Chapter 67: Light in the Swamp

  The place was wide enough to accommodate their entire group. It had beds, a fireplace, a large table, and chairs. Against one of the walls, firewood was stacked, and above the fireplace, there was salt and some simple spices. Every time a hunting group used the wood, they had to gather new supplies afterward. This way, even if they arrived in very bad weather or exhausted after a fierce battle, the place would have enough wood for a fire.

  As she inspected the walls, Emilia noticed several formations covering them with interest. They looked quite expensive. Titus noticed her gaze.

  "I see you noticed the formations. I knew they would intrigue you. The swamp is quite valuable, and groups sometimes stay here for weeks when searching for specific herbs or monsters. That's why there are three shelters like this, protected by formations. So tonight, we will be able to sleep soundly."

  She continued to examine the formations and asked a few questions, but it soon became clear that Boss Titus didn't know much. He had only visited the swamp three times so far.

  After they ate, Emilia got to work processing the bone marrow. First, she analyzed the creatures' auras and divided it into several portions. She sprinkled some with Seladon's alchemical powder, mixed others with herbs, and simply processed a third part with her mana. Then she carved different glyphs onto a piece of bark and drew a simple light formation.

  She had already learned to use a wide variety of materials for the eyes of this simplest formation, which allowed her to easily determine which of her experiments had no potential.

  She then drew another, more complex formation, with a central air glyph, part of the air-fire-earth-water-ice-light collection that Fjorn had taught her.

  While waiting for the alchemical powder to take effect, she thought about Master Fjorn.

  He must have already reached the capital and is participating in the masters' meeting and listening to the lectures of the court Grand Master—Filon. Perhaps at this moment, he is slowly on his way to becoming a third-level master, especially after recovering from his old wounds. Then he will head to the border or be sent to participate in various important projects, such as the Griffin Tower in our city, or some mysterious military laboratory. Or he might even be assigned to a flying ship!

  Emilia's thoughts soared toward the sky, the flying ships, the strange floating island, the griffins, and the pegasi. She knew that there were even dragons in this world, although many of them had sided with Gaia and the titans. After a while, her thoughts returned to the Formation Master.

  He'll surely be assigned an apprentice. Or even two. He is old and experienced. But despite the divine intervention, he is still not fully recovered. It would be good for someone to take care of him.

  Emilia sank into memories of her time in the private space, the strange formations that had extracted the juices from the roots, the old master's lessons, and the jokes they often shared. Her heart tightened for a moment.

  Did I make the wrong choice? she wondered, but soon shook her head no. No, I don't want to be restricted by the military. Only if I have personal freedom can I pursue my dreams!

  Then her thoughts turned to Vano, Emir, and Nassal, as well as the Children of the Moon. Were they well? How were they managing in the cities where they were staying? Had Vano surpassed her with his talismans? Besides, the Children of the Moon married early. Perhaps in three or four years, he would already be married and starting his own family…

  Emilia's thoughts raced as the sun began to set in the sky. Finally, the alchemical powder took effect, and Emilia returned to her work.

  One by one, the different substances powered the light formation, and the young girl diligently recorded the results in her diary. Some experiments were not performed correctly and needed to be repeated, others gave particularly good results and needed to be developed, and a third set was mediocre and would be set aside for later.

  Hours passed, but Emilia did not tire. For almost three days, she had been sleeping only four hours a day without becoming fatigued and did not know the reason for it. She had asked everyone—Boss Titus, her parents, Sister Edda, and even consulted a doctor, but despite her strange condition, the doctor said she was perfectly healthy.

  Emilia, however, was deeply worried about the possible cause and often thought about it. But tonight, engrossed in her experiments, she forgot about her strange condition and continued to work non-stop. Only when morning began to approach, and her work was completely finished, with only another set of failures left to be documented, did she finally go to bed for four short hours.

  In the morning, Petra was the first to wake up, made tea and breakfast for everyone. Then she went out to scout the area. Meanwhile, the others were having breakfast, and Emilia was reviewing her glyphs.

  Zevan approached and was also looking at the light formation.

  "What do you need that 'firefly' for?" he asked while eating a piece of meat and grilled vegetables.

  "That's not a 'firefly,' it's a formation. I'm testing different monster parts to find a cheap substitute for expensive monster cores."

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  "Can't you just draw more talismans, sell them, and use the money to buy cores?"

  "That way I won't learn anything new. Besides, you have no idea how many cores I would need to freely experiment with formations."

  Zevan took another large bite of meat and sipped his tea.

  "And why do you need these formations? You can light candles instead of making light formations. Wouldn't it be better to focus only on talismans?"

  Zevan unintentionally hit Emilia's weak spot. She had long hesitated about the path she wanted to take. For her, however, things were not particularly easy. Since she did not have easy access to new knowledge, as she was neither a noble nor did she want to commit to binding contracts, she had to learn everything herself.

  Fjorn had often told her how this would make her a much better master than those who always chose the easy way, and Emilia was forced to agree with him.

  After all, she had personally experienced the enormous benefits of working with a stylus and magical tree bark instead of immediately starting with ink and talisman paper.

  Therefore, Emilia wanted above all to study magic itself, to uncover the secrets hidden behind the glyphs and the celestial language. She wanted to study the art of synchronizing auras and thereby build an extremely stable foundation for her future.

  "Zevan, look at this formation here."

  Emilia led the large man to the air formation and activated it with her mana.

  "Do you feel the wind? Yet this is done for 1/20 or even 1/50 of the cost of standard formations. And not only that—these materials are easily accessible. As long as I'm with you, I will always have monster blood, herbs, as well as strange monster parts, like this bone marrow. This way, the formations will cost me almost nothing. But for talismans, I have to pay 240 silver for the materials for 100 talismans. And most of them fail."

  "Two hundred forty silver?! That's a tremendous amount!" Zevan exclaimed in surprise.

  "Yes, and that's for the cheapest possible materials. Those who can afford it pay 400 or 500 silver for materials. Why do you think talismans are so expensive?"

  The two continued talking for a while, and Emilia quickly ate her breakfast and packed up her materials. She then cleaned her workspace, just moments before Petra returned.

  Afterward, Titus pointed to the large map hanging on the wall of the hut and outlined their route for the day. They were to circle the borders of the swamp without venturing deep inside. Other groups would be working there.

  Thus, everyone lined up in battle formation and carefully set off through the swamp. They traveled slowly, and Emilia saw many strange things. There was one particular tree that had no leaves, and an extremely strong death mana emanated from it. It had three fruit embryos.

  "That is a Death Tree," Boss Titus explained. "It yields one fruit every ten years, which strengthens the body and prolongs life by almost five years on average. It can only be consumed three times in a person's life. They cost a tremendous amount of money and are the property of the mayor. We are paid to guard them, and when it's time for them to ripen, the mayor sends a permanent guard. Hunters have the right to participate in the auctions organized to purchase one of the fruits."

  Next, strange, thick frogs were hanging around, but instead of attacking them, they came right up to them and started croaking loudly and hopping joyfully.

  "These frogs are particularly valuable. Chief Nikos sends people to feed them and collect their saliva. It's often used in alchemy, and we trade it with alchemists to get cheaper healing pills."

  Emilia also wanted some of the frogs' saliva to add to her experiments. Varis promised to ask his grandfather but refused to collect saliva today.

  Then they fought a long battle with some flying snakes. Emilia couldn't believe her eyes at first. How was it possible for snakes to fly? They had thin, transparent wings that they flapped like flies or butterflies and were 8 to 12 inches long.

  They had sharp teeth and a weak paralyzing venom. The snakes only tried to attack from the back or the unprotected areas of people. Therefore, everyone lined up in a circle with their backs against each other, and Emilia stood among them.

  Petra managed to take down at least two dozen of them before they gave up. Everyone rushed to collect their wings, which Titus knew how to magically process and dry.

  "These creatures are usually found much deeper in the forest and typically don't come here into the swamp territory. The larger frogs often attack them while hidden in the water, either shooting out their long tongues or using water magic to damage their wings," he explained, while Emilia examined the thin wings against the sun's rays. They refracted the light in an interesting way and could be excellent decorations.

  Lora spent almost 20 minutes applying her ointments to the bite wounds, and even Emilia wasn't spared. Although she was hidden, the fast-flying snakes had somehow managed to bite her. Fortunately, the hunters' bodies were similar to the monsters they hunted due to the skills they trained and the mana-rich meat they ate. Furthermore, they heavily relied on their armor and therefore were not afraid of minor wounds.

  Emilia, however, had expended five defensive talismans and would have to work extra to replenish her supplies.

  The strangest thing, however, was that at one point they saw the strange Velka, who often talked to the trees in the city and by the river. At first, no one but Emilia paid her any attention, but after Emilia pointed her out, everyone saw her.

  "We see her in the forest from time to time," Zevan explained. "Some say she's 300 years old and performs strange rituals during the full moon. She dances with the forest nymphs and kidnaps every 13th child and shares its blood with unclean forces."

  "Nonsense," Petra quickly defended her. "Aunt Velka is an extremely kind woman. She always feeds the birds and small animals in the city. Every new mayor or chief of the guard periodically investigates her, and there's never any evidence of 'dark forces.' She's just peculiar. And besides, everyone knows her magic is especially strong. Every two or three years, some drunk bandit or a gang from another city tries to attack her, and we all know the consequences." Petra nodded meaningfully.

  "What happens?" Emilia couldn't resist asking.

  "You're still too young for such things. You'll understand when you grow up," Boss Titus replied, ruffling her hair with his hand.

  "Hey, I'm not young, and don't ruffle my hair like that. My brain will leak out, and I won't be able to make talismans."

  "Ha-ha-ha. Don't worry. You make so many strength talismans every day that you'll be able to draw them even without a brain. You probably dream about lines and diagrams even while you sleep."

  “That…,” the truth was that Emilia often dreamed of talismans and formations. But more like a nightmare. For example, last week she had a dream where she was on the verge of completing a perfect healing formation, and at that moment, it turned out she had messed up the formation and somehow drawn an air glyph instead of a central healing glyph!

  A strong wind arose, spilling all the inks and monster blood, and her diaries were soiled. She woke up with a strong sense of loss and cried for half an hour until her mother came into the room to comfort her. Her mother then explained to her to be careful with the teas and not to put strange herbs in them.

  Velka waved her hand at them, whispered something to one of the trees, and her voice trembled with energy. The air coming out of her mouth also carried a large amount of mana and touched the leaves of the trees.