Darkness had overcome the forest, the only light coming from the small fireplace located in the camp. Derb was sitting next to it, trying to warm some jerky over the fire. He couldn’t get to sleep, the thought of what would happen tomorrow still fresh on his mind. He added another piece of wood into the fire, not planning on sleeping soon.

What was with his teacher, acting on impulse like this… Honestly, he could have at least told him how to deal with the shades before they came here. He stood up, reaching for his sword. If he was going to stay up tonight he might as well train. Walking from the fire, he went close to the edge of the barrier his teacher set up. He swung the sword up and down in a monotonous motion. A repetitive and boring strength exercise, but it was the only one taught to him by Deitre.

The sword was much heavier when he disconnected his mana from it, but he wasn’t throwing it around like usual. He swung until his mind was empty, and then swung until his arms gave out. He plunged the sword into the ground, gasping at the exertion. It had become addictive to just turn his brain off and swing, there was no entertainment here and this had been a good substitute to waste time.

He fell backwards, looking at the starry sky and gazing at its beauty. Ever since he came here he’d always gawk at the world’s detail. Even in the village, the stars were in full view, filling him with a sense of comfort. The world slowly spun in his vision, lulling him to sleep. He forgot about his problems, his teacher’s impulsivity, even the tent Connor had spent an hour setting up. He closed his eyes and sighed, drifting off to sleep.

“Get up you idiot, you look filthy.” Derb woke up to a kick to his shins, sending a jolt of pain through his body. “Agh! Who did that!? Oh, hey teacher. What’s up.” Derb was still a bit groggy from the crude wake-up, he instantly sobered up when he saw his teacher’s face. “Care to tell me why you chose to sleep in the dirt instead of the tent. I’m looking for an answer that won’t make me question your sanity.”

Derb looked down with a bashful smile, not sure of what to say. “I had a lot on my mind last night so I was stargazing. I guess I dozed off?” His teacher sighed, but Derb saw the smile he tried to hide. “Don’t do that again, just because the barrier was up doesn’t mean animals can’t see you. We don’t want to wake up with a horde clawing at our footsteps. Speaking of which...”

His teacher jutted his hand out towards a tree. A bolt of lightning blew out, hitting something in the trees. The body fell to the ground, twitching spastically. Derb whistled at the scene. “Dang teach, coulda just scared it off.” Gerald frowned, his student calling him ‘teach’ ticked him off. A smile soon replaced it, however. “I haven’t killed him yet, boy. Prepare yourself.”

With a snap of his fingers, the barrier blew open. Shocking Derb immensely. “Hey, wait! Let me get my sword first!” He saw the Demon stand up, and he took it in for the first time. It was about five feet tall with gangly-looking fur, like a hyena that grew thumbs. He ran towards the sword and pulled it out of the ground. Breathing in deeply he took up a stance, no way was he nearing it first.

The creature finally stopped spazzing, standing completely still. It looked directly at Derb with hollow eyes, showing no emotion in its wolfish face. All of a sudden it charged, low to the ground as it opened its mouth in a growl. Derb panicked at the sudden aggression and swung down as the demon reached him. He lowered his weight and used his mana to break through the ground, aiming to swing a second time. The act wasn’t required as he cleaved the monster in two.

Derb saw the gory scene and paled. “Oh my god, what the hell!?” He dropped the sword and backed off slowly, eventually tripping on his own feet. His eyes never left the corpse. He didn’t know what to expect when he swung the sword but he at least thought it’d put up a fight! He stayed frozen until his teacher came up beside him. “Good job! I expected you to start talking to it or something. You showed some real initiative, I'm no longer worried about us going into the cave today.”

Derb looked at his teacher with annoyance. He just killed something for god’s sake! “Teacher… that was the first time I’ve killed anything. I didn’t know it’d be so easy.” Derb’s heart was still pounding, probably because he was still so close to the monster. His teacher took the news in stride. “Is that so? Well, you do understand the necessity behind it, yes?”

What? That’s it? Your student was having a moment here, teacher! Derb grudgingly got up, patting the dust he got on him while sleeping. “You could have at least given me a moment. I wasn’t mentally prepared for it.” Gerald scoffed at the notion. “Nobody is ever prepared when it truly matters, boy. I need you in top shape before we go hunting shades. Come, let’s prepare.”

After setting up the barrier once more his teacher went into his tent to get his equipment, leaving Derb to do the same. He hurried into his tent, readying everything he needed for the trip. He was advised to travel light since the cave got narrow at times. A few rations and some tools and he was ready to go. After leaving the tent he called Connor down from the skies. The poor thing had been up there for quite a while.

It landed with a light thud, “Hey, buddy, We’re going to fight ghosts. He patted the ugly thing on its head. It deserved it for staying on watch the whole night. “You’ll be coming with me. You’re the only one small enough to fit, so you’ll have to protect me, ok?” The imp nodded, making Derb feel warm inside.

Adalia was still out, he just told her to scout the area but he hadn’t heard of her since. He decided against just letting her be in such a dangerous area and dismissed her, sending her back into his soul. The rush of the magic made him feel powerful for a moment, and then it faded. He laughed at how crazy the magic was, at any point he could just summon a giant wolf.

“Get your head in the game, we’ll have to travel for quite a while before we reach the cave.” His teacher rushed past him, and Derb hurried to follow along. The two left the camp quickly, making sure not to leave a track behind. After about a mile Gerald signaled him to stop. They both crouched low as they entered a small clearing with a river running through it. After a quick search for trouble, the two slowly followed the river upstream.

Eventually, the two reached the end of the stream and directly into a large lake.“We’re here, careful not to make a sound. Water always attracts predators.” To the side of the lake was a large opening in the ground, more of a burrow than a cave. They set up their supplies outside, and Derb saw his teacher pull out the jagged black spike he saw before.

“Uh, teacher, mind me asking what that thing is for?” Gerald grinned, raising the spike in the air. “This thing stores souls when something dies, I advise you not to die near it.” That was… concerning? Derb didn’t know how to feel about such an object. Usually, anything involving souls was frowned upon in every fantasy movie he’s seen.

“It is safe, right? It’s not evil or anything?” Gerald’s grin grew wider. “Oh, it’s very evil, but that’s not the problem right now. We need it to achieve our goal.” He put the spike under his robes, hiding it from view before going up to Derb. “This is our little secret, okay? These types of things were allowed back in the war but recently… there’s been complications.” Derb nodded, honestly accepting the fact that his teacher might be evil.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. I’ve only ever used this thing on creatures, I’d never willingly use it on a human.” Gerald went on ahead, leaving a conflicted Derb wondering what ‘willingly’ meant. After a while, they both had entered the cave, and his teacher explained the plan. “Be careful while you’re in here, shades are easy to kill, but they’re just as powerful as your imp. The main reason I brought you here was because of your attribute. It’s decently resistant to their attacks. You aren’t immortal, though, so be careful when you fight.”

Derb nodded determinedly, this was his first fight with actual stakes. He followed closely behind his teacher, his imp flying overhead. Eventually, they heard the cries echo through the cave. “To your right! Four shades, attack their heads!” Derb turned to the charging shades, glowing blue fires, each with a small rag seemingly tied like a cape. Derb swung his sword toward the first, slashing through the cloth and directly into the flame. It exploded in a large flash, blinding him into stillness.

The second fired a small flame towards him while he couldn’t dodge, luckily Connor stepped in. A giant purple fireball burst out of his palm, consuming the flame and going directly through the shade’s head. Derb was ready and looked away before the flash happened. He jumped back to avoid the other, slamming into the back of his teacher.

“Watch the cloth! Order your demon to not use magic. I won’t tolerate losing more than one scrap.” Derb looked at him incredulously, why was he so calm? He didn’t need to order Connor as it was already keen to his teacher’s orders. The imp had backed off and was flying around the shades, drawing their fire. Derb readied his sword and charged in, successfully piercing one of them. Connor capitalized on this moment and fell on the other, shredding it mercilessly with his claws.

Derb sighed in relief, he wasn’t sure how his imp would do without its magic. Honestly, he didn’t think it’d do that well even without the handicap… He watched on as the Imp kept attacking the corpse. Even as it blew up in a light the imp didn’t stop, only until he was ordered to. “Stop right there, we need the cloth in good condition.” He pushed the imp from the body with his foot, taking out the black spike. With a swing of the spike, the room turned cold.

Derb felt his mana being pulled towards it, it was almost to the point of pain. “Hey, watch where you swing that thing…” Gerald smiled at the fear. “Relax, only at the moment after death can the soul be pulled. Even ghosts are too resistant to it, Hence this trip.” He finished whatever he was doing with the spike and put it back into his robe. Derb worried over his teacher. “Is it a good idea to put it so close to your… body like that? I don’t want you turning into a vampire or something… What’s that thing called anyway?”

His teacher gave him a questioning glance. “How do you know about vampires? It’d take more than a soulstone to turn me into a ranked demon.” He laughed at the proposition. “If it was that easy to create such a thing there’d be no humans left on earth!” Oh, that wasn’t good… Vampires existing wasn’t something he was willing to deal with at the moment.

“Just, whatever...” Moping about being shut down, Derb continued to walk deeper into the cave. His teacher ordered Connor to pick up the bodies, now nothing more some cloth and a black orb that seemed to be the head. “Three scraps in total… one in poor quality. We’ll need to be more careful if we plan to finish this within the week.” With a flick of a wrist, the cloth was thrown in the air, disappearing in white light.

Derb looked questioningly at his teacher, wondering what he just did. Gerald just shrugged. “I just sent them back home, it wouldn’t make sense to put it in my bag. The risk is too great.” He ordered Connor to toss the orbs since it was worthless material. As he saw the scene he couldn’t help but ask. “Couldn't you do that with all our stuff? Is it like one way or something, I don’t want to carry this backpack anymore.” Derb stretched his stiff back, sore from the long journey. The old man frowned, and for a second Derb thought he was insulted by the remark.

“What would be the fun in that? Get moving, boy.”