The auction was fun, but they hadn’t found anything worth buying. Their items sold well, the first one having gotten them 6200 gold. In total they earned 15,000 gold but paid the guild 10 percent as commission. Despite that it was still an enormous sum of money. After setting aside 1000 gold for expenses, they decided to let Jill use half of the remaining sum for her families’ debts. With that much money, Jill insisted that they could last the year and should spend the rest on whatever they needed. They bid small amounts on a few items but found nothing worth investing too much money on.

There were two high quality illusion items, and his friends encouraged him to try for them, but he decided against it. After seeing the other adventurers, he felt more comfortable with his own changes. He also guessed that his inhumanity skill was affecting his own perception of himself. Honestly, he accepted it, and wanted to go further down this path. Taking a dragon related class would make him more of a monster, but his encounter with one gave him a good reason to choose it. There was so much potential in the class.

The other item of interest had been a portable shroud, which would allow their camps to blend into the surroundings. It was a relatively high-level item though and sold for well over their budget. The quality of the material was very high, and the item could still handle another handful of enchantments. Another selling point was that it generated its own mana supply, and the guards had paid almost 100,000 gold. The amount of money that moved around in that room, would be enough to buy several houses in the city. Did this much money flow at every auction, or were the items more special than he realized? He didn’t know but was excited for the next one.

Currently, they were flying towards the city of Krall, looking for a place to rest for the night. Even with their flight speed the trip would take almost three days, and there were no towns in between. Normally, they would rest by the roads, or an adventurer outpost, but there was a bandit problem in this area. It would be safer to rest in the woods, and deal with monsters. The monsters in this area weren’t very dangerous, and mostly relied on brute strength. On the other hand, the bandits were refugees and had a wide variety of skills, making them more unpredictable.

Looking through the forest below, they were trying to find a river or a good vantage point. It was hard to look through the trees, and Jill was the only one that could see clearly. Still, they looked together, the sun was getting low, and they needed to find a place soon. Mash was the one who needed to make the camp but would pass out for several minutes upon landing. On top of that, they decided that they would only heal Mash enough to wake him up, then he could use his hibernation to recover the rest of his energy. He could recover quickly enough with the skill, and it was more important that the others were in fighting condition. They wouldn’t need to hunt for this trip since they had stocked up on foods, enough for even his hunger.

They couldn’t find a perfect place, but Jill had spotted a tree that was taller than its surroundings. Also, there were no monsters visible, and the height would make it secure. Flying closer to the tree, he noticed that the wood was darker than the surrounding trees. Although, rather than having large leaves, the branches were covered in groups of smaller leaves that seemed more like bushes. The trunks weren’t large enough to land on with his wings out, but they would be good enough to camp on.

Lacking enough space for his wings to get through the treetops, Red had cleared him a path with swords of blood. Landing at the base of the tree, he took in the surroundings. The grass was oddly short, and he was surprised at how dark it was on the ground. The sun was not able to get through the treetops, and light only trickled in from small gaps. A few vines climbed up the trunks of the smaller trees, and there were a few bluish mushrooms growing around any rocks. As his feet contacted the ground, his vision went totally black.

He was woken in up in only a few seconds, Luke sitting next to him. Either Luke was getting better at healing, or his body was adjusting to his skill since he regained consciousness faster now. He immediately began meditating and using his inhuman hibernation skill, sitting with his back against the tree. His focus sharpened and the fatigue he felt washed away, within a few minutes he regained enough energy to form the camp. He wouldn’t need a lot of energy for the camp and could continue his meditation once they were in a more secure position.

Starting to climb the tree, he was stopped by Jill. She placed a hand on his shoulder, and silently pointed into the woods. Taking the hint, he tried to make as little noise as possible as he followed her fingers. It was dark, but in the distance, he could make out yellow dots that reflected the little available light. Creatures of some kind, and from the information they gathered, he guessed that they were shadow wolves, either that or fungal bears. Fungal bears were less likely, since they could have any eye color, and would usually have a slight glow. Shadow wolves made more sense, and he signaled for Luke. Jill nodded slightly before teleporting over to Luke.

They had devised some simple plans depending on whatever creatures they encountered, and quickly initiated the plan. Jill grabbed Luke and Red, teleporting them around to make a basic formation. They kept the largest tree to their backs, since it was wide enough to cover all of them. They couldn’t see any of the individual wolves, but they knew when the creatures moved closer. It looked vaguely like a wall of shadows was pressing around them, more yellow eyes becoming visible among the forest. They waited, the darkening knight encouraging the wolves to approach.

In the last moment, Luke used his skills to light up the darkness, the wolves panicking at the sudden influx of light. The light revealing the creatures for what they were, a single mass of conjoined wolves. Seeming bonded together as the shadows wove between them, blurring the lines between the monsters. They weren’t muscular or intimidating, looking starved and desperate. Impressions of their bones could be seen through their skin; they were clearly drained of muscle and fat. Without showing mercy, Jill launched her spell into the mass of creatures, killing several of the wolves instantly and injuring many others. Red followed up with a shower of blood needles, blindly stabbing into the mass of shadowy flesh. Dozens of wolves died in the first volley of attacks, and the rest fled back into the darkness.

Mash and Luke were left standing with nothing to do, they had been acting as the frontlines but none of the wolves had gotten close. With the fight over, he couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed. He gained nothing from the fight and bet that Jill and Red both gained levels. If only he had more energy, he would’ve been able to manage a few ranged attacks.

“Hmm, I didn’t gain a single level. Must’ve been too weak to benefit us.”

He found himself feeling relieved when he heard Jill’s voice. Understanding the situation, he gave her some justification. Remembering his brother’s time as a guard, Mash told them something he knew about the forest.

“I think we might have overprepared for this trip. I just remembered that this forest was a place that guards would go to train right after getting their second class. This would have been more beneficial to us before the dungeon, now it’s just kind of easy.”

He sounded a little uncertain as he spoke, not recalling the details perfectly, but believed he was mostly accurate. There were a few dangerous things in the forest, but with the direction they were headed would be unlikely to encounter them. Currently the most dangerous thing in the forest was the bandits. Red spoke, reaching the same conclusion that he did.

“Those bandits must be the reason those wolves were so starved. The monsters are having trouble finding food with them here. Also, that probably means that the bandits aren’t nearby.”

That made sense and gave him a stronger sense of security. He started climbing up the tree, while calling back to the group.

“Come on, lets set up camp for tonight.”

The tree was thick and rough, making it easily scalable. The trunk was over ten feet in diameter and rose hundreds of feet into the air. They didn’t bother climbing all the way to the top, instead stopping at the first section of branches. The branches were thick, and Mash formed wooden planks between them. Continuing, he made crude walls and a ceiling resulting in a curved tree house that covered a third of the tree. With his creations now marred with patches of scales and scars, the tree house looked rather ominous. It functioned well enough though, and they quickly shuffled inside to relax.

Mash started using his hibernation skill again, and Red prepared the food this time. When they went shopping, she had picked out a few higher quality ingredients in order to cook something she learned how to make when she was younger. Smelling the food cooking had been enough to break his concentration, his hunger diverting his attention. It smelled good, but she told him it would still take a while to make. It was a type of pasta and was served with thick cuts of meat. Hunger edging at his thoughts, he pulled out some emergency food. The only thing he used gold on, was an excessive number of simple foods. Mostly it was a lot of dried meats and hard cheeses, eating some pieces slowly while he waited for the meal to finish.

“Ok guys, I think its done. I don’t know how good it’s going to turn out, but it should be alright.”

She spoke while portioning the food for each of them, she made a ton extra for Mash, and he smiled gratefully as he grabbed the steak with his hands. Her uncertain look quickly turned to anger, and she handed him a fork and knife, glaring down any protest. He rolled his eyes at her but used the offered silverware. Afterall, she did make it, and he could show her some courtesy. He put the first piece of meat into his mouth and savored the flavors. His elation was cut into by a snide remark from Jill.

“I thought I told you to never do that again, it’s creepy.”

She spoke through her own mouthful of food, but received her own glare from Red. Not wanting to commit the same mistake as Jill, he simply gave her an exaggerated roll of his eyes. She returned it, by imitating the gesture with her own eyes. The motion was disturbing with her insect-like eyes, and he realized there was some genuine truth to her jokes. He had no doubts that his single eye was more frightening than both of hers.

Red seemed to care a lot for their manners, and only Luke could meet her standards. She corrected Jill and Mash routinely but didn’t interrupt their eating, instead looking strangely happy at seeing them enjoying her cooking. The pasta was coated in layers of cheese and was surprisingly spicy and worked extremely well with the meat. There were clearly different cuts of meat, but he ate them indiscriminately. Mash didn’t hide how much he liked the food, ultimately finishing all of what she made. Honestly, he felt full but still wished that there was more.

After the meal they got ready to sleep, it was early but would let them get a head start tomorrow. Mash took the first watch so that he could recover his energy before going to sleep himself. They weren’t certain if they needed a watch, since Mash connected to his creations and would feel someone or something trying to intrude, but they decided to be safe and run some tests when at Krall. They were eager to get to the city, each for their own reasons. It would only take another two days to get there, and he guessed that if they pushed it, they could arrive tomorrow.