After a few hours of conversing and resting in the Horrol wagon with Tamas and the others, Christopher figured that he should walk and socialize with some of the other people in the caravan. He wanted to make the most of this time since it might very well turn out to be permanent.

His most important goal right now was still to build some relationships with the people around him. Christopher figured that it would be nice to have some people that remembered him the next time that he looped.

Looping again seemed very likely at this point, he was probably not going to turn a battle around that had been that one-sided last time.

He could not tell anyone about his real background without receiving the mother of all headaches, so informing the generals of everything that he had seen seemed very difficult if not impossible. They would probably take him for an agent of the Blight and lock him up.

That did not mean that he could not alert others at all, maybe he could do it anonymously in some way. There should be some options available to him, but it would require some thought and careful planning. He could write letters with the date of the attack, which should at least heighten alertness even if they were skeptical. Maybe he could try setting off the Giant Soul Alarms early on the day of the attack. He had some time to think about what to do.

They were making good time at least. The Horrol were pushed hard and breaks were kept to a minimum, they all wanted to make it to Lumen quickly. Kata was apparently healing the Horrol with Soul Heal, which allowed the plated horse-like creatures to move longer without rest, it was an interesting benefit of the Soul Heal effect. He found an opportunity to speak with Kata, who was walking next to Naan. Kata thanked him for his help with the Goblins. The red-haired woman looked only a few years older than him, which made her Soul Force abilities all the more impressive. He eventually managed to steer the conversation to the Soul Heal Effect.

“The Soul Heal effect has certainly been a lifesaver during the last few hours. It is impressive that you managed to learn it at such a young age.”

“My father and I ran the only temple of healing in Stonehill. He taught me everything he knew before he passed away a few years ago. I was the town doctor ever since.”

“I am sorry for your loss; I have also recently lost my family.”

“I am sorry to hear that, I take comfort in knowing that my family is with the goddess.” She said solemnly. He nodded his assent at the remark.

“Still, I wish I was able to heal. Which of the basic Soul Effects would I have to master in order to learn the Soul Heal effect? The few books I read had very little information on anything beyond the first tier.”

“It requires you to be skilled in Soul Manipulation, Soul Boost, and Soul Sense. When using Soul Heal, you are speeding up the natural healing rate of the body. It also requires a dedicated study of anatomy if you don’t want to make things worse for your patients. My father taught me everything he knew.”

That did not sound easy, he was impressed that Kata was able to use the skill so freely. Christopher thanked her for the information. He conversed a few more minutes on some lighter conversation topics before separating.

He considered the Soul Effects needed for Soul Heal. He had found it challenging to puzzle out the scientific principles behind many of the Soul Effects that were mentioned in the Manual. The naming scheme for these effects might also be misleading. That was why he had started with the effects that seemed easiest to figure out like Soul Heat and Soul Frost.

He would need to do quite a bit of studying if he ever wanted to be any good at Soul Heal. He wished he had studied more biology before coming here, he felt that he would have been able to amaze with his healing if he had a modern understanding of anatomy and medicine.

Christopher continuously scanned his surroundings while he walked.

He was well aware that they were all still in danger from the Blight. On his last journey towards Lumen, they had moved far from the dirt path to stay hidden from other pursuers. There was the possibility that more creatures of the Blight would find them now that they were forced on the more well-trodden path winding its way through the trees.

At least there were no signs of such enemies yet, he could only hope that the Goblins had been the only pursuers. He did not train his Soul Force during all this time, despite it once again being full. He wanted to be fully charged in case something came at them.

There was also no opportunity to flee with [Bookmark] right now. He refused to separate from the caravan just to reduce the danger to himself. He would make a stand with the people here if another attack came.

The hunter named Willox had been constantly scouting the surroundings. He had been impressed by the accurate marksmanship of the archer, which had been essential in their success against the Goblins. Willox was a short and stocky man with black hair, piercing green eyes were set in a broad face. He did not have the physique that Christopher had associated with someone so skilled at moving silently through the forest, his steps were gracious.

Christopher tried to strike up a conversation with the man during one of his rare appearances back at the caravan, but the man almost only answered his questions with one-word responses.

Christopher told him about his own basic skills with the bow, but his efforts at striking up a conversation continued to be futile. He had to quickly give up on those efforts. He suspected it was merely the man’s normal disposition but it was hard to be sure, at least his face did not betray any irritation at his continued prodding.

Naan commanded them well on their journey, making sure that all of them had what they needed and that things kept moving somewhat smoothly. The leader had quite the challenge since they were very much understocked on food and water. They had to severely ration the little food and water that they had, even on their short journey. He did not hear any complaints from the other caravanners. Their escape from Stonehill had clearly been rather hasty.

The lack of food very much bothered him; he had been ravenously hungry ever since using [Bookmark]. His body felt as if it was screaming for food at the moment. Well, he would have to manage for now.

He was glad that he was bringing a few more competent people into Lumen, which should be of some help when the Blight attacked once again. Hopefully, such small improvements would all add up to something more significant by the end.

Christopher periodically looked at his interface during their journey to Lumen. He excitedly looked through his options now that he suddenly had a treasure trove of Soul Points. It was not that long since he had bought [Soul Mark], but there was plenty that he had his eye on. The truly cheap skills were quickly running out, but every skill should be useful to him. There were also plenty of weapons and armor pieces that he was interested in.

He had also started realizing that there was a limit to what the Interface could help him with. He could see a time in the future where all the available skills had been bought.

His growing knowledge of the world and its magic now made it clear that the skills that were available would not make him an automatic powerhouse. Many looked to be geared towards utility and training, they would not exactly give him the power to destroy the creatures of the Blight. His current abilities were no exception.

Nothing came even close to being as broken as his unique ability. He wondered why the administrator had chosen him for something so monumental, was it really merely the luck of the draw? It would be strange if they had given the skill that callously.

He would just have to acquire the techniques to fight the Blight from the world itself. At least some of the skills seemed geared towards speeding up his progress. He once again felt that developing his Soul Force abilities should be his number one priority. He could continue working on his Soul Force once they reached Lumen.

He had been planning on buying some equipment as well, but he was still feeling very hesitant to buy something with Soul Points that he might be able to acquire with regular money.

Many of the armor pieces contained metal. There were metal vambraces with protrusions in the middle, allowing it to catch weapons. But there was also a nice pair of sturdy leather boots with metal soles. He was pretty sure that these could be used to enhance his fighting somehow with the proper Soul techniques, but such things were still far beyond him at the moment. He was currently walking barefoot so he could use the boots, although the others in the caravan might think it strange if he suddenly started summoning Soul Bound armor.

He was still not quite sure how rare soul-bound items really were. He knew summoning and dismissing weapons was not allowed in the Arena for some reason, so it was difficult to gauge how many fighters had them.

He looked at his Soul Point balance. He knew that he only had 920 Soul Points after his last purchase of [Soul Mark]. His balance now showed a significant increase, the Abyssal wolf and the Goblins had gotten him a lot of additional Soul Points. His current balance stood at 1860 Soul Points. They had been working in teams to defeat the creatures, so many of the Goblins killed had only given him a partial contribution. Still, it was a good haul of points for a battle in which he had not been at that high a risk of dying. He should be able to make some worthwhile purchases in the near future.

The caravan continued to make good time towards Lumen, they were eventually forced to bunker in for the night before they lost the last light of the day. Christopher still refused to sleep on this potentially permanent time, he was better off doing something more productive. Most people were asleep though, so he joined some of the others on watch. They kept silent during this time, but he saw some approving glances from the others at his help. Christopher had by now managed to talk to quite a few people in the caravan already. Het got along well with most and he thought that he was starting to fit in better. He considered his mission of building relationships mostly a success.

They were lucky to pass the night without any further incidents. He was tired when they continued the next morning, but he thought that he had spent his time wisely. He felt confident that he had developed some trust from the people of the caravan. For Tamas and her family, it would likely take much longer to get anywhere near the level of trust that they had developed previously.

The cooldowns of his [Bookmark] commands were now getting closer to completion. He had watched the cooldown timer like a hawk during the entire night watch. His thoughts had kept going back to the ability during the entire journey. He did not want to fight the Goblins again, but he still kind of hoped that he would soon find himself back in the clearing of the forest, giving him the peace of mind that he had all the time in the world. He kept the countdown on his retina, not wanting to waste any time after being able to use it.

The time soon arrived and he softly spoke the words ‘use bookmark’.

[Failed to use Bookmark. No bookmark is currently placed.]

‘Shit, this confirms it.’ It no longer gave the error message for both the placement and cooldown as before, now it was only the lack of placement that was apparently the problem. It seemed as if he really was on a time limit. He felt nausea, even though he had somewhat been able to mentally prepare himself for this outcome. That left him only one recourse.

“Place Bookmark” he spoke.

[The Bookmark has been placed.]

It was good that he had discovered this information as quickly as he had. It would have been a nightmare if he had discovered the disappearance of the placement on the day of the next attack. The next time that he looped he would have another full day of permanent time.

He felt as if someone should have explained his ability better before sending him here. He wondered whether they were just unable to help him, or if there was something else going on. He could only accept his situation and keep going. He comforted himself with the knowledge that he still had plenty of time left. He would still have almost a month before he reached the day on which the Blight attacked again.

They finally reached their destination after only a few more hours of traveling. Christopher and the rest of the caravan felt relieved upon entering the massive clearing with Lumen in its center. Safety at last, or at least for a little while.