Four weeks later, we approach a sizeable town. I can’t be seen as I am too recognisable, although I am using my Light Filter to make my fur look brown rather than white. That has also levelled my Forrest Camouflage well into Apprentice level. It is now my second-highest camouflage skill behind Arctic Camouflage.

  We have been hunting and scavenging. I am sure my class is close to levelling. Skinning is now Journeyman level, and Butchering is well into apprentice.

  Kevin has been educating me as well, and Physics Lore went up a level as he taught me about light. He didn’t know a great deal, but it was more than I did.

  We have been educating Kevin as well. He hates wilderness survival, but he can survive out here now. He can identify what berries to eat and what to avoid. He doesn’t leave too much of a trail and has the basics of hunting. He learned traps from Kiri and much prefers to hunt using traps.

  Kiri spent the weeks progressing her bone Affinity. She can now grow bones on the outside of her skin as armour, like the boar we killed. Growing them is slow, so she can’t suddenly be covered in bone armour. To grow her bone bracers took a week, but once they are there, she can use Bone manipulation to change them and spike them, etc. She can even disconnect them from herself and remove them. The inside of the bone starts to rot after a few days, but she can reconnect them and keep them alive.

  I discovered that my Purify Blood can also extend their life, as bone marrow helps make blood. The living bone needs more than just being purified, though. It needs nutrients and oxygen to live, so I can only double their time alive.

  However, Kiri doesn’t necessarily need living bones as armour. Living bones can self-repair, but she can still use her other skills on dead bones. She can manipulate dead bones and Fuse them as well. She created an armour chest piece from bone grown to her size and shape. Then she did the same for greaves and a helmet. The hardest part was stopping it from rattling as she moved.

  Pānihi was learning from her, and her black fur was now interrupted with some strategic bone plating on her forehead and skull, chest and back. Pānihi could also use Bone Manipulation to create spikes.

  Kiri and Pānihi’s bone Affinity had linked with their Regeneration Skill, and they can regenerate bone and grow bone super fast.

  I was a bit envious. I can change the colour of my fur, and she gets bone armour—and bone weapons, if you count the spikes from her bracers and the bone arrows.

  “I want to go into town and get supplies,” Kevin said.

  We all knew he really wanted to sleep on a bed. He wasn’t happy with the furs from our hunting. Admittedly, they were not cured properly and started to rot after a while.

  “I can go as well,” Kiri said. “I have enough here to turn into Leo.” Leo was her stable boy and apprentice persona with a limp.

  “I will need somewhere to camp for a few days. I assume it will be a few days?” I asked.

  Kevin nodded vigorously.

  “A couple of days, probably,” said Kiri. “The warning will have reached here, and they will be on the lookout even though this is not the Duke's territory.”

  The land around was more hilly than mountainous. The forest was interspersed with grassy areas.

  We moved through the countryside, giving the town a wide berth, looking for a campsite. We crossed a major road and several smaller tracks, indicating people lived and worked out there. We were going to run into people sooner or later.

  We were on the far side of the town and came upon a track that looked like it hadn’t been used for a long time. It was overgrown, and young trees were growing in between the old cart tracks. We followed it, thinking the old homestead would be a good camping spot.

  It was better than that. It was an abandoned mine. The mine building had collapsed, and there was a large staging area where carts would be loaded. The entrance to the mine had collapsed, probably on purpose, to stop people and beasts from entering.

  We looked around and found a small alcove to set up camp. There was a stream ten minutes walk downhill. I stopped for a drink. It was not the nicest water, but it would do. The best bit from my point of view was the lack of vegetation around the mine entrance.

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  This was somewhere I could learn Solar Flame. Setting off Solar Flare would have been seen, but probably not burn down the forest. I would avoid setting off Solar Flare, but Solar Flame was very close to Solar Flare.

  Once the camp was set up, I was left alone. Pānihi and Kahz followed them toward town. I assume Pānihi will return in due course.

  I started with some scouting. I don’t want to find that there is a farmer or forester living nearby. I climbed to the top of the hill the mine was under and used Farsight to look for signs of people. I spotted the smoke of a cooking fire and, with Farsight judging the distance, I plotted the approximate position on my Map. I then spotted a straight line in the landscape, and people generally make straight lines. It looked like a fence.

  Further in the distance, I could see the edge of the town. The mine was on the far side of the hill from the town, so that was something anyway.

  With that done, I went down and started to circle around the mine looking for signs of people or beasts. My Tracking Skill went up a notch.

  Then I discovered why people wear boots. These lowland areas have a lot more snakes than the mountains. I figure the mountains are too cold for them. Some snakes are poisonous, while others are not. The one that latched onto my foot was definitely poisonous.

  The bite was strong enough to pierce my Tough Hide and inject its poison. I very nearly extracted it, but stopped myself and trained Purify Blood instead. I killed the snake.

  I needed to know what to look for in my Void Sensing, as this was newish for me. The snake had a regular spine that would show up in Void Sensing, and I started looking out for it. The snaked body temperature was not that different from the surrounding area, so my Light Sensing couldn’t tell the difference. Snakes were cold-blooded reptiles, not mammals.

  My circuit revealed that someone came to fish in the stream fairly regularly, but it was located well away from the mine. I saw a kill site from a hunter, but it was from a long time ago. Roaming hunters were something I needed to be constantly aware of.

  There were wolves in the area and a large cat of some type, but these were all normal occurrences. When I was closer to the mine, I urinated on several key trees, marking this territory as mine.

  I examined the mine entrance. The collapse was only the first 8-10m. I could clear it easily with the applications of Tremor. I was annoyed that it wasn't Journeyman level, although I didn’t regret the skills I gained in exchange for it. If Tremor were Journeyman, with my increased Spiritual Strength, I could easily morph it into the Quake Skill. I decided I would clear the entrance to the mine and at least gain a level to get Tremor closer to Journeyman. The Quake skill was much stronger.

  The entrance to the mine will also shield against mistakes when learning Solar Flame. I worked into the night clearing the entrance. I piled the rubble in front of the entrance to block it from view and the view of the flashes. Light travels in a straight line and bounces poorly from rubble. Go Light Sensing!

  I got Tremor back up to 9, and just need a push to get it to Journeyman, maybe when I close this again when we leave. It is easier to level it back up than it was the first time, probably because I have had it there before.

  The entrance was just wide enough for me to get through. Fortunately, this tunnel was built by humans or maybe orcs, as it was almost tall enough for me to stand in. I have had more than my fill of dwarven tunnels.

  The tunnel stretched beyond the range of my Void Sensing, but that was fine, as I only wanted to use the entrance to hide experiments in. There were no nasties in the Void Sensing range, just a few insects and mushrooms. The insects were probably the only ones to get through the rubble.

  I couldn’t sense any minerals in the walls, just basic rock. If I accidentally let Solar Flare escape in here, it will be concentrated and might overwhelm me. That is a problem with tunnels. I spent some time widening the entrance so I could get out more easily and faster. Maybe this is not such a good idea.

  Before I left, I had a thought and tried my Solar Bloom on a mushroom. I used the lightest touch I could, but the mushroom visibly shrivelled up. That was interesting. Things that live without sunlight can be harmed by it.

  I stopped. It was harmed, but Solar Bloom is not visible; how could it be? How does it help plants grow if it is not like normal sunlight? My Plant Lore was telling me they needed light in the visible range to photosynthesise. My Troglobite Lore was not high enough to tell me why the mushroom shrivelled.

  I applied Light Sensing to the Solar Bloom in a small sphere around me. Solar Bloom was putting out energy in the visible light range, so why could I sense it and not see it? I started to manipulate Solar Bloom. It was a spiritual effect, and I could change it. The area in my Aura began to glow with sunlight, and the more I pushed it, the brighter it got.

  Several insects scurried away. Solar Bloom levelled again. This is part of understanding your skills before you can change them. Solar Bloom was firmly mid-apprentice now.

  Light Filter could not affect the light from Solar Bloom as it was not passing through my aura. Wait a minute, it was going outside my aura when it was visible, but staying inside my aura when it is not visible. If it is passing outside my aura, then Light Filter should work on it. It did, and I levelled it by using it in a different way.

  These Skills are all connected, aren’t they? Is Solar Bloom more light-focused than sun-focused? Solar Flare is sun-focused, and so is Solar Flame when I get to it. Solar Bloom is, too, but not so closely sun-focused, maybe.

  I was tired, and it was late. I exited out of the entrance and went to get a few hours' sleep before dawn. This needed to mull in my head for a bit.

  Pānihi wasn’t back yet, but she will recognise my scent marking.

  Patreon is 15 chapters ahead if you want to support the story. You don't need to support the story, as it will be free here.