Gcien and I dashed north in order to gain as much distance as possible from possible pursuers. While I believed that the elves and dwarves had their hands full to worry about me, it was better to be safer than sorry.

  ‘Considering the fact that the empire is after me, I can’t head to pces where I have acquaintances, so Felyndor is out of the question. Perhaps I should clear some byrinths in the Aesira Empire before heading to the Kingdom of Talimor.’

  I had heard that the harpies won’t welcome anyone in their territory…they rip people apart first and then ask questions ter. Their best byrinths are in their floating isnds, but there were some of them which can still be found on nd.

  The harpies don’t have allies, so I didn’t have to worry about them receiving help or spreading information to get me. Still, deep down, I couldn’t help but worry about Crice… now and then. My mana would still be drained, so it looked like the fights weren’t easy for her.

  ‘.... No point in helping others when it is to detriment. Besides, helping her might cause more issues, like the empire trying to use our retionship to get me.’

  As we moved further north, the temperature began to drop considerably, they sky got more and more grey as well. After a couple of days, I was able to see some snow falling in the distance.

  “Awoo! Awoo! Awoo!”

  “Someone is in a good mood, huh?”

  Gcien was running ahead without worrying about her stamina while I was pacing myself. Around the time we crossed the border, I couldn’t help but frown since I couldn’t see the floating isnds anywhere… they were pretty easy to find on the border of the empire… all over the border, in fact.

  “I knew that they could control the floating isnds, but this is still quite surprising… Are they plotting something too?”

  It looked like the whole world couldn’t calm down for a moment… It made me think that it made sense. I still had no idea why I was reborn here, so perhaps all this was bound to happen.

  The main issue apparently was the next rift that was bound to change the world and the fact that the cirvoyant couldn’t see anything about me… all this was supposed to be linked, after all.

  “I still feel that someone is working behind the scenes to make me get into all kinds of trouble, but I didn’t find any proof of that. The most suspicious people would be the vampires and their organizations, but aside from the forsaken, I didn’t find any traces of them.”

  Considering all that, I couldn’t help but think that I should hide somewhere and do nothing, but that wouldn’t be a good way of living my second life. As expected, the answer too many of my doubts lies with the vampires and their organizations. I decided to check my notes about them.

  The Crimson Covenant worships dark beings and those they consider ancient vampire gods, believing that vampires are divinely chosen to rule over all beings. They practice blood magic and rituals to gain favor from their dark gods.

  Their primary goal is to gain power through blood rituals and dark magic. They seek to elevate vampires as god-like beings and bring about an age where vampires dominate both the human world and the supernatural realms.

  “I can use a bit of blood magic, but I am not sure about their limitations… I don’t feel like testing my powers as a blood mage to learn that, either. Thanks to that, I can’t discard the possibility that they could be involved in my summoning here…”

  The Veiled Court believes that the best way to ensure vampire supremacy is through subtle control of other governments, economies, and institutions. They see direct confrontation as unnecessary when power can be taken through manipution.

  Their goal is to infiltrate all societies and quietly take control of key institutions, pcing vampires in positions of influence without revealing their true nature. They aim to create a shadow government that rules the world from behind the scenes.

  “This one seems like the group that spread fake news about me in dwarven territory… if I find either of them, I guess I can attack freely and then ask questions ter “

  The only problem was the fact that my best card was also one of the best cards… the decay arrows. Those should be effective on me as well. I couldn’t deny it since using my own decay arrows against me would be useless

  I let out a sigh and decided to focus on the present. I have been crossing the Aesira Empire for a while, but I had no idea where I was going. Morals be damned. As soon as I find a map, I will steal it. My conscience will no longer make me waste so much time wandering around.

  “Hey, girl. Do you know where you are heading to?”

  “Awoo?”

  “I figured as much.”

  Gcien turned around and then showed a puzzled look. As expected, she wasn’t thinking that far ahead. I stopped to think for a moment… Pathfinding couldn’t help me when I had no idea where I was heading to, but perhaps I could tweak things a bit. So, I decided to make a compass.

  Making a simple compass was an easy and simple process. I started by gathering basic materials: a small needle, a bowl of water, a leaf and a magnet. That was one of the ore that I got in the skarnash tribends. To magnetize the needle, I rubbed it against the magnet several times in the same direction, aligning the atoms inside the needle and giving it magnetic properties. Next, I pced the needle on the floating leaf, which acted as a ptform to keep it afloat on the water’s surface.

  Once I carefully pced the leaf in the bowl of water, the needle naturally aligned itself with the magnetic field. One end of the needle pointed north, and the other pointed south, functioning as a simple yet effective compass.

  “It seems that this also works in this world, even though it is different from Earth. What about I make a compass that is also a pathfinding amulet? I already found several problems even before the construction… I want to make it point toward pces with rge concentrations of mana, but I don’t know how to separate byrinths from towns and cities. I guess I need to investigate this a bit.”

  I have been focusing too much on exploring dungeons and byrinths in order to get stronger… that couldn’t be helped given that it was for my survival, but perhaps I could change my perspective a bit. I wouldn’t have to worry about being attacked or ambushed if I had the right rolls. I already created the amulets in this world, and that was a step close to the technology that I envisioned. I just had to keep improving things a bit.

  “Awoo!”

  “I am thinking here. Give me a moment. I can’t be happy-go-lucky like you.”

  “Grrr…”

  “Fine, then. Lead the way to the nearest byrinth and I won’t say anything anymore. It has to be a useful byrinth, not a pce where you can get useless stuff. Somepce with a lot of high quality wood or ores will do the trick.”

  Gcien growled at me again. I was making her task a lot harder, but we couldn’t waste time in random crap dungeons, so it couldn’t be helped. In any case, Gcien began to sniff around, trying to find the scent of a dungeon, or so I was hoping, anyway.

  “Awoo! Awoo!”

  “Good girl, lead the way to the mountain of treasure that you have found.”

  I sure hoped that she hadn’t found the scent of something useless like the crap of some animal… perhaps I should ask her to track the scent of a flying beast, one that could be used for combat and make us fly. That would be a fine addition to our team.

  While Gcien followed the scent that she had picked, I found my thoughts drifting toward a problem I couldn’t ignore: the limitations of my creations. Despite their usefulness, they felt incomplete, cking the utility and ingenuity I knew I could achieve. I needed to put my engineering skills to better use here, design smarter, more efficient mechanisms, perhaps integrate more magic to push them beyond their current boundaries.

  The thought of learning new enchantments out of need made me feel frustrated. No one seemed willing to sell things to me. The door to magic progress felt firmly shut, and I knew I’d have to find another way to open it.

  It was thanks to that that the path of a thief began to feel even more interesting. The more I thought about it, the clearer it became: a skilled thief could navigate these barriers, acquiring forbidden knowledge and resources through any means necessary. It wasn’t just about stealing, it was about carving out a path in a world that refused to cooperate in one way or the other. With each passing moment, the idea solidified in my mind… I should become a thief that steals from the rich and give it to myself.

  While a wicked smile was forming on my face, Gcien slowed down and then soon stopped in front of a tree. There was no dungeon or byrinth around. The tree didn’t seem magical either… I soon understood that something was off when she looked at me. When I looked around the tree, I found marks of blood around. The ground was a bit wet, like snow had fallen recently, so it was hard to find other traces of the blood around.

  “Bad, Gcien. I don’t want to drink blood, much less from the ground. Aren’t you supposed to be the physical manifestation of my conscience?”

  “Awoo!”

  “Now who is compining? I told you to look for a good byrinth. I don’t need you to find trouble for me. I am something of a troublemaker myself.”

  “Awoo?”

  “... I guess I will just make my magic compass.”

  I began to envision the whole thing in my head, but then I stopped when Gcien looked away. In the distance, I could see a massive floating isnd moving in our direction.”

  “Why? Why can’t I catch a break?”

  WritingMachineGun