Dawn came cold and grey. I hadn't slept much, my mind replaying every word, every glance from the night before. The chill from the earth floor of the woodshed had seeped into my bones, a stark contrast to the warmth and tension of the cottage.
The door opened just as the first sliver of sun breached the horizon. Elara stood there, already dressed, her posture as rigid as the mountain behind her. She didn't look at me. She simply placed a wrapped bundle and a waterskin on the ground by the door.
"Food for your journey," she said, her voice devoid of any warmth. "The road east will take you to the next town. Do not return here."
The finality in her tone was absolute. This was not a negotiation. I had overstayed my welcome by merely existing.
I emerged from the woodshed, my body protesting. "Thank you, Maestra. For your hospitality." I kept my tone neutral, respectful. I picked up the bundle. It was more of the dark bread and some hard cheese. A dismissal, but not a cruel one.
I shouldered my pack and made a show of checking the road east. But my mind was racing. Leaving now meant all of this was for nothing. The risk in the sewers, the bloody fight with the boar, the careful lies—it would all evaporate. I'd be back to square one.
I needed a reason to stay. A reason she would, if not approve of, at least tolerate.
As I turned to give a final, pointless wave, I saw Kaelan limping out of the cottage. He looked better after a night's rest, though his face was still pale. His eyes found me, and he offered a small, grateful nod.
"Zane, right?" he called out, his voice still a bit weak. "You're leaving?"
"Kaelan," Elara's voice was a warning.
"Mother, he helped," Kaelan said, a hint of stubbornness in his tone. The near-death experience had clearly shaken something loose. "He didn't have to. He could have kept walking."
"He brought trouble to our door," Elara countered, though her argument sounded rote, even to her.
"It was already coming," Kaelan shot back. He looked at me. "Where will you go?"
This was my opening. A tiny crack in the door Elara was trying to slam shut.
I shrugged, feigning an aimlessness I didn't feel. "Nowhere in particular. Find work where I can. Hunt a few monsters to get by." I gestured vaguely towards the Whispering Woods. "These woods seem as good a place as any to start. Plenty of low-rank threats for a beginner to practice on."
I saw the flicker in Elara's eyes. Annoyance. Concern. The woods were her domain. Having a stranger—a competent one with a spear—hunting so close to her home was an irritant. A variable she couldn't control.
Kaelan, however, brightened. "You're a hunter? You have a core?" He was young, eager to connect with anyone who shared his new world.
"Recently awakened," I said, which was technically true. "Just Rank 1. Still figuring it out."
"Perhaps you should seek a guild in the next town," Elara said, her voice tight. "They provide training. Structure." And keep you far away from here.
I shook my head, letting a note of bitterness into my voice. "Guilds want fees. Or a cut of your bounties. They want to own you. I've had enough of being owned." I was channeling the original Zane's resentment now, and it felt real. "I prefer to work alone. Or… find a few people I can trust. Start something smaller."
The words hung in the morning air. Start something smaller.
Kaelan looked intrigued. Elara looked deeply suspicious.
"It's a dangerous way to live," she stated.
"It's the only way I know," I replied, meeting her gaze for a moment before looking away, as if embarrassed.
An idea seemed to occur to Kaelan. "You could stay nearby," he said, turning to his mother. "There's that old forester's lodge, half a mile into the woods. It's fallen in, but the walls are still sound. He could fix it up. It would be… a base of operations." He was trying to help, to repay a debt, and in doing so, he was handing me everything I needed.
Elara's jaw tightened. She could see the trap closing. If she said no, she looked paranoid and ungrateful to the boy who had just nearly died. If she said yes, she allowed a potential threat to nest on her doorstep.
She chose the path of controlled observation. "The lodge is on my land," she said, her voice cool. "If you stay, you will follow my rules. You will not hunt near the cottage. You will not approach unless invited. You will cause no trouble. The moment you do, you are gone. Is that clear?"
It was a leash. A short, tight leash. But it was a leash attached to a foundation.
"Perfectly clear, Maestra," I said, bowing my head. "Thank you. I will be no trouble."
She gave a curt nod, then turned and went inside, effectively ending the conversation. She had tolerated my presence, but the walls were higher than ever.
Kaelan grinned, pleased with his diplomacy. "The lodge is just down that game trail," he said, pointing. "You can't miss it. Good luck, Zane."
"Thank you, Kaelan. Take care of that leg."
He nodded and limped back inside.
I didn't wait. I shouldered my pack and walked in the direction he had pointed, not looking back. I could feel Elara's eyes on my back from the cottage window.
The forester's lodge was exactly as described: a small, single-room stone structure with a collapsed roof and a door hanging off its hinges. It was a ruin. But it had four walls and a fireplace. It was mine.
A fierce, triumphant smile spread across my face. I had done it. I had a base of operations outside the deadly city. I was adjacent to a powerful potential ally.
But first, capital. I pulled up my system screen.
[Aetherial Shop]
[Balance: 45 Aether Crystals]
Forty-five crystals. Not nothing. Not enough. It was just shy of the 80 I needed for Aether Reinforcement. I needed to grind, but I could do it from a position of relative safety now.
I got to work on the lodge. The physical labor was a welcome release. I cleared the debris, propped up the door, and gathered fallen branches to create a temporary roof covering. By afternoon, I had a functional, if crude, shelter.
I built a small fire in the hearth, eating the bread and cheese Elara had given me. As I ate, I planned. The woods around me were teeming with Rank 1 monsters. Without the filth and confined space of the sewers, without the threat of other people, I could hunt efficiently. I just needed thirty-five more crystals.
I stood in the doorway of my ruined lodge, looking out at the sun-dappled forest. This wasn't just a hunting ground. This was the first foothold. The first tangible piece of my new life.
Elara thought she had given me a leash. She thought she could keep me at a distance and watch me.
She didn't realize she had just given me the ground on which to build my future. And the first brick was a simple technique, waiting for me in a shop only I could see.
The hunt began tomorrow.