Kayn continued to run at the maximum speed his body could sustain without using mana until late into the night when he decided that he needed rest. He was close to the location Kinzie was supposed to be collecting materials, so he figured after a few hours of sleep he could reach it just after dawn.
After a short night of sleep, just as Kayn had guessed, he arrived at the area where the collection mission was to be performed.
Quickly searching around the area didn't really reveal anything to Kayn. But he stayed persistent in finding any trace of Kinzie. He eventually found a small area underneath a tree where the grass was flattened and scorched indicating there was a small fire pit.
Kayn wasn't positive that this camp had belonged to Kinzie, but it was the only traces he had found so far and he was willing to follow the path it led him along in order to check for her.
'Tracking people is so much different that tracking animals. It's much more difficult too as most traces are cleaned up as opposed to animals that leaves traces wherever they go. I need to think of another method to follow Kinzie's path.'
As Kayn continued to search the area, he finally decided to take a minute to think about what he could do to better find traces of Kinzie. All of his ideas led him to magic, but he couldn't decide which elements would be most useful.
'Well, if I really think about it, the shadow element should be my best option. With the light of the sun, shadows should be present in most places, and a shadow should appear in the imprint of a footstep.
'If I can somehow sense where these shadows are, I can find her path. Wait! Analyze has to be good for something more, right? I have noticed an innate awareness of the elements around me since I reached a rank 4 mind, hmm.'
Kayn then decided to put his everything into doing his best to force his consciousness into his shadow magic in order to feel where the shadows were being created.
It took him an hour to finally be able to sense the shadows around him since he was so used to using what he could visibly see rather than feel. He needed to immerse himself and become one with the shadows in order to discover what he wanted.
It was difficult for him to describe spreading his consciousness throughout an area by using the shadows that touched the land. He was beginning to sense every divot or imprint on the ground by focusing his senses just on deeper spots in the land rather than just shadows from trees or anything else.
If he was being honest with himself, it was an extremely uncomfortable feeling that also made him vulnerable. Kayn wasn't sure how to pursue this avenue in the future in order to evolve it.
Using the camp as a starting point, he eventually discovered the most recent footsteps that were left in the area as their depth was greater than the rest. These footsteps continued on and seemed to be the path that Kinzie followed to leave the area or to search for the materials for her mission.
Kayn eventually arrived at what he could only determine as his own bad luck striking again. The scene he arrived at showed signs of a fairly intense battle, but there were no bodies or anything laying around at a first glance.
The grass was all stomped down and there was also some dried blood present on the grass. He was able to determine that there were at least six people present at the site without including Kinzie. They all left different shoe impressions in the dirt and had larger or smaller feet than she did.
There were also signs of multiple elements being used during the fight ranging from wind, to earth, and even fire. Kayn could only sigh though as he once again found a broken bow thrown up in a tree that he recognized as Kinzie's and just shook his head at her misfortune.
'That girl really needs to learn how to keep her bow in one piece, or buy one she's able to use in close combat. Hmm I actually have an idea for that, assuming I find her alive I'll try to help her out.'
Now that Kayn knew she was in trouble he didn't waste any time. He immediately sprinted to follow the tracks now that it was easy to follow due to the large party moving together. However, he still continued to practice merging his mind into his magic in order to stay on the right path and to search the areas he was traveling for any stragglers.
…
Kayn ran for 20 hours a day while only sleeping for 4 for three entire days. It was dusk on the third day when he finally arrived at what he believed was the location he needed to go. In front of him was a small encampment of buildings, with maybe two or three smaller buildings and two medium sized buildings.
The encampment was surrounded by a 2-meter-high spiked wooden fence and only had one official entrance as Kayn dubbed it. Guarding the entrance were two guards with spears that Kayn could tell were probably at least 1st stage magic users. Though he couldn't be sure since he didn't have a way to understand that at a glance yet.
Kayn arrived near the edge of the encampment in a hidden spot and once again spread his senses out in the environment.
'Hmmm from what I can tell there are at least 20 people armed with weapons in the camp outside of the buildings and many others inside the medium sized buildings, but they all seem weak. I can only tell the numbers outside with certainty due to the shadows. Using earth magic to sense vibrations can only let me know the general positions of people inside.'
Kayn decided at that point to climb a nearby tree in order to see what was going on inside of the camp better before he infiltrated.
Just as Kayn reached a good branch to peer into the camp from, a carriage with a cage in the back was pulled into the camp. Kayn watched as a man with a whip escorted several people of different races to one of the medium sized buildings. All of the people had collars around their necks and chains to keep their legs and arms bound.
'Slaves? I read that was banned in our empire, but I guess Lydia and I did run into some before. These people must have captured Kinzie since she was alone and as she is a half-elf, that would put a target on her for sure. I need to find Kinzie out of all these people, but how is the question. Since I was able to use earth and shadow to extend my senses, what if I can use wind to enhance my hearing?'
Kayn then concentrated to merge his consciousness with the wind element in order to extend his hearing all around him, attempting to encompass the camp. He had grown comfortable with merging his senses with the elements, but he still had to get used to focusing while doing it with each new element.
Having so many different noises enter into his ears suddenly was a bit disorienting. Slowly but surely, he was able to focus on the different conversations going on around the camp as well as people crying and screaming.
He finally heard something that he hoped would lead him to where he needed to go.
"Heh, you're quite the feisty elf, aren't you? I can't wait to break you in and get you used to your new life of servitude. Typically, a fresh untainted gem of an elf, even a half, would go for an exorbitant price, but you killed enough of my men and caused us enough trouble that I'm going to enjoy you myself before letting the guys have their fun." The voice of a man spoke.
Kayn could only hear muffled grunts of a woman after he heard the man speak. He needed to move quick to stop whatever was about to happen. If it turned out to be Kinzie, Kayn had to rescue her as soon as possible.
'Sounds like she's in immediate trouble, I need to hurry.' Kayn thought to himself as he made his plan to enter into the encampment.
Kayn wasn't going to give the man the time do what he wanted. It was dark now that the sun had set, and it was the perfect time for him to infiltrate and rescue Kinzie. His goal was to infiltrate and take out as few people as possible before reaching his destination as he didn't want to alert the entire camp before finding and rescuing Kinzie.
Unfortunately, plans that are put together in a rush have a high tendency to go askew.