The only thing Dario really knew was that the wilds were roughly to the north-east of Endanshi and that it should be roughly two and a half days to get there on foot. They had left the city through the eastern gate and remained on that side of the pillar, so he’d kept them at an angle that should be a north-easterly heading.
“How much longer did you say?” Hokori asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
“Should be about two more days, likely a bit less if we keep up this pace,” Dario said confidently. They’d been walking for about half a day, so the math checked out.
Despite the tense atmosphere in their small group, Dario couldn’t help but smile as he took in their surroundings. There wasn’t even anything special about the rugged environment of thorny shrubs and hardy grasses, just that it was already so different from the Belt. High overhead, the crystal ceiling was darker than near the Belt, which meant that there was simply dirt and other things on top of it. The only reason they kept it clear where he lived was to be able to dump trash down via the Mon there.
To inspire more confidence in his scouting abilities, he pulled out his scope, pressing it to his eye before looking around with more vigor than was necessary. He nodded sagely as he put it away.
“Yep, we’re looking good.”
Luckily, there was an area in the distance with more greenery and, judging from the thin floating lines of azure aura, there had to be a body of water there as well. Dario had no idea whether there was supposed to be a lake on the way to the wilds, but it would at least let them top off their waterskins.
It took them another hour to approach the lake. As soon as it became visible to the normal eye, Dario proudly pointed out that he’d brought them to a place to refill their waterskins, but it wasn’t received as well as he’d hoped.
“Hold on now, I’ve heard the path described to me before, and there’s never been any mention of a lake. What’s the name of this place?”
“Err… I believe the locals call this, uh, Bluebottom Lake.”
The guard narrowed his eyes.
“You’re just making this up, aren’t you?”
He swallowed and cleared his throat.
“Not at all, not at all. This is exactly where we’re supposed to be.”
They hadn’t even gone a whole day and it was already going south. A drop of cold sweat ran down Dario’s back as he saw the guard gripping the pommel of his sword. He had multiple escape artefacts on his person which could be quickly activated if needed, but he forced himself to maintain a disarming smile.
The scope came out again and he surveyed the surroundings and the lake thoroughly, both to buy himself time and to spot a good route for escape. A flash of movement had him sharpening his vision, and only now he realized there was a building on the opposite bank of the lake, mostly obscured by trees. A person was walking away from it, armed and armored with a small pack on their back.
Dario frowned, pushing more Ki to his eyes, until he saw that it was a dark-skinned woman with pale blonde hair. Only as he focused on her heavy, nearly black Ki did his memory trigger: it was the woman he’d run into in the market. She was strong and most likely a noble, especially considering that she was living in what he assumed was some remote villa. Given how close the Ascension was, odds were she was headed to the wilds and she’d be a lot better prepared than he was.
He grinned as he turned back to the angry guard.
“You’re right that the normal path doesn’t pass by a lake, but that one goes to the best known parts. That’s where the suckers hunt. I’m taking us on a lesser known route, where we’ll find the rarest beasts and best treasures.”
The suspicious man still looked ready to protest, but Hokori spoke up first.
“That does sound promising. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. All will be fine, as long as you don’t waste our time,” he said, giving Dario a serious look.
***
As soon as I spotted her, I figured she might have access to secret passages. A noblewoman, strong as a bull, living out in the wilds like that? She reeked of secrets. So I decided to follow her, bringing my followers along. She might have felt us on her tail, because the woman moved fast, barely taking any breaks. But of course, as hardened adventurers, we were up to the task, pushing through thorny bushes and rocky terrain until we finally set camp for the night. Despite my exhaustion, I woke every hour to keep an eye on our quarry, which was a good thing, because after only a few hours of rest,she was off again. I followed her into a forest, where many other adventurers would have lost the trail, but not this one! My keen eyes continue to track her, as I anticipate that soon, she shall reveal her secrets and my patience will be rewarded.
What an amazing adventure! I’m so jealous! Tell me about the forest. Is it dangerous? Are there any dangerous beasts, or even Reijuu?
None that I’ve seen so far, though I have spotted some tracks. It would be good to find some prey soon, because my followers grow impatient. I begin to fear that a more subtle danger than beasts may soon reveal its ugly face: mutiny! The greedy mercenaries have been eyeing my backpack ever since I opened it to dig through my artefacts. But fear not - an opportunity to display my awesome skills will soon present itself, which should be enough to put the fear in them.
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Dario crept through the bushes, bow in hand, careful to move silently while signaling the others behind to wait. Carefully picking an arrow from his quiver, he took aim at the wolf below. It was no Reijuu - he couldn’t see even a trickle of Ki in it - but it would still be best to dispatch it quietly from a distance.
As he inhaled and pulled the string back, he veiled the arrow with his Ki, so that it was barely a shadow that passed through the forest.
“Whispers of the Shinigami,” he breathed as he completed the move and the silent arrow struck true, hitting the wolf straight in its heart.
He turned back with a proud grin and a raised chin, only to find the guards sniggering amongst themselves.
“Did you hear that? He actually named his technique!” The senior guard said to the other, both men beginning to shake as they fought to hold back their laughter.
“What? I didn’t hear, what did he call it?” Hokori asked with raised eyebrows.
“Whispers of the Shinigami! The gods of death, can you believe it? It was just a normal arrow made hard to see!”
All three men burst out laughing as Dario frowned at them.
“Are you telling me you don’t name your moves?”
“What kind of idiot would let everyone know what they’re about to do? Why even waste the energy?”
“...Because it’s cool?”
That just made them laugh even harder, one of them holding his stomach as he dropped the ground.
“Some people have no sense of style,” Dario grumbled with a shake of his head as he went back to scanning the forest. He caught a glimpse of the noblewoman moving through the trees in the distance, only barely visible to his enhanced eyes. The guards still had no clue that he was following someone.
“We better move on before this noise attracts predators,” he said, moving deeper into the forest. The others followed, still chuckling as they wiped tears from their eyes.
The brush thickened and the amount of beasts increased as they went deeper in, until Dario began to suspect that they were, in fact, already in the wilds.
The first clue was that they had to fend off a Reijuu attack - a pair of weasels the size of wolves, wielding the aspect of sharpness to empower their claws and teeth - the Amber guards finally stepping up to deal with the danger.
The noblewoman had also slowed her pace considerably and investigated her surroundings carefully before changing direction. He decided to keep following her and they pushed on for a few more hours, until the jungle thinned and the terrain changed.
It was in an area of moss-covered rock formations and a large variety of ferns that they finally decided to set up camp. They were far enough away from the pillar, and the foliage above thick enough that light was getting more sparse, but that didn’t pose any problem for Dario. He approached the younger guard, offering help to set up camp in an attempt to gain some sympathy, but it didn’t work.
“Listen, I get why the other one hates my guts. At least, I’m used to being treated like crap by the likes of them. But what have I ever done to you?” he asked when the guy had told him to get lost.
“I’ve had to work twice as hard as guys from the inner city just to get in with this clan. Only through constant work and ruthless competence did I manage to get them to see that I’m not trash, that I’m worthy of it. Then an idiot like you comes along, and guess what they conclude? That they were right all along. You confirm all the dumb prejudice that has held me back all my life. The sooner we’re rid of you, the better.”
He wasn’t sure what to say to that, so with an excuse of scouting their surroundings for any tracks of the Reijuu that Hokori wanted to hunt, Dario then grabbed his backpack and set off.
He did scout the surroundings, though not for Reijuu tracks. First, he went to check on the noblewoman. The camp was far enough away that there wasn’t a risk of her bumping into them, but he wanted to make sure she wouldn’t just disappear. She seemed to be investigating a large rock wall, looking into every gap between the dark grey stone, but he had no idea what she might be looking for.
Next, he went out looking for a place to stash his treasures. As he followed the rock formations, they grew thicker and higher, with plenty of caves and crevasses to hide loot in. For Dario, traveling through the wilds was a lot like going through a candy shop when you were all out of pearls. To his eyes, flashes of vibrant aura could be found everywhere. All kinds of plants and flowers that carried different hues of Ki, fruits high up in trees, Reijuu that hid in holes underground. It took an effort of will not to go chasing after every single one, though he did pick up a few seeds from plants that looked special.
He walked wide-eyed through the jungle and moss-covered rocks, bright eyes flicking left and right until they finally landed on something strange. High up on a wall of dark stone, there was a patch of wet moss. For anyone inspecting the wall, that whole section would be uninteresting; there was not a single gap to explore. The opposite rock wall was more attractive, with one particularly interesting cave entrance that promised to go deep in and even under the ground. But to his eyes, that patch of moss was shimmering. As he focused on it, he realized he could see through the moss, into a small tunnel beyond.
“An illusion? Why would it be…” he began to mutter, but then he gasped, eyes widening.
“Treasure!” he exclaimed a bit too loudly, then looked around suspiciously while rubbing his hands. Satisfied that no one was watching, he practically ran up to the rocks and began to scale them.
“Treasure, treasure, treasure,” he whisper-sung excitedly as he climbed, slipping and nearly falling a couple times in his hurry to get up.
When he finally reached the odd patch of moss, he gingerly held up his hand and poked at it with his finger, which went right through. It was an illusion, just as he’d thought. If someone went through all that effort to put it up, there had to be something interesting there.
Without further delay, he hefted himself up and poked his head past the illusion and into the tunnel. The first thing he saw was a purple bulb on a white stalk, seemingly made up of countless violet marbles. A few of those promptly exploded, blasting his face with little spores that made his eyes and skin burn.
“Gah!” he cried out, jerking back and clawing at his face with one hand. His other hand slipped and he went tumbling down until he slammed into a large, round boulder. With wheezing gasps to get some air back into his lungs, he carefully slid further down and poured some water onto a cloth before rubbing at his face.
The next time he went up, he wore gloves and a thin scarf that he could wrap all around his face without blocking his sight. With an angry cut from his dagger, he removed the hated bulb from the stalk and put it aside.
Then, he squeezed into the dark tunnel, which was just wide enough for him to crawl through. With a steady stream of Ki to his eyes, he pierced the darkness to see an unexpectedly long tunnel that gradually widened before curving to the left.
Slowly, with all the careful stealth he’d practiced for years, he made his way past loose gravel and two more of the explody bulbs while making barely any sound. Before turning the corner, he used his Ki to control the light before him, making it bend towards him so that he could see what was there.
The tunnel opened to the right into an alcove before later coming to an abrupt stop. But to Dario’s eyes, that final wall didn’t look solid at all. Yet another illusion.
Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only obstacle.
Sticking out from the alcove were two scaly feet with long claws.