Late at night, Dreue was in his room setting at the bed, in his hand he was reading the book of Perception. by joining the three adventurers party, he had the chance to use his ability to its limits every day, he was no longer worried about other things like earning money.
He was able to put all his attention and effort in Perception, thus it improved by leaps and bounds. He is now able to see the mana flow very clearly, and the range of his detection ability increased, but when hunting with the party he still limits himself to a certain limit not wanting to bring any more attention to himself.
"I paid too much to earn their trust, their part is very strong and just fits me very well, I am doing great with them, so I should be very careful while dealing with them" Dreue said as he causally flipped through the book.
"I admit I got a bit greedy and tried to deceive them in giving me more share, that archer, Gallien was able to see through me".
"The incident can pass as little mistake, the foolishness of a greedy boy or even as a stupide joke!".
"But what happened when we were about to leave the forest…"
"My reaction was very strong, but I truly believed that there was a large group of monsters coming toward us…. or that's a least how it appeared to me….".
"I should get back there alone as soon as possible"
Dreue opened the last chapter of the book of Perception, there was drawn a mysterious a magical circle with powerful spell to complete the formation of the Eye of Perception.
"This spell, I reckon I will not be able to cast any time soon, but seal? I might be able to engrave it on my right eye soon".
"I can't risk exposing myself, so there is no way I can ask someone to engrave for me….".
"My best bet is engraving it my self on a hard object, then…". Dreue looked at the dozens of horns he had, sinking into deep thoughts.
….
"Dreue, are you ok? You acted very strange yesterday, and today you are still out of focus? Your performance is not at the usual level". Hazel asked in a concerned tone.
"If there is anything we can help you with, don't hesitate to ask, after all now we can be considered teammates" Gallien said as he was thinking of the recent events.
"If you are in need of money, we can lend you some? Or if you are uncomfortable about it, count as receiving some of your share of the coming hunts upfront "John added, Dreue was now an important part of the team, they can't afford losing him.
"Thank you everyone, you are truly good comrades, although money will not solve my problem, I shamelessly accept your offer" Dreue said in a somewhat serious but tired manner, it seems there was something heavy on his mind.
"Also, I am sorry, I would like to take a break for several days, so I will not be participating in the coming hunts, I am still a bit tired and using my ability requires full focus and clear mind"
"I may not join you in hunts anymore, but I will be sure to come when it's the time to take the Hobgoblin"
…..
Today Dreue got back early, he bought some sharp tool, hard blades, some mana potions and lots of wood. He got back directly to the inn.
During the hunt he missed intentional several times, sometime he would point in the opposite direction of where the monster is, sometimes he under or overestimate the distance and so on.
he had an excuse for asking to take a break for several days, and not only that, he would also make them less of wary of him after what happened yesterday, they would start believing that he was truly tired, he knew that couldn't fully explain his strong reaction but it was better than nothing.
He brought the tools and started heating the horns of the One-horned rabbit on the fireplace, after a while he tried carving on its wide side, the base was somewhat circular in shape with diameter similar to that of an eye so it was very suitable for the Perception magical circle.
He carved very slow, part by part. After every part he would pour some of the mana potion on the horn. Because he couldn't see well, he could not check what he carved, so he came up with this method. By pouring mana potion on the horn, it will fill the carving on it. And since he could see mana, he will be able to see what he had carved.
He was working over a large wooden bowl, so that he could collet the excess mana potion, he tried using it again but it didn't work because, the potion absorbed some impurities, so when viewing it though the Eye of Perception, some parts of the carving did not show up. Although the quality of potion decreased, but still using it to recover mana during combat should not be a problem.
After few hours of experimenting on the horns, and before the sunset, Dreue went again to the forest.
…..
Inside the forest Dreue carefully avoided all the monsters, heading toward the place where he thought they would be attacked by a group of monsters.
He had a difficult time reaching there since his sight was week, so he used the Eye of Perception searching for what he saw as a group of monsters. After sometime he was able to find that place, he headed toward the left several feet, he stood in front of a large tree.
In his sight appeared several monsters' nuclei of various size! No wonder he would mistake the as a group of monsters when viewed from afar, but when he focused his attention, he noticed that there are no silhouettes around them. They were monsters' nuclei! That why the never moved from their place.
He had to think fast, he did 't want anyone to discover them, he risked weakening the bound with his new party, but it was still worth the risk.
He used his small digger to open the trunk of the tree, the trunk was hard and thick, so Dreue took long time before opening it up.
"There are no recent marks on this tree, so that means that they were hidden there for a long time, so I should be safe taking them". Dreue took out a small box from the tree.
Although he knew what it contains, still when he opened it, he was not able to believe his eyes.
…..
Several days later in front of the destroyed tree trunk, stood a man in a dark large cloak with a mask, his facial expression could not be seen under the mask, but his voice could not contain the anger he was feeling.
"WHO IN THE WORLD STOLE THEM??"
He shouted angrily, his voice shock all the tree causing their leaves to fall, all the animals and monsters in this part of the forest ran away, some of the weaker one dropped dead immediately not being able to endure the tremendous power.
Although Dreue took everything in consideration, he was still a teenage boy who have yet to experience the world, he had no idea what true power is.
He though that they should have been hidden there along time ago since there are no marks on the tree, it never occurred to him that a transcendent being could simply insert them directly inside the tree.