Finances only tightened. Madella sat at the table, head slumped onto her hand, staring at the slip that had arrived at their doorstep that morning as though the words on it would change if she looked at them enough.

  To put the children in school, it was a termly fee of 50 silver per child, amounting to 300 silver for all of the orphans. Teerom sat with her, hand on her shoulder, trying to reassure her. "Don't worry, mom. I'll go get a job and help."

  "I feel horrible, Teerom... Making you bear so much at such a young age."

  "I'm 16, mother. And besides... I... love you a lot, so... I want to help you." His words made her break from the emotion, she chuckled sadly. But finding a job with no experience and connections was going to be extremely difficult. Paley knew this too intuitively as he listened to the conversation from the stairs, concealed.

  The orphans would later come down to eat breakfast. Madella asked Adimia where Paley was; Adimia shrugged and almost revealed he'd seen Paley sneak out the window. Bacha wanted to cover for Paley but she couldn't bring herself to keep lying to Madella. "He's gone to hunt." She said.

  A young wolf, thick black fur and eyes glowing blue, wandered the Forest Mana Zone in search of prey. It found none but it did stumble across a bush with berries sprouting from it. It decided to take the opportunity for some nourishment in case it did not find prey today.

  It snapped the berry from the bush and began to chew. It was juicy. Too juicy. The wolf hadn't even realized it was its own blood spilling into its mouth. Pain came next, searing across from its crown to its neck. In a few seconds its life had been snuffed out and the last thing it saw was a young human boy with pitch black hair and eyes the colour of the blood that filled the wolf's own vision. Paley had snuck up on it and thrust a blade of earth through its head, his expression was scrunched as though it hurt him just as much as it hurt the wolf. He tried to make it as quick as possible and as he watched his successfully quick kill take place, he muttered to the wolf reassurance: "I'm sorry. I'm sure you had family you cared for too. Please rest now." His words did not match his age.

  He took the wolf and loaded it onto a cart. Paley made his way through the forest, finding these minor monsters and slaughtering them as quickly and humanely as possible, one by one, he cut them down, an expression of pain plastered on his face. Another wolf. A large snail. A rabbit with two heads. A dog-sized beetle. One after the other he cut them down, until he came across what he knew must have been a Tier I monster. A tiger with bright orange and black fur, emitting a glow that suggested Fire Magic.

  Paley kept his earth blades at hand - they were incredibly cost effective: 1 coin of mana for both and they did not need to be maintained except repaired. He could leave the rest to Strength Magic. He had around 4 coins left. This was the final hunt for today. Paley bent his knees and raised the blades up, ready to fight as the tiger's growls signaled reciprocation.

  The tiger charged first. Paley rolled to the side, caught himself, and hurled one of the blades at the tiger's side, embedding it. The tiger recoiled but did not back down, it stumbled for a moment before circling back around and opening its mouth to try a long range attack. Dodging was cheaper but Paley couldn't risk it against what was definitely a Tier I monster. Even if he had defeated a Tier II, it was far too close to being at the cost of his life.

  The tiger launched three firebolts in quick succession. A shield. He poured two mana coins into making an earth shield - the bolts slammed against the shield, two of them cracked it, the last broke it, but Paley was unharmed. Now he had one coin left.

  He quickly decided to try a long range attack of his own. He wound his arm back with his blade and with violent intensity he snapped forward as though he was throwing a javelin, using the final moment of his throw to cast a powerful concentrated wind blast to add further force to the blade.

  It cut through the air as fast as an arrow and pierced the tiger between the eyes, immediately putting it on its deathbed. Paley walked over and held its head in his hands. Again, he apologised, "I'm sorry. I hope you find rest." He twisted the blade, killing the tiger instantly.

  After loading the tiger onto a crumbly earth cart along with the other corpses from this trip, he made his way back. He tried to pass around the orphanage in order to avoid worrying Madella but that was an effort in vain.

  He found her at the river’s edge, her sleeves rolled up as she scrubbed a worn tunic against a washboard. Jurie was beside her, wringing out a sheet, her eyes widening as she saw Paley approach with his grisly cart. The earthy scent of blood and soil clung to him, a stark contrast to the clean, soapy smell of the laundry.

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  Madella looked up, her hands stilling in the water. Her gaze traveled from his tired face to the cart laden with the tiger and other monsters. The relief at seeing him safe was swiftly eclipsed by a familiar, weary fear. "Paley," she said, her voice tight. "You- Do you have any idea how dangerous monster hunting is? How worried I was?"

  He had wanted to take the beration silently, but he couldn't. The memory of her slumped over the table, watching the slip that denoted their bills, came to the forefront of his mind. His hands, still smudged with dirt and dried blood, clenched at his sides. "I know it's dangerous!" he shot back, his voice sharper than he intended, cracking with a frustration that was entirely new. "I know it worries you. But what else am I supposed to do, Mother? Sit and watch you break yourself with worry over us?"

  He took a step forward, his crimson eyes glistening, not with defiance, but with a desperate, aching love. "You carry everything. You bear every burden. And I... I have this power. It’s the one thing I can do. I can't stand not repaying you for the kindness you've given me." His shoulders slumped, the fight draining out of him, leaving only raw honesty. "Let me carry this. Please. Let me use what I have to make you happy, or at least, to make you not have to worry about money for a while."

  Tears welled in Madella's eyes; she was stunned.

  Jurie tugged at her sleeve, "Mother... I think Paley's right. I've been thinking of getting a job too like Teerom."

  Madella glanced between the two of them, then sighed. She first addressed Paley, kneeling to hold his face with her warm hands.

  "Never ever fight anything stronger than you're comfortable with, okay?" Her words bought a wide expression of gratefulness to Paley.

  He nodded, "I'll try my best."

  "No. You will do it." She kissed him on the forehead before turning to Jurie. "And you, young lady. You need to go to school for at least your last year. That way you get a qualification that opens up more paths in the future for you."

  "Qualifications don't do much, Mother, sorry. People look for experience not degrees."

  "And what about when you get tons of experience but you can't move up to an even better job that you enjoy because you don't have a degree?" Madella smirked when Jurie clocked it. "You can get a simple, easy job after you graduate. Then you can start climbing your way up." She ruffled Jurie's hair.

  She then turned to Paley, "And you, young man. You make sure to get back home on time for lunch, okay?"

  He took a moment to digest, the nodded enthusiastically. "But I won't be selling them today. I'll just keep them away from the sun." He said, continuing to haul the cart toward a tree. He couldn't sell them until his mana recuperated - Illusion Magic was taxing and it was incredibly easy to slip into a mana debt if he wasn't careful. Tomorrow it had to be.

  Paley woke up as early as possible. The rackety clock downstairs showed 6am as he prepared to leave and when he stepped out he was greeted by the sun rising over a waking city. There wouldn't be many people out and about at this hour except for those who would be preoccupied anyway with early work.

  He grabbed the two levers of the cart and began to haul it forward. It was tough labor for a teenage boy - the wheels were not round as he was still less than a beginner in Earth Magic, making it a bumpy endeavor. Carrying it in the forest was surprisingly easier than on the gravel path - the grass acted as a subtle cushion. Once he reached the gates to the city, his hands were rough and the skin had even torn, but he pushed on. As the guards came into view, he transformed into Vergan Widao once more.

  "Master Widao." One of the guards greeted, "The sky is blue today."

  Paley was intensely confused by the unnecessary remark, he looked to the sky then smiled with Vergan's face. "Thank Leia it is." He tried to act as natural as possible but the guard moved with extreme swiftness, driving his magic-infused spear at Paley, who barely stepped back enough to dodge it. It fazed through his illusory dress, confirming the guards' suspicions.

  "Call for backup, I'll stall him." The guard that attacked ordered, the other one nodded and pulled out a stick with a metal engraved end and pointed it to the sky. A bolt of blue smoke rose to the sky. What was this device? Paley found himself immediately captivated but it felt like he already knew what it was.

  He tried to retreat but the guard poked at him, on the return from his thrusts, the tip of the spear would glow a little brighter before a gust of wind caught Paley off guard, making him stumble closer to the guard. The pointed tip was coming and it was going to pierce him through the heart if he didn't do anything.

  He couldn't switch magic type or the illusion would dispel and his real face would be exposed. He had to dump all of his mana into Illusion Magic. His skin ripped apart and he transformed, or that's how it seemed to the men. He became the Tier II monster, the Weynsoo, that he had defeated. He didn't roar, Sound Magic was still beyond him. But his massive form was enough to make the guards fall onto their butts, petrified. He then used his remaining mana to make the bird vanish and himself invisible, running as fast as he could on the grass so as to not leave any footprints on the path.

  He stopped running once he reached a tree and fell with his back against it, trying his best to catch his breath. He had already used up all his mana just for all that. It was far too easy to enter a mana debt. How did people avoid it?

  "DAMMIT!" He yelled, slamming the wood he sat on, trying to vent some frustration but only putting himself through greater pain. What was worse, was that he felt relief that he'd gotten away. Instead, he should've been feeling greater anger that he'd failed to help Madella and the others. Then, he cried. Alone. Disappointed. Useless.