The Chronicles of a Scalebound Sage: Wandmaker Vol.2

WM [66] Don't Look For To Long

Tanisha wasn't sure what to expect from the Chaos Lands. She had spoken with both Joha and Adelheid about their experiences crossing various Chaos Lands. Adelheid, in particular, had traversed this one less than two months ago and shared stories about it—though most of her tales revolved around monster hunts. As for Joha, he had mentioned that much of the demon continent was saturated with chaotic magic. It seemed that demons thrived in the chaos, finding it to their liking.

Instead of chaos, she found a strangely calm path. The lack of constant assaults was a relief and justified her choice to leave her heavy armor tucked away in her inventory. She wanted to travel light and just so happen to find the perfect set of rugged clothes made for the journey. The ensemble completed with her hooded cloak which was the mana shroud Adelheid told her she would need. By pure chance, her outfit was all black, with deep purple accents stitched along her sleeves and cloak. It lent her an effortlessly powerful look, like a traveling war mage whose aura demanded respect. Not that she'd ever admit to something as vain as dressing to look imposing even if she did feel it.

The path wound through the mountains, worn down by countless travelers. They were far from alone: merchants, seasoned warriors, pilgrims, and eager adventurers dotted the trail, all drawn by the promise—of what lay beyond the Chaos Lands. Now and then, a few monsters emerged in the dense, ambient mana, notably some Crawling Stalkers, who creeped across the rocks with a far more timid demeanor than what she was used to in Yuhia. Here they kept to themselves, weaving their way around the travelers and even seemed fearful of getting too close.

This must be what they are like when they aren't starved of corrupted mana.

Tanisha forced her attention back to her group. Fuyumi had been explaining important details of their journey that she definitely didn't want to miss.

"We are going to follow the path for a few days," Fuyumi continued. "This will be the safest part of the journey. After that we will have to cut through the valley going north west around the mountain range. Unfortunately there is no direct path between us and the road to the Force Isles."

"We should make camp soon," Aurelius stated as he looked up at the sky. "I think we are going to see a storm."

Tanisha followed his gaze but didn't see anything above them in the deep blue sky. The sun shone brightly overhead and there wasn't any clouds as far as she could see. She was getting ready to disagree when Fuyumi nodded.

"You are right. It is a shame I was hoping to get further today." Fuyumi said.

Tanisha looked at both of them as if they were crazy. "What are you two talking about? There isn't a cloud in the sky. We are only a few hours out from the border."

"Ah, right, this is your first time." Aurelius said with a knowing look. "It isn't a rain storm or anything like that. It doesn't really rain out here too much. It's a mana storm, I can see mana but you should be able to sense it after a while. I am just used to them and can spot the changes early. Instead of rain we might get a few monster manifestations up ahead. If that happens we want to be somewhere defensible or where we can hide our mana. This is a small one so it shouldn't be too bad but out here it is better to be safe than sorry."

"We'll keep going for another hour or two," Fuyumi stated. "We can run if you want to make up the lost time. We will go at your pace but if we stop you should stop too."

"Okay, lets go as far as we can." Tanisha said as she hopped into a jog. "Can I use Arcane Shift? It is kind of like Blink."

"That's fine with me." Aurelius agreed.

"Yes," Fuyumi mirrored.

With that Tanisha ran as fast as she could, Bjorn at her side even as she used her Arcane Shift. As long as they were close enough to each other he would teleport with her. He was faster than she was so it wasn't a problem for him to keep pace. Fuyumi and Aurelius were just as swift, their own power propelling them forward just as fast as she could manage. Fuyumi took the lead while Aurelius stuck to her side, matching her stride and even her teleportations with eaze.