Chapter 26: Golden Forest
Roy was heading towards the main gate when an ear-piercing shriek turned his head.
"What in the hell was that?" Roy muttered to himself, "Don't tell me that damn thing is already beginning its rampage."
Roy quickly moved towards the source of the scream to investigate. Upon traveling down a path that branched off the main road, he saw a simple wooden home with its door wide open. In the middle of the door frame stood an unkempt women with long black hair. She was covering her mouth and slowly backing away from the home with trepidation. She was noticeably shaken by what she had seen.
Roy rushed up to the woman to inquire about what was wrong, "Ma'am, as anything the matter?"
The woman turned to the unfamiliar man before responding with a shrill voice, "M-Murder! They've been murdered!"
Roy raised his hands towards the woman, ushering her to remain calm, "Who? Who's been murdered?"
"The couple that lived here! I didn't know them personally, but I just wanted to ask if they had any spare food. I-I never would have imagined… t-that…"
Roy moved to console her and spoke in a low voice, "It's okay. We know who's behind it, and we'll be capturing them shortly, so there's no need to worry. You're safe."
After reassuring the woman of the situation, Roy approached the eerily quiet house. As he got closer, he noticed a small trail of red liquid flowing out from under the other side of the door. At that sight, he immediately anticipated the grisly scene he was likely to face.
Roy pushed open the door and let the details of the house's interior fill his vision. Red.
'It needs to be exterminated, and fast,' Roy thought as he observed the floor of gore and bones.
"Captain," An elderly voice called out to Roy from behind.
"Hmm? What is is?" Roy asked, looking at the robed mage behind him.
"Sir, Elroy has gone missing."
"He's gone missing? So soon? Don't tell me… Haa, that idiot." Roy could only palm his face thinking of the hot-headed wind mage.
"Do you know what direction he went searching in?" Roy asked, lowering his hand from his face.
"No, sir. I was too preoccupied in my search to keep tabs on his whereabouts," The mage replied solemnly.
Roy could only shake his head at that response, "Well, it's safe too assume he found the wise beast. Until we know exactly where he went running off to, all we can do is inform the commander of our progress. You stay here and look for Elroy, and I'll go to Valewaren to update the commander on the situation."
"Yes, sir," The mage nodded his head at his orders.
Roy stepped out of the house and returned to the cobble road, leaving red footprints as he walked. He had finally made his first breakthrough in the hunt for the wise beast, but certainly at a cost.
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Zulu took in his surroundings with a serene expression. Walking through the Golden Forest was almost therapeutic with its calming affect on his psyche. He felt his muscles relax, and his mind was emptied of thoughts. As the sun shone brilliantly on his fuzzy orange coat, he moved in the direction of the zephyr bear cave, following the memories that were still fresh in his mind from the previous night. As he thought about that, he couldn't help but let his soothed mind be filled with thoughts of Raya.
Zulu violently shook his head in protest of the invasive thoughts, 'What the hell is wrong with me? I'm no longer human, so it shouldn't matter."
A while passed with two opposing sides clashing in Zulu's mind. Neither seemed to be able to dominate the other at this moment, and his thoughts had come to a standstill; It was as though he were forgetting how to simply think.
'Fuck! I need to preoccupy myself before I go mad!'
Zulu began to run through the forest, avoiding incoming trees with sharp changes in direction before arriving at a familiar location.
'This place will do,' Zulu thought, looking at the mound of bones.
Zulu casually entered the barren cave, which at one time had belonged to a pack of silver wolves.
Zulu pressed his back up against the back wall of the cave while keeping his gaze on the entrance in front of him. He felt safer knowing that he couldn't be stabbed in the back while sleeping; However, he was fully aware that he remained vulnerable nonetheless. Alas, such was the act of sleeping; You simply have no chance of defending yourself unless your senses are sharp enough.
'Soon enough, I will be capable of such a feat,' Zulu thought, a grin forming across his face, 'I wonder how much stronger I will be at Rank 3…'
Thinking of the possibilities, Zulu's blood boiled while an unending amount of excitement surged within his heart. His elation made him completely forget of his mental struggles only a few minutes prior.
'I guess I'll find out.'
With that thought, Zulu curled into an orange ball before letting sleep overtake him.
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[Rank 2 - Dusk Rabbit (Mature) consumed]
[11 Essence gained]
[Tier 0 - Human x2 consumed]
[57 Essence gained]
[Tier 2 - Human (Wind Mage) consumed]
[28 Essence gained]
A string of sentences spoken by a soft feminine voice welcomed Zulu into the white space.
Hearing the amount of Essence given by the Tier 2 human, Zulu lamented the fact that he was not given more.
'I understand that all humans give the same amount of Essence, but come on! An almighty mage giving the same amount of Essence as some elderly couple is just ridiculous! What happened to 'the greater the risk, the greater the reward'?' Zulu thought, his ethereal eye twitching in annoyance, but he quickly suppressed his irritation, 'I'll just have to deal with it, just like every other beast. On the bright side, I can evolve, baby!'
"Guide, can I evolve now?"
[Affirmative. Would you like to spend 250 Essence on your evolution?]
"Yes!"
[Confirmed. Applying evolution.]
Zulu waited with a fire in his eyes and raving anticipation. After a few seconds of absolute silence passed inside the white space, he remembered that he needed to reawaken to notice the changes to his body.
'Right. Well, while I'm here, I might as well see if I can get some upgrades.'
At that thought, Zulu called out into the white void, "Upgrades!"
>—————————<
>>Available Upgrades<<
-Rank 3: [Linguist (120 E), Quick Feet (30 E), Razor Teeth (30 E)]
-Rank 2: [Mana Absorption (40 E), Night Vision (10 E), Sharp Claws (15 E)]
-Rank 1: [Dense Bones (20 E), Firm Muscles (20 E), Thick Fur (15 E)]
>>Available Skills<<
-Rank 3: [Bite (30 E), Creep (30 E)]
-Rank 2: [Dash (15 E)]
-Rank 1: [Burrow (10 E), Slash (5 E)]
>>Available Spells<<
-Rank 3: [Corporeal Illusion (120 E)]
-Rank 2: [Auditory Confusion (30 E), Fireball (40 E), Fire Snake (40 E), Olfactory Confusion (30 E), Wind Spear (40 E)]
-Rank 1: [Gustatory Confusion (15 E), Tactile Confusion (20 E), Visual Confusion (20 E), Wind Sprint (15 E)]
>—————————<
Seeing the upgrade panel appear in front of him, Zulu's eyes widened in astonishment and enthusiasm.
'So much new stuff!'
His gaze darted through the new options with fervor, and he couldn't help but want to purchase them all. After his eyes inspected the new spells, his mood was tempered slightly.
'Not very many elemental spells, though. I guess only my species' specialized magic appears after evolving? Only illusion magic, huh? The only way to get new fire and wind spells must be by consuming beings who use those spells. Well, at least I got [Wind Sprint]. That explains why that old man of a mage moved like an Olympic sprinter. I'd just assumed he was coked up out of his mind.'
Zulu then focused on the three new illusion spells, 'These spells seem pretty cool. Being able to make someone see or feel something that's not there could be incredibly useful. I'm not too sure how [Gustatory Confusion] will help, though. Maybe I can prank a town by making their water supply taste like urine? Now that's going on my bucket list,' He thought with an ethereal grin.
"Guide, how much Essence do I have?"
[You have 43 Essence.]
'Hmm, I can buy something new now, or purchase some sort of upgrade. Evolving again is out of the question. My upgrades are falling behind as is, and who knows how much Essence I'd even need to begin with. Speaking of which…"
"Guide, how much to evolve to Rank 4?"
[In order to meet the minimum requirements to evolve to Rank 4, you need an Essence Value of 1,000.]
'Yeah, that's about what I expected. At least it's a simple enough number to remember and shoot for,' Zulu thought.
'As cool as becoming a tank with all those defense upgrades would be, I'm currently lacking in Essence, and I'd rather upgrade some of my spells first. I find myself relying on them a great deal when fighting powerful opponents, whether it be through damage or deception. Being a mage is simply overpowered. Of course, I'll make sure to upgrade my body as well, but for now, I want to upgrade [Fireball]; It's my most trusted spell at this point.'
"I want to buy [Fireball - Rank 2]."
[Confirmed. Learning Spell.]
'And that leaves me with 3 Essence… Dammit. Why is it so easy to go broke in this world? I really need to begin a hunting trip or something.'
As Zulu planned his immediate future, he said, "Status."
>—————————<
Name: Zulu [Rank 3]
Species: Spirit Fox (Mature)
Species Specialization: Illusion Magic
Innate Ability: [Rank 2 | Corporeal Illusion]
Major Elemental Affinity: Fire
Minor Elemental Affinity: Wind
Essence Value: 3
Upgrades: [Rank 1 | Mana Absorption, Night Vision, Sharp Claws], [Rank 2 | Linguist, Quick Feet, Razor Teeth]
Skills: [Rank 1 | Dash], [Rank 2 | Bite, Creep]
Spells: [Rank 1 | Auditory Confusion, Fire Snake, Olfactory Confusion, Wind Spear], [Rank 2 | Fireball]
>—————————<
'Ha! I'm a full fledged adult now! How's that, fox mom I never had? I don't need you anymore!'
Zulu calmed himself before speaking, "Alright, yank me."
[Confirmed.]
And everything went dark.
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Zulu awoke in the middle of the afternoon. He'd only been asleep for a few hours or so.
Standing up to exit the cave, Zulu noticed an immediate difference in his stature.
'Whoa. Aren't I a little too big?' Zulu wondered incredulously, noticing how his fuzzy ears scraped across the ceiling of the cave.
Zulu began to thoroughly inspect his body. He was roughly six feet tall and nine feet long, not including his bushy orange tail. He was now larger than the leader wolf that once called the cave in which he stood home.
Zulu's strength and speed had drastically increased, as did his mana pool. If before he had a gentle stream of mana coursing through his veins, now he had a raging river.
'If we're basing it off of my Rank 1 [Fireball], I could cast it at least thirty times now,' Zulu thought.
Those were his most notable improvements. To Zulu's disappointment, the increase in the toughness of his fur was seemingly negligible.
'God really must want me to purchase those defensive upgrades. Or is it because spirit foxes don't specialize in defense? That's probably why.'
Zulu concluded his self-inspection and squeezed his large frame through the suddenly smaller cave entrance.
'I hope my size doesn't continue to increase as I evolve, or I won't even be able to walk through a valley without getting stuck!'
Once out of the cave, Zulu spun around and began charging a [Fireball].
'Alright, show me what a Rank 2 spell can do,' Zulu thought with anticipation.
The fireball grew in size in front of Zulu's snoot. To his disappointment, the size of the spell didn't change. Where it made up for that, however, was in its density! The fireball was crammed with mana and had turned a menacing shade of red.
Zulu launched the dense ball of flame into the cave. After flying forward for a short moment, it impacted the cave's back wall and ignited into a dazzling inferno. The explosion quickly filled much of the space inside of the cave, singing the dirt and scorching the walls black.
The explosion carried a wave of heat out of the entrance and into Zulu's face. The heat produced by the spell was terrifying!
'What an increase! I figured it would be a minor improvement between ranks, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It seems shelling out Essence for improving spells is definitely worth the cost,' Zulu mused, enjoying the sensation of his creation affecting the world in such an outstanding manner.
After watching the remnants of the fireball flicker away, Zulu sensed the mana inside his body, 'There's so much left? Even though the mana requirement for the [Fireball] spell has increased, my mana is still mostly filled. I could cast ten of these things and have enough room for an illusion or two. I knew saving up for a Rank 3 was the correct choice!'
Pleased with his patience, Zulu departed the silver wolf cave and continued onward towards the zephyr bear cave.
As he did so, he remembered something important, 'Right, I should probably pick up some food along the way.'
(A/N: Please read the author's note below.)
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
TooLazyToWork
TooLazyToWork VERY IMPORTANT: I decided to change much of Raya's inner monologue towards the very end of "A Walk In The Woods" in order to better fit the story I want to tell. I recommend rereading the end of that chapter to see the changes. Anyway, thanks for reading!
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