It was early in the morning. Once I finished my morning exercise, I returned as quickly as I could to our sector in the camp and sat on one of the logs we used as benches.
"Ayyy, it's so cold," I rubbed my hands quickly and held my palms toward the campfire. Luckily, we had been warned about the possible snowfall due to the time of year we were in, so we had brought plenty of warm clothing.
"Here, eat this. It'll make you feel warmer," Daren sat down beside me and offered me a bowl with what looked like hot soup.
"Uhm… You didn't make it, right…?" I forced an embarrassed smile.
"Tsk. No, Claire did," he pretended to be offended as a joke, and I accepted the offering.
Daren had just finished his shift, and now it was Claire's and my turn to stand guard alongside Serin for the next six hours. Only a day had passed since we arrived, and the temperature had dropped drastically—so much that they had even questioned whether we should stay or not.
As I sipped the soup, I felt the warmth spreading through my body. It was a truly beautiful sensation. It was so cold that while sleeping I ended up hugging my brother inside our tent. When I woke up, he complained that I hadn't let him sleep.
"Hey, let's go already. We just need to be late," Claire said, lightly pushing my shoulder as she walked past me.
I quickly swallowed what was left in the bowl and left it on the log where I had been sitting. It was considerably hot, but with the temperature outside, I barely noticed.
I jogged to catch up with her and walked at her side. I hugged myself and rubbed my arms. "How can it be this cold? I'm wearing two coats," I complained.
"At least now we know you don't come from a place with this kind of weather," she teased.
I let out a small laugh and we continued walking. When we arrived at the guard post, Serin was waiting for us. Since she was by far the strongest, she took double shifts. The only shocker who stood guard alone—aside from the regular guards—was Rowan.
"How are you two?" Serin greeted us.
"Very cold," I replied.
Claire rolled her eyes. "Don't be dramatic. You've been complaining about the cold since you woke up."
I shrugged. "What do you want me to say then? It's the truth."
"Well, that's not important right now," Serin interrupted. "You, Claire, will stay watching the camp from the watchtower. If you see anything strange, use the whistle so I can return immediately."
Claire nodded, grabbed the tools, and immediately climbed up the watchtower where they had also placed a small steel brazier.
"As for you, you'll come with me and supervise the workers while they cut down the trees," she said while looking at me.
"As you say, miss—"
"Finish that sentence and you'll see," she threatened with a raised eyebrow.
I followed her as we joined a large group of people. They carried axes, saws, and several carts with horses to transport the logs and necessary tools.
I joined Leofric and helped one of the local groups from our village load a cart. Once we finished, we moved deeper into the valley. It was quite close—no more than five hundred meters—but we still had to transport everything by horse.
The morning flew by. The lumberjacks felled several dozen trees. Apparently, the workers from the capital used some pulsar-enriched tools to cut faster. When I approached a tall, bearded, muscular man to ask how they worked, he looked at me strangely, so I stepped away.
From what I could deduce at a glance, they used some material that conducted that energy better. They also had a kind of rectangular stone embedded in them that constantly injected pulsar without the need for a shocker to intervene.
"I see you're interested in those tools," I heard Serin's voice behind me.
"Do you know how they work?"
"Not really. To be honest, I haven't left the village much beyond going to nearby cities to trade. Not to mention I've never even set foot in the capital of the empire," she said innocently while scratching her head.
"I see." I thought for a moment before deciding to ask, "What was that ability you used when the caravan was attacked—you know, that dagger and… well, you understand."
"Do you think I reveal my secrets to just any kid?"
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know…" I said, completely embarrassed.
"Haha, I was joking, Luke. Don't worry so much," she leaned her shoulder against a tree and explained. "It's something I developed on my own not long ago. It's a combination of several abilities."
After calming down from the embarrassment scare, I spoke again. "How does it work? Do you just teleport to where the dagger is?"
She shook her head. "I can't explain it well enough yet to teach it. I tried with my brother, but he couldn't even get close to something similar," she placed a hand on her chin. "The most important thing is reaching an advanced stage of the enhancement phase. Otherwise, you won't be able to project pulsar at a distance through a dagger or whatever."
Before I could say anything, she continued. "You also have to keep in mind that it's not teleportation. My body simply follows the path the dagger took at an incredible speed."
"Oh, I understand." I kept thinking about it. It was simply incredible just imagining how it worked. She threw a projectile and in an instant she was at the point of impact. In real combat, if used properly, it was incredibly insidious for the opponent. There was no way to counterattack that speed.
"Hahaha." She covered her mouth and laughed.
"What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing. It's just that when you think too much, you make a funny expression," she took a breath to stop laughing. "You're like my brother as a student, since it was Edric who taught me as well. So if you ever reach that stage of pulsar, I wouldn't mind teaching you. Of course, as long as I figure out how to explain it, hehe," she winked at me when she finished speaking.
A funny expression? What does she mean by that? When I start thinking, I just stare into nothing without making any face… or at least I think so.
She hit my back with some force, pushing me slightly forward from the impact. "See? You're doing it again. Now that we've finished our little chat, go help wherever they need you. The faster we finish, the sooner we'll be home."
I helped where I could, mainly cutting the logs into the measurements we needed to transport everything in the carts. Since I already had experience with this kind of work, they assigned me there.
They made it clear that I should help just enough, but not push myself to the limit in case an emergency occurred and I needed to be at my best to fight properly. Fortunately, most people weren't despising me for having frozen during the fight… I was very grateful for that.
"The six hours are up, Luke. Please return to the camp and tell Rowan to come replace me. I want to sleep already," Serin approached me with a noticeably tired expression.
And that's exactly what I did. Luckily, nothing happened during my shift, so I simply walked back with Leofric and the other guards to find our replacements.