Monsters were characterized by their mana core, a bright crystal located on their body. It often occurred after a beast was having an excess of mana, causing various changes; the most common being an increase in aggressivity. To cure them, and therefore help them, was simple: they had to remove the mana core.

  “Can you hide us in the dark?” Bel asked Astor.

  One of the three [Mage] skills, named [Corpuscle], allowed its user to manipulate light. Unfortunately, they had a bad matchup.

  “The owls could still see us.”

  Bel stopped and faced the beasts. “We have to deal with ‘em ourselves then.” Standing firm, she clenched her bandaged-covered fists and let the wolves bite her. “Cayn chain them and extract their core. Astor, you do you,” she said.

  That meant he had to deal with the owls alone. The two of them hovered over Bel, waiting for an opportunity to hit her head. He needed to draw their aggros. From the palm of his hands, he concentrated a gust of wind and threw it to the owls. They flailed, almost falling.

  Picking itself up, one of them stabilized and stared right into Astor’s soul, with murder intent. It rushed to him, claws upfront. He stepped to the side. Dodged. The second owl followed up with a similar attack. With no time to dodge again, Astor formed a muddy shield on his forearm. The beast latched on him, not letting go and trying its best to break his arm, all while the first owl prepared for another strike. How overwhelming. Astor could easily kill them both if need be, but as the custom is to preserve wildlife; it won’t do. Also, Cayn would be mad at him if he killed them.

  Now, quick. How do you deal with two owls deep in the night without killing them? Simple, you blind them.

  Using [Corpuscle], Astor conjured two sparks of light. One for each owl. Aimed right into their face. With his eyes closed, he amped up the intensity until the owl on his arm let go. He canceled his skill and opened his eyes. Two owls, struggling to fly up again. With another gust of wind, he brought them down and tied them with earthly binds. His task done, he turned to his teammates with pride.

  “Yo, are you done yet?” Bel told Cayn, tearing up.

  Cayn was covering his eyes. “I cannot see anything, hold on a bit.”

  That was Astor’s fault, wasn’t it? He should’ve told his teammates before using the skill. Now that he thought about it, couldn’t he just blind the monsters from the get go and avoid fighting? The animals needed help though, so it wasn’t so bad.

  Grabbing a from his inventory, he plucked out the source of the owls’ misbehavior one by one. Like removing nails with the back of a hammer. A voice resounded in his mind.

  2 animals helped.

  20 experience points acquired.

  Business as usual. The next step would be healing the animals. He turned to his teammates again, they were done removing the mana cores and healing the wolves. Cayn came over to take care of the owls.

  “You really managed to deal with the owls yourself,” Bel told Astor.

  The three wolves sat on the side, behaving like good boys. Why were they still here? Normally, after monsters were taken care of, they scattered away out of fear. Astor looked at Bel, as she knew more about the monsters’ phenomena than him.

  “Maybe it’s not their first time turning into monsters?” she said.

  Cayn, done with the owls, added, “The First Land is overflowing with mana because of the biomes experimentations. It wouldn’t be surprising.” Indeed, the First Land was reputed to create various environments to study the plants’ and faunas’ behaviors.

  Astor released the birds from their bindings. They fled away without ado. Now, that was a normal behavior. He looked back at the wolves; still sitting, with no sign of frightness nor aggressivity.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Bel approached them and as she was in patting range, they started moving, looking back at the trio as they went.

  “We have to follow them, I suppose?” Cayn said.

  A bit odd as it could be a trap, but they didn’t feel like it would be a life threatening situation, might as well. The wolves lead the way as Bel stood in between the two groups in case they’d attack again.

  Across many trees, a wooden house lit up with a warm light and a old man stood in front of the door. “My, what do you three bring me here?”

  Thanks to the [Druid]’s skill [Shapeshift], the old man shaped his ears into wolves’; he could understand what his companions told him. Astor presumed as much, at least.

  “Say, do you think we can get the [Druid] class from him?” Bel whispered to Astor.

  If Bel had time for this kind of thought process, did that mean they were safe now? Probably. Also, her question was pertinent as it sparked into Astor’s mind as well. He shrugged at Bel, leaving the question in limbo.

  The wolves halted their speech and the [Druid] bowed down. “I am deeply sorry for this inconvenience. As the overseer of this area, my duty of preventing the spread of mana has been clumsy.”

  Cayn expressed the trio’s share of blame for the trespassing. Not that it had anything to do with the wolves.

  “In any case, it’s getting late, the least I could do is offer you a roof.” The [Druid] opened his door and Bel didn’t even hesitate a second to barge in. Cayn followed behind and so did Astor.

  Rustic inside, probably all made with one of the [Druid] skills, [Growth], usually used to manipulate plants. Astor advanced further, exploring the place. Warmth surged on his left side; a chimney lit up the home. On his right was the bedroom, with Cayn and Bel inside.

  “We can’t stay here,” Cayn said, probably worried about bothering the homeowner.

  Bel cussed, “Why not? We saved his wolves. I say fair is fair.”

  She wasn’t wrong and neither was Cayn. In this situation, something always occurred with no exception. They both looked at Astor. He had to make the decision. Stay or not stay? He gazed out the window, staring at the moon. It was definitely way too late for them to join the main route and go to the city. Not only that, but monsters could put them in further danger, knowing that most were active at night in this Land.

  “Stay,” Astor said.

  Cayn conceded, a little bit grumpy but understanding. On the other hand, Bel rejoiced. The trio eased themselves with a generous host. And as Astor waited his turn for a nice shower, hygiene being essential, an object caught Astor’s attention. A navy blue cat-eared cloak. It was encased in a glassed display; must be an important item.

  “Do you want it?” said the old man, sitting next to Astor.

  He’d lie if he said no, but it’d be impolite to say yes. Astor remained silent.

  “It’s an old item I no longer have an use for. I have tried many times to give it away but all the takers returned it to me at some point, for various reasons.” The [Druid] smiled. “Wanna give it a try?”

  Totally clueless about what he should do next, Astor scoured for one of his teammates to get him out of this situation. They were both amiss.

  The old man stood up and started to uncasing the cloak. Should Astor stop him? Say no? But he really wanted that cloak; how many cat-eared cloak were out there in the world? Not many, that’s for sure.

  Cloak in hand, the old man undusted it. “Come on, try it.”

  A little bit of indulgence won’t hurt, right? Astor took the bait and put it on. A blue screen popped up.

  : Legendary. Reduce every mana cost by 1.

  Legendary. No wonder it was so well kept. But now Astor felt sad, he couldn’t accept such a present, not him; out of anyone.

  Bel, all cleaned up, barged in on them. “Oh, nice cloak, better than the one you have now.” Indeed, Astor had a classic mage outfit, nothing grandiose.

  “It does fit you well,” the man said. “Keep it, you can give it back whenever you don’t like it anymore, like the others.” He put the cloak’s hood on Astor’s head, the cat ears pointing out. “The ears might be hard to rock but you can always tape them to hide.”

  Hide such cute ears? Heresy. That being said, what was Astor supposed to do now?

  “Please keep it, you can always give it back at the end of your Journey,” the old man said.

  Bel spoke, “How’d you know we are on a Journey?”

  [Druids] are known for their wiseness, the answer seemed evident.

  While the two talked, Astor stared at his reflection on a window. He liked it. A lot. He might just keep it, at least for a short while… or until Cayn scolded him to death for accepting such an insane present.