Year 1, Winter, First Month, Third Week

Lew looked curiously at the strange scene, the Humans and Bestmen walking in peace going by their lives was somehow a nice picture.

The Algdum Central Tribe looked like a post village. The residents were all occupied, some carrying hunted beasts or fixing something, while others engaged in trade in wooden stalls.

For the first time, he considered if the Beastmen were actually similar to Humans. He didn't hate them but as a Serion citizen he grew up hearing that Beastmen are just human-looking beasts.

The group was guided by the Hare Beastman to a big wooden building. Once they entered, they stood by the entrance while their guide talked to a Lioness Beastman. She was sitting in the center of the building circled by several Beastmen and Humans, who looked like were making requests. She silenced them by raising her hand and said something. They turned around and walked out of the building shooting glares at Lew’s group.

“So, you’re requesting safe passage through the Tribal Lands?... You want to go to the Death Forest?...”

Lew gulped. Her voice was as powerful as he expected but it had a sweetness and seductiveness that could make one submit.

The leading Fighter stepped forward and said:

“Yes. We’re prepared to pay for safe passage... We need to get there as soon as possible...”

“Smart, you don’t want to be in the wild after winter passes... Ok, we can provide that. There are some hostile Tribes along the way but the Hares can help you avoid those. But we need to avoid any possible conflicts, I have to ask you to stay here until we talk with some Tribes. Not for long, just over a week.”

That wasn't ideal, but how could they disagree.

.........

On normal days, the team would train in the early mornings but the winter’s mornings were too cold, so they settled for noon. Some members thought that was too harsh to train in winter’s conditions, but for Diana, it was the opposite.

Winter’s climate allowed them to harden their will and resistance, after what happened to Carion, she wanted them to train even more. Being prepared was the only way to avoid deaths.

In the first days after the tragedy, Diana was feeling guilty and incompetent as a team leader, but after talking to the Chief and receiving so many thanks from the villagers, she understood that freedom would always have a cost.

The first part of the training was focused on increasing their resistance and building their bodies. They would start by running, from the training grounds to the village fields and back several times.

Later, they would carry stones up and down small hills. Today, everyone was lagging more because of the cold, even she was feeling more tired while running, but she would rather suck it up and give a good example to the other members.

Diana looked at Tael easily running through the way with envy, he was clearly slowing down to not embarrass her. The improvement in Tael’s speed was now evident. The other archers were also starting to move faster. However, in weight training, they were starting to get behind the other team members.

When Karl explained the elemental improvements in their weapons, he told them about elemental influence. Close contact with an elemental crystal would cause influence in the body and mind of the user.

Like the beasts with the elemental core, the user could develop the traits of the element. A wind user would start moving faster, hearing better, improving his reflexes and thinking.

After hearing about the influences, she asked Karl to adapt wind and earth crystals in her weapon. But, when Karl told her about the downside of elemental influence, she reconsidered it.

In the case of the wind crystal, the user would have difficulty acquiring more muscles and making their bodies sturdier. Since Diana used a sword, it would be bad for her to improve her combat without improving her muscles and strength.

The earth crystal, on the other hand, would help the user develop muscles and a strong body but its downsides would make it more difficult for the user to move faster and improve their reflexes. For a sword user, moving slower and not having excellent reflexes was also a fatal flaw.

Finally, if they tried to use both wind and earth crystals, they wouldn't develop any traits because earth and wind are opposite elements.

Before the last hunt, the only other available option was the water crystal. Although it would help Diana improve her flexibility and make her movements swifter, the water crystal also made the user calmer and less active.

For her, the most appropriate elemental would be fire. The fire crystal would improve the user’s overall energy making their attacks restless and fierce. While the elemental fire didn’t help in body constitution and speed, it didn’t make it worse. So, she would have to train just like anyone else.

After the feast, she would ask Karl to think of a way to combine her sword and the fire crystal.

.........

“Ice Owls! Take cover...”

The Hare Beastman yelled and ran faster than Lew thought possible. In less than a minute ice shards came raining down on the group.

When the Hare Beastman made the announcement, the fire and wind Mages exchanged nods and started working. The fire Mage closed her eyes concentrating, her hands started glowing until a Flame appeared. The Flame was small but had dense energy and high temperature.

The wind Mage stirred the wind current around him and move it towards the Flame. The wind passed through the fire, becoming extremely hot air, it continued moving upwards forming a hot Breeze.

Once the ice shards descended and met the hot Breeze, they melted. When the owls got near enough, the earth Mage shot an already prepared earth Spear.

The Spear looked like harden soil with a thin layer of brownish energy around it. It flew straight at its target. The owl changed flight trajectory but the earth Mage use additional energy to guide the spear to the target.

The Fighters also shot arrows but the Owls started to fly high enough to escape their range. With two Mages focused on neutralizing the attacks and the earth Mage’s attack failing to reach its target, they were in a stalemate.

However...

“I'm done!”

The water Mage held a small Water Vortex in her hands. She stretched her arms towards the sky without losing connection with the Vortex. The Vortex floated a couple of meters above her hands, it grew rotating furiously.

The wind and fire Mage stopped their elemental spells and focused on forming an attack plan. Even seeing the Mages' confidence Lew was still afraid of the ice shards, but once the attack came, again he was amazed.

The shards got attracted and absorbed by the Vortex, being transformed into water along the way.

In the next five minutes, the Mages tried to attack the Owls with Fire Rays, disrupt their flight with Breeze, but they couldn't reach them.

The wind Mage looked at the bow in the hands of the Fighters and started to come up with a plan. He couldn't propel the earth Spear because of the elemental incompatibility, the Spear would disintegrate midway, but he could do it with an arrow.

“You! Come here... Your shoots seem to be stronger than the others, I want to help you reach the Owls...”

Lew jumped at the Mage’s approach but didn't hesitate to get closed. After being instructed, he pointed his bow upwards, nocked an arrow, and drew it.

The wind Mage started circling them both with wind current, moving it in a spiral upwards. The spiraling current formed a Wind Tunnel towards the flying Owls.

Once he got the signal, Lew aimed and let the arrow loose. The arrow flew faster than Lew had ever seen and hit an Owl.

He continued to shot until six Owls dropped dead and the rest decided to flee.

.........

Diana finished training and went to the central square to see if she could help with the feast and talk to Karl about the fire crystal.

There was a strange silence in the square, while nobody was idle, everybody tried to be as silent as possible. They were doing all sorts of preparations, but also, everyone was trying to take a pick in Karl’s craft.

Although the villagers knew about Karl’s skills, they never saw him draw. Today, Karl was drawing in broad daylight, he was using beast’s blood to draw the Arrays in a circle of stones around the square.

Despite their efforts of observing silently, Karl wasn’t concerned about the noise or anything jeopardizing his work, he was used to working at home while his parents talked and did the chores.

If this happened six months ago, Karl would be sweating a lot, but after crafting so many magic tools, Karl was doing almost instinctively.

Diana was again amused by Karl, while drawing it looked like he was conducting a sacred ritual, she could even feel the energy emanating from the drawings. However, the last part was the real climax, after stopping for a second he drew the last part like he was gifting a part of his soul.

At this time, Diana and everyone else stopped breathing. Karl finished and sat on the ground painting. A faint glow appeared in the Array and they knew that it was done.

‘For the Origin, he is amazing. How did he learn this? Is he really a messenger of the Origin?’ Diana could help but think. In fact, everyone present had similar thoughts.

The giant Array was Karl’s biggest job. He was pleased that his spiritual energy was enough to draw it. Even after Master AI’s evaluation, he was still uncertain.

Diana walked to him and offered a hand. He looked at her with tired eyes and gave her a warm smile before accepting her help.

Without noticing, Diana blushed a little before smiling back. Then, she asked what everyone wanted to know.

“How will this work?”

Karl took a breath before answering.

“This is only an Execution Array... I draw it to combine the Arrays inside... For now, we need to bury the stones so that people can go in and out of the circle without disrupting it. We’re still missing the internal Arrays... The others are preparing the stones, They need to be connected perfectly.”

While explaining, Karl pointed to the stones being fit and polished by some villagers.

Diana nodded and moved to help them.

Even though it was winter, most of the healthy villagers came to help. The cold was uncomfortable but they needed to enjoy it while the snow hasn’t start falling.

To improve their community spirit, the Chief organized collective meals. In the last feast, he asked Marlen to save some bones and fat from the beasts. The meat couldn't be saved because it would go bad after a week, but the bones and fat could be stored longer.

First, Marlen and some elders would cook a broth using a small part of the fat and bones. The village now had a bigger clay pot, craft with the help of stronger kids and improved by Karl with Toughness and Lightness Rune.

The villagers that came to help were encouraged to bring their pots and cook their food by the big central fire. Once Marlen’s broth was cooked, she would distribute it among the other pots.

The common soup would become tastier and stronger, while the general mood would also improve.

In less than a month, the central square was transformed into an activities center. The villagers would go there to fix things, craft straw goods, talk, and help others. Diana even changed the combat training to the field nearing the square.

However, it was still winter, the villagers would cook before dusk and leave as soon as they ate.

.........

Diana noticed that everyone was very close to each other at the center of the square, probably the cold was too much for the fragile villagers to bear. Even so, they were all waiting for the Chief to speak before eating and leaving. This dynamic had become very common, every day they would ask the Chief to say a few words.

“Again, we meet to share work and food. Normally, this would be a sad time for us, children would have been taken by the nobles, the food wouldn’t be enough for us, and the sick would be in more numbers and worse conditions. However, the Origin heard our prayers and offered us a way out of this miserable life... But we know, more than anyone, that nothing comes without a cost... But don't be afraid, we now have the tools to make our lives better.”

Diana joined the villagers and cheered!

She was truly hipped by her grandpa’s speech. Despite knowing that he had chosen the exact words to induce the fighting spirit, community sense, and hope on the villagers, she believed in everything he said. For the first time in her life, she felt that she was in the right place.

When Diana took her serving and ate it, she almost cried with happiness. How could this food taste so heavenly? Now she understood why the nobles would keep this from the commoners, if they ate it, they would sure rebel for more.

After eating, she felt full and healthier. But she couldn't help but give a bitter smile seeing a group of villagers coming to her.

Now, she was free to take hundreds of huggings, grateful compliments, and to escape several awkward attempts of marriage arrangements and guy’s advances.