Translator: Charlotte　Editor: Weasalopes

The environment wasn"t being very kind to me.
But to the snake, it must"ve been the best place for a fight.
We were significantly deep in the ivy forest, preventing Obsidian and Helix from attacking from above.
How annoying…

I had a feeling it was going to be a difficult fight.
I didn"t have to worry about tripping and falling since I still had the effects of【Levitation】, but that wasn"t a very comforting fact.
The snake had no intention of running away.
It was slowly moving between the gaps of the thick ivy, probably looking for an opportunity to strike.
I prepared to cast a spell.
I had to intercept whatever attack it had in mind and stop its movements after that.

The casting process finished.
I saved it up for a while.
While I was at it, I prepared to cast my next spell.
I started getting sick of waiting.
But since I had no idea what my enemy was capable of, I didn"t want to just blindly charge in.
Come attack me…
C"mon!

The snake"s head suddenly flew at me.

「Freeze Touch!」

I slipped to the side and hit the snake in the side of the head while using the spell I was saving up.
It should"ve been a direct hit.
But I didn"t have the time to check if any status effects occurred.

「Paralysis!」

It looked like a direct hit, but its movements didn"t seem disturbed at all.
There weren"t any markers above the snake indicating that it was affected by any abnormal statuses.
Instead, I noticed that I managed to cut down half of its HP bar.
Looked like【Freeze Touch】was really effective in another way.

The snake was trying to get back and hide in the thick ivy again, but Goki wouldn"t let that happen.
Goki used his hatchet and split the snake"s head in two.
I looked at Goki.
Goki was smiling.
A very evil smile.

「Gahah!」

I get you"re happy…
But could you not make that sound? You"re scaring me.

It looked like all the monsters coming out of the ivy forest were pretty weak.
It was the same for the skeletons in the west, and the goblins in the cave to the south.
Although I had encountered some stronger varieties, like the Slime or the Skeleton Dog.

I collected its item drops.
It was probably the most dangerous item I collected after the Magic Mushroom.

【Material】Tree Viper"s Toxic Fang　Raw Material　Grade C　Rarity 2　Weight 0+
A Tree Viper"s fang. A bag filled with venom is attached to the base.
The venom slowly drains physical strength from its targets when injected.

Venom!
I kind of expected that…
But it really was a quite dangerous item.

Oh well.
It was the first item I found that used some sort of poison mechanism.
The fang itself was pretty small, smaller than a leopard fang.
It looked like something you could put on a ring and then use as an a.s.sa.s.sination weapon.
Or maybe as arrowheads.
Either way, I would have to get creative about how I would use such a dangerous item.

I kept heading downwards.
【Levitation】cut off along the way, but I recast it twice before I reached the forest maze.
About 30 minutes.
It took me 30 minutes to get to the forest maze.
I felt like it took me more than an hour to climb.
Spells could be really useful.

I kept going into the forest maze.
I recalled Helix and summoned Volff.
It had been a while, but I was sure Volff would come in useful.

Goki was definitely fast, but Volff was even faster.
Volff easily circled the mushrooms and took them out without taking any damage.
I had no reason to worry about him.

I wanted to get out of the forest maze as fast as I could, but there were a few parties hunting monsters.
I didn"t want to get in their way, so I waited for their fights to end.
It took a while, but I eventually made it to the white hall and then to the west of the forest maze.

I headed straight into the cave filled with skeletons.
Of course, I took down all the skeletons I encountered.
None of them dropped any Magic Stones.
I didn"t encounter any Skeleton Dogs either.

I didn"t really like fighting Skeletons.
It probably had something to do with my fighting style.

I reached the other side of the cave.
The time was 1:30 pm.
The weather was great.
A blue, sunny sky.

The view was quite different from the view of the plains around Remut.
There were pockets of trees here and there.
Depending on where you stood, the place could be described as a large forest.

The last time I came here I just looked around a bit before walking back.
I wanted to explore a little more.

I recalled Obsidian and Goki and summoned Helix and Zangetsu.
I realised that I had been switching out Summon Monsters a lot.
That didn"t have that big of an effect on my MP bar anymore.
But my MP bar still suffered a bit because of it.
My MP bar was at about 50%.
Most of it was actually because of【Levitation】. Once I tried it once, I couldn"t go back.

I used the spell【Magnetic Compa.s.s】.
I figured out where west was and headed straight in that direction.

It was peaceful.
Not a single monster in sight.
The plains were filled with life.
Not with monsters, but just normal wild animals.
None of them were hostile.

Small birds, rodents, and sometimes even horses, but none of them showed any interest in me.
Of course, I didn"t bother attacking them.
I really liked the peaceful atmosphere.
Helix flew up and took a look at our surroundings.
It didn"t look like there were any places of note around us.

I kept moving at a slow pace.
Volff managed to follow along without having to run.
Going slow was alright too, once in a while.
Volff and Zangetsu looked like they were enjoying it too.

Helix finally looked like he found something suspicious.
Something strange was a little southwest from where we were. I immediately started heading there.
When we reached the place, I"d been on Zangetsu for about an hour and a half.
I bet I could reach the place from the exit of the cave in one hour if I got Zangetsu to run.

The place was very strange.
The whole place was overgrown.
There was a single road between the tall gra.s.s where Zangetsu could pa.s.s through.
The tall gra.s.s got denser the further we went along the road. It looked like something was going to be at the centre.
It looked like an igloo of gra.s.s. Not even Helix could make out what it was by looking from above.
It looked like some sort of house? A village?

I saw a signboard on the brink of falling apart, along with a fence that had ivy growing along it.
Green curtains and green window frames.
The entrance was right in front of us.

The door opened with a rattling sound.
It was wide enough for even Zangetsu to make it in somehow.
It took some effort, though.
I got Helix to go in first and scout out the place for monsters.

There was n.o.body inside.
I kind of expected that, the whole place looked abandoned.

The place was a mess.
Weeds grew between the stones of the building.
The wooden parts looked like they were about to collapse.
I went outside and noticed that it really was a village. Probably even bigger than Legias.

It was definitely a strange place.
I looked around in each of the buildings.
In some of them, silverware was scattered on the ground, and some of their furniture looked like it had collapsed a long time ago.

Oh.
I almost forgot.
I had better use【Sense Magic】.

「Sense Magic!」

That way I could tell if what I was seeing was the result of some magic spell or not.
I kept exploring.

None of the buildings looked especially suspicious.
But one thing did draw my attention.
It was in the centre of the village, in what looked like the town square.
A nearly collapsed stone statue.
A spirit not unlike the ones I"d seen up to that point was floating on top of it.

I got off of Zangetsu and thought for a while.
I had a feeling I would have to fight something soon.
No, I was sure of it.

Something like the Knockers I fought earlier.
I wondered what kind of monster it would be.
Should I fight on horseback?
Or maybe switch Zangetsu out with another Summon Monster?

I debated it for a while.
I ultimately decided to just approach the spirit on horseback.
Thinking too much about it was just a waste of time.

《O traveller.》

《We art the guideposts.》

《If thou willest to bring back time to this place, receive our trial.》

《Pa.s.s our trial.》

《Pa.s.s our trial and we shalt be thy helpers.》

Like I expected.
Of course, out of the two options《Yes》and《No》, I chose《Yes》.
What will it be…?

The monster that appeared was a lot smaller than I thought it would be.
Even smaller than a Knocker.
Three monsters a head shorter than me.
They looked like… Otters? Weasels?
Although they were a lot bigger than your average small mammal.
They looked like something Adele would fall in love with.
Of course, I used【Identify】on one of them.

Abandoned Wind Spirit Kamaitachi　Lv.2
Event Monster　???

Kamaitachi?
Looked like it was a wind elemental variant of the Knockers.

「Kewruu?」

Ah… What a cute sound.
Its movements looked cute too.
Adele would probably drop everything and go in for a hug.

But contrary to their appearance, the three of them formed a line and eyed me suspiciously.
Helix jumped off of my shoulder and flew into the air.
With that, our battle started.

「Meditate!」「Bless!」

While using my usual martial art skills I approached them on Zangetsu"s back.
They were fast.
I was glad I chose to fight with Zangetsu.
If I had to fight on foot, they could definitely outrun me.

Volff started taking on one of them.
What about Helix?
I didn"t have the time to check.
A Kamaitachi was in front of me.
It easily dodged all my rod attacks.
I used the spell I had been preparing.

「Physical Enchant: Wind!」

I strengthened Volff.
I wanted to use it on Zangetsu at first, but I changed my mind.
Volff needed it more.
They were really fast.
Volff was having a hard time beating them.
The spell would definitely help him get an edge.

As I was preparing to cast my next spell, I felt a sharp pain on my back.
My HP bar went down by 20%.
A spell?
No, I didn"t hear anyone else casting any spells.

I looked behind me and saw a Kamaitachi, its MP bar had gone down by 30%.
Another one was next to it, shooting something at Helix while dodging Helix"s attacks.
A spell?
It definitely looked like it, according to【Sense Magic】.

There was a distinctive white light.
But not exactly magic, but more like a special attack incorporating magic.
Helix had some trouble, but he managed to dodge the attacks.

These monsters…
They were Wind elemental monsters.
Helix managed to dodge all the attacks, but it took Helix a while until he could return to an offensive position.
As if Helix was being distracted by a strong wind…

I stopped Zangetsu and faced one of them head on.
It quickly disappeared to try and attack from the side.
But with Zangetsu, I could easily move to intercept it.
But I noticed that they were faster than even Zangetsu.
Scary.

I prepared to cast a spell.
I put my eyes off of it for a moment, and the Kamaitachi disappeared.
A moment later, it appeared beside me.
I quickly got Zangetsu to move away, but I had a feeling I wasn"t going to make it in time.
Volff suddenly flew in and bit down on the Kamaitachi, saving us.
It looked like Volff managed to take down one Kamaitachi and was moving on the next.

Volff kept biting down on its throat, and its HP bar was at less than half in no time.
It tried to escape, but Volff didn"t let that happen.
Keeping his grip firm around its throat he started smashing it on the ground.
It was quickly defeated.

Just one left.

「Physical Enchant: Wind!」

I used the spell on Zangetsu.
The last Kamaitachi was sitting still, dodging Helix"s attacks and returning them.
Helix kept trying to come down to attack, but Helix always lost his balance in the last moment and had to fly back up again.
Using【Sense Magic】, I could tell there was some kind of barrier between them.
Probably a wind wall spell.
Probably a spell similar to【Wind Shield】.

Suddenly, a strong wind rushed at us.
I couldn"t dodge it.
I took the attack head-on.

But that may have been a good thing.
It had to stay still to cast the spell, which made it easy for Volff to jump at it.
Volff bit down on its throat and thrashed around on the ground.
It was defeated in no time.

Volff was the MVP.
He managed to singlehandedly defeat all three of them.

《Oh traveller.》

《We art the guideposts.》

《Thou hast pa.s.sed our trial.》

《We shalt be thy helpers.》

《Strive.》

《Contend.》

《Blessed are the hardworking.》

《Blessings upon thee.》

The spirit on top of the stone statue split and scattered across the whole village.
It looked like something was happening.

《【Staff】Level Up!》
《The W2 Area Portal has been opened!》
《You have gained 3 Bonus Points. You currently have a total of 13 Bonus Points.》

Looked like I managed to unlock another Area Portal.

We all took quite a bit of damage in the fight.
I used potions and recovery spells to heal everyone back to full health.

「Fire Heal!」

《【Fire Magic】Level Up!》

My【Fire Magic】finally levelled up.
In other words, if I used【Fire Magic】in conjunction with【Wind Magic】, 【Earth Magic】, or 【Water Magic】, I could get some new magic skills.
Although at that point I did start to feel a bit hesitant.
I felt like there had to be a limit to how many magic skills I was going to learn.
Although I did get a good amount of Bonus Points from unlocking all the area portals.
Yeah…
I guess I could learn the new magic skills. Why not.

《A message has arrived from a friend.》

After spending some time thinking about the fight, I got a message.
It was from Fiona.

『A guild member named Kaya confirmed the Fire + Earth combo. It"s【Lava Magic】. I"ll send you the spell data.』

Nice.
Kaya… If I remember correctly, he was a blacksmith.
I looked at the attached screenshot of the spell info.

Heat Metal
Raises the temperature of a metal object, can also be used to deal damage at close range.

Shape
Softens an object and makes it more susceptible to changes in shape.

Lower DEF
Temporarily lowers the target"s DEF.

The last spell looked nice.
A good spell to use against Branch Golems and similar monsters.
It would probably make it possible for me to defeat them using punches and kicks too, not just throws.
I noticed again that there were only three spells.
And no support spells either…

Alright.
Well, now that I finally got my long-awaited【Fire Magic】level-up, I could start working towards getting the other new magic skills.
I was about to send a reply to Fiona.
But then a thought came to mind.

I decided to try and use【Telepathy】instead.
The casting process was over in no time, and I quickly used it.
A window appeared in front of me, asking me for a target. I chose Fiona from my friend list.

『Fiona, can you hear me?』

『Huh? Keith?』

『Yeah, I"m using【Telepathy】. Are you free right now?』

『Uh… Sure. We just defeated a boss and we"re resting right now.』

『I got your message, and well it"s more or less what I expected.』

『Wow, Keith, this telepathy thing is really nice. It completely feels like you"re right next to me.』

『Can the others hear me too?』

『Hmm… One second.』

I waited for a while and a response came.

『No, looks like it"s just me.』

『Is that so… So it"s not exactly like a normal whisper…』

『But even then, this is very useful. We can have a secret conversation from anywhere.』

『Yeah, I guess so.』

She had a point.
I was at least an hour and a half on horseback away from where Fiona was at the moment.
The spell completely removed the issue of distance.
But it was still nothing compared to【Return Home】.

『So, where are you?』

『West from where you are. It"s called the W2 Area Portal, apparently.』

『Hey, that"s pretty far away… Oh yeah! One second…』

Sounded like she just remembered something important.

『Could you come to Legias tomorrow morning? I have a guild member I want to introduce to you.』

『A guild member?』

『Yeah. You had a jewel before, right? They"re a specialist.』

『Huh?』

『A jeweler.』

Ooh, that"s nice.
It was just being dead weight for a long time.
I really wanted to ask someone what I could do with it.

『That"s great. I"ll be there.』

『We"ll be waiting for you.』

『Nice. See you tomorrow.』

『Got it.』

I checked the spell before cutting off the connection.
The spell lasted for three minutes at a time.
It didn"t take that big of a chunk out of my MP bar.
A useful spell.
It would probably come in handy again in the near future.

Protagonist　Keith
Race　Human　Male　Racial Lv8
Job　Summoner Lv7
Bonus Points Remaining: 13

Skill Sets:
Staff Lv7（↑1）　Punch Lv4　Kick Lv4　Joint Lock Lv4　Throw Lv4　Evade Lv4　Block Lv4　Summon Magic Lv8　s.p.a.cetime Magic Lv1
Light Magic Lv4　Wind Magic Lv4　Earth Magic Lv4　Water Magic Lv4　Fire Magic Lv4（↑1）　Dark Magic Lv4　Ice Magic Lv2　Lightning Magic Lv2　Tree Magic Lv2
Alchemy Lv4　Pharmacy Lv3　Gla.s.smaking Lv3　Woodworking Lv3
Synergy Lv6　Appraise Lv6　Identify Lv6　Discern Lv2　Cold Resistance Lv3　Grab Lv6　Horsemanship Lv6　Precise Manipulation Lv6　Jump Lv3　Heat Resistance Lv3　Climb Lv3　Dual Wield Lv3　Mental Reinforcement Lv3
Speedcasting Lv2

Equipment:
Kaya Wood Rod x2　Kaya Wood Tonfa x2　Snow Leopard Push Dagger x3　Wild Horse Leather Armour+　Snow Ape Armguard　Wild Horse Boots+　Snow Ape Leather Helmet　Rabid Horse Belt+　Rucksack　Item Box x2

Items:
Survival Knife　Woodworking Set

t.i.tles:
Old Summoner"s Pupil
Guardian of the Forest
Man of the Middle Path
Spell Archive

Monster Summons:
Volff　Wolf Lv6
Zangetsu　Horse Lv4
Helix　Hawk Lv4
Obsidian　Owl Lv4
Jean　Bat Lv4
Jericho Wood Golem Lv3
Goki　Demon Lv3
Senki　Beast Ape Lv2