Wolf opened his eyes, taking several deep breaths. The world around him was bathed in the faint pre dawn light. Wolf ignored the picturesque landscape and checked his surroundings to make sure he was still safe. Seeing that everything was fine, the boy closed his eyes once more, but didn’t enter a meditative state.

Instead, Wolf focused his mind on his body, checking the state he was in. A moment later he found it was in an appalling shape.

He’d starved himself for two weeks, which was a huge blow to a nine-year-old’s body. It wouldn’t have been as bad if he had Internal Energy to maintain himself. However all of it was used up in the fierce battle in which his father had fallen.

Other than the health concern, Wolf had a disgusting grimy feeling crawling all over his skin. He was coated in a layer of filth. Rain had washed away some of it, but the rest had soaked into Wolf’s skin and robe. Even his nose was clogged with a disgusting mixture of caked blood and dust. Wolf shivered. He wasn’t that into bathing, but now he suddenly had an urge to scrub himself clean.

Wolf opened his eyes and blew his nose. Semi-sentient eldritch horrors that took up residence there were sent flying. Seemingly unaware of the monstrosities’ screams of despair at being evicted, Wolf started muttering to himself.

“Did I really almost ruin the body Dad had given his life and soul to protect?”

A deep sense of shame washed over Wolf, nearly drowning him. The conversation with that mysterious lady made him realize how much he had sinned while mindlessly trudging through Silverhound duchy. What would’ve happened if that kind lady, which probably nobody other than Wolf considered kind or a lady, hadn’t appeared and snapped him out of it? Would he have destroyed himself? Then what was his father’s sacrifice for?

Wolf shuddered and tears started running down his face. He had spat on his father’s legacy and dying wish.

“I’m sorry Dad. I wasn’t myself. I promise I’ll do better from now on.” Wolf’s heart was beating loudly, and his breathing was ragged. He closed his eyes in a bid to calm down.

He vaguely remembered listing his father’s wishes while wandering aimlessly. From where he stood right now, Wolf felt like slapping himself.

*Pow!*

And he actually did. What was he thinking? Following the road to Silver City, slaughtering bandits while rambling like a madman. Would a lunatic be able to make his father’s dreams come true?

Right now Wolf was starved and dehydrated. First he needed to take care of his body’s needs and nourish it back to health. To realize his father’s dreams Wolf first had to be strong and healthy.

Wolf settled down to rest, then ate and drank his fill. Sated, Wolf once more entered his Mind Hall. This time he didn’t experiment, nor refine his column. He prepared a Greater Fleet of Foot, two spells to clean up and patch his robes, a pair of Subtle Fireballs and several other spells that would ensure his safety.

Wolf left the remaining spell slots empty. He planned to use that Soul Force to feed the egg. Having finished preparing his spells Wolf finally decided to plan his next steps.

Wolf was currently a Seventh Order Mage, a Fourth Order Sword-Sage and a dabbler in Body Refining. Unless he ran into another thousand-man squad, nothing should be able to threaten him. However, Wolf’s Internal Energy was depleted, so unless he refilled it, his Sword-Sage Order was useless. Or worse, it was a liability.

Coming to this conclusion Wolf decisively took out three vials from his father’s Ring of Holding. After staring at them for a moment, Wolf downed the Least Energy Recovery potions.

I wanted you to drink these… Wolf thought, then pushed back the surge of irrational guilt and regret he felt. He had to fulfill his father’s wishes. He had to stay alive and stay healthy.

Warmth spread throughout Wolf’s body even before the tonics had reached his stomach. After circulating it a couple of times Wolf’s Internal Energy stabilized a bit under sixty percent. After thinking about it for a moment Wolf drank two more potions.

The effect was satisfactory. His Internal Energy reserve wasn’t quite full, but using any more potions would’ve been a waste.

We had bought two hundred and fifty vials. Dad used ninety-three. I have enough to refill my Internal Energy another thirty times or so.

I should be frugal with Internal Energy and Soul Force. When fighting I should use brute force and a minimal number of spells. As for maneuvers, I should only use them in case of emergency. With bandits, I can chain them to save on Internal Energy, but with skilled combatants I should just use lower Order ones…

Wolf spent a couple of minutes coming up with tactics he would need and took the time to figure out how to save as many of his resources as possible.

With tactics ready, the boy turned towards strategy.

My primary goals should be to reach Silver City safely and return Johns and Josh caravan’s property to its owners.

Less important, but still desirable would be to improve my Mage and Sword-Sage Orders, as well as to hatch the silver egg.

While I’m at it, I should kill as many bandits as possible. I can probably bait them while traveling and kill them off. I can’t think of any other way to make the road safer for others.

Once I reach Silver City, I should settle down in a way that doesn’t draw attention. Then, once I’m old enough, I’ll enter the Mage Academy. Dad wanted me to graduate and experience student life. I have no idea what he meant, but living as a student should probably be it.

Then, once I’m strong enough I should read mom’s and dad’s letters, as well as do what I can to bring stability to the people. And finally, I want to kill Duke Northshield and the Emperor.

In a surprising show of maturity, Wolf made his short and long term goals based on his father’s wishes. Except the last part, which was purely Wolf’s personal desire for revenge.

Wolf didn’t explicitly consider some of his father’s wishes. For instance growing strong and healthy was a given. Being able to reap people’s lives without caring about it should happen on its own the more people Wolf kills. As for grandchildren, unfortunately, that was impossible due to the Star Body Body Refining art.

Once he had decided on his goals, Wolf started plotting out the route to Silver City. A caravan would take nine to ten months to get there. Walking by himself, with the aid of spells, Wolf should be able to make it in about half the time.

For a moment Wolf considered taking a shortcut through the wilderness. That should shave off another month of travel, but he quickly decided against it. By following the main road he would be able to purge bandits, fulfilling his father’s wish.

Besides, he wasn’t in a hurry. There were more than two years before he could take the exam for the Mage Academy. By hurrying he would spend less time on the road and more in the city. Since Wolf had never lived in a settlement, he believed it was more comfortable under the open sky, rather than living pent-up, surrounded by a palisade.

Wolf finished his deliberations and noticed that the sun had just started rising. He itched to head towards Silver City, but there was one more matter he had to take care of. Wolf took one Ring of Holding after another, taking stock of their contents.

Based on their appearance, there was no way to differentiate Rings of Holding. Each one was a simple golden band, perfectly identical to the rest, regardless of the quality and the size of extra-dimensional space it contained. Archibald had once mentioned that Rings of Holding were a remnant from the ancient era. The art of crafting them was lost. That’s one of the reasons why they were used as a high end currency.

Going through the rings and memorizing their contents took several hours. By the time Wolf was done the sun was already high in the sky.

In a pair of Rings of Holding, which Wolf concluded belonged to Northshield troops, he found hundreds of spare weapons, dozens of sets of spare armor and a huge amount of food and water.

To an army these were necessary supplies and means of survival. To Wolf, however, this was assorted useless junk in the cheapest grade of Rings of Holding. Wolf wrongly guessed that they were worth less than all the Least Energy Recovery potions he and his father had bought along the way.

The Rings of Holding on the other hand, were worth a thousand gold pieces each, meaning Wolf considered them considerably more valuable than what was stored in them.

The third ring which belonged to the Northshield troops was of a slightly higher quality. It was probably worth two thousand gold pieces. Inside Wolf found camping supplies for ten, several hundred rations and a small number of utility items used for scouting, concealment and scaling shear surfaces. Other than an assortment of maps, there were three pieces of equipment that caught Wolf’s eye.

A cloak that helped with camouflage. It didn’t grant invisibility. Rather it changed its color to blend in with the surroundings. Wolf thought it would make for a neat tent, so that he could rest safely.

The second item that caught Wolf’s attention was a high quality spyglass. There was nothing magical about it, but it could save Wolf some Soul Force. The item could replace a Third Order spell that granted far-sight. Not only would it save Soul Force, but also free up slots for other spells.

Lastly there was a pitch black magical tablet roughly the size of a large chess board. Currently it was showing several different colored dots at its center. After examining it for a while and then finally identifying it with magic, Wolf concluded that this item was used to detect extra-dimensional spaces such as the Portable Mansion, Rings of Holding and various similar items in the form of belts, sacks and backpacks.

The final Ring of Holding belonging to Northshield troops was the commander’s. This was the highest quality ring in the group and Wolf had no idea how much it was worth.

The large space contained inside of it had the fruits of several month’s worth of banditry. Everything was in well sorted and labeled crates, with a ledger. The ledger had everything from expensive building materials, through pots and pans all the way to books and premium lamb-skin scrolls.

Wolf immediately moved everything related to books, maps and calligraphy into his father’s Ring of Holding, which he had claimed as his own.

Other things he took interest in were two dozen Least Energy Recovery potions, as well as a number of vials with potions used for various Body Refining arts.

As for Rings of Holding belonging to Johns and Josh… Wolf took a peek just to check whether or not they belonged to the soldiers that attacked them or not before deciding not to touch them.

He had vowed to return them to their rightful owners, and there was no need to rummage through things he wouldn’t be able to have. After some hesitation, Wolf realized that he wanted to check out the Portable Mansion, but decided to do it some other time. Just going through these Rings of Holding had taken too much time.

With his state of mind more or less back to normal, and with everything plotted out and cataloged, Wolf was ready to continue his journey. Well, not quite. There was one thing missing.

Wolf took out a fancy backpack and a roll of silk from the commander’s Ring of Holding. He placed the silk in the backpack so that it was sticking out enough for the whole world to see.

That should be enough to lure bandits. Wolf thought grimly as he set off towards Silver City. Towards his new life.