The Quantum Wanderer

The days came and went slowly, each time we were further away from everything, and the forest was closer to us.

The monster repellant gem actually worked pretty well, and I couldn’t complain about the sleep division, I was getting plenty enough of rest, although not the most comfortable one, since we had to sleep in our armor.

Three days after we left, we had the first incident.  I was sleeping, when I heard the alarm.  Some wolves had been attracted by the horses.  I got up, ready to fight.

I took a look at the scene, and Lu had built a wall of water, but she didn’t have mana to circle the whole caravan.  On a shorter side, Tar was fighting some wolves.  Aeson was getting out of the tent the same time I was.  This pack was way larger than the other one I had seen.  It had a lot of wolves.  Way more than twenty.

“Lu, let the water wall go, but make it go down towards the wolves.” I said, while I got closer to her.

Once she did this, I used the water to do a lightening magic, and hit all the wolves at once.  Since I didn’t try to hit anything far, I just used current over water, I didn’t spend much mana either.

One of the wolves was still up, though unfocused.  A lot of them were shaking on the ground, and some, in the back, looked dead.  I heard Tar screaming:

“FuFuFu FUCK!”

“Sorry, I didn’t intend on hitting you.  Really sorry.  I made it not very powerful so I wouldn’t have to kill them, but I didn’t realize you would be hit as well.”

Lu and Aeson laughed.  Yes, apparently I have that effect on people.  Tar fell on all fours, looked at the scene, and laughed as well.

The remaining wolf, I would have guessed the leader of the pack, looked at the scene, and changed its position.  It lowered its head, and placed it’s tail between it’s legs.  Aeson had his bow armed, ready to shoot anything, but the wolf just gave it a few seconds in this submissive position.  The wolves that were trembling on the ground were crying.  They would stand up, and then leave back into the forest.  Some of them would try to move the dead ones in the back with their noses, but it would not work.  They then disappeared in the forest.

There were 4 wolves dead left due to the magic, and Tar had killed two others.  Lu used some ice magic, froze them, and we placed inside a box inside the cart.

Once we were finished, the sun was starting to rise, so we decided to have one of them for breakfast, in a barbecue style thing, and start that day early. 

“Marcelo, are you enjoying the wolf meat?”, Lu asked.

“Well, it’s a nice change, after all that horned rabbit.  Horned rabbit is better, but I need some change in the menu.”

Tar laughed, “Yeah!  I mean, with the hole horned rabbit extermination thing going on, that was about the only meat you could get!  I heard that one guy actually nailed over sixty of them!  In a couple of days!  Can you believe that?  We did get some just because we didn’t want to stay the day in bed, but not like this.”

“Wow…”  Although I tried to look amazed, I don’t think I quite managed.

But Tar was enthusiastic about the story, “Yeah!  Can you imagine that?  Three other teams, together, got around the number of horned rabbits one guy alone did.”

Lu kind of saved me, “Tar, can’t you see that Marcelo is not interested in this story?  He is not a muscle brain like you.”

“Ok, ok.  So what do you want to talk about?  The rumors of war?”

That I didn’t know about, obviously.  “What war?”

Lu answered, “There are rumors that the demons in the north are starting to get active again, and that the kingdom is already preparing the army.”

Tar continued, “I have heard that some farmers’ sons are being conscripted into the army, but those are the closer to where the conflict is about to happen.”

“How long do you guys think it is going to take for the war to reach us?  Or reach Millia, for that matter?”

Tar answered, “This is going to take a lot of time.  If it ever does.  The war doesn’t move all that fast.  The wars in the past are said to take several years, some of them took decades.  But it’s not like we have to worry, though.”

“Why?”

Lu was the one to answer, “Generally they leave the older adventurers alone.  The monsters don’t really care about the war, and the nations involved in the war still have to deal with them.  What they do, if they need to conscript adventurers, is use the ones that have enrolled last.  Many of them actually enroll as an adventurer to avoid the war.”

I don’t really know how wars are thought here, but the mortality rates on Earth’s wars, specially the ones in older ages were very high.  Some eras, like medieval ages, it was a little lower, but some others were really cruel.  And they didn’t really have Geneva convention here…  I wonder if there was anything that they would consider outside the rules.

Lu must have confused my expression with sadness, she started telling about the marriage of a first son of a baron to the daughter of count.  I didn’t pay too much attention, until she turned to me in particular…

“Are you married?”

“Nope.  I mean, I don’t think that being an adventurer and traveling all over is good for a marriage, right?”

“I suppose.”

The day continued like normal, no issues really.  We ate a lot of wolf meat.  I used that time to kind of investigate my body using the sensing spell to my insides.  I do have some biology understanding, about a high schooler, and seeing the body’s interactions was fascinating.

It gave me a lot of insights on how to cure myself.  I actually did some experiments with some neurons, since they were the most important ones.  Stuff like adding some mana to the dna, and it allowed the cell to reproduce.  This was fantastic.  

I added some mana to the mythocondrias, and stored oxygen there.  The results were fantastic.  The cell could actually store oxygen aside, and use it if it stops receiving it from the blood or liquid around it.  Surprisingly enough, not all the blood made it all the places; some places it was just the liquid part, no blood cells.  But there was still exchange between the cell and the blood.

I trained spreading the mana into the body.  If I was doing it correctly, I might improve my healing.  I took a big care on only doing that to my cells, though.  Everything that wasn’t mine I just skipped.  I don’t think I am knowledgeable enough right now to actually identify what is disease and what isn’t.  Some external bacteria was living in my body, much like animals in a forest.  I didn’t want to disrupt any balance.

The initial trials I did almost exhausted my mana, but I used a sanctuary spell to get it back.  It was much like a reinforce spell, but since it is different, I still don’t have the knack for it.  But after some attempts it became a little easier, so I am guessing that eventually doing this will be easier.

We also had a normal night, the monster repelling gem did its trick.  Apparently, no more monsters as hungry as the wolves.

Next morning, we finished eating the wolf meat in the breakfast.  It was just about enough, and we proceeded with the journey.

When we make a turn, there is tree down.

Tar yells, “GO BACK! GO BACK!”, and we can hear a tree falling behind the second cart.  The horses are kind of frightened, and the four of us jump from the cart and look at the scene.

I shoot my sense around.  There are two bigger trees in front of us, and they have two archers each.  Other than that, there are two guys in the very back, the ones that cut down the tree behind us, and from each side of the road starts pouring another ten from each side.

I can sense that their levels is very varied, but they are all closer to 20 than 10.  One of them had a level 27, he must be the boss.  He looked strong, kind of Tar’s size, and he had metal chest plate and a metal helmet that looked like one of those Greek war helmets, covering the nose but with a loose chin.  He carried a double edged axe, a big one, with a spike on the top.  Behind him there is a man, with a staff.  They had a mage.

The other people were armed with several different types of armors and weapons.  Some had shields, some had two handed swords.  Two of them were dressed in black, and had no armor.

This is going to be a mess.  I could, probably, take them if I used all cards in my deck.  But that would kind of expose my deck to Lu, Tar and Aeson.  I just didn’t know them all that much.  They are nice people, but it’s not, like they say it in this world, the case where I would put my hand in the fire for them.  The leader’s helmet was an issue, because my microwave maser would not go through it.  I would have to go some roundabout way.  That adds some difficulty.

And Requiem Warriors would be no match.

I immediately pour mana on my senses, and the world starts to go a lot slower.  The first thing to focus on are those archers.  They are in a very good position, and the bows are already armed.

I start creating massive amounts of CO, and shoot a breeze, so that it goes to the trees that have the archers and the bandits in front of us.  CO is easy to make, very little mana usage. 

Because of the slowness, the leader sounds like a tape that is being played slowly, and he shouts to the mage, in a way that we all can hear:

“If you sense mana coming this way, give the signal to kill them all!”

But they apparently didn’t notice the breeze.  Well, I have to say that I did it as soft as possible.

The leader turned to us, and said, “Apparently someone doesn’t like you, Mr. Windfoot.  As for you, adventurers, you may go if you don’t create any trouble.”

My party got out their weapons as a response.  Tar, of course it had to be Tar, shouted back, “They are under our protection!  Leave or suffer consequences!”, in the same slow tape as the leader.

I keep pouring the CO.  Now, I have to take that mage out of the equation…  I have to lift my hand to aim, but time is on my side.  The longer we keep the standoff, the more time the CO has to make effect.

I keep producing the CO and the breeze with my left hand, and, very slowly, not only to keep the standoff, but also because my arm is heavier, I lift my right hand, and strike kind of a hero pose, but pointing my hand to the mage. 

The leader sees this, and laughs.  Some time later, some of the people around him laughs as well.

When the leader stops laughing, I can almost taste what is going to happen.  As the leader is, very slowly, saying “As you wish.  Kill them, guys!”, I shoot the mage in the head with a massive amount of mana.  His head explodes.

One of the archers vomits.  I don’t know if it was the CO or the vision, but I can tell that they look red in the face right now.  The other ones shoot their arrows, but none of the shots hit us.

Lu was already preparing a shield spell, and it finally comes up.

The leader and some people around him look at the mage, still standing up, headless, and their faces go to something of bewilderment.

Then they turn to face us.  I stop the CO, and  I cast the soul absorption on the leader, and one of the guys in black that was a level 23.  They don’t really notice it.  That mage’s experience would really help me, but I can’t risk it.  It’s a pity.

The leader looks at Lu, and sprints towards her.  Even with my perception powered by mana, I can see him sprinting.  Now I am impressed.  I try to start running, but everything is really heavy.  I pour mana on my legs, it’s still heavy.  I won’t make it.  I try to roar at him, but by the time his face changes, the spike on the top of his axe is already in Lu’s stomach.  I can notice the wound before she does.

Tar slowly turns his head and starts running towards the leader.  The other bandits start coming towards us.  The guys in black go for the sides of the gang.  Lu’s shield drops, and I kill the bowmen with masers.

The bandits start to loose their breath.  Two of the ones in the back vomit.  The guys in black are hard to see, though.  I can feel their soul with my senses, but that’s about it.  They also start to get to a slower pace.  I take all the guys in black out, one by one.

Aeson takes out a couple of bandits with arrows.

The leader tries a slash at Tar, but he defends it. 

Aeson shoots an arrow towards the leader, but it hits the armor. 

I use the distraction to empower my legs, and sprint towards Tar the leader.  The leader faints a side slash, and brings his axe up.  Tar goes for the faint.

I arrive there, empower my whole body.  I cut the leader’s arms and head of with my sword.

The axe falls down slowly, but it hits Tar’s armor and falls to the floor.

The leader’s head has an expression of incredulity while it slides off the neck and falls back.

My muscles all hurt.  Lu is at my feet, her hand over her stomach.  I can see tears rolling out of the side of her eyes.

Tar looks at this, and, enraged, starts going towards the bandits left.  The bandits had no more will to fight, they try to surrender.  When the ones in the back see that dropping their weapons and raising the hands in surrender is not stopping Tar from killing them, three of them start running.

They are shot in the back by Aeson.

I turn my attention to Lu.  I try to use mana to inspect her wound, but her body resists.  Here goes nothing.

I change my senses to mana, and start looking very carefully at her soul and her nerve system, her magic pathways.

The problem is that my mana is in a different frequency than hers.  I fix on her soul, and the way it releases mana and alters it, and slowly I manage to start releasing mana in the same frequency.  This is not as easy as I thought.

Now I could sense the damage.  A part of her lower lung and her stomach are damaged.  She is also loosing a lot of blood.

I start by fixing the lung, reconstructing everything.  I empower the cells, and make them reproduce using mana as a fuel.  As I finish the worst of the bleeding and the lung, I can feel that my mana is getting depleted.

I do a sanctuary spell, a big one.  I take a couple of breaths as I recover some mana, and then I reconstruct the stomach, now I am closing the wound.  Now everything goes black.

I wake up slowly.  I have this very bad hangover.  The light is kind of hurting my eyes, the sounds are contributing to my headache.  I can’t remember when I had a hangover this bad from liquor.

The place I am lying on is rough, but the pillow is nice and cozy, though.

I feel a hand playing with my hair, I look up and I see just boobs.  I sit up slowly.  I was lying on Lu’s lap, inside a moving cart.  Lu and I are on one side, Tar and Aeson on the other.

“Good morning.  Or should I say good afternoon?”

I wasn’t quite fast on the answer.  “Ouch, my head hurts.  What happened?”

Tar started to answer, “Well, “ but he was cut short by Lu, that kicked him on the shin.  Then she started to answer, “Well, we didn’t know you were a healer.  You could have mentioned that.  We don’t know what you did as well.  On our side, after you passed out, the fight was over.  Tar and Aeson collected the heads for the reward when we get to the guild.  I actually kept getting better after you passed out.  My best bet is magic exhaustion.  I have never seen it this bad.”

I remembered the events, “And how are you?”

“I will LIVE!  And thanks to you.  Actually, everyone here is going to live thanks to you.  We were really outmatched.”

She showed me her stomach, and it had a scar on it.  It was as big as an open hand, fresh and scary.  She was pretty, that scar did not really belong there… 

“I would probably be able to remove this scar, if you want.  I mean, once the headache goes away.”

She looked at me, and smiled.

“Can I think about it?  I will let you know.”

“Of course.  Oh, and by the way, pls don’t mention around that I am a healer.  Ahhnn…  Are healers rare here?  It might be different from the place I come from.”

“Yes.  Most of them are aligned to the church.  Healing is a lot harder than other magic because you have to circumvent the protection to your body.  Around here they train for years, in the church, before they are able to help with the smallest cut.  Not only that, but they also learn about healing herbs that can be used on some diseases.”

I understood that.  So that’s what they called the kind of natural barrier that blocked other magic from running inside your body.

Tar was almost shaking.  He looked at Lu, that rolled her eyes, and he started the questions

“What did you do?  What kind of magic do you practice?  Where did you get that sword?”

“Can you keep a secret?”

“Yeyeyes.”

“So can I.”

Lu burst out laughing, even Aeson, generally very reserved, laughed.  I was just joking, though.  I have to say that the noise didn’t help much with my headache.

“Sorry for the joke, I just couldn’t resist it.  Can you repeat the questions?”

“So, what did you do?”

“Well, there is a way to create a gas that, although somewhat common, can be deadly.  When I noticed the bandits, I started to replace the air around the bandits with that gas.  The first symptom is that you get disorientated.  And since the gas is kind of common, I can do that with little mana.  I just had to create a breeze to carry it.  Again, simple, little mana.”

Aeson joined the talk, “That explains why the archers on the trees missed us.  I just counted that as a miracle.”

“And I had another magic that I used to kill the assassins and the mage as well, but I would rather not dwell too much on it.  I also ask you guys to keep that a secret.”

“We will.  What about the sword?  I never seen something like that.”

“I found it in a weird tomb in the middle of The Forest.  I was kind of lost, I don’t even know where it is, actually…  Now it’s just…  Mine.  Please keep that a secret as well, I want to avoid trouble of people trying to snatch it.” And I smiled.

…

…

…

“Are you going to look for more work in city’s guild?  Perhaps we could work together.” Lu mentioned.

“Sure, we could stay in the same inn.”  This was a godsent for me, I would be around people that would not question something weird here and there that I asked.  It’s not like I was being part of the party though, we could go separate ways at any moment.

“It seems like we are arriving,” Lu mentioned.

As our cart crested the hill, the city lay sprawled beneath us like a grand tapestry. The stone walls of the capital rose majestically, encircling the baronage’s heart with an air of ancient strength and unwavering fortitude. The road we followed twisted and curled, guiding us gently down the slope toward the imposing gates, which stood like sentinels guarding the secrets of the city within.

I was excited with something new.  The others were looking hopeful.  We were waiting the the approval to entry in a line outside the town, with an imponent gate opened, and the guards inspecting each cart.

When it got to ours, Tar informed then of the bandits, we produced our identifications, and showed them the amount of heads collected.  One of the guards went inside, and came back with a couple of additional guards.  We were told to go straight to the guild, so that the heads could be evaluated, and it could be made sure that those were actual bandits.

The adventurers guilds offices were a little after the gates.  I came to learn later that that was by design.  Should there be a big invasion, be it monster, demons, bandits, other countries, the guild should try to defend the city.  It would be the first thing met after the gates failed.

One of the guards went inside, and came back with a  woman, carrying a folder full of papers.  We showed her the leader’s head,

“All right, you guys got Brandon The Nasty.  He received this nickname because even when people leave everything on the road, he still kills everyone.  I mean, not anymore.  He had 7 gold reward on his head.”

She turned to the guard, and said something, and the couple of guards went their way.