Aaron had the chance to cross the country without being bothered, and he reached level twenty while he was at it. Usually, the speed of his leveling would decrease the stronger he got, but that wasn't happening now since he was outsourcing the hunting work for his skeletons.
"I am not sure if there are any drawbacks to this, but I will make good use of it," Aaron thought while he reached the area where he landed.
Aaron was still troubled about the prototype of the bomb… he couldn't leave any traces of that behind, but he didn't know how he could get rid of them without risking a disaster. He needed more tools in his arsenal.
Still, he might not need to solve that problem if the worst comes to happen. Thanks to that, Aaron had the chance to study the mana bombs and see how they worked. One of the tricks behind it was the metal that they used that was a high and potent mana conductor and the other were some invisible runes that had been written on them. They were invisible because they needed to be created with mana from the user, but finding them had been easy stuff for Aaron.
"I guess the runes work like magnets for the mana on the environment, and the metal works as a battery to store it," Aaron thought. "The runes can't be stopped, and the metal can only store so much mana… an explosion is bound to happen when the metal is overloaded with energy."
Aaron grabbed a pebble on the road and then copied the runes. He had a hard time doing so since the rune had to be as small as the pebble. Still, he eventually pulled it off and then fed it with mana before throwing it in the distance and hitting a tree. An explosion the size of a grenade happened and knocked it down.
"Not bad, I guess, considering that I used enough mana to summon a skeleton knight," Aaron thought.
Now that the experiments were over, Aaron crossed the border and saw some dark mountains and lands ahead. As Auron journeyed through the rugged terrain, the towering mountains looked ominous in the distance. The darkness that shrouded them added to their mysterious nature, making him feel small and insignificant in their shadow.
The rocky peaks were rough and sharp, jutting out like teeth from the harsh landscape below. The rocky terrain was barren and lifeless, with no signs of civilization in sight. As Aaron continued his journey, the sense of unease grew stronger, as if the mountains themselves were alive and watching his every move. The only sound that could be heard was the howling wind, which seemed to carry the whispers of ancient spirits and untold secrets hidden within these lands.
"I can see now why they think that these lands are cursed… the queen didn't explain though why this place turned like this," Aaron furrowed his eyebrows. "I suppose that wasn't important for the people of her country."
Aaron felt that he would soon find the explanation for that, and his guess wasn't wrong. After advancing through a couple of kilometers, Aaron began to cross a dark grove… he decided to walk in a straight line until he could find signs of any road. Still, maybe that had been a bad move.
Although there were plenty of trees with leaves in that grove, they looked lifeless… they weren't moving as well, almost like they had turned into stones… which was weird since they still were red-brown. In any case, the wind was uncaring and cold, but still couldn't make them move.
Despite the fact that an army of skeletons was following him, it didn't stop some weird beasts from showing up through the shadows of the trees to attack him. They looked like dark hounds that had six red eyes…
Their dark fur was sleek and shiny, almost like obsidian in the moonlight. Its eyes are piercing and seem to glow with an inner fire, reflecting the wildness and ferocity of its nature. Its teeth are long and sharp, perfect for tearing apart its prey. Overall, the black hound exudes a menacing aura, leaving no doubt that it is a force to be reckoned with.
Aaron fired Poisonous Spheres at the beasts, but they easily dodged to the sides with jumps while they advanced… Aaron furrowed his eyebrows since the enemies were fifty meters away. Still, the attacks crossed that distance in a single second.
The skeletons moved to attack the dark hounds, but the beasts jumped toward them and easily knocked them to the ground before biting their heads off… The skeletons lasted for a while, enough for others to jump on the dark hounds and attack them with their bones. Still, before they could finish them off, the dark hounds jumped and spun in the air to shook them out.
When three of those things landed on the ground, Aaron fired Bone Swords at their faces, but the beasts stopped the attacks with their mouths. Aaron furrowed his eyebrow and then fired Poisonous Spheres into their open mouths.
Ding! [You obtained 120 experience points]
(You have recovered thirty points of mana.)
Ding! [You obtained 120 experience points]
(You have recovered thirty points of mana.)
The monsters in agony while rolling on the ground… Aaron was surprised that the first beasts he faced were stronger than the castle guards… he could understand and imagine why the people of that country would be so bitter…