Belfray's POV

  “That went rather smoothly,” Radek said as he tapped a finger onto the Dimensional Sphere, showing us the family of five as they trudged out from the forest and toward their camp. “They were nice people.”

  Ignoring Radek, I glanced back at the Grand Marshall and asked, “My Lady, should I?”

  “Leave them be,” she said, shaking her head. “They did nothing wrong.”

  “Understood,” I said.

  “Why are you acting like that now?” Radek said, raising an eyebrow. “I thought the whole reason why you picked this forest was to give Young Master a chance to interact with anyone who is normal. Those people looked pretty normal to me.”

  “I do things the right way, Mage. I don’t like to leave loose ends.”

  “They’ll help us spread the rumors. It’s fine,” Radek said.

  I leaned back into my chair, breathing steadily to calm the beating of my heart. It wasn’t easy to play the spectator. It wasn’t easy at all to stay here and watch Young Master be all alone.

  The only silver lining in the situation was that this version of the Trial of the Wild was rather tame. Back in the Empire, we’d often twist the circumstances to have the children who were subjected to the trial face each other as well. That way, not only could they work on their survival skills, they also learned to expect the unexpected.

  Hence why I’d placed Young Master in a forest neighboring a small human settlement.

  Other than a few individuals, the settlement had no one who could pose a real threat to the Young Master. Clumsy with his moves he might be and a complete green hand in facing the threats of nature, he could take most of them off with ease.

  That had been my thought process, but now, things changed.

  “There won’t be any stopping him from now on,” I muttered more to myself than to the others. “He’s got a taste of those Practical Runes… I’m afraid I have to prepare the mansion staff accordingly.”

  “Relax.” Radek smiled annoyingly. “It’s not like he’s going to try and set the whole mansion on fire. He’s learned his lessons.”

  “Are you sure?” the Grand Marshall asked, her right hand curling into a tight fist. “You were trusting a nine-year-old child’s sense of safety when you decided to give him that little notebook?”

  “I believe the exact point we all agreed upon was to give him enough space, my Lady.” Radek didn’t budge, but his eyes did glaze over the Grand Marshall’s fist for a second. “I’d say a forest in a Grade D plane is as good a place as any to do that. He’s got space and freedom here. He has nothing to worry about.”

  Except for the few Golden Rank beasts and the occasional Silver Rank creatures crawling about the trees.

  “I’m not sure if this is the right thing,” the Grand Marshall said, one of the chair’s arms cracking as she clasped her fingers around the hardwood. “I could give him a few Herald Cores and that would push him to the Golden Rank right away.”

  Radek and I shared a glance.

  My Lady knew better than to raise a house cat. She’d dealt with that kind of vermin early in her career, taking orders from men raised in big families and groomed for a future paved solely out of glamorous marble.

  “Don’t worry. He’s enjoying this,” Radek said, his green eyes gleaming as he smiled at the little figure being displayed on the dimensional screen. “In fact, he’s enjoying it a bit too much more than I expected.”

  I tried to see from where he was getting this impression by studying the Young Master’s tired, bloody figure, and was left rather baffled. To me, he looked nothing like a young Knight out for an adventure.

  For this once, however, I wanted to believe Radek was right. No, I hoped he would be right because if not this could broaden the distance between Young Master and the Grand Marshall that had closed slightly after their last heart-to-heart talk.

  How did I know about that speech?

  Well, I might have accidentally eavesdropped the whole conversation through a tiny hole in the wall.

  It was a bad habit.

  “Wait…” Grand Marshall muttered suddenly, which caught me by surprise. “Is he smiling?”

  “What?” I blurted before blinking and pulling myself together. Without wasting a second, I focused on the screen and studied that little face. I couldn’t believe the expression at first. There did seem to be a broad smile playing across Young Master’s lips.

  Why would he smile?

  “Looks like our Young Master’s a bit hungry,” Radek said as the Young Master pulled out a slab of meat and stared down at it as though it was the most prized treasure in the world. “There’s nothing quite like eating the food you’ve hunted for yourself, eh?”

  Pressure built behind my eyes as I witnessed the proud look on the Grand Marshall’s face, and how relieved she must feel at having seen her son looking like a true hunter.

  Then a realization dawned on me.

  It made me uncomfortable.

  Perhaps that was the difference between us and Radek.

  Perhaps he knew better than us.

  Perhaps it was he among us who had the most faith in Young Master while the rest of us kept doubting him time and time again.

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  That had to change, but how could anyone teach their heart how to listen?

  ………

  Leo’s POV

  There was something primal about tending to your own needs in a giant forest. I experienced that deeply in the following days.

  There was satisfaction and glee, of course, but also fear and terror at how there was hardly any safe corner to tuck myself in, have a breather, and pass the time in a carefree manner. There was always a sound, some indication of a danger approaching from no particular direction, a constant sensation of being watched and… bugs.

  There were just too many bugs in this place, and they hated me with every piece of their minuscule muscles.

  To fend against them I came up with an ingenious idea. It didn’t take too much thinking, to be honest, since it was already there. It was really on the nose, if I had to say. Now that I thought about it, it probably wasn’t a genius thing, too.

  But hey, it worked, and that was what I needed.

  I simply activated Soft Anchor by pressing my index finger into my palm whenever I felt something strange across my skin. That made whatever bug haunting me for the night stick desperately to my skin, after which a swat of my hand dealt with the annoying problem.

  It didn’t always work the way I intended, though. There was one time where I had to pass through a cloud of flies since I was being chased by a pair of Silverhorned Boars, stubborn creatures that were granted the strength of a Silver Rank right after they were born, and accidentally scratched my palm which instantly activated the Soft Anchor rune.

  That wasn’t a pretty sight, to say the least. Not only did I have hundreds of flies glued across every part of my body, my feet also planted themselves forcefully to the ground, which resulted in a painful crash that ended with me becoming one with the bushes.

  I’d survived multiple instances like those in these past two days, and on more than one occasion I considered whether my choice of triggers for the Practical Runes were smart or not. I promised myself that I would think about them when I’m out of this place.

  For now, however, I had to continue my streak.

  You see, I’d grown a bit of an appetite for Beast Cores.

  And there now lay above me what I’d decided to call the discovery of the week.

  A nest of Blue-feathered Sparrows.

  I was so giddy that some parts of me trembled in a mix of excitement and fear.

  Why?

  Because Blue-feathered Sparrows were absolutely the weakest Silver Rank creatures you could find in this forest, and they lived in clusters, meaning that if there was a nest, there were likely about a dozen more in the neighboring branches.

  Holding my breath, I slapped myself softly on the left cheek, thus activating my Grade 1 Practical Rune, General Muffle, for a brief second. Air dampened around me and silenced every little sound I made as I pulled myself behind a tree, feeling the soul energy pouring generously to feed the rune. Another soft slap deactivated the rune.

  I let out a relieved breath.

  Unlike Quick Step and Soft Anchor, General Muffle consumed an ungodly amount of soul energy. The reason why it fell into the Grade 1 category was that it didn’t rely on external sources and lasted only a few seconds before it devoured every whiff of my soul energy. To manage a Grade 2 General Muffle I’d likely need to double my soul energy reserves.

  Anyway, there were Blue-feathered Sparrows right above me. I could see a pair of them sitting peacefully in their nest, their soft feathers gleaming underneath the thick canopy. When I activated my soul vision I saw their little bodies covered in streaks of silver hues.

  I paused.

  I might have peed myself a little.

  Nobody could blame me for getting worked up like this. A Silver Core carried about ten Bronze Cores’ worth of internal energy. That meant instead of laboring against one Bronze Rank creature after another, I could have a hundred of these birds bring me to the brinks of the Silver Rank. On top of that, these creatures had literally one thing going for them, one particular strength that made them nearly uncatchable for most of the predators in this forest.

  They were agile.

  Think about a Greytooth. Able hunters they might be, but there was no way they could close in on a pouncing distance to a Blue-feathered Sparrow without making a sound. A simple crunch or a hiss would be enough to send these birdies to a panicked escape right away.

  I, on the other hand, was blessed in my second life to become a true Runemaster.

  Okay.

  Breathe.

  Focus.

  There was a problem.

  I might have discovered a nest of Blue-feathered Sparrows, but how could I climb on top of a tree when General Muffle consumed about one third of my soul energy every second? Looking up at where they stood, the climb was at least ten meters if not more. Even if I could make that far, I would do it by consuming every whiff of my soul energy.

  How, then, would I catch those birds?

  I wasn’t naive enough to think I could swing Beatrice fast enough to kill one of those. Not like there was any place to swing a sword through dozens of branches, anyway. I had to do this with my hands, and since I couldn’t kill a Blue-feathered Sparrow with my own hand, that left me only a single choice. I had to Soft Anchor those birds to my skin.

  My head hurt from trying to come up with a way that could work, but I finally decided. Putting Beatrice and my bag gently to the ground, I took in a long breath. I wouldn’t get a second chance if I failed at this, which somehow made the whole thing more exciting.

  When did I start getting high from adrenaline? I was scared and full of fear, yet at the same time, I couldn’t wait to start. Was this how being alive truly felt? Would I become something of a maniac in the future if I kept at this?

  I guessed there was no way to know.

  That was the beauty of it.

  I felt General Muffle activate as I positioned myself beside the tree. From here, I could see a direct line to the bird nest, not broken by any of the branches. If I’d been a Silver Knight, I could’ve made that jump with a set of Grade 3 Runes. As things stood now, however, I had to take an extra step. I had to push myself from a nearby tree with such precision that I could vault in the air and shoot straight up to the nest.

  So, I did that.

  My Grade 2 Strengthening Rune and Internal Energy Rune powered my feet with an ungodly amount of internal energy and sent me streaking toward the canopy. General Muffle active, my jump was as silent as a cat’s. Colors blurred around me. My heart thundered in my chest.

  I was nearly halfway to the tree trunk where I would bounce upward and take my final step when my back prickled with an odd sensation. A sudden cold settled over my skin and sent shivers into my spine. I couldn’t stop and land back, however, as I was stuck in mid-leap. I continued on and activated Soft Anchor to plant my feet into the trunk.

  A momentary decision awaited me. I didn’t have much time until General Muffle sapped every drip of my soul energy. Taking a quick look around the canopy, I couldn’t see anything, but the sensation was still there.

  At that moment, I vaguely remembered something Belfray told me about a Knight’s senses. He’d told me to listen to your inner will. He’d said that you should always take premonitions seriously.

  Maybe I should’ve listened to him, but from where I stood, I could see the pair of Blue-feathered Sparrows sitting calmly in their nests. They weren’t aware of anything. They didn’t know that I was about to snatch them out like a true predator.

  In the end, I couldn’t resist the temptation and launched myself off the tree trunk. My soul energy barely held on as General Muffle dampened every little sound I made.

  I was close. Too close that I instinctively reached with both of my hands and pushed Soft Anchor to action. In the last second, I let go of General Muffle and felt soft feathers sticking to my skin.

  The birds cried in panic and tried to wriggle their way out of my hands, but fingers weren’t the only things holding them in place. Every part of their body that touched my skin got stuck to me like I was covered in Japanese glue.

  I couldn’t begin to describe the sheer joy I felt at having completed this insane, but definitely viable, tactic with victory. I smiled widely as my body began falling toward the ground.

  That was when the canopy caved in as a giant claw tore through it, gleaming with a golden color so rich it nearly blinded me.

  It was coming right down through the air.

  Panic grabbed me by the neck and strangled the breath out of me.

  I couldn’t do anything.

  It was so quick that it didn’t take a second for it to reach me. I barely felt something warm rise from my wrist before an enormous weight crushed into my body.

  …..