Life is unpredictable, so don’t live for the tomorrow that may not arrive.

~Belenus the Sun God

Crow’s journey after escaping the prison pit was relatively uneventful. Lily accompanied him, but as she continued to consolidate the lightning inside her, she shrank down to a half meter in size. She lost her ability to speak as she reconstituted the mana into her body.

He didn’t fully understand what was happening to her. She partially explained that fae needed an abundance of a specific mana type. Even then, it took dozens of years to reach her current size usually. It took even longer for her, a lightning attribute fae, because lightning wasn’t a stable resource. Passively, she could convert other mana, but that was even slower. The part that confused Crow was her explanation of a fae’s constitution. Lily’s body was partially constructed like a human. Still, most of the complex systems within her were formed from condensed mana. One example was that her heart was a crystal that stored and regulated the energy in her body.

Both of them were surprised that Crow’s Soulscape had a renewable source of lightning. The redirected lightning essence had formed a storm cloud that expelled lightning as a way to expel excess energy, but it did not deplete the essence. After the storm, the cloud dispersed and reformed at a random time later. As long as Lily absorbed the lightning and not the essence that created it, she had a source of energy she could use to cultivate.

“The essence doesn’t seem all that stable,” Crow told her.

*It isn’t. You are lucky you have enough to generate lightning, but if I absorb any of that essence, it could cause it all to dissipate.*

Crow suspected as much, but remembering what he suffered to get it, he was okay if she took all the lightning out of his world. Especially the essence that came from Heaven’s wrath.

During that time, Lily gained another significant benefit—she could render herself invisible. Crow could still sense her because of their bond. Lily claimed that since she is comprised of Lightning Mana, the only thing others would perceive is a small amount of mana and the smell of burned ozone if they passed too close.

“Don’t even think about it.” Crow knew she would use her new ability to create mayhem. Lily responded by sticking her tongue out at him and refused to make any promises.

Days passed as their leisurely travel continued. Lily would fly off occasionally, but it did not bother Crow. Inevitably, she’d drag him along because she found a plant, herb, or other things she wanted him to move into the Soulscape, so he obliged her. It really felt like he was doting on a wife’s whims.

Crow had not worn his boots the entire time. It took him a while to understand why he felt so lax lately, and he realized the pressure he experienced since his mom was taken was gone. The anxiety and need to hurry were no longer felt, but Crow wasn’t sure what that meant. He knew his mother was alive, which meant either his father succeeded or Gideon grew a soul. And he had serious doubts about his grandfather growing a soul.

Although he wasn’t wearing his boots, he didn’t neglect his defense. He donned his padded pants with boiled leather sewn into them to protect his thighs and shins. He wore a sleeveless shirt under his leather cuirass, exposing his arms. On his wrists were leather guards, the type used by most archers. Over the top of that was a traditional druid cloak with his clan’s runic symbol etched onto the clasp. The cloak was a dark, mottled green color which helped him blend into almost any forest.

Not wearing boots was probably dangerous, but he couldn’t bear to do so for now. Besides, he could avoid most hazardous situations with Ghost Steps if needed, and he wasn’t in a rush. Crow could sense that some of his people were still months away from Rosdoe.

He fought beasts tirelessly and attempted to bring some of them into his Soulscape, but to no avail. Regular creatures were added without an issue, so he quickly understood it had something to do with intelligence and willingness to go. The wood nymphs were a perfect example.

Regardless, he used those fights to refine his ability to create dynamic spells. There were several schools of thought on doing this, and the more common ones were easy enough. Crow followed the path of his formation training by using the Drawing the Sky method. It wasn’t a method that currently existed as far as he knew. But it allowed him to advance his knowledge of both formations and dynamic spellcasting and provided quite a few insights into spell creation.

Using this method also allowed him to learn how to control the amount of power he used. Most spells were highly inefficient, and Crow felt his mind expanding as he turned theoretical into practical knowledge. Using his current thought process, formations took much longer to set up but had more potential power, easier to control, and used less mana. Quick spellcasting had less potential but much higher flexibility. In other words, it was more suited to combat and volatile situations as it didn’t need much preparation. The thorn wall he created was a perfect example.

Elemental affinity was another consideration to quick spellcasting. If Crow created any fire-based spell, it was more potent than his current Shield level, but that was because of Night Fire. The thorn wall was strong because of his high affinity for the wood element. The spells still require structure, but breaking down Celtic Knots, he realized he was activating a few core nodes within his body to condense the mana for casting. However, he didn’t use the shaping patterns because he did that part himself. It was probably related to his Mind or Mental Energy. All that to say, he didn’t need to full knot to give a spell structure. He just needed to activate specific acupoints for whatever elements he wanted to use and then will it to do what he wanted.

Today, Crow was still sitting on a tree after recuperating from a beast fight. At around noon, Lily flicked him on the cheek and then pointed toward a specific direction. Crow had already registered the noise but wasn’t interested in interfering. And now that they were closer and able to pick out some of the argument, he was definitely not interested in getting involved. It sounded like a clan feud.

Despite not being interested, he wanted to observe. With a big sigh, he rose to his feet and walked toward where he could hear the arguing people. The main reason he initially wanted to avoid them was because of how loud they were. Either they were confident in their ability to survive this wilderness and didn’t care, or they were trying to lure people out. Crow suspected it was both, but primarily they were baiting people like him to expose themselves.

Silently, he climbed a tree and reached a branch with a gap in the canopy that allowed him to observe everything. Below was a wagon with two of its wheels shattered. Crow wasn’t sure about the situation where the two groups of gruff-looking men squared off against one another. While they were arguing, they kept their anger controlled. It sounded like the point of contention came from whatever was inside the wagon.

Even more curious now, Crow wasn’t foolish enough to get involved, but he did want to know what had them all up in arms. So he called on Lily and whispered to her.

“I’ll make a scene, find out what is in that wagon.”

Lily stuck her tongue out and winked before disappearing. Crow really didn’t know what to do about that cheeky little fae, but she was becoming more and more indispensable. Climbing back down, he casually walked toward the road wanting to enter at a point north of the wagon.

Once he appeared, the two groups stopped arguing and turned toward Crow. He could see the wariness in their eyes, and the armed guards even gripped their still sheathed weapons tighter.

“Hello, can you tell me if this road will bring me to Matun?” Lily told him the town was on the way, so he didn’t want to give away that his actual destination was Rosdoe. He just wanted to be sure the road would take him there and not end up in some other location. If it did, it’d be better to cut through the forest. Or at least that was the excuse he was using to start a conversation.

“That way,” a meatball of a man pointed toward the southerly direction of the road. Crow knew which way. He just wanted confirmation, and the man’s words would suffice. No one spoke as Crow walked the direction pointed, which also needed to pass by the group and the broken wagon.

However, as he came alongside the wagon, he saw odd striations on the wheel. His sense of danger spiked upon seeing it, and he drew his falcata while staring off into the forest. Ignoring the others, he couldn’t be bothered by whatever nonsense they were arguing over. At least a dozen men pointed their weapons toward him when he drew his blade, but that was good. Violence was coming, and it was best if they were ready.

“W-what are you doing?” Meatball asked.

“You fools spent all this time arguing, and none of you checked the damage on the wheels.”

Several of the more competent people took a closer look. While it looked strange, they didn’t recognize the problem. “They rotted. What are you planning, boy?”

“Idiot,” Crow hissed at the group leader opposing the meatball. “That isn’t rotted, that is the work of dryads, and I have a special hatred against the Rootless.”

Crow had already spread his Mana Sense as wide as he could. He doubted anyone here had the sensitivity and range that he did. Even Gavin mentioned that his Mana Sense was unique, but he wasn’t sure if it was a bloodline thing or not. As time went on, Crow suspected it had something to do with his powerful Spirit, which was also why a large part of his abilities leaned toward ghostly arts.

“You sure it’s a dryad?” The leader asked, and Crow decided to call him Pencil since he was tall and his spine was ramrod straight. He was older and looked more like a bookish type. Crow knew there was some irony in his opinion of the man, considering he was a bookish type as well.

“I’m positive,” Crow said and glanced over at the men still pointing their weapons at him. “I’ve fought them before, and that patterning was on my arrows. Their passive abilities allow them to control wood, so it’s best to attack them with weapons that don’t contain any.”

“Why would they bother us?” Meatball asked.

“If I believe you, why would they do this?”

“I’ll not pretend to know what they are thinking, but from what I understand, most were once human. Why would someone bust your wheel? I’d say we are surrounded, and they are using your disagreement to set an ambush.”

“Are you saying that we are about to be attacked by dryad bandits?” Meatball laughed, but it was a hollow sound. Even he had a hard time discrediting Crow’s words because he now felt uneasy. His danger sense was currently working since his anger had calmed.

“I am just guessing, but prepare yourself. Something is here. I can feel it,” Crow said, his eyes never once looking at them. They roamed the forest, looking for a sign. Off to the side, near the west side of the road, south of his current position, a slight tink sound was heard. Most would ignore it, but Crow saw the small stone appear out of nowhere and drop to the ground. He knew it was Lily. She was warning him and had already sensed the enemy.

He smiled at Lily’s warning. She really was a treasure—his treasure.

“They’re here,” Crow ran forward, his sword moved into a tail guard position.