I checked myself over once more in the mirror, admiring the equipment I had purchased over the last few days.

Rather than an Academy uniform, I was covered in traveling clothes designed for comfort and warmth. My shirt and pants were thicker, my boots built for long-distance, and gloves extended partway up my arms, thin enough not to hinder movement but still an extra layer between me and the cold.

All of that, plus magic and a traveling cloak, would keep the winds from getting too frigid, though I was still not looking forward to the trip.

A small leather pouch sat on the left side of my hip, barely larger than my fist. While usually, this would be next to useless, this was no ordinary bag.

Julian had loaned one of his smaller spatial pouches to me, and this one had an internal size of five cubic feet. More than that, it would always feel barely heavier than an everyday purse.

Thanks to the spatial pouch, I could store everything I might need on this trip. In addition to my usual array of potions and pills, I packed survival tools such as flint, tinder, rations, and a few changes of clothes. The rest of the space held journals, maps, a few books, writing utensils, and most importantly, a small fortune in gold, courtesy of Master Julian.

If I had the chance, I wanted to examine the pouch more closely and note whatever I found. There was little chance of a first-year grasping anything beyond the surface of spatial magic, but better safe than sorry.

These preparations dominated most of the last few days not spent reading, and that worked out well. It happened to distract me from a certain young noblewoman who had not visited ever since the start of winter break. Not that I minded, of course, but it certainly was not unwelcome.

On my person, I made sure to carry a battle wand on the left side of my hip and a steel dagger on the right, both secured to my belt. It took the last of my gold to purchase the weapon, but it seemed the prudent move. I would not always have time to weave a spell, and a good blade to the gut would dissuade most attackers.

I would have liked to have a set of light armor and a spear, but at this point, I could only afford a knife. Hopefully, magic would keep me safe for this trip, and I could remedy that for the next time.

Master Julian was already waiting for me at the staircase, and as we walked downstairs, he said, "Repeat your task, please."

"I am to head north to Aresford, meet with Baron Markov, give him the agreed-upon sum of gold and return with the package he gives me."

"Exactly. I trusted you but had to be sure."

"Forgiveness, sir, but what is in the package? I do not want to get the wrong thing and return empty-handed," I asked, thinking to the hundreds of gold coins also sitting in the spatial pouch. The only thing worse than spending such a sum was wasting it.

"Good question. It's a book," Julian responded, nodding a few times before continuing, "How are you with horses?"

"I-passable, sir," I replied, noting the abrupt topic change and trying to hide my involuntary wince. The last time I rode a horse involved many uncomfortable jarring motions and bruises in sensitive areas.

"Terrible, then. Excellent," Julian said with a grin, and I sighed before nodding, "Well, practice makes perfect, and you'll get plenty of that."

"Why not just teleport us there, and save the time?" I asked as we reached the bottom floor, moving into the entrance hall.

"It requires too much mana, and it's inaccurate at longer distances. Runic circles can reduce those issues, but those are expensive."

"I see. But this trip will still take weeks. Aresford is hundreds of miles away."

Julian did not respond as we stepped outside, and I followed his gaze to the horse waiting for me.

It was a towering beast, nearly the size of a warhorse, with a shining brown coat. The saddle and bags on each side of its body were simple but clearly of high quality, and its dark eyes glittered as it turned to face me.

"A single horse, sir? I-apologies, but you expect me back within a week, yes? I..." I trailed off, doing the math in my head. Even at a breakneck pace and with good weather, it would take nearly a week to get there and another to return.

"Take a closer look," Julian said, gesturing with one hand to the creature, and I turned to face him before nodding and stepping closer.

It again fixed its eyes on me, but I ignored the look and placed a hand on its side. It did not take much guessing to puzzle out Julian's meaning, and I pushed my mental gaze inward.

Lines of mana ran through its body, a sort of half-formed mirror image. I sensed the streams running through blood and orderly bars reinforcing muscle and bone. My class on magical beasts had not gotten to interacting with living specimens yet, and this was the closest I had gotten to one. Or at least, one that was not trying to gore me.

The sense of order struck me, almost like reinforced metal alloys from Forging rather than flesh or blood. It felt like wind mana more bizarrely, but that structure went against the naturally chaotic and ever-changing energy.

"What sort of species is this?" I asked after a few seconds, turning to face the older man.

"Have you heard of a sleipnir?"

"An eight-legged horse, more or less. A healthy sleipnir can run several times faster and gallop through the air or across water without slowing. Unless I am mistaken, this one seems a few legs short, though." I remarked dryly, gesturing to the creature beside me.

Julian grinned, responding, "He's a hybrid. Not as fast, strong, or sizeable as the real thing, but much better than a mundane horse. And he's less temperamental, too. A sleipnir is notoriously tricky to befriend."

Even a hybrid creature would cost a small fortune, and I felt an unfamiliar rush of warmth through me. Julian was placing a sizeable amount of trust in me, and I nodded, smiling as I ran my hand along the beast's side again.

"Thank you, sir."

"No need." Julian responded, waving one hand dismissively, "Now, I hope you've kept training that Traveler's Cloak spell of yours. It'd reflect badly on me if you showed up frostbitten and sniffling like a beggar."

Any good kingdom relied on infrastructure, and Ferris was no different. And the most vital of all of those, in my mind, was well-designed roads.

Massive stone pathways extended across the entire country, reinforced with magic, and built wide enough for a dozen carts to ride side by side. This intricate network linked every major settlement all along the coastline and far east to our borders.

Fortunately, there was only one road northward to Aresford, which made it next to impossible to get lost. Unfortunately, this same road also led past several other towns along the way, which meant it was one of the busiest. So, wide span or not, I had to keep my speed down to a light trot.

I used the opportunity to cast Traveler's Cloak, altering the size to enshroud my mount as well. For my plan to succeed, I would need to keep him as close to full strength as possible.

A typical horse could get me to the city in a week, but this one would cut that down to around three days. With the fourth set aside for meeting Baron Markov, this left me with a handful of hours at best. And that would not do. But, if I used my potions and other supplies to keep my mount running for longer, I should be able to cut the trip down to two days or so.

After a few hours, a chunk of the crowd had either fallen behind or diverted off onto secondary roads, leaving me open to push the pace. I paused, taking a deep breath before kicking, signaling my horse to speed up.

At least I was alone on this trip, so no one I knew would hear the undignified scream I let out. I had expected it to break into a trot, but the horse burst into a full gallop, nearly throwing me clear from the saddle.

I forced down my shout and leaned forward, grabbing the pommel in front of me and straining to remember my lessons.

The world had turned into a blur of colors to my eyes. White snow, dark ground, and blue sky had blended into a chaotic mixture, and I tried to ignore the dizzying sight. But as we rode, something else occurred to me besides the incredible speed we moved.

On my best day, I was a piss-poor rider. I could stay upright and in a saddle, but the skill had never grabbed me. If time were no object, I would rather have walked there, saved myself the embarrassment, and gotten the exercise.

But despite moving at what had to be twice the speed of an average horse, I felt remarkably comfortable. I could hear hooves striking stone and the faint sound of wind rushing past us around my spell, but there was no jarring impact. The creature practically glided along the ground, seeming to pick the most level spots instinctively.

Slowly, I eased, letting the tension slip from my body, and straightened, letting out a low breath. As we rode, I dropped my breathing into the now second nature of Origin Breathing. My spell would drain my core dry in an hour, so I would need to counter that; Good practice for gathering while moving, as well.

I still could not say why Julian had sent me. He claimed it was an annoyance, but he had entrusted several treasures to me; it was quite the risk, in my mind, and one I would never take. I had a theory, but whatever the motivation, it did present a golden opportunity.

Months ago, when first reading A Study on Aether, I had taken care to note every possible resource in the book. It was an invaluable fountain of knowledge, but most of the best tools were outside of my reach at the time. But when Master Julian told me I was headed to Aresford, I immediately dug out my notes and cross-referenced them with my maps.

With any luck, I would return to Volaris as a newly-minted Haze. And that, simply put, was an opportunity I could not squander. Time was never on my side, and letting such advantages slip through my fingers was near-insanity.

I stopped my mount once around eight hours into running, giving the animal food and water pills before offering a healing and stamina potion. The beast seemed more intelligent than most horses and devoured them, perking up and ready to continue on the way.

When we stopped six hours later, I was about to fall off the creature. Magical mount or not, an untrained rider could only go so long, and judging by my aching legs, fourteen hours straight was far beyond my limit.

There was no sign of roadside inns or villages nearby, which meant we would need to camp outside. This deep into Ferren territory, there was not much risk of hostile beasts, and no bandit would dare attack someone on a major road.

Once more, magical equipment showed its worth as I unpacked the tent from the saddlebags on my mount. It looked normal, except for a single metal disc sewn into one side. A quick infusion of mana, and the entire thing came to life, wriggling, and adjusting.

Metal stakes drove deep into the ground, and wooden struts unfolded, erecting the entire thing better than I could hope in just seconds. A second later, I felt a sensation fall over the area and realized that it was pulling a trickle of mana inside. The tent not only was self-assembling but seemed to create another of those semi-enclosed environments, just like Traveler's Cloak.

I chuckled, shaking my head before working on taking the saddle off my tired mount. He deserved a good night's rest and needed to regain as much energy as possible for the next day. I planned to continue at the same pace as today.

But as for me, I did not sleep nearly as well as I would have liked. Between rechecking my maps for the hundredth time, taking notes on the spatial pouch, and examining this enchanted tent, by the time I laid my head down, there were only a few hours until sunrise. Old habits died hard, as the saying went.