Chương 12: Chapter 11 - Overwhelming Pressure

Kiara noticed that Peter mostly steered clear of the larger command tents, and stuck to the shadows. She realized why Luther had made them pay for help escorting them through the camp. If they got caught, she was sure that there would be some kind of punishment, and Luther would likely get in trouble as well. The higher ups probably didn't take a liking to anyone crossing over to the other side of the battlefront, and would likely see something like that as spy activity.

Before long, Peter had them through the main body of soldiers, and led them to a small forest nearby.

"This is it," he said quietly.

"Just head north from here, the trees will keep you from being seen." Dustin nodded his thanks, and Peter slipped away into the shadows of the night, back towards the war camp. Without a word, Dustin and Kiara went north, just like Peter had suggested. They walked all day through the forest. At first, Kiara enjoyed the sounds of the birds around them, and even caught sight of a few small squirrels scampering around. By midday, the novelty had worn off, and she was bored of walking through the forest.

She did note, however, that she didn't tire as easily as Dustin. As they climbed a steep incline, he was breathing hard, while she was barely breaking a sweat. She had to purposefully slow down to stay at his pace. In the early afternoon, Kiara was surprised when Dustin suddenly turned towards her with an alarmed look on his face. He put a finger to his lips, and motioned for her to remain silent. Only then did she notice that the forest had gone eerily quiet.

Dustin found a large tree and pointed up, then began climbing. He reached down to help Kiara up to the first branch, but she just smirked and started climbing on her own. This was a good chance to test out her new strength! She easily outpaced Dustin as they climbed. She was lighter and considerably stronger than he was, and climbing was incredibly easy for her now. Within a minute she had neared the top of the tree, up where the branches started becoming too thin to go any higher safely.

A few minutes later, Dustin reached the same height, and quietly whispered to her.

"There's an army approaching from the north. The Eshelans, most likely. Too early to tell how large it is. We'll stay here until they've passed." Kiara suddenly wished she could go invisible. She felt too exposed out in the open like this. What would happen if they saw them up here in this tree? She just nodded in response. Within a few minutes, they saw a few figures streak by overhead. Shortly after that, she could hear the army approaching. Soon enough, she saw them, all marching through the forest down below.

They were high enough up in the tree that she didn't think anyone would spot them. They stayed as silent and motionless as they could to avoid drawing attention. For a moment, it seemed like the entire army would pass by down below without any issues. Then she felt it. At first it was a sense of impending doom, like a danger alarm went off in the back of her mind. Before she could even react, that sense grew into something stronger. Irrational fear blossomed in her chest and she suddenly couldn't breathe.

At first, she thought it was a psychological response to the fear, but then she realized that she literally couldn't breathe. She felt so weak it was laughable. A figure floated down from the sky into the tree and hovered a few feet in front of them. It was a slender man who appeared to be in his fifties. His white hair was long and untied, and floated softly in the air around him, as if he were floating underwater.

He had a hooked nose and sharp eyes, and Kiara felt as if he could see through her every secret just with a glance. He wore a simple robe with loose sleeves. Kiara had lost all control of her body, and would have fallen out of the tree if she hadn't been wedged so tightly in between two branches. The figure studied them for a moment, then asked a simple question.

"What is your business?" The pressure released slightly, just enough for them to breathe, albeit very shallowly. Dustin stuttered out a response, "J-j-just passing through." The man looked at Kiara's sword for a minute.

"Are you soldiers?" Dustin shook his head weakly.

"N-no sir, we're just travelling merchants, sir. The sword is just for protection from wolves and bandits, that sort of thing." The man stared curiously at Kiara for a moment more, then nodded and lifted back up into the air. Soon, the spiritual pressure vanished, gone as quickly as it had come. Kiara gasped for air, breathing deeply.

"What was that?" she asked. Dustin put another finger to his lips and shook his head. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. Kiara got the hint. She would ask him later. After the army had passed by, they worked their way back down the tree and continued their trek north, this time much more subdued. At first they ran, trying to put as much distance in between themselves and the upcoming battle as they could.

Kiara had to control her speed to not outpace Dustin, and she actually felt quite comfortable jogging at his max running speed. She figured she could probably keep that pace up for quite some time if she needed to. She marvelled at how good she felt physically. It was like she had spent her entire life training to be a runner, except it had all come as a gift from the World Engine as she upgraded her stats. She wondered what that actually meant under the hood. Her muscles didn't appear much larger.

Had her body and muscles undergone some kind of qualitative change biologically? After they wore themselves out from running, they slowed down to a brisk walk. Or rather, once Dustin needed a break, they slowed down to a walk. She could have easily kept going at the faster pace, but she wouldn't be the one to bring that up. Eventually, Dustin spoke up.

"Well, I think luck might be on our side. With the Eshelan army on the move, we're already passed both war camps. There's nothing in between us and Eshela now except trees." He gestured around at the forest for emphasis. Kiara nodded and perked up at that.

"Any idea how much further to the nearest city?" Dustin nodded.

"We'll probably reach it by sunset. We can grab some food and find an inn for the night." Kiara smiled. The hard part was done! Tomorrow they could find a carriage to get them headed towards home, and she could finally see what situation her family had ended up in. She wondered if they'd been told about her death. They would take it hard, but she was honestly more worried right now about how Lord Grivalt was treating them.

He was the most unpleasant person she had ever had the misfortune of meeting, and she shuddered to think what her family must be going through if they were indentured servants at his estate now. As they walked, she asked Dustin again about what had happened in the tree.

"What was that back there in the tree? I couldn't move or even breathe!" Dustin just nodded solemnly.

"That was his magical aura. I've never felt one so powerful before." Magical aura? Kiara had never heard of it. Then again, she didn't know very much about magic. Why had it affected her though? Magic wasn't supposed to work on her! She pulled up her class description again. As things tend to malfunction when you are around, you have been granted the class of Anti-Mage. Basic magic won't affect you in the same way it does other people.

As you grow stronger and advance through the tiers in your class, you will gain other abilities as well, pertinent to your new tier. Current tier: 0 Advancement through the tiers of your class will be time based. Next advancement: 5 days. Ok, so basic magic doesn't affect me, but apparently there are some kinds of advanced magic that do. Good to know. Next, she checked her reward options to see if there was anything new. Reward Points: 2 [Upgrade Stats (tier-based)] cost: 1 point.

Gain +135 points to spend on stats [Guaranteed Advancement] cost: 1 point. The normal advancement times for each tier of your class will be capped at 1 year. Advancements that happen before that are unaffected. [Stat Checker] cost: 1 point. Gain the ability to view other people's stats. [Limit Breaker] cost: 1 point. Gain the ability to upgrade your stats up to double their original MAX value. [Soul Space 2] cost: 1 point. Your soul can function as a spatial storage device, accessible only by you.

The space itself will be spherical, with a diameter of 10 feet. Anything placed in the soul space will enter a time stasis. As a bonus, this space can serve as a coin denomination exchanger for a 5% fee. [Invisibility] cost: 2 points. Gain the ability to turn truly invisible at will. Touching or directly interacting with another person will remove the invisibility. [Early Personal Aura Negation] cost: 4 points. Others' magical auras will have no effect on you. There were two new options!

The Early Personal Aura Negation was way too expensive to be able to afford, but she was intrigued by the 'Early' qualifier in the title. Did that mean she would eventually unlock that ability on her own without needing to purchase it? If so, that seemed worth waiting for, so she could spend her reward points on items with more limited availability. In the meantime, she would just avoid getting in the way of anyone powerful enough to have a magical aura.

She needed to do some research and figure out who those people were, or how she could spot them. She was realizing there was too much she didn't know. The Invisibility reward was incredible though! It was exactly what she had wished for when up in that tree. She looked over the list one more time, then went ahead and purchased the ability, even though it cost the remainder of her points. She checked her Abilities menu next.

Abilities [Personal Spell Negation] Basic magic does not affect you, and dissolves on contact with your body. [Soul Space] Your soul can function as a spatial storage device, accessible only by you. The space itself is spherical, with a diameter of 5 feet. As a bonus, this space can serve as a coin denomination exchanger for a 10% fee. [Invisibility] Turn truly invisible at will. Touching or directly interacting with another person will remove the invisibility.