Chương 19

For the next few hours, Ethan walked and walked. He wanted to clear his mind, but it seemed it wouldn't be that easy as he was still fuming inside. There was no one but himself to blame for ending up in this position. Looking back, it was all so obvious now. Nuvian had accepted him too easily, and unlike Oliver, the charming elf was a sly bastard. From the very start, his eyes were on his cloak.

Not that it was too eye-catching or anything, but when a man in rags appeared out of nowhere with a cloak that didn't even have a single dust on it, anyone would wonder what the deal was with that. All along, he was fishing for information to confirm his suspicions. Alice, on the other hand, kept changing her attitude bit by bit. It was even clearer when she returned after their 'scouting' sessions with Nuvian.

He caught her throwing glances at him with a thoughtful look more than once, but simply thought that she was worried about him disclosing their secret. All the while, he kept finding excuses to look the other way. A poor judge of character? What a joke. I simply refuse to acknowledge the reality when it involves my interest. Which is actually worse. I'm such a fool. The sheer irony of it was quite hilarious.

When it came to his expectations about others and his relationships with them, he was blind as a bat, while being someone with superb observation skills who paid great attention to detail. In fact, that was how he'd managed to sweep the floor with the trio in no time. For all the time they spent together, he analyzed their fighting patterns and tried to figure out their weaknesses as well as their strong points, comparing in his mind how he'd fare if they clashed.

By the third day, he already knew exactly how to beat them. This wasn't out of any malicious intent, but merely an old habit, a way to entertain himself. If not for that, the fight could go in an entirely different direction, especially against Oliver. His walk brought him to the edge of a cliff. A breathtaking scenery pulled him out of his thoughts for a moment. A wilderness of every tone of green sprawled across the rolling terrain as far as the eye could see, soaking up the afternoon sun.

Stepping to the verge, Ethan sat down under the scanty shade of the bare branches of a dead tree and hung his legs over the edge, thinking about the hidden dangers under this lush green blanket. Emerald Forest is only slightly safer than where I came from, and I don't even have my talismans anymore. His face darkened as he took a deep breath and sighed. Forget about the fact that the bastards tried to kill him, merely losing his precious treasure because of them wasn't something he could forgive easily.

The loot he got from them wasn't even comparable to a life-saving treasure of that quality, especially under the current circumstances. I should've worked their ass off until they paid me back. He didn't lie about not wishing to get his hands bloodied with scum at the beginning of his new life. It would truly be an ominous sign to finally find people after he'd longed for it all that time, only to kill them a week later. But that was only half of the reason he'd let them go.

Despite everything, he still considered Oliver as the first friend he'd made in this world, and didn't wish to cause even more pain to the guy. If not for him, or rather, if they had somehow managed to rope Oliver into their plan, he'd bury them all without hesitation. A rustling sound came from behind. He expected to see Beet, but what came out was a gray wolf at the peak of tier-2, prowling toward him with a deep and quiet growl. Ethan grunted and snapped his head at it.

''Fuck off!'' The wolf froze for a few seconds before turning back and retreating inside the forest.

'DING! You have learned the skill [Mana Aura].' Raising his eyebrows, he let out a dry chuckle and asked to amuse himself,'What does it do, Ani?'

'[Mana Aura]: Mix your killing intent with your [Mana Sense] to suppress your enemies. Current range is 90 ft radius.' His brainwa–sorry, his optimization–for Ani was going pretty well. He naturally understood what the skill was for as soon as he got it, but he had to train the budding System of the realm consistently for future purposes, especially in its early days. As for how it was possible to learn a skill out of nowhere, thankfully, the answer was one of the many things he had squeezed out from Oliver's team.

Apparently, the three mana skills he came to learn in the nightmare village were only a drop in the bucket. Those three were the only ones everyone unlocked as soon as they filled the tier requirement. As for the rest of the countless mana skills, it depended on understanding the fundamentals of the skill by playing and experimenting with mana, or in many cases, having a sudden realization during a life and death situation.

Some of the mana skills were easy to get, and some of them were extremely rare to come across. They also informed him about the mana exercises to get some of the basic ones, though none of them was an expert on the subject and said that it was better to search the libraries in Ehrendil, or better yet, Niamaris, if he was interested. Of course he was fucking interested in free skills. Who cared if it took years upon years of practice to unlock the rare ones?

He could simply add half an hour of mana exercises to his daily routines for this without any trouble. Though he never expected to get one before he even had a chance to visit a library. Killing intent was something he was familiar with back on Earth. It was a strange phenomenon, but some people were capable of feeling the mental energy around them, similar to thinking of someone you had not seen for years, only to find they called you the next day.

That feeling of being watched was also a real thing, and more often than not, it proved to be the correct assumption. No matter how well he'd hidden himself when trailing a target, there were always a few who suddenly turned at the place he was hiding at.

To prevent this, with the help of Ani, he developed some countermeasures, like instead of watching the target directly, keeping them in his near or even mid periphery vision, or stopping himself from thinking about the target and his intention to kill them until it was time to act. Trying to suppress or amplify his killing intent was one of the many weird ideas he liked to indulge himself in back then.

Perhaps that was why it came so easily to him to relay his intent to the wolf in a moment of high emotion, and his already operating [Mana Sense] integrated it readily. I'll have to do some tests, but I think I can use this to startle my enemies during the fights and take advantage of their surprise. The sudden skill gain managed to drag him out of gloomy thoughts as he started playing with the [Mana Aura].

He didn't quite feel his own killing intent, but he could tell that the air somehow grew heavy whenever he used it. This is the skill I witnessed firsthand in the nightmare village. But the one that scared the shit out of me and nailed me on the roof was probably a higher-rank one. Or maybe the effect gets better when there is a huge level difference between the user and the target. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Deciding to treat himself to a good meal, he took out his cooked venison on a spit from his ring and cut himself a large piece. As he ate, he kept playing with the new skill, but a troubled look appeared on his face when he considered its range. After his last tier-up, the [Mana Sense]'s range had increased by 50% and became 90 ft, same with his new skill.

While questioning Oliver, he'd come to learn that this wasn't actually related to the tier-up, but his increase in Perception, as it also increased 50% with the 10 bonus stats. Turned out that another use of Perception was increasing the range of his domain, where quite a few mana skills operated. Extending outward from his physical body, his domain was his soul's manifestation in the material world, allowing some mana skills to reach anywhere within it easily, since his mana was also connected to his soul.

Naturally, the range of this domain mattered, even if it was just for [Mana Sense]. The difference between 60 ft and 90 ft was pretty big, but in the higher tiers, considering his fighting style, whether it was 200 ft or 500 ft would hardly matter. Still, ignoring the stat completely wouldn't do him any good, and so, he decided to lean more on it until he was satisfied with the scope of his domain. But only after tier-3. Around these stages, he needed all the min-maxing he could get.

In the near future, he'd balance this better. Finishing his meal, he took a look at Alice's spatial pouch. It was inside his cloak's inner pocket since he'd failed to place it in his ring. Taking it out, he sent his mana and its spatial space–which wasn't even as big as a tenth of what his ring offered–showed itself in his mind's eye. As expected, other than some potions and coins, it was full of useless stuff like clothes, cooking supplies, etc.

Oliver also had a spatial pouch and carried the rather good stuff with him. Too bad that Ethan didn't have the heart to rob the guy after extracting all kinds of information from him for the past week, and receiving his patience and hospitality. Sure, the guy was an idiot who had been manipulated easily to fight him, but the beating he'd got, especially that last punch, felt like enough payback. Nuvian's armor was pretty good though. Calling it from his ring, Ethan re-evaluated his new outfit.

It was a light leather armor that covered the most important places. The matte black, sculpted design had ash color patterns around the edges. Its quality wasn't great, as he'd heard, but it sure looked good. Fetching a basin of water, he quickly washed himself and the armor before putting it on and having his cloak snuggle on top of it. Looking like a rich kid got lost in the forest after a big LARP event, Ethan nodded with a satisfied smile.

The treacherous elf definitely knew how to dress; too bad all his other personal items were inside his tent, since he didn't have any spatial item. Gazing at the Emerald Forest from the edge of the cliff one last time, Ethan turned around and started the remaining part of his trip alone. At least Beet seemed dedicated to following him as he showed up the next day and joined him on his hunt.

Although he wasn't particularly looking for Exp grind, there were plenty of monsters on his route that were eager to try and kill him. Thankfully, unlike the edge of the Ivory Woodland, this place didn't have any beasts at tier-4 or higher, making him drop the caution slightly and let loose in the bloody battles. Days turned into weeks as he focused on his skills and steadily gained Exp, eventually reaching level 25 at the end of his two-month Emerald Forest field trip.

The new stats went into Strength, Agility, and Intelligence, giving him enough confidence to fight against even peak tier-3 beasts. After countless battles during the past 6 months, he got used to his skill a lot and found more effective ways to use them. Yet there was no rank advancement in sight. Despite his best efforts, it seemed impossible to tinker with his skill's workings. Still, he didn't let this discourage him as he had high hopes to learn more about the subject in Ehrendil.

The closer he got to the city, the more people he started to see. The small adventurer parties didn't bother themselves with him other than sizing him up with narrowed eyes or offering a small greeting from afar and resuming their path. They were all geared up and seemed ready to face what he'd been facing for months now, which was why he was a bit surprised to see a little kid in the forest. Ethan noticed an elf girl in a yellow summer dress, collecting some herbs in a wooden basket.

Since she was all alone and only looked about 12-years-old or so, he thought he must've been pretty close to the city. Excitement rising in his chest, he approached the kid with a smile.

''Hello there, little one. Are you from Ehrendil?'' The girl whipped her head around with an alarmed expression and relaxed after seeing him, sighing.

''No. I'm from Hell's Pass. I came here to kill my mortal enemy and take my revenge.''''Is that some kids' club or something?'' Ethan asked with an amused smile and pointed behind the plant she was harvesting.

''Oh, be careful. Your mortal enemy is about to pounce on you.'' The girl took a glance at where he pointed and saw the small, green frog before turning back at him with a snort and placing her free hand to her waist.

''Of course I'm from Ehrendil. Where else should I be from?''''I don't know. Definitely not Hell's Pass though,'' he said.

''Can you tell me which way is the city and how far it is?'' She pointed at the thick bushes.

''The nearest gate is that way. About a few hours away.'' He nodded as the direction matched the signals he was getting from others.

''Thanks. What are you doing here?''''Collecting herbs, obviously.''''Oh! We are peers, then. I'm an expert herb gatherer myself.'' The girl rolled her eyes with a doubtful look.''I'm serious. I'm an expert in the gathering part. I don't know much about the herbs themselves,'' he said.

''I was hoping to find some place in the city to sell them.'' She lifted an eyebrow, straightening her back.

''I know every herb that grows in the Emerald Forest. I can help you identify them for a small fee, and I can bring you to a place in the alchemist's street that will give you the best price for them.''''Really, now? What's your fee?''''Ten percent of the market price of your herbs, sir,'' she said, placing her basket in front of her and looking all professional. The corner of Ethan's mouth went up as he suddenly became sir.

''Five percent.'' She pursed her lips and shrugged.

''Fine. Deal. Show me what you got.''''Okay. I'm Ethan, by the way. What's your name?''''Renna.''''Alright, Renna, you might want to step back,'' he said, and after she backed off with a confused expression, he took out all the herbs in his ring. A heavy fragrance hit his nose as a small hill of ravaged plants came into sight. Renna stared at the result of his hard work for a while and slowly came out of her daze, turning to him with a light frown.

''Why did you collect so much waste? You didn't plunder someone's garden, did you?'' Ethan coughed into his fist.

''We'll talk about that after the separation. Come, start with the most precious ones.'' Shaking her head, she put his basket down and got to work. As time went by, her expression turned annoyed as she started murmuring curses that were not appropriate for kids, or even adults, for that matter. Once done, she faced him and threw her arms in the air.

''I can't believe you ruined so many herbs! You even collected the leaves of the Crystal Blood Root without getting its root!''''Well, we all have our own expertise,'' Ethan said evenly, clearing his throat as he looked between the small hill and the handful of plants she'd set aside.

''And you're sure there are no immortal-grade ones?''''There is no such grade!'' she yelled.

''You're the worst herb gatherer I know!''''Whatever. How much would these be worth?'' he asked, looking at the few herbs that survived his eco terrorism.''Blue lotus and Gondar flower should sell for 4 silver, but you've damaged the Silverbell and the Tianna mushroom badly, so you'll get a silver at best for those, and another silver for the rest,'' she said with a pout.

''All this work for 3 coppers...''''Hey, don't be like that,'' he said, patting her head.

''I'll double your pay. Can't have my image as a benevolent employer get damaged.'' She perked up at the mention of a raise.

''Why did you even collect so much trash?''''You can't win the lottery if you don't play,'' he said, looking at the herb hill without any shame.''What's lottery?'' Ethan tilted his head and cocked a brow.

''Hmm… A business idea for the future, perhaps? Come on, let's go and see this Ehrendil.''