‘WARNING’

The female voice resounded again in Myke's head.

“Akira, is this you?” – screamed Myke

‘Yes Myke, it’s me. Please keep your voice down’

‘You can talk now?’

‘Yes, the speech synthesis module is now operational’ – the female voice answered with a calm tone.

Myke frowned, but after the last couple of days, there weren’t many things that could surprise him. He grasped the situation quickly and got back to the matter on hand.

He looked at the red dot on the radar.

‘Akira, what is this red dot on the radar?’

‘The entity appeared half an hour ago. From the mana radiation, I can detect it has around 30MP.’

‘What, half an hour? Why didn’t you wake me up sooner?’

‘Its movements were slow and random. I categorized the danger level as minimal’

‘And now?’

‘The movement pattern changed. The center of the new movement pattern is the treehouse’

‘It is coming here! Can it be a zombie?’

‘The possibility for this is below one percent. The movement pattern indicated that it is observing the treehouse and especially the front door. It’s approaching very carefully. This behavior indicates intellect and experience’

This was the answer Myke was hoping for. A survivor that he can talk to.

He wanted to bust out of the treehouse and meet with the visitor, but after these couple of days, he learned his lessons and thought of the best way to deal with this situation with caution.

He continued to observe the movement of the entity. The information in the HUD was very scarce:

Entity: unknown

Distance: 48m

Magic: 30MP

Until now his biggest concerns were the zombies, so he was interested in a way to detect them. Now he thought for the first time about his presence. If he was able to detect the entity, then the entity should also be able to detect him.

‘Akira, what about my mana radiation? You mentioned that the entity has around 30 MP, what about me? Can he detect my 112 MP?’ – Myke looked at his MP and just now he noticed the change:

112/112 MP

‘No, only fifteen percent of your mana radiation is observable’

‘How so?’

‘To be able to exploit the full potential of the detection skill every other interference had to be minimized. The mana radiation from Your body was too strong, so I developed presence concealment countermeasures to minimize it.’

‘So now I have an awesome presence concealment skill! Cool’

Myke observed the red dot while a new thought emerged in his head.

“What is the probability that the visitor also uses presence concealment?” – Myke muttered this more to himself, but Akira answered.

‘Presence concealment skill uses real-time calculations and does micro mana flow adjustments according to the calculations.

The probability to use the same concealment skill without a powerful computer is near zero percent.

Probability for alternative presence concealment skill is unknown.’

To conceal your presence in this violent world sounded like common sense for Myke. The problem was, that he knew still too little about magic and it was still impossible for him to know what was possible.

For Myke, this was very painful.

He would like nothing better than to make some tests and figure out how the magic works.

With Akira he was able to learn fast, but even though all he learned until now was how the mana flows in his body and how to control it.

He still had no idea how the magic works. He had even no idea how the firebolt spell works. He knew how to use it though, but all he could do was to infuse it with mana.

For the first time in his life, he was just a user with absolutely no idea how the stuff works.

And this made him feel helpless!

This had to change!

Thinking that the other party could also be using presence concealment made Myke uncomfortable. This would mean, that the other party may have over two hundred MP and probably much more experience in this world than Myke.

‘What if the incoming entity is hostile?’ – an alarming thought got into Myke's head.

Myke observed the dot very carefully. The entity had stopped moving a while ago.

The tension grew in Myke.

In an instant, the entity moved around ten meters to the right and then fifteen meters up. It seems that it just jumped high on a tree as if it was not a big deal.

The hair on the Mykes back stood up in an instant and he felt shivers through his body.

A normal human could never be able to move like this.

He remembered that there were also other races mentioned in the Soul Network.

He came here in the treehouse high above the ground to be safe from the zombies, but now he felt more trapped than safe. The treehouse had only one door and a small window and both of them were now under the observation of the unknown entity.

Here he was just a sitting duck.

Myke could hear his heart beating faster in his chest.

He needed a plan. He needed to go out of here.

The only possible direction was through the back wall. Firebolt was out of the question, so he needed something else.

‘Akira show me all available spells’ – Myke asked with hope in his voice

In the HUD appeared a list with only one spell:

- Firebolt

Under the firebolt appeared a rotating circle.

‘Searching for more’ – the female voice responded calmly as usual.

The entity made two more rapid movements and stopped around ten meters away from the door.

It was at the same height as the treehouse, certainly on another tree.

Myke was running out of time.

With a beep sound a second spell appeared in the list:

- Firebolt

- Iron Fist

Myke looked at the Iron Fist spell and small explanation appeared: “Temporary increases the durability, weight, and speed of a body part – usually a fist”

‘Sounds good enough!’

Multiple small white magic circles appeared on Myke's right hand. The circles were much smaller and simpler than the one used for the firebolt magic.

Mike infused the circles with mana, and they dissolved. At the same time, his right arm started to glow in white light and felt much lighter and easy to move.

The other entity approached quickly. Maybe it has detected the mana surge from the Iron Fist magic.

Myke didn’t hesitate any further and punched the wall with all of his strength.

He didn’t even feel the impact. His hand got through the wall just like a hot knife through butter. As soon as he touched the wall a white flash came out of the impact area and the wall busted in pieces.

The resulting hole was big enough for him to go through. Without a second thought, he rushed out and escaped from the treehouse.

He jumped at one of the escape ropes leading to another tree. The destination of the rope was around ten meters above the ground. He activated the Iron Fist spell in his feet and jumped.

The ground exploded under his feet when he landed leaving him in the center of a small crater.

Myke jumped quickly out of the hole and started running away. The direction was irrelevant, the only important thing was to get away from the treehouse and the unknown entity.

It was hard to run in this forest, but with this new body, he still moved fast.

The red dot wasn’t on the radar anymore.

‘Did I manage to escape?’

‘Akira, what is the range of the detection skill?’

‘Roughly eighty meters when staying still, but considerably less when moving. Now it is around thirty meters’

The probability, that he has escaped was pretty low. It was much more likely that the other entity was following at a distance over thirty meters away.

Myke continued running observing the radar. He hoped that he still could flee.

Until now he was running in a straight line. It shouldn’t have been hard for the entity to follow him.

Thinking about this he immediately changed the direction and continued running.

After a while, he changed the direction again and did this a couple more times after that.

There was still no sign that he was followed. Maybe he got away.

A hundred meters away he saw the end of the forest.

Out of the cover of the forest, he would be an easy target.

But also, if he runs fast enough, he could run to the ruined buildings across the street and hide in there. The buildings should give him enough protection and from there it would be easier for him to observe the forest.

One more advantage for him would be the possibility to shoot freely firebolts.

Only 50 meters left to the end of the forest and there were still no signs of the other party.

‘I can do this. I’m almost there’ – he thought this with hope

He continued running at full speed.

40 meters

30 meters

20 meters

Almost there, just a little bit more.

10 meters

Final sprint.

At this moment a loud sound of breaking branches came from behind.

The red dot appeared again and rapidly moved towards him.

Stepping outside of the forest Myke saw how a black shadow flew with high speed a couple of meters above his head and landed five meters away from him.

He froze on the spot with his heart pounding loud in his chest.

“My oh my, what do we have here?”