kind of tracks…”

  It took them another hour to reach the forest.

  It was much different from what Zeph imagined.

  From a distance, it looked like any typical coniferous forest, but as they were getting closer, he could spot weak lights looming in its dark depths. The trees were massive, leaving a lot of space under their high and thick canopy.

  A little further inside the snow was almost absent, stopped by the branches above. Snowy embarkments formed under the borders between the lowest branches of neighboring trees, as if marking the terrain belonging to each one. The forest floor was paddled with moss and dead needles with barely any shrubbery. Gnarled roots made the terrain uneven and foreboding. Big fungi were growing from the ground and bark of the trees, forming strange shapes.

  He still didn’t find the source of the ethereal lights that he saw earlier, but the air was filled with spores and some kind of dust, so he assumed those could have been small pockets of combusting particles, as strange as that sounded.

  As the moonlight from behind started to diminish, Zeph constructed a weak Light Spell so they could see where they were going. The long shadows cast by the roots and fungi danced as they moved, forming disturbing shapes all around.

  If there wasn’t so much space between the trees, he would definitely be intimidated by this dark, silent forest.

  “Um, something’s ahead, in the branches…” he said quietly, as he received feedback from his Lesser Life detection Spell.

  “Good,” Makani nodded. “Change the color of the light to deep blue. We are attracting too much attention. Let’s move a little further and then scan the vicinity in a spiral.”

  “Yes, boss… What with our shelter?”

  “We need to assess the state of the fauna first. If there are too many predators, we will have to build something sturdier than a burrow.”

  And thus, Zeph’s training in the creepy woods had started.

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