Vernisha thought about when she was tracking Lo'jul.

  Hmm...

  There was a person, a human person, who had been there for a long time. And she thought about it… did that person also follow them?

  Were they following Lo'jul? She wasn’t sure.

  Perhaps she was overthinking it. Perhaps not.

  ...

  She was not overthinking it. Overthinking wasn’t a flaw; it was a tool to survive.

  She supposed she was going to need to look out for that person when she woke up.

  She had to see if Mon could pick up their scent, then she’d retreat.

  It could be a dangerous person. Someone aware that she had something to do with the damn incident.

  Katie did tell her there were listening ears. But perhaps this was truly overthinking. She had to be cautious and consider many what-ifs, but she couldn't act as if those what-ifs were solid truths. Just prepare for them being real.

  And with that... an overwhelming hunger for power, a beacon to protect herself, rose within her.

  She had to be smart about it. The monster forest wasn’t an option because she broke the guard’s nose. And who knew—perhaps the possible stalker didn’t do anything because he spotted Ferzan. Or maybe he recognized Tarnisha and her close ties to Abella.

  So she had to settle for this training and education from Abella.

  The next day.

  The silo shone on them, blessing the many plants, trees, and grass with its light so their colors could gleam.

  She found her hands on her helmet. She held the horns and pulled it forward, then fit the helmet snugly around her head.

  Her grip around the axe's white handle was firm and tight. The weight was well.

  Abella commented on her attitude. “What’s with the change?”

  “I need to be stronger.”

  “Is that so. You always said that, but... hm. Well, I won’t complain.”

  She pointed at Vernisha’s feet. “Keep your shoulders and feet apart. Otherwise, knocking you over would be easy.”

  Vernisha did so, then slightly bent her knees and adjusted her right foot slightly back, according to her additional instructions.

  Balance on the balls of her feet, not the heels. So she could have as much mobility as possible.

  Abella picked up a pebble and said, “You’re going to shift forward and sideways. Quickly. Got it?”

  “Are you going to send those hard?”

  “You have armor on.”

  “You’re level 193.”

  “And I’m sick.”

  “And you’re level 193.”

  She wanted to argue but gave up and just flicked the damn pebble at her—which made a piercing sound before hitting her square in the chest.

  Vernisha nearly stumbled back from the sheer power behind it. But it didn't hurt that much.

  Abella said, kicking up another round pebble into her hand, “Too slow.”

  “How did you expect me to even dodge that?!”

  “Perhaps if you stopped fighting like just a person.”

  Vernisha shifted to the right, moving lightly on her feet like a boxer—a shitty one. “What if I can’t? What if I’m forced to fight like a human?”

  “Hmm... You’re right. Strike at me. Always try to drive your foot into the ground, then twist with your hips and shoulders for force.”

  Vernisha rushed at her, and Abella stood there like a statue. If it weren’t for the wind lightly tugging at her simple yellow dress that reached her ankles, you would've thought she was an inanimate object.

  When Vernisha was half a meter away from her, she slammed her right foot against the ground and pushed herself forward.

  Her grip on the axe was as tight as possible. Then she swung down at her, rotating her hips and putting her shoulders into the swing.

  Her axe glided through the air, inching toward her right shoulder where it would go through her flesh and only stop at the left sided waist.

  It felt fast, powerful!

  Then it reached her shoulder, and Vernisha got confused. Why didn’t she dodge—

  Suddenly, the axe's head came to a stop, and the handle immediately jerked up—along with a terrible vibration that ran up her wrist.

  Just as quickly, the handle smacked her in the stomach.

  The axe dropped from her hands and she stumbled in a twist before crumbling to the ground in absolute agony. It felt like she was the one who got hit with the axe—just a dull one.

  Abella said, barely concerned with her antics, “Every action has an equal reaction. If your opponent can’t be sliced down, then use attacks you’re not attached to. It’s not worth breaking your fist on iron.”

  The wind billowed her hair upward, and it seemed like the strands were crawling to the heavens. “Try again. And with a less aggressive grip. Your joints should be like springs for shock. Not concrete begging to be broken.”

  Vernisha grumbled, still writhing in agony on the grass. “Give me a break. The armor did a crappy job of protecting me.”

  She crouched and touched Vernisha’s leather glove’s loose wrist strap. “You didn’t fasten this. Also the defense boost isn't consistent. In order to make the enchantments last for as long as possible, the armor would only activate when it's in use. It also scales the enchantments based on the danger.”

  Such bullshit.

  Vernisha asked, “How? It has eyes too?”

  “It reads your heart rate, sweat, and changes in hormones. If you want manual control, you must squeeze the horns.”

  She guessed that explained why she was able to break that monster zone guard's nose.

  She still thought it was ridiculous, but it made sense. She supposed it was like having a battery saver mode.

  She hid her hands under her body, then healed her wrist.

  In a mere instant, the pain was gone, and the energy drain was minimal.

  She stood up and strapped the long glove straps before picking up the axe. “No pain, no gain.”

  She stepped back, satisfied with Vernisha’s response.

  Vernisha slightly bent her knees and kept her shoulders and feet apart.

  Her grip on the axe was tight—but much looser than before.

  The form was still poor.

  I told her, “Dominant hand on the bottom. Other one close to the head. Guess the reason.”

  “Leverage...?”

  I nodded. “There is another.”

  “Control.” Her right arm shifted to the bottom (I find it suspicious how much she cares for her left hand when she’s absolutely right-handed) of the axe’s handle, and the left moved near the head.

  She frowned and started to lower her left hand. However, I told her, "Do that mid-swing. To get control and power at once."

  She seemed confused for a second. When she finally understood my point, she brought her left hand back to the head.

  She came after me again. I didn’t like axes. I found such weapons ugly.

  Once she swung in my direction, her left hand rushed down to meet the right hand, and the speed of the swing was far greater.

  Her eyes widened when she saw how precise the axe was moving.

  Her axe slid toward my neck, so I bent to dodge it. Weapons that left gore behind... heinous things.

  Regardless, my younger brother liked weapons of all kinds. So even though I didn’t care for most of them, when I was a young [Hero], I collected a bunch.

  The axe carried Vernisha with its momentum. However, she quickly switched her grip in the opposite direction and fought against the force to swing at me again. A horrid decision.

  When she missed this time, instead of making the same mistake, she grunted and attempted to spin!

  However, it was a failure. She tripped and fell to the ground. The axe flew out of her hand—deliberately this time.

  I watched the axe skip on the rocky ground before sliding into a stop.

  She got up again and rushed for the axe. While running she was watching me.

  At least she learned something. I rushed at her.

  She unsheathed her knife, slicing at me.

  Oh. A bait.

  I didn’t move. I just watched the weapon come at my neck. Then clang, it rebounded in her hands.

  Instead of being surprised, she splayed her fingers, letting the knife fly away.

  She kept moving forward and wrapped her hands around my neck, throwing her entire body weight at me.

  It... didn’t make me move. But it was a nice effort.

  I said, "I like that. Try to shift into a headlock next time."

  She sighed. "I want to work on carrying my momentum with my axe swings."

  "I see that. I want to see it too."

  She went for the axe, picked it up, and entered her stance again.

  I asked, "What do you think should change about your stance? To better accommodate your attacks and defense?"

  She thought for a while, fingers drumming on the axe handle.

  Tarnisha, who was seated under the short tree, said, "Can I say?"

  "No," I responded.

  Vernisha then looked at me and changed her position, angling herself rather than facing front.

  At first, her dominant shoulder pointed toward me, but when she tried swinging her axe with her hips and shoulders, she gave up and switched it.

  A bladed stance, led with her less dominant side.

  "Okay," she said. "Fighters like to do this. Just had to remember."

  Hmm.

  "And why is that?" I asked.

  "Less exposure to attacks, and I can get greater hip rotation. I’m basically a coil."

  It was better to have your shoulder destroyed than your chest, which housed your lungs and heart.

  I knew that from getting my entire shoulder blown apart once. What a hellish time it was to be a [Hero].

  I told her, "Try sidestepping and moving about in a defensive maneuver."

  She began lightly bouncing on her feet, then made sudden movements—moving up, then launching herself back.

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  She smiled at that, then began moving in all angles, as if she’d been given a new body and this was her first time using it. "I think I get it. The general principles of martial arts work for these things."

  "For the most part. The weapon just needs you to tweak some of the workings. The bouncing thing you’re doing—don’t do it when you’re swinging or planning to use the axe. You need firm footing for your strikes."

  Her smile grew. "Got it."

  Then her grip tightened around the handle, her left hand sliding up to the head. She swung diagonally to her left.

  She began doing quick twists to keep the axe’s momentum. Something like that worked best with a monster's eye on the target since her twists forced her to be blindsided for a second.

  At least she wasn’t making full-body spins. But then again...

  I told her, "Remember—with the use of monsters, you can’t be blindsided. But since we’re training for what-if scenarios where you can’t use monsters, I’d suggest canceling the strike momentum by changing your hand position to strike in the opposite direction."

  Vernisha finished her swing and held the axe above her head, shoulders heaving with exhaustion. "Okay. But wouldn’t that slow me down?"

  "Yes, but you wouldn’t be blindsided. How do you avoid being slowed down too much?"

  She swung the axe forward, then switched to an opposite grip as soon as the swing was complete. She did that a couple times, then started experimenting—first a sluggish strike, then a switch, then a quick burst of force.

  "What if I use it as a feint? The first strike is weak or half-strength. Then the second strike catches them off guard. Soft then hard."

  "Yes, but what if you want to go hard all the time?"

  She smirked like I’d said something funny—oh.

  I pretended not to understand.

  She then breathed in and stepped back, raising her axe again. "You know... now that I think about it, getting an axe was dumb. I don’t really give strength the time of day."

  "Must be why you’re already getting tired. Nonetheless, over-reliance on mod points is stupid. Grow stronger through effort. It may be vastly inferior to mod points—but it still works."

  "Interesting." She struck hard, then tried to change her grip faster to strike hard in the opposite direction.

  The axe left her hand instead. She tried again, focusing mainly on her grip. Then she seemed to have stumbled upon an idea.

  She swung downward, and when it was nearly complete, she shot her hand up to the axe’s head to gain better control, then switched to an opposite grip, brought her hand down, and swung.

  I clapped. "Not bad."

  She still wasn’t satisfied.

  This time, when she was completing her slash, she weakened the momentum, so she could easier switch to an opposite grip, and strike hard in the opposite direction.

  "Hard to Soft to Hard," she said.

  "But your aim won’t be as good," Abella commented. A hand needed to guide the axe—at least until she got better.

  "I’ll do both. Or just practice."

  "Come again," she told her. "Try everything and adapt your style."

  She sighed, then rushed at her.

  Axe wielders. Abella had told Vernisha she didn’t kill vlandos. It wasn't her [Hero] duties. So she supposed she wasn’t really lying.

  She once fought a discharged Knight. He wielded a weapon she looked down on—an axe.

  He had gone mad. He had become Corrupted. It was better to be Broken than to become a puppet of corruption.

  The messenger said he was at the Torque river, attacking Delshark Grainworks’(the biggest food processors in Terrafall) water turbines that powered the grinning mills, shellers and sifters.

  If not for the massive golden axe of his, sculpted with the faces of his sons, daughters, and their children, she wouldn’t have been able to recognize him.

  The man was a walking shadow, streaked with dark purple on the edges and centers of every muscle mass.

  When he growled, it was guttural. Even if he could talk, it would’ve been pointless—his teeth had mutated into curled, long pricks.

  His fingers had sliced her stomach open. "Fingers" was probably the wrong word—they had become claws. She was surprised his elbows were sharper than them.

  Despite that, he wielded his axe like usual. Fought like usual—switching between spinning like a damn bladed tornado and striking with his hands when she was too close.

  She may have hated the axe and didn’t use them. But she had nearly died from one. Who else could be a better teacher than the one who nearly died fighting a master of the arts for three days straight?

  But then again, she was only fourteen.

  Vernisha asked, "What are some tricks and common strategies used when fighting? I already know about partial release."

  She asked, "What are some tricks and common strategies used when fighting? I already know about partial release."

  "The best, in my opinion, is to get the opponent to underestimate you—what you can do, or make them think they’ve bested you. In simple terms, make them drop their guard."

  She had screwed up by making this Yanson guy take her as a serious threat. Damn it.

  She asked, "What else?"

  "Count and try to measure how much ether their monster is spending. How much longer they can use the monster before they’re forced to rest. Try using the System’s Network to help with that."

  She had never heard of that before. "Uh, how do I do that?"

  "Merely ask for it. It’s basically a network of information shared by vlandos. But it can be very stressful on the mind of weaker vlandos."

  "Then it’s a good thing I can handle such things."

  "I suppose so."

  System, give me access to the Network.

  There was a silence in her head, then suddenly a deep throbbing took hold of her skull.

  But she could bear it.

  You’re connected.

  How, um...

  She asked Abella, "Does this contain everything?"

  "All of it is about monsters. Establishing communication lines isn’t possible with it. It’s just a library."

  "About monsters alone. Damn."

  "The System was literally made to combat monsters. Whether it’s effective against them is a different story."

  Yet it’ll give the power to make myself look like a damn supermodel. Tch tch.

  System. What is the final form of Aquaren.

  ...

  ...

  Then suddenly, she felt a sharp pain at the back of her head.

  Annildona — Venrike — Aquamarelian

  It contains three possible final forms: one focused on maximizing its stats, the second on its racial skills, and the last on its water attribute.

  Where are metal monsters found?

  After about three minutes of gradually increasing pain, she got a response.

  Typically in zones that contain tunnels to rich iron deposits.

  Ouch ouch ouch!

  She turned it off because the pain had become unbearable.

  She held her head in pain and asked, "Does it think? Have its own consciousness?"

  "It's like a plant. If it did, and it wanted to betray the world, we'd be in trouble."

  "Fair point. But having the network contain information other than monsters would be valuable. Like survival books."

  "I believe the information is kept limited to avoid making the library even more bloated. That way, it puts less strain on the connected person."

  She made a valid point, but that only made Vernisha question it even more.

  "So why can't the System have a stopgap or bear the strain? Oh, it already is, isn’t it?"

  "Yes. Even the System has limits. If it didn’t... we’d all be vlandos."

  "...Oh. Huh. It’s a damn good thing Monster Zones exist then."

  "It is now. But imagine what would happen once those zones grow weaker and fade away. What our ancestors had to deal with."

  Yikes. She didn’t even want to think about that. She had already seen what one intelligent monster did to a village—imagine hundreds of them roaming around freely.

  Imagine much more intelligent monsters.

  "Our only hope would be Mortal Gods," she responded.

  "Yes..." Abella said, depressingly.

  "But if so, why didn’t they save Bajinmal from Emermyne’s Monster Eclipse?"

  Abella looked at her for a moment, not showing an ounce of emotion.

  Then Vernisha added, "But when they were creating False Gods—or trying to—Brandon came out of nowhere and laid waste to the nation."

  Abella then said, "I suppose they thought it wasn't worthy of their attention. But... it could be for stupid reasons. These Gods are far more petty than you think. They're called Mortal despite being immortal for a reason."

  Vernisha stared at her, then awkwardly looked around like a crazy religious zealot could come after them at any moment.

  Fortunately, there was no spying zealot, and a bolt of lightning didn’t strike her.

  So questioning a Mortal God didn’t come with consequences? Nice.

  Vernisha said, "Are you supposed to say things like that? Especially since you’re... You know." She eyed Abella’s hair and eye color. "Starlight."

  "My First Mother—that’s what we call Wanda—isn’t paying attention to what a random descendant of hers says. We praise her, give her glory, read about her history. As long as these things are done, I could call her a fool, and nothing would happen. For the most part."

  "I never see you all do any praising."

  "Why would you? Such things are private." Abella thought for a second. "Should be private. Unless it’s done in a Reverence, I suppose."

  She paused again, thinking over her statement.

  Reverences were somewhat like churches, but not as big of a deal. Just places to show respect to a specific Mortal God or to pray to them.

  But I could be wrong.

  Abella resumed, "And if you’re not a Starlight, I guess."

  “I see, I see.” Vernisha had another question. "If vlandos are a blessing of Balash, and the reason they’re powerful is due to the System... why isn’t the System all-powerful? Why doesn’t it just destroy all monsters?"

  "Perhaps Balash isn’t all-powerful.” Abella shrugged. “Sometimes, I wonder if the educators know as much as they claim. Maybe it simply doesn’t care as much as we think. Who knows?"

  "But you talk to it. You were given missions from it directly."

  She smiled dryly, like she was ashamed of something. "I never had a conversation with Balash. Everything it wanted was done through the System."

  Then she said, "Enough of that. Come at me again."

  An hour later.

  Training was done for the day.

  Vernisha went to the library. Afterwards, she fell asleep. Only when it was an hour before midnight did she wake up.

  She couldn’t find Ferzan during the daytime, so she had planned on catching him at night, although she feared she had woken up too late.

  But a single telepathic message confirmed he was awake.

  She found him sitting on a bench beneath a rather short tree.

  He leaned against the tree, staring up at the many white spots scattered across the dark sky.

  She supposed he really liked sitting in silence. Before getting to the point, she asked, "You just ate?"

  “An hour ago. Why?”

  “Was wondering if you only sit by yourself after eating, or if you do this all the time.”

  “Oh. Right.”

  He clearly wasn’t in a good mood, so she asked, “Hm. How’d your training go today?”

  “Normal. Typical.” He said apathetically. “You want to trade your monster out?”

  “Yes. I want Mon.” She paused, then added, “So, you said Wanda likes to be troublesome after you made contact. Is that why you’re in a bad mood?”

  He shook his head. “My mood isn’t down. And about Wanda... don’t worry about that. I was just thinking about the trip my father’s on. It’s taking annoyingly long.”

  He stood up then, stretched out a finger, and closed his eyes.

  Vernisha held his finger tightly to prevent a leak of light from escaping.

  The trade was complete. She gave him the Aquaren for safekeeping.

  Then she asked, “Your dad is on a business trip?”

  “No. Finding a cure for my mother.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “A cure is possible?”

  “I mean... Wanda said no. My father also said his dad said no. But my mother can move about now. She no longer looks like she has a foot in the grave. If she’s recovering naturally, even slowly, then maybe something can boost her further. Maybe some other [Hero] or past [Heroes] knows.”

  I wondered if merely being a [Hero] gave her some kind of healing factor.

  “I hope things work out for the best,” Vernisha said.

  “Me too. Where are you going?”

  “Thinking I might have a stalker. I want to go to the city. In it, and then out—to test my suspicions.”

  He looked at her like she was going crazy, then shrugged. “By yourself?”

  “If you can come, that’d be nice.”

  “I would, but... I’m not up for going to the city today.”

  Damn it. Maybe I could ask Katie? But it was late.

  She didn’t need to confirm her suspicions so late in the night, but she wanted to.

  Vernisha said, “I’ll be back. And no, I’m not making up an excuse to go to the forest.”

  She thought about it for a second. Knowing Ferzan, he’d keep an eye on her from a distance.

  And so, she left the estate. She had also thought of a better strategy to hide her seal energy, which according to Abella was officially called Seal Ejections.

  She ran and clasped her hands, partially releasing Crusbull’s head. It was armored up, so she doubted this would hurt it.

  She jumped off the dirt road and slammed Crusbull’s head into the ground. It plunged through the dirt like it was a thin sheet of ice. Then she fully released Crusbull. The ground beneath it broke apart. A second later, there was a loud, guttural moo—like a mockery of a cow’s cry.

  Then the beast easily dashed to the surface.

  Vernisha hopped on it and ran toward the city. After what felt like half an hour, she got close enough to spot the Knights.

  She made Crusbull [Hyper chase] himself into the ground to dig through—then absorbed him.

  I suppose all my actions would arouse any hidden watcher’s suspicion.

  So she pulled back and muttered, “Okay, this trick isn’t too bad... It’d definitely shock someone.”

  She walked around the hole she’d created, acting like she was analyzing it. “If I could do this silently... and catch others by surprise...”

  She stopped and kept looking at the hole in silence. When she felt like she’d done enough, she used the trick with her shirt to summon Melorpion, then used [Iron Will] on herself.

  An unnatural calmness and confidence filled her body to the brim. She resealed Melorpion, then summoned the head of Mon.

  Then she proceeded to bash her head with a flat rock until she felt unwell and her head began to bleed.

  Despite her shaky legs, Vernisha still felt extremely confident and calm in her actions. [Iron Will] was truly an amazing skill.

  But she got what she wanted. She looked at Mon, whose head was bleeding. In that condition, her influence over it would be greater.

  She didn’t need the full head, so she made it slip back and only left the snort out of the seal.

  She decided to pay attention to the scent of everything around her within half a mile.

  The Knights didn’t smell of sweat. Maybe they were the night shift. It wasn’t like their scent was easy to pick up, anyway.

  They weren’t the target, so she didn’t continue thinking much about it.

  So Vernisha began saying certain words—bait—something that would get the attention of a certain someone if she was bugged.

  She just sat there. Half an hour passed. Nothing. So she wasn’t bugged.

  She walked toward the city walls, not by the gate. When she got close enough to touch it, she began muttering, “Man-eating incident... my brother and father had... A bread...”

  She left out key details. Anyone lacking context would be clueless. If this person was stalking her because of what she’d said to Katie, then this would definitely trigger their attention.

  The walls had to be bugged—for security reasons. And she assumed they had the tech to alert individuals if certain words were said. If they could create holograms, then that was surely possible.

  She just kept walking for quite a long while, repeating the same thing. To pass the time, she kicked rocks and muttered songs she could barely remember.

  She would take a break, then say, “Man-eating incident. My brother and father.”

  So much time passed, she was starting to believe the walls weren’t bugged in the way she hoped—

  Then she picked up the smell.

  It was moving fast. Their device must’ve been set to flag certain keywords and send an alert.

  The intensity of the smell drifting toward her from an elevated area—above the walls—came to a stop.

  Vernisha said, “If you know what’s good for you... you’ll stay away, or risk losing your life.”

  She fully absorbed Mon and looked up at the majestic walls—someone was peering down. But she couldn’t see anything other than a damn outline in the darkness.

  Well, she would be saying that if she were stupid. Before she went to the walls, she had sent Forwing to hide in the trees and track her with its eyes so she would know where she was walking.

  And so she could see the stalker and memorize their face.

  But there was an issue. The person had a red mask on, holding the bottom of it with one hand. And she couldn’t see his damn level, no matter how hard she tried.

  Her bait must’ve been too obvious. Of course it was. It was meant to be.

  Then out of nowhere, she got a message:

  Yanson Audil is making a communication line with you.

  Why would he expose his identity? Would accepting reveal something about her? He already knew what she looked like, so why would he need her name?

  She thought hard, wondering what to do.

  Honestly, she couldn’t see how it would backfire if she played it carefully. She knew nothing about him, so she had everything to gain. Merely knowing he was actually a man and not a woman trying to disguise herself would be helpful. Knowing his accent and speech mannerisms would also be useful.

  She accepted.

  ‘Don’t bother remembering the name. I keep my birth name secret for a reason.’

  ‘Residence papers exist,’ Vernisha responded.

  ‘Something you wouldn’t get your hands on. Nonetheless, don’t fret... I don’t plan to kill you. Not my job.’

  There was an odd anger behind his voice.

  ‘Why not? What have I ever done to you?’ she asked, trying to learn his motive.

  For a while, there wasn’t a response.

  ‘...You don’t seem so scared.’

  Shit.

  She had fucked up, and she couldn’t fake fear now. It was too late for that.

  ‘I said, ‘A Vlandos doesn’t show fear. They’re firm, strong.’* That sounded convincing enough to her.

  She was basing it on how her younger boy cousins hated crying, thinking it made them look weak. Boys don’t cry. In that same idea, Vlandos weren’t afraid of people. It wasn’t unbelievable that a child would act tough because of what they’d heard.

  ‘No. No... A child can’t hide the emotions in their voice. They’re not that good. You’re not scared at all.’ He took a short pause, thinking about what he was going to say next. ‘You’re a dangerous child, indeed. No... whatever you are, cosplaying as a child, is dangerous. Something that needs to be exterminated. I’ll make sure to be extra careful with you. Little demon.’

  ...What the hell...

  He stepped back and vanished into the darkness.

  Vernisha had overestimated herself. For the first time in her life, she’d been discovered for what she truly was.

  Partially, at least.

  This wasn’t someone she could play with—grow stronger to deal with. If she waited, he’d just perfect whatever plan he had. Maybe recruit others, or spread word to cast suspicion on her.

  She had to get rid of him as fast as possible.