n

n

n

"Jen... It's complicated, can we talk about something else?

" Eldrian asked, this being the precise reason he had avoided talking with her.

n

"What do you mean it's complicated. If you are in danger you can just stop and leave, right?

" Her voice was filled with worry and uncertainty.

n

"It's not that simple... Jen, let's meet up tomorrow.

" Eldrian didn't know what he was doing, only that he couldn't keep avoiding her.

nJen didn't respond for some time, the silence eating at Eldrian. Finally, she came back,

"What's going on? Why don't you just explain it to me?

"

nEldrian paused, wondering how much he could share.

"I don't really know what I am allowed to share. Let's just meet, it will be easier to explain it in person after I look through my contract again.

"

nAgain Jen didn't reply immediately,

"Eldrian, really what is going on?

"

n

"I'll explain tomorrow,

" Eldrian said, hanging up as he did. What now? He asked himself, picking up his Miracle-issued tablet and searching for his contract. If he was to meet her, he wanted to be sure what he could share.

nAround half an hour later Eldrian headed down to get himself something to eat, as he climbed down the stairs he thought of something. Taking out his tablet he typed a message to Joren.

n...

nWaking in the game, Eldrian quickly jumped to his feet and looked around for any threats. His avatar now completely rested.

nNot seeing or hearing anything, Eldrian used both Magic Inspection and Mana Examination to make sure. After seeing the undead birds, he now knew that the gray smoke was because of them, as he had suspected.

nHe still didn't quite get why it lingers and eats at the nature mana. However, he knew that the smoke around a living undead was completely different from that which was spread throughout the forest.

nThis meant he could detect use this to see detect them. The mist and smoke surrounding them nearly twice the size of their bodies, at least for the birds. This was different from that of normal creatures, where mana didn't surround them.

nAfter confirming that there was nothing, Eldrian called up his map. Looking at his hasty annotations, which he could overlay or dismiss at will, Eldrain slowly backtracked to a cabin close to where had been discovered. Finding the tracks of the undead on his way.

nMaking a new marking, he annotated that past this point was danger, after which he headed back to the army. It took him a few hours, on the way Eldrian tried to take a different route. Managing to discover a cave, which sadly had been unoccupied.

n

"Haru, you're back.

" Katania greeted as Eldrian returned. Looking around Eldrian realized why she seemed surprised, Evale and Evules had yet to return it seemed.

n

"Umm...

" Eldrian paused,

"Where are the twins?

"

n

"They have yet to come back, I am starting to worry. It should have been a quick mission...

" Katania paused as she wondered just what could have happened.

"Right, did you find something?

"

n

"Sort off. I'm not sure where to start.

"

nThis piqued Katania's interest.

"Did you find any inhabited caves or cabins?

" She asked, already expecting a no. Which she indeed received.

n

"No, however, I found something else. Also...

" Eldrian paused and decided to talk about that later.

"Never mind, can you lower the table. Or is there something I can stand on?

"

nOnly with Eldrian asking this did she realized that the branch the other guy had used, had been moved away. After looking around a bit, she decided to simply take a chair from the cabin.

nClimbing on it, Eldrian called up his map and compared the two. Using the cabins to get the area right.

n

"I am not quite sure what is going on past here, but it seems to be heavily guarded. It might be the new border of the corruption.

" Eldrian said. The point he indicated at least ten kilometers from where the corruption was marked on the map.

n

"Are you sure?

" Katania asked, the difference shocking her. If it was as he said then they needed to move much faster. Their original plan had it that the corruption would have only moved two kilometers at most in the past week.

n

"No, but they are guarding this area. I was discovered by some undead birds, who screeched and caused a horde to chase after me. They are quite irritating...

" Eldrian paused as he recalled the pain, moving his hands to his ears only to find them filled with dried blood.

n

"Drekavac. They indeed are. They are also some of the rarest undead. At least when you consider their strength and how easy it is for them to be created.

"

n

"Then why are they rare?

" Eldrian asked as he cleared out his ears.

n

"Because they do not stop decaying. Zombies and skeletons will use the magic sustaining their undeath to stop their decay. The Drekavac can't do this, or rather every time they screech, they use that same magic. Leading to their flesh and bones decaying just that little bit more.

"

n

"As such, they are generally only found in areas where the undead are still new. Since they can't survive for long, only a few years at most.

"

nWhile this was interesting, Eldrian wanted to explain what he found first.

"In any case, I was chased by a horde due to them. And not for just a short distance, a flock of these undead birds tailed me and kept leading the horde. I finally managed to kill the birds and lose the horde around here.

"

nSeeing the distance, nearly three kilometers, Katania was again shocked.

"How did you outrun them?

"

nOnly then did Eldrian realize how far he had gone, leaving the same question in his mind.

"I am not sure, maybe they can't move well through the forest?

"

n

"Can't be, they are all natives of the forest.

"

n

"Maybe being undead changed that?

" Eldrian offered, not knowing what else to say. He knew he was fast thanks to his agility focus, but outrunning undead creatures seemed to be a little outrageous.

nKatania paused and considered. It was the only thing she could think of too; unless the undead had wanted to not catch up to him. However that made little sense, why would they chase him if they didn't want to catch him?

n

"Thanks Haru, I'll mark this area. We need to confirm if the corruption has spread that far or if it has some other significance.

"

n

"Right, I also want to share a spell. Do you have a pen and paper?

"

n

"A spell? What type of spell?

" Katania asked with utter confusion. Knowing Eldrian's Tier she knew he only knew some spells he had received from others.

n

"One I modified. You know Magic Inspection, right?

" It took Katania quite some time to digest this and finally reply.

n

"Of course, it isn't all that useful since keeping it active requires so much focus. Still, almost everyone sees it as a must learn spell.

" She replied still mostly not believing Eldrian had done what he just said.

n

"Well, I modified it to allow me to see mana in the surrounding. And this forest is full of mana which is different from the elements.

"

nHearing this, Katania was now extremely curious. After asking Eldrian to wait a bit, she headed into the cabin to get some writing utensils.

n

"Sorry, this is all I have at the moment.

" She said, handing Eldrian a page and piece of chalk.

"We are still setting up, after finishing the walls we are going to focus on making a true relay station.

"

nEldrian looked around upon hearing this, looking at all the tree trunks that have been pushed into the ground. By now the entire cabin was nearly surrounded, with two clear openings. One leading further, and the other leading back.

n

"It's fine,

" Eldrian said, taking the page and chalk and drawing the spell module. It took him a couple of tries to get the lines straightish, in the end they were still quite bendy.

n

"It really is similar to Magic Inspection,

" Katania mumbled as she looked at it. She now thought of Eldrian in a completely different manner.

"Using it, what do you see?

"

n

"Mists, mostly. I am not too sure myself, I just know that what I see is the mana in the air. The thing left behind by the undead is more of a smoke.

"

n

"Then, is there any of this smoke in the area?

" Katania asked, using a Detect Evil spell herself as she asked Eldrian this.

nTurning around and using Mana Examination, Eldrian found that there indeed was. However, the smoke here was isolated, much smaller than that deeper in the forest.

n

"Yes, I see four. However, unlike deeper in, these seem to be older.

" It was the only thing that made sense, the other cases the gray smoke was still clinging onto the light-green mist.

n

"Four?

" Katania asked in surprise, casting a higher Tier Detect Evil. She had just used a Tier 2 at first, but in the end, she needed to use a Tier 4 to get the same result.

n

"Amazing, can I learn it?

" Katania asked, the difference in effectiveness shocking her. Tier 2 had only told her of one location with what they consider evil energy. Tier 3 had also only given her 1 result, only Tier 4 had a wide enough range to detect all four.

n

"Of course, I thought it might help. Especially when we go into the corrupted area and try to figure out what it is.

" Eldrian replied, Katania suddenly thinking back to when he was asking so many questions.

n