Boooom!
Explosions and fire had left their trace in the name of the Cinder Forest.
In a similar way, to how was happening now.
The name, in fact, was based on the story that, more than five hundred years ago, in this place, a Phoenix and a Red Dragon battled out for dominance on this mana-rich territory.
The tale tried describing with adjectives and comparisons the fear-striking and awe-inspiring scene of seeing flames that could end the life of thousands of people in a matter of minutes.
A couple of days ago, Eric cursed when he knew where he was just by watching the sky for two different reasons.
Respectively he cursed because his level was five, his stats were under average, and the average monster in the Cinder Forest was around level 100.
Finally, he understood his location, watching the almost never-changing orange sky.
In Ouroboros' world, in fact, if a map were to be released to the public, it would be in a Pangea and Panthalassa-like system, where the continent island is aligned with the world's equator and with the shape of eight thanks to two specular lakes in the west and east sides respectively of the two opposing surface factions: the Demon Empire and the Pantheon Kingdom with the Cinder Forest in the middle, in the 'junction point of the eight'.
The extremely peculiar sky condition was due to the equilibrium between the demon power from the west (darkness) and the divine power from the east(light).
Because of this power struggle of worldly dimensions, creatures like the traveler beetle were given birth, a scarab living in the Cinder Forest, waking up in the east side of the forest and spending his day moving to a mountain in the ovest side and during the night he lets himself carry from gravity towards the east side to begin his daily cycle again.
He was there, in the middle of it.
He didn't know if he had to be grateful for being still alive and convincing (cough…manipulating) Rubra in order to get her help leveling up or crying while laughing, thinking that dying a painless death would have been better than becoming a human-sized torch or exploding in thousands of pieces like party confetti.
Anyway, the high risk also brought a high reward: his level rose many times in the past two days until starting slowing down around level 80.
That was normal since, as in video games, the higher the level, the slower the progress.
Moreover, after raising it the remaining sixteen times, he would reach level 100, and then a good part of the limitations on his powers would disappear.
From his past in Ouroboros, the royals teachers told him many times that every 100 levels, there is something like an evolution of the vessel and soul of the user, and past myths, narrated that a strong warmongering king managed to ascend to the divine Pantheon thanks to his power.
That made him think that probably, he had reached a high enough level to become a higher existence.
Proceeding with this thought, he understood that his limitations were due to the fact that, as a Hero, he had overcome level 400.
So to give freedom to his soul to express its power, he had to create somewhat of an equally capable body.
That meant obtaining level 400 again, apart from continuing training and getting a body-strengthening elixir.
Apart from his future plans, the process was quite smooth.
The experience points were attributed only to the person that gave the killing attack to the monsters.
The biggest cons were the nightmares of the last days: hordes of monsters shrieked in pain and laid down on the ground asking him for mercy…but he had to level up, so…we don't need to talk about that.
During this process, apart from the change in his body, the second most important was what happened to the attitude of Rubra in his regard.
''Ehi Eric, three saber tigers arriving from the north and five mammoth moles from underground.
Are you ready?''
Her attitude was far more relaxed talking to him.
It was due to the fact that by spending time together, they had naturally come closer to one another.
Another crucial factor was Eric's cooking skills: during his past heroic travels, he decided to abandon the dried meat and stale black bread for good and learn butchering and proper cooking.
His quality of life had improved sensibly at the time, and even now, the reward was Rubra's happiness.
Sometimes when eating good food, he saw people with flames in their eyes, figuratively speaking.
Rubra brought everything to the literal level when tasting his stew with yellow bison meat and roots similar to potatoes.
First, she started heating their otherwise cold surroundings, then, she literally had her hair become flames for around five seconds while repeating fast:''That's delicious!''
Still, nothing around her lit on fire, showing her high control of the temperature and intensity of her hereditary ability.
Naturally curious about her reaction, he asked her with a genuine smile placed on his face: ''Didn't you ever eat something this good?''
as if it was the most common thing in the world, she answered:'' Hmm.''
For a while, nodding her head, she continued thinking.
*If it's him, I can tell him. *
Then slightly raising the shoulders she had previously lowered while watching the ground, she inspired as if steading her resolve before completing a strenuous task and started elaborating on her answer.
''You see, I never left this forest since I was born.
My parents told me about the outer world and the cities with different cultures, but then that happened.
I was around five years old when a lich attacked the forest: deciding to protect our house, my parents and Uncle Cain went fighting him.''
Her face became inexpressive, and her eyes seemed like two dark holes where any emotion was absent, overwhelmed by her sadness and grief.
''At the time, I hadn't developed my powers yet, so I couldn't do anything to help them and stayed in this cave waiting for them for weeks and weeks.''
Then her eyes became watery, and her tone of voice lowered.
''When any hope of seeing them again was leaving me, my worst nightmare came true: Uncle Cain entered the cave, told me that my parents died fighting valiantly for my safety and that I didn't need to worry because he would take care of me.''
The time seemed halted in place for a couple of seconds.
The sound of the crackling fire was instinctively stopped by her as if respecting the pain of her memories.
''So actually it's true, I've never eaten something this good.''
Then something unexpected happened, unexpected to all the people in the cave.
She felt heat on her body, a kind of heat different from that of the bonfire in front of her, and this warmth pervaded her in a way she almost had forgotten and didn't feel for hundreds of years.
After some time, she opened her eyes, from which were starting streams of tears, to give a name to this strange yet not unpleasant feeling.
She found herself in the arms of Eric.
He wasn't that scrawny, desperate man anymore: the man tasked to kill a monster way over his abilities in order to save his family.
Now, he was the man ready to comfort her in the moment of weakness.
''I'm here with you.''
Not some complex words, but from the strength put inside these words, she was able to confirm her previous thoughts.
Eric would never let her know why he was struggling to keep his voice from breaking.