I learned how to sleep lightly, therefore any unusual noise would wake me up. Fortunately, that night went by uneventfully. I took a look at the map, and realised how little progress we made toward the north. 'There are a few villages on our path. but we can easily bypass them. Nick told me to avoid the cities, and there are two on this map. Terent and Duran, but they are far away... Still, just how big is this Empire? It's like the map I have doesn't even cover a half of it. The Imperial City is nowhere to be found either...', I thought. At that stage, that wasn't a problem. The map in my possession would be good for another month if not more. The problem was when we travelled outside of my map's scope. 'I will need to get a better map, or perhaps one that shows the region further up north. With the money in my bag, there shouldn't be any problems', I thought.
I wanted to avoid the cities for now, but large villages should possess better maps. Especially if they were located further up North. 'The best bet will be... this one. The Limestone Village', I decided. I wasn't sure how big it was, but the location was closer to the north and away from the two cities. With the new destination in mind, we set out once more. Our pace was neither slow or fast, we were in no rush to get there. Besides, I wanted to practice my skills during our journey.
During the evenings, I focused on the first diagram from Rand's book. The book had no title, so I decided to name it myself. "Hidden Muscles Manual... That sounds alright to me", I said to myself. There was no need to think of flashy names. Besides, that was the purpose of that book. Though the book got a name, that didn't change anything else. I had to figure out how to modify it anyway, which proved much more difficult than I assumed. Each adjustment and change I made, had to fit other changes and adjustments. Working on that diagram was harder than treading through hell and back. Though improvements were there, I had a lot of work in front of me.
Shelly's appetite grew as well, that turtle could eat. The more it moved, the more energy it required. Even my own body didn't crave food that much. A pack of wolves or sleuth of bears was a blessing to me, since this meant we wouldn't need to hunt for a longer period of time. The drawback was that I had to carry all that meat with me. Living with Shelly wasn't that easy either. I could speak and Shelly could understand, but couldn't reply. That made me come up with a method for Shelly to communicate better with me. I taught Shelly how to use its claws in order to draw simple things. We worked out what Shelly could draw, in order to express all sorts of feelings or needs. This took us a while, but we kind of found our common language with the use of drawing. Moreover, Shelly liked the idea a lot and learned really well.
When it came to my training, I focused on the Art of Stealth. 'As far as my ideas go, there are only two ways to avoid the light. Incredible speed, or make myself invisible so that light doesn't affect me. With incredible speed, I would technically become invisible. The problem is, how am I supposed to attain such speed? I have to move slowly, and watch my surroundings in order to stay hidden. Speed hmm?...', I thought.
The Great Forest was basically one large obstacle course. In other words, it was perfect for my Art of Stealth practice. 'As long as I can increase my speed and learn to traverse any terrain quickly and stealthily, this should take me closer to that 'avoid the light' part. It shouldn't be impossible either. I was able to add something to my Art of Stealth before. The ability to copy someone else's mood, allowed me to blend in with the crowds much better', my thoughts continued. This time though, I had to go after speed, not blending.
"Alright, let's give it a try", I said to myself before moving around the forest at fast speeds. 'Nope, too much noise. No matter how much I try, the speed has to drop down', I thought before stopping. That was the biggest problem I faced. Too much speed created noise. The slower I became, the stealthier I could be. 'Well, it's not like I can learn anything in one day', I thought but decided to try every day. Although this sort of practice might've brought me no results, trying was better than not trying at all.
'I also have to think about the puppets and the strings... I have so much on my hands already. First, the Art of Stealth, then worry about other Arts. Get a grip on yourself, Nex', I thought to myself. Just then, something pulled on my pants. "Huh? What's wrong, Shelly?", I asked after waking up from my thoughts. Shelly pointed in front of us, showing me to look. 'Right...', I thought but made no sudden movements. A large pack of wolves stood in front of us, moreover they were already slowly surrounding us. '...Twelve, thirteen... Sixteen of them. Moreover, this large silver-grey wolf must be their leader' I analysed.
Before the wolves completely surrounded us, I made my move. "Pak, pak, pak, pak", four of the wolves dropped to the ground without a warning. Even the silver-grey wolf was surprised and looked around. 'Look as much as you want, you will find no one else', I thought before throwing four more daggers. "Pak, pak, pak, pak", four more wolves hit the ground. "Awooo!", the silver-grey wolf howled, then rushed at me. Their numbers were halves in an instance, that's how powerful the Art of Hidden Weapons was. "Shelly, you take care of the other wolves. I'll deal with this one", I said before three more wolves hit the ground dead.
"Cling, cling, cling", the daggers I threw at the silver-grey wolf, bounced off while creating sparks. 'I knew this one would be a problem', I thought while distancing myself. I had only nine more daggers on me. The clothes Nick provided had enough pockets for twenty daggers in total. I had to either retrieve some from my bag, or collect the ones I already threw. That proved to be difficult, since the silver-grey wolf was fast. "Growl!", the wolf jumped at me, but missed. "Swoosh! Cling!", even my strongest throw from a closer distance was no use. 'My throwing strength is not enough to harm it. There's no other choice, but to fight it in close combat', I thought while grabbing two daggers into my hands.
The wolf jumped at me again, but jumped short on purpose. Due to that faint, I moved to the side unnecessarily allowing the wolf to get closer. 'That crafty bastard!', I exclaimed in my mind, while jumping backward. "Bam!", the wolf slammed the ground just in front of me. The wolf advanced once more, while I 'struggled' to pick myself up. The silver-grey wolf wasn't the only one who could be crafty. Just as the wolf jumped, I threw my daggers at its belly then rolled to the side. "Tsuk, tsuk... Awooo!", both daggers managed to penetrate its hide. That was my chance. I jumped off of the ground, and straight at the wolf howling in pain. "Bam!", I slammed both of my daggers into its back. With the pressure from above and below, the silver-grey wolf dropped to the ground, sustaining even more wounds.
The silver-grey wolf tried picking itself up, and even had a go at biting me, but the result was already set in stone. I grabbed two more daggers, pinned the wolf down to the best of my abilities, then pierced its neck with all my strength. "Awwooo...", the wolf had no chances of surviving that. It lost its voice, before dying in its own pool of blood. 'Haah... That was intense for sure', I thought while taking a look around. Shelly was dealing with two more wolves. As soon as the wolves realised that their leader was dead, they lost the will to continue and ran away. "Shelly! Don't chase them", I exclaimed.
"I have to be more attentive. Getting lost in my thoughts like that could spell disaster one day. I'm glad you were there keeping an eye, Shelly. Let's collect as much meat as we can, then leave. With those two wolves gone, who knows whether they bring back more", I said. Other than taking the meat, I wanted to take that fur as well. 'I will have to visit a village anyway, so they can make a proper set of leather armour for me. This leather should be really good', I thought. Shelly, on the other hand, focused on eating the wolves raw. I didn't mind, since we couldn't take all the meat available to us. Although wasteful, there would be other animals who'd feast on those carcasses.
That battle made me realise one more thing. Close combat was rather thrilling and sometimes necessary. My Art of Hidden Weapons was good for a surprise attack, but it wasn't perfect otherwise. I lacked the strength or good daggers that could penetrate strong opponents. In other words, I had to get better in close combat. 'Moreover, the Arts are forbidden, the close combat is not. This can be useful when fighting alongside fellow Humans. That way, no one would be suspicious of me', I reckoned. We wrapped up as quickly as we could, then left that area. 'We have about two weeks of travelling to do, before we can reach the Limestone Village. During that time, I shall focus on my Art of Stealth and practice close combat during our hunts', I thought.