Trace Passive Perk will be promoted. Perception bonus x 2. Choose one of the following Perks to be added to it:

Echolocation:

Feel the space around you by using only your hearing.

Far Sight:

Your sight is greatly boosted during the day or in a Flow-filled environment.

Synaesthesia:

Other senses may contaminate your senses' regular Perception.

Echolocation, Far Sight, Synaesthesia.

I knew I had at least some insights into all of them, and I knew each of those Perks left a different feeling.

Echolocation, I had experienced it a few minutes prior. It was damn useful. It seemed to be tied to the Shade.

Far Sight, I had experienced a form of it. I did every time my Animal Instinct Passive Perks activated during the night or with the help of Shade. The immediate increase in my sight range was enough to trigger this possible Skill Perk; also, it felt tied to Flow.

And Synesthesia. It must have been what allowed me to see the talisman, feeling the cold talisman with my eyes. It was useful, but it did not end there. It felt... weird, both cold and warm at the same time.

It seemed tied to all senses by the way the whispers had put it.

That meant that I could maybe reproduce Echolocation if I chose Synesthesia. The only problem lay in the fact that the Perk was presented with a may. It made me think that it wasn't something stable, maybe, if there was a way to control it... but currently, there might not be a sure way to.

Not until I Promoted the Skill even further, I realized.

In the end, I went with Synesthesia.

The moment I chose it, I found myself back in the world of darkness, where there was no wait or feeling to the world, except sight.

Once again, I found myself back in the world inhabited by the powerful speaking light.

“You've made your choice, Hunter. Still, you won't be able to see me for now; there's a little more to go, but I don't find your position to be the best right now. So try and keep your life, at least until you can see my beautiful form.”

“Now go, and try not to die.”

I opened my eyes with a gasp; an arrow just encased itself a couple of centimeters from my exposed thigh.

I couldn't have been out for long, an instant if Alistar's observation of my last trip to the dark world was right.

My senses were a mess; they were probably adjusting themselves to their new abilities, which range had increased; in fact, my Passive bonus of + 3 Perception had just doubled.

I could sniff the movement of the tree's leaves; I could see the warmth of the blood in my hand; it felt like a bolt of lightning running through an empty world that had barely started extending and could do so by going far, far outside the confines of my natural senses.

Then my head started hurting, my eyes, ears, nose, and tongue seemed to bleed; then I gripped my shoulders as I couldn't manage to reign in a scream from the massive burst of migraine storming into my brain.

But everything lasted only a couple of seconds, then only a little light-headedness remained, and the world turned back to normal.

Thank the Sun for it was only a Passively triggered effect and not a permanent boon. I would have gone crazy otherwise, for sure. Still, it took me a while to recover from the instantaneous strain.

Back to the crucial things, I could not feel any joyous sound coming from inside the burrow, only ongoing battle.

This was not good, not at all.

Jane had a much higher level than ordinary slave traders; with Alistar in tow, they would have been able to take care of a couple of enemies.

However, something else I had missed was, well, missing.

Where was Tally? Had she fallen too?

Probably, otherwise, Jane would have made her attack the Hunters.

Enough, I had to focus and take out the enemy still shooting at me; Peter Frost.

I nocked a Shatter arrow while I held another one in my hand to shoot right after the first.

A few seconds of preparation to steady my breath later, and I had formed a plan.

After exposing one of my knees for him to shoot, his arrow hit the ground as I predicted. At that moment, I bolted out from behind the tree and released my arrow on the frame of the window; it immediately shattered, and I could hear his pain; no, I felt his scream on my skin too.

I crumbled on my knees.

The echoes of his screams were so loud that they sent shivers on my whole body.

My skin prickled, my muscles shifted, my throat burned.

What in the Abyss was going on?

Just as I asked myself that, it disappeared.

Was that what it was to feel sound with my sense of touch? It was terrible. I hoped it did not happen again. Ever again!

However, I had not heard whispers, but the Hunter had gone in hiding; he was hurt but did not dare show up. So I ran, well, limped inside the farm with ample steps. Running was not within my abilities at that moment.

The corn and tomato farm was almost untouched; some of the plants had been crooked or outright trampled by the Gnoll-hounds.

The wood porch was consumed, and the three chairs on it were worn-out, showing their age.

The inside of the gaping door was dark. Too dark for my liking.

I took the torch from my belt, put it in my mouth, then wiped the blood still on my hand on my trousers, and then nocked a Piercing arrow.

Whatever was waiting for me, there was enough to keep both Jane and Alistar busy.

I entered the compound slowly, careful not to make too much noise.

The burrow insides were a mixture of excavated ground and wood, with rafters propping the walls and the ceiling up. It was really a makeshift place, a hideous environment in which to keep poor enslaved people.

Also, the smell was intense, and I knew that with my Perception, the more I advanced, the stronger it would become, but I could tell where it was coming from even at that distance. It came from the most distant hall of the corridor in front of me. Which was the same place from which the sounds came from.

I increased my pace, the arrow in my side tugging at my muscles; it fucking hurt, the same could be said for the knife, but that at least had not bled as much.

I passed over a few rooms with a mockery of furniture and straw beds. It was probably where they slept. But, damn, I thought, if these were their conditions, how were the actual slaves being treated?

As I tread through the dark corridor, I heard Alistar growl in the distance; then I found a piece of a tail with half green, half red scales on the ground soon after.

That could only be Alistar's tail. Fuck.

I hurried up even more.

Now the sounds of battle were clear, and the walls of the burrow started being lit by dim Crystal light burning from the torches. Low air consumption, affordable light sources; it was an optimal choice for this disgusting, lowly place.

I heard Jane's desperate shouting; no raging more than desperate… or both?

But I was in the slave quarters, and so were they, which could mean only one thing...

The slave traders were using the slaves as meat-shields.

I hid behind the absent door's frame while I spied on them.

Alistar was bleeding profusely from his right arm, but he held his new shield up.

On the ground were six bodies, three naked people, and three slave traders; their number was more than seventeen, after all.

The last two remaining slave traders were both holding a hostage each.

One of them was a naked Roana.

Roana's gaze was empty. She had been drugged; either that or she had been utterly defeated. Ro had always been a fighter, always.

Now she was entirely naked and powerless. Her dark hair dirty, her green eyes vacant, her lips split and bleeding, her chest and abdomen covered with black and blue bruises.

That was not the plague; they had tortured her, and judging the way her pubic hair was crusted with dry blood, she had been raped.

An unbridled rage almost overcame me; my eyes started feeling cold once more, the frost almost seeping in the air... I could see it myself. Maybe it was the Shade acting up, but it brought me back to a semblance of normalcy.

I had to steady myself not to immediately act at that sight. I needed to force myself to be still.

I breathed in to reach a state of calm; all I really wanted was to bleed them to death slowly, I took a big breath and resumed a patient analysis of the situation; this battle had to be fought with cold intellect.

It had been more than a month since she had been captured; if they hadn’t sold her, it only meant that they wanted her for themselves.

It was to be expected. These bastards did not have an inch of compassion in them.

The one holding Roana was most probably their boss; he was a salt and pepper haired man, tall, with thick forearms that were highly trained in the way of combat.

He was not to be underestimated.

The sword by his side said that he had been the one responsible for slicing Alistar's tail. My Kob had a high Constitution that did not mean he was invincible, but the clean-cut said a lot about the man's Strength stat and Skills with the sword.

No armor on his body indicated that he was a light warrior, which meant that he was fast, not only strong, maybe even a rogue that had chosen the rapier as his main weapon; they were not rare.

The other slave-trader had a Half-Elf's ashen hair; he looked at Jane with passion, and the small naked Kob he was holding with a knife at his throat suggested that he wanted to play with Alistar's compassion.

Another bastard, surely, but much younger and weaker than the salt and pepper man, although telling age with Half-Elves was hard, probably a trait of their long-living cousins.

What was I to do?

The man was a Rogue and an Advanced Class holder for sure; I doubted he was an Ultimate Class holder, given that he was an outcast; like me, he would have no chance at receiving permission to enter a Dungeon since he was a Shade-cursed.

But Rogues were hard to pindown, the natural enemies of a Hunter. They could slip away with their speed, intercept incoming danger, attack from the shadows, and were much more deadly at close range than a Hunter would ever be.

If I lost my chance, not only would Ro die, I would die too, we might all die at his hands, well, that depended on Jane's reaction to Ro's eventual death; but aside from that, my next shot would declare Roana's life or death.

I could use Trick Shot in this environment, even without siphoning Shade from within the Stone sockets of my bow.

I knew then what I had to do. I had to miss intentionally. So I revealed myself while aiming my arrow at him.

My hands intentionally trembled, my eyes intentionally wavered to fake the weakness of blood loss, and I limped closer to them.

"Let them go!" I shouted with a freaked-out voice.

I needed to prove to him that I was a weakling, a scared nobody on the verge of dying.

"Why, oh, why are we doing this? You could have asked,” said the boss; his expression one of carefully held back hysteria, “I would have given you back your… friends, really. Wouldn't it have been much better that way?" He had an irritating voice.

"You wouldn't have!" I shouted, voice trembling.

"You know what's going to happen now, do you? Haven't you seen the honorable Sunguard leave my house? He's to come back this evening. What do you think he will do when he finds this mess? Who do you think is paying us? Gnolls?" He laughed.

"What will happen when you leave, and I'll tell him about you? Oh, because you will leave, and you won't take even a single one of these people now because you made me mad, seriously mad."

"Shut up! Leave her alone!" I screamed.

With the tail of my eye, I could see a confused Alistar and an almost freaked-out Jane holding their breath.

"Come on, kid! Look at you; you are one of us! What do you need a regular for? Trust me, whether Sun-blessed or regular, they don't meddle with Shade-cursed like us. You don't need this girl. I did you a favor in taking her, didn't I?"

"I said, shut up!" I kept faking it; I needed to make the point; I needed to show him that I was nerve-wrecked.

He laughed, "Besides, you should not take her, not after what she's been through, believe me, she-"

My trembling hands let my arrow go.

I could see the man follow the trajectory with his eyes. He did indeed have the Skill to fight me, an excellent Skill.

His smile appeared instantaneously when he judged that the arrow would go above his head; he didn't even have to move nor use Ro as a shield.

What the Rogue didn't expect, though, what he couldn't see, nor forecast, was the Shade projectile that left the tail of the arrow and, before he had the chance to react, encased itself in his skull, with the powerful penetration power of which Piercing arrows were endowed with.

The Half-Elf observing the scene was surprised, so surprised that he didn’t even notice Alistar charging at him and gripping the blade he was holding against the little Kob's throat with his Shield-arm. Next, he delivered a massive punch on the Half-Elf's face, sending him staggering back, only to be skewered by his following spear attack. The Kob that he was holding at the mercy of his drugs fell to the ground semi-conscious.

When my arms, instead, fell to the side, and I sighed with satisfaction, Jane exploded in the tears of a mother, finally finding the child she had thought was lost.

It was the most pleasant sound I had ever heard.

I leaned my back to the wall; we had done it; we could finally relax and go back to our daily lives. I almost couldn't believe it.

I was about to let myself slide down, despite the pain in my abdomen, but something bothered me…

The archer! Of course, there was still the archer alive!

"Jane! One of them is still alive! We need to kill him; if he escapes, we're fucked!"

Amid her tears, Jane nodded, then putting Roana to rest, sadly, on the ground of her dirty cell, covered in filth and waste. She shook an almost fainting Alistar to follow her.

Alistar grunted, getting up and following her.

"Scream if it escapes, I'm coming with you… just… let me rest a little."

They nodded and ran to look for the stairs leading up.

It wasn't long when I heard the whispers; it seemed that I had gained at least part of the experience.

I could relax now. But there was still a lot to do, too much, and I was tired, too tired.

Whispers, keep me awake, please, I pleaded.

You've earned 1821 + 29878 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next Hunter level: 28000/28000

I smiled, thinking, I would have liked to know what level was that fucking salt and pepper man, but then again, he was dead; what did it matter?

Class Hunter has leveled up to 29. You have gained 1 Attribute point. Where will you invest it?

No need to say that I placed the point into Constitution.

You've earned 4190 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next Hunter level: 4190/29000

You've earned 74 Soul fractions. Soul fractions for next Tamer level: 1420/21000

You've earned 74 Skill points. Skill points for Trace Major Perk Promotion: 1507/2000

You've earned 40 Skill points. Skill points for Trace Minor Perk Promotion: 841/1000

Placing the point into Constitution made me feel not good but better; it gave me some more energy.

I slowly got up and started heading to the cells. I wanted to free these people. No, I needed to free them.

As I walked through the corridors of the ugly prisons, I counted thirteen slaves. Most of them were catatonic, but not all. Not one could stand on his feet by himself. How in the Abyss would we get these people out of there?

They were not all reduced as badly as Ro, though. I guessed they used her fighting spirit to... teach them a lesson.

"Are we… free?" Said a voice from the corner.

I turned toward it, I couldn't hope but be a little bit on edge, but seeing the naked woman, I relaxed. She was a Sun-blessed.

"Yes," I said, giving her the warmest smile I could, "you are."

She broke down crying as soon as I finished the phrase. She was not one of those behind cages; few were, probably, those that could better defend themselves.

"Let me out then; I can help." Said a boy, not much older than me, a Sun-blessed too.

"Where are the keys?" I asked.

"The man, the one you pinned on the head! He has them!" said an excited Half-Elf.

I hurried to the man and studied his body; he had exquisite leather vestments, but they were way too big for me; however, that rapier, and the dagger that peered from his back, I could work with those. The rapier, especially, I could give that to Nova, while I needed a decent dagger. After all, next month would be her birthday; I needed to give her a nice gift.

I took both the dagger, which I placed in my belt, behind my back, and then the rapier, which I sheathed in its scabbard that I then tied around my belt.

The keys fell to the ground when I removed the belt from his waist.

Bending forward made me see the stars, but I could resist; the arrow had hit nothing important, or I would have already died.

By the time I got up to open the cells, Alistar and Jane were back, smiling in satisfaction.

"How are you, Star?" I looked at his tail as I threw him keys; it didn't look too good.

"I've been better," he shook the stump of his tail in the air, "it'll regrow."

We freed the slaves and those that could started running around the place to recover clothes and kick some dead slave trader bodies.

"We need help with taking the people where they belong," said Jane.

"Let me help then, I'm strong, I can carry those two back to my village," said the Sun-blessed boy, he was tall for having my age, and he looked like the second coming of some sort of prophet. No wonder he had been taken to sell.

"What's your name?" He asked me, taking a catatonic girl on his shoulder and holding a regular around his other shoulder.

"Me? I'm Loke."

"Good meeting you, Loke. I'm Faruq. And I will find a way to repay you, I swear on my father's honor."

"There's no need to, Faruq. I need no payment for doing what's right."

He smiled at me; his deep amber eyes shined.

"How can I find you?"

"That's something I can't tell you, Faruq. My village is not to be discovered; we are… troubled people."

"Oh, I understand then. Murkstall."

I gaped for a second.

"How did you-"

"Don't worry about that. Know that I'm from Veinforge, and I won't ever forget this favor," saying so, he hurried out.

He had a lot of strength in him for having been secluded, although I did not know for how long, and damn if he was fast too, a light warrior for sure.

We kept organizing the rest of the slaves for going back and knew that we would barely make it with the manpower at our disposal.

We armed the people with weapons and armors from the slave traders' bodies to protect against the creatures they would certainly encounter when they went on their way. Some thanking us until they had tears in their eyes, some others wishing to see us again, to repay us just as Faruq had said, but most of them desisted after our first "nevermind".

There were just a couple of catatonic slaves left for us to take back plus Roana; the problem was that we had no idea where we would have to take them, we could not take them with us to the village, or they would catch the plague.

We'd have to figure things out while we left. For now, Jane had removed the arrow from my side and bound me tightly.

"Your new Constitution should do the rest," she said as she applied her ointments on my shoulder and side.

"I'm sorry about Tally, Jane," I said.

"I'm sorry too, but she loved Ro; I bet that she would have been proud of giving her life if that meant freeing Ro," she stopped, "No," she said, shaking her head, "She knows now. I'm certain."

Elves believed in spirits; she had kept that belief.

However, while she bound my shoulder, I heard something dreadful, something I hoped I would not hear.

"Moon's cunt! We should have left right away!" I shouted, “He’s coming back!”

Jane and Alistar shared a look of fear; they understood. Then Jane's eyes looked for Roana.

"Take her and leave! Now!"

"I would never!" she answered.

"Leave! Or we will have done this for nothing!"

"I'm not leaving you, Loke. If we have to face another bastard, we'll do it together."

If we could hear the Flow-cart, that Flow-cart, it meant that he was too close for us to escape.

We had to prepare to fight a Sunguard. A real Sunguard.