Li directed the light of her owards Aira. The undead woman froze and then looked at her as if she did not uand her questions. She shook her head and lowered her hand to her belt as though to retrieve a on. Li jumped back, fear overwhelming her.

  Was that it? Aira got what she wanted, and now she didn't he stupid human sidekiymore?

  But Aira tihe motion, moving her hand deliberately and slowly. She wasn't going to attack. She showed that she wasn't aggressive.

  She pulled the journal out of her knee pocket and scribbled a couple of words. Still, Li wi how much the agility of the undead had ged since she tive at the town hall. Gohe slow and uneven motions. She was writing with the speed and precision of a professional scribe now.

  Aira turhe page to Li: "I didn't kill them. All of them are alive. Maybe the ohat fell from the roofs will have minor bruises, but that's it. I hoped you'd uand."

  "How would I evehat?" Li excimed. "Spirits in the shadows! It was just like this m! You disabled Korin the same way as Garrick. And Garrick is dead! You wouldn't deny that, right?"

  Aira wrote more in her journal and showed it to Li again: "We go bad che them if you want. But I'm not sure it's safe. And that may lead to me killing someone."

  And then that smiling face at the end.

  "Arrghh!" growled Li. "What should I do?!?"

  Aira showed her another sentence. "Now you are speaking my nguage!"

  She growled as well.

  Obviously doh the versation, the undead woman turned her back to Li as if nothing had happened. It seemed that she got her answer and didn't even sider there was any danger ing from the human. So, she focused ily och as if sidering whether to bst it with her outworldish powers as well.

  Li made up her mind, stretched out her hand, hesitated, and then touched Aira's shoulder. "Wait. There's an easy way to open it." With a turn of the wheel, she unlocked the hatch, and the out, appearing at the fringes of the Southern Forest. The first glimmer of dawn was c the sky above them. A new day was beginning.

  Outside, the hatch was masked behind an inspicuous boulder. But even with these security measures, Li now felt like the people of Mountain View had bee too rexed. She chuckled. Did she really o over-analyze this hatd tunnel if they all missed the signs of Garrick preparing a coup?

  ***

  The forest around them looked pretty much the same as the ohat Aira experienced in her first hours in this world. That wasn't really surprising. The rangers didn't have to walk too far after they captured her. Even if the march sted for hours, they had to carry Aira on their backs, which slowed the progress, and they weren't too far from that abandoned house.

  The trees were much more familiar to her now than a month earlier. There were fewer leaves on the branches, and more were on the ground now. But that was to be expected; more than a month had passed sihe st time.

  Still, somehow, being in the open space, in the forest, overwhelmed Aira with emotions. These weren't the trees of her world. Well, they were the same trees, with branches and leaves, but everything was slightly off. The colors were wrong and the leaves had different shapes. Aira touched the bark of the ree. It eve wrong under her fingers.

  Yet, now she had no choice but to get used to these new sensations. In the same way, she had to get used to this new Energy Manipution skill.

  Not losing a beat, she activated the skill and observed her surroundings. In every dire, she saw objects filled with energy. She and Li definitely stood out, but the trees were shining as brightly within her magical perception.

  Aira directed her senses back, towards the town. No one was following them through the tunnel. But she quickly traced their path back to the street where they had cshed with Korin. She could feel the ranger's body still lying there; he and his men were definitely alive, even if incapacitated.

  She probed further, feeling she could easily reach out to the ter of the town and even beyond. Now, she sensed hundreds and even thousands of energy signatures. Humans, pets, rodents, trees, and much more. Momentarily, she became overwhelmed by all the signals she was receiving aivated the skill.

  What was its limit?

  Aira took out her journal once again and scribbled a bit more. She couldn't help but notice how Li had reacted wheook it out, back there iuhe woman was obviously spooked by her as. Now, they had to rebuild their retionship from scratch.

  "I sense Korin and his crew," she hahe o Li. "They are unscious but alive. Someone will find them and they will be alright, I'm sure. Maybe with a bit of damage to their pride. But they'll survive."

  Li winced once again as she read the text. "You feel them from here? Ah, whatever..."

  ***

  The humahe way. Even during the night, she chose the paths with fidend precision. It felt like Li could navigate the area even with her eyes closed. But that wasn't surprising since she spent years patrolling the area.

  Since her arrival to this world, Aira didn't feel as strong an urge to expin herself, a y to talk. To discuss at least some of her powers and abilities.

  Still, when the only option was to unicate through writing, there o be a better pd time. Even worse, Aira wasn't sure she herself uood these powers well enough to expio anyone, let alone a person who had never experienced magic.

  And also, the m light was still dim. It wasn't safe either to write or to read while walking.

  Uedly, Li started talking. "I really hope it's true that you didn't kill them," she said. "They were good people. Uhose who decided to join Garri his rebellion. But I don't know how even to believe you. Your powers... they are se! If all of the undead have the same abilities, why haven't they killed us all yet? You have to be so much more powerful than we are."

  Aira spread her hands wide and then poio her journal as if to show that she didn't know how to ahese questions without writing a lengthy essay.

  "Yeah, figures," Li said.

  Aira gestured as if trying to apologize for their stuyle of unication.

  "Yeah, yeah..." said Li. "I uand, don't worry. It's a long talk. But we gotta hash it out as soon as we find somewhere safe to hunker down."

  The night was humid, and early m covered the grass and moss with dew that glistened uhe first light of the new day. It had probably rained earlier, as the ground was still wet, and the air was thick with smells of damp deg leaves. There were no signs of any animals, as they were too close to the humalement. But even birds shied away from two travelers, scared by their deliberate movement.

  An hour ter, the unlikely pair, human and undead, came to a clearing with a half-decayed , not uhe one where Aira spent her first night in this world.

  After all this walking, Aira was too absorbed ihoughts. But Li broke the sileartling her. "I o rest a bit. It should be safe to spend some time here. I'm as worn out as a mule in spring pnting, and I 't keep my wits about me with you doing... whatever it is that you do."

  Aira took out her journal. "Sure, I'll keep watch. I'll sense if anyone approaches us," she wrote. "What is our destination?"

  "I have a p mind," Li said grimly. "I thought about going there while Garrick was burning the Elders. Funny how seeing a friend and your mentors oakes brings all your old escape pns to mind. Guess I've always kept one eye on the way out."

  They set up a camp, and as soon as Li fell asleep, Aira prepared to meditate. She hasn't been ing her routines during captivity, but now, when she recovered at least some of her powers, it was even more critical to reintroduce magic to her daily training. Especially as it was so... different.

  What was even more exg to her was that the physical part of her training should be much more fun now that she has recovered at least some of the boosts provided by her 100th level. When you increase your level gradually, the boosts improve almost imperceptibly. But when you lose everything and then gain your powers ba just one day... Yes, that feeling ractically ecstatic.

  Still, ohing bothered her. Alright, many things bothered her, but this one... it wasn't something she ever expected to worry about. In the past weeks, she noticed that she had less demand for sleep and food. That was one of the ges that happeo her after she was transported to this world. She thought of dozens of expnations, including stress, loss of magid level modifiers.

  But now, her are powers were back. And what has ged was that she felt even less need for sleep and food than before. It was like she was stantly filling her energy reserves from outside sources.

  She closed her eyes and listeo the sounds surrounding her: m chatter of birds, wind rustling the leafless branches, and howling in the fragile ey of the building. She smelled the decayed wood of the with a touch of rust. Not opening her eyes, she stretched her hands and touched whatever she could reach: pnks, kit utensils, and nails scattered on the floor.

  Once again, she was ready for the st stage. This time, it was easier for her to make that final step. But still, this new magic was uncharted territory for her. So, she started with things she was already familiar with: the currents inside her wristband gadget and the energy of the tablet she stored in her backpack. She checked on the peaceful energy emanated by Li. She was calmly dreaming, filled with energy, almost an endless source.

  Promptly, Aira switched to other things, afraid she would affect her panion's sleep. She probed the trees that surrouhe . Again, she was surprised to feel that even while they seemed dormant and deprived of life duriumn, they also stored lots of energy.

  Trag the flows, Aira tried to draw some of that power, as she did with mana. To shape it. She did that slowly, trying not to overwhelm herself. She wasn't in a rush anymore. Aira diverted some of the energy from the pnts surrounding her, notig that before reag her, that are power had first to i with her wristband.

  Was that why she couldn't access the System's capabilities without any of these devices? Did they have to be the gateway for her powers?

  Even while she didn't rush, the energy was overwhelming. It was like a wave c her during a powerful storm. Tumbling her around, dragging her, not letting go. At the same time, she felt it boosting and filling her reserves.

  Aira checked her stats, and as expected, her health bar was finally getting closer to the full level. Just this m, she'd reached a record low but recovered pretty fast, all things sidered. On the pyre, it was exacerbated by the fact that she didn't have any level multipliers affeg her health. Still, it was hard to say what the exaumber was. Her current race, the undead, could have modified it. It was hard to tell. But still, her health level probably was several times lower than it was now, with her regained access to the System.

  At the end of her meditation, Aira checked her quest menu. It felt like a fool's errand, as it only showed question marks st time. Anlitch of the System. But it was better to be thh with it being so unfamiliar and strange.

  --- Active Quests ---1. ???2. ???3. ???4. ???

  --- pleted Quests ---1. Find allies and escape the settlement (Rewards: Skill; 100,000 XP)

  "What?!?" Aira thought, not believing her eyes. "One quest is already pleted, and three new ones active. Well, let's hope our path will tio cide with what the System has prepared for me."

  She read the message until the end. "So, a skill, huh?"

  For Aira, two main ways to acquire new skills were through quests, as it happened just now, or through leveling up. Once every five levels, she got an opportunity to add one new skill to her arsenal. She didn't have to acquire it. Moreover, she didn't always have enough skill points to do that. As the number of her skills increased, it became more and more expeo add new ones.

  What both infuriated and made Aira curious at the current moment was that the twenty-nine skills she lost still ted against the price of the acquisition of a new one. Did that mean they were still with her, hidden somewhere deep within?