The morning sun finally broke through the mist hovering over Sibar, casting a slanted, golden light across the cobblestone roads that led toward the outskirts of the city. Alaster sat comfortably in the back of the sturdy wooden wagon owned by Liena the halfling and Deinderatrix the human mage. The rhythmic rattling of the wheels against the earth and stone marked the beginning of his first official adventure in this new world.
The party's arrangement in the vehicle was well-defined. Up on the driver's bench, Deinderatrix held the reins with casual ease. Arya sat beside her, her bow resting against her shoulder and her posture completely relaxed. In the back, the cargo space was quite spacious. Alaster had settled in, stretching out his legs and thoroughly enjoying the ride. To his sides, the rest of the girls shared the cargo area, creating a rather peculiar atmosphere.
For Alaster, the journey was a spectacle of sensory discoveries. Resting his arms on the wooden edge of the wagon, he gazed with eager eyes as the buildings and the great stone wall of the city slowly faded into the distance. The landscape soon gave way to an endless expanse of green meadows stretching as far as the eye could see. The dirt road kicked up a light dust, flanked by dense bushes heavy with wild berries.
Along the way, they crossed paths with other travelers. Some were merchants on foot carrying sacks over their shoulders; others were wagons heading in the opposite direction, their drivers offering a solemn nod in greeting.
While the elf focused entirely on the scenery, he remained blissfully unaware of the intense stares coming from the wagon's other occupants. The tight white cotton shirt Mirage had lent him clearly betrayed his excellent physical condition.
Jinneth, wearing her brand-new, perfectly fitted leather armor that accentuated the lush curves of her figure and her trim waist, couldn't tear her eyes away from him. In her mind, her thoughts were racing out of control.
"He has no right to be that handsome... That light blue hair suits him perfectly and, now that I see him from behind, his shoulders are incredibly broad. That tight clothing leaves absolutely nothing of his torso to the imagination. I have to make sure none of these vultures get too close to him on the road."
Just a few inches away, Mirage observed the elf's profile with a blend of feline curiosity and a lingering shyness left over from the events at her house. Her black cat ears twitched with every bump in the road, and she absentmindedly played with the tip of her dark tail.
"Meow... he looks even more charismatic from the side," the cat-girl thought, feeling a faint flutter in her chest. "His features are so refined yet masculine. He's tall, toned, and that violet gaze sends a strange shiver down my spine. He is definitely the most interesting elf to ever set foot in my living room."
Even little Liena, armed with her daggers and wearing her usual serious expression, couldn't help but make a mental appraisal as she adjusted her gear.
"For a city mage, he has the build of a top-tier warrior. You don't get arms like those just by reading spellbooks. If he knew how to handle a short sword with that reach of his, he'd be a menace in close-quarters combat."
The scenery shifted its tempo as they pressed onward. They crossed wide, sun-drenched clearings and then, just as suddenly, plunged into stretches of dense forest. There, the canopies of ancient trees intertwined their branches, casting the road into a cool, mysterious twilight.
"We're almost there," Deinderatrix announced from the driver's seat, breaking the silence of the journey as she adjusted her purple robes. "The Valley of the Low Flowers is just behind that hill. It's the perfect zone for clearing pests—and for whatever it is you're looking for, elf."
Inside the wagon, the floating tension finally broke when Mirage decided to speak up.
"Hey, Alaster, meow..." the cat-girl began in her smooth voice. "Is it really your first time outside the walls? Your hands don't look like those of someone who has ever held a sword."
"Like I told you before, I'm Level 1," Alaster replied with total honesty, turning to look at them. "I've never fought anything in this world. My original plan for today was simply to gather some basic medicinal herbs to sell at the guild."
Alaster couldn't help but notice a faint flicker of disappointment in Mirage's sharp green eyes. The cat-girl seemed to lose some of the enthusiasm she had gathered after the chantless water incident at her house, likely assuming his skills weren't meant for combat.
He decided to ignore the gesture. After all, he wasn't there to impress anyone; he just wanted to understand how the system worked, make some money, and secure his financial freedom.
The wagon finally came to a halt in a clearing where the road dissolved into a sea of vegetation. Stepping down from the vehicle, Alaster felt the sharp impact of the wind against his face. The air here was pristine, completely devoid of any trace of Earth's industrial pollution. The scent of fresh grass and damp earth filled his sharp elven senses, prompting him to take a deep breath.
Impatient, Alaster took a couple of steps toward the edge of the path, his eyes searching for the characteristic glints of magical plants described in the guild's botany manual. However, before he could advance even three paces, Arya's hand shot out, firmly stopping him by the chest.
"Your herbs aren't going anywhere, naive elf," Arya said, her tone ice-cold, though a small, teasing smirk danced at the corner of her lips. "But if you go snooping around the bushes like a total rookie, the only thing you'll achieve is scaring away the prey for our mission. And trust me, you don't want to waste our time."
Liena walked over, tightening the straps of her twin daggers, her blue eyes blinking with professional determination.
"Arya is right," Liena affirmed in her mature voice. "It's better to find the horned rabbits first. They are extremely elusive creatures, and highly aggressive if cornered. Once we secure the perimeter, you can gather all the plants you want."
As the party's ranger, Liena took the lead. The group began to advance in what looked to Alaster like a completely random route. However, the halfling was precisely examining bent leaves, marks in the dirt, and small traces of fur. The rest followed at a safe distance, conversing in low voices so as not to break the silence of the meadow.
They walked until they entered a beautiful field of wild flowers in shades of violet and yellow that literally came up to their knees. Suddenly, Liena raised a hand, ordering absolute silence as she skidded to a halt.
Barely five meters away in the brush, long ears and a horn as sharp as a bayonet peeked out. A horned rabbit, about the size of a medium dog, detected the halfling's presence. With devilish speed, it lunged directly at her, using its frontal horn like a deadly lance.
Alaster stood in awe of what he witnessed next.
Liena didn't back down a single millimeter. With astonishing agility for her four-foot frame, the halfling ducked right beneath the monster's trajectory, letting the horn pass mere millimeters above her head. In one fluid, continuous motion, she drew her right dagger. Capitalizing on the rabbit's own momentum in mid-air, she spun on her axis and delivered a clean slash across the creature's jugular.
The rabbit fell lifeless onto the dirt before Alaster could even blink.
"There's more!" Arya warned.
Almost instantly, three more rabbits erupted from different flanks of the brush. Arya, with a calmness that bordered on terrifying, drew her bowstring and released an arrow that pierced one of the monsters mid-flight, pinning it directly to a nearby tree.
On the other side, Deinderatrix raised her free hand. The air began to swirl wildly around her fingers as her lips modulated a swift yet melodious mystical whisper:
"[Invisible breeze that skims the skies, turn to steel within my hands; let your subtle caress become the blade that claims the silence]..."
With a sharp, definitive motion, the mage unleashed the gathered energy. A lethal blade of invisible wind sliced through the air with a sharp whistle, cleanly parting the second creature in two before it even hit the ground.
Beside Alaster, Jinneth watched the scene, her eyes shining with genuine admiration and excitement. She was marveled by the ease with which the adventurers dispatched the threats.
Spurred by the adrenaline of the moment, Alaster spotted a fourth horned rabbit. It was positioned a bit further away, watching the combat from a small ridge in the meadow. He decided this was the perfect moment to test his own capabilities in a real situation.
He silently slipped away from the group, venturing deeper into the thick field of flowers. His high boots trod softly upon the meadow, crushing the stems and releasing a sweet aroma that mingled with the scent of dirt and the wild musk of the monster before him.
Alaster advanced in a crouch, utilizing his sharp senses to measure the distance. When he was close enough—about ten meters from the target—he stopped.
Initially, he thought of using a fire arrow. However, looking at the vastness of the meadow, he feared a stray flare might spark a wildfire, even though the ground was quite damp from the morning dew. He opted instead for ice magic, which he had been practicing mentally.
He stood up slowly, taking care not to make the slightest sound to avoid alerting the monster. What Alaster failed to perceive due to his intense concentration was that the girls had stopped fighting. They were now stealthily walking right behind him, intently watching his every move.
"What is he doing?" Deinderatrix whispered with evident concern. "It's extremely dangerous for a Level 1 to separate like that. Those rabbits are Level 5... they are individually stronger and faster than a common goblin!"
"Shhh, shut up. You'll scare the rabbit," Arya snapped in a sharp whisper, her eyes fixed firmly on Alaster's back.
Deinderatrix shot her a nasty look but held her tongue.
"Just watch, meow..." Mirage intervened, her ears perked up. "If anything goes wrong, we step in immediately."
Suddenly, the air around Alaster began to swirl faintly. A gust of arctic cold materialized in a two-meter radius around him. Out of the four girls, only Deinderatrix, being an accomplished mage, could fully comprehend the magnitude of what was happening. In her head, panic and confusion instantly collided.
"How is this possible? A Level 1 should not possess that amount of mana under any circumstances!"
Alaster closed his eyes for a fraction of a second. He visualized the molecular structure of ice and shaped it into a dense, sharp spike, just as his programmer's mathematical mind dictated.
CRACK!
A sharp, deafening crunch of freezing air echoed through the clearing. Floating beside Alaster's left flank, a gargantuan ice spike a meter long materialized out of thin air.
He opened his eyes and looked to his side, somewhat taken voiced. During his practice sessions at the inn, due to the tight space, he had only created tiny, ten-centimeter versions that looked like small, deformed, blunt knives. But this... this was the size of a greatsword made of pure, crystalline ice.
Before he could even process it, the excess mana he had channeled due to his high innate attributes reacted to his stray thoughts. A second crack resonated to his right, and another spike of identical proportions materialized on the spot.
"Chantless... without any incantation..." Mirage whispered. Her green eyes were wide open, and her little cat mouth was slightly agape with awe. "And... he barely made any sound while channeling."
Arya felt a genuine shiver run down her spine. High-level mages were already terrifying beings due to their destructive attack power. But an individual who could cast multiple high-caliber spells simultaneously, purely with a thought, and while supposedly being a Level 1 novice... that was fearsome. The elven girl's eyes filled with deep alarm, completely losing her teasing expression.
Alaster locked his violet gaze onto the horned rabbit. The monster finally realized the danger and tensed its hind legs to spring. Alaster raised his right hand with a decisive gesture.
The spike on the right hurtled toward the target, shot at a tremendous velocity, slicing through the wind with a whistle far more powerful and swift than that of a reinforced arrow.
Liena, who until that moment thought Alaster only possessed common utility magic, stood completely perplexed. She had collaborated with dozens of low-rank mages at the guild, and she knew perfectly well that none possessed the mental speed to cast so many spells in rapid succession or maintain such precise control.
The creature, showcasing its Level 5 reflexes, managed to dodge the first spike by mere centimeters with an acrobatic leap forward. But while the rabbit was suspended in mid-air, unable to alter its trajectory, Alaster executed a swift flick of his wrist.
The second icy spike instantly roared to life.
The ice projectile impaled the monster squarely through the chest in mid-air, driving it directly into the ground with brutal force. The rabbit was pinned to the damp earth, suspended about thirty-five centimeters above where the spike had firmly buried itself. Its limp paws dangled in the air as its blood froze instantly.
In that exact moment, Alaster felt a strange, powerful energy surge through his entire body. It was as if an electric wave of warmth and vitality flowed through his veins. The fatigue from the journey and the accumulated tension vanished in a heartbeat. He suddenly felt entirely renewed, wide awake, and at one hundred percent of his physical and mental capacities.
An involuntary smile crossed his face as he exhaled a cold mist.
"Did I... did I just level up?" he thought, looking down at the lifeless body of the monster.