A Relatively Powerful Mage

Sylvi continued her hike, moving at a far more brisk pace than most of the camp would’ve been able to manage. The constant low-intensity exercise had also done wonders for her recovery, bringing her physical conditioning closer to the level it had been before she had been diagnosed with cancer. She shuddered at the memory as it brought back feelings of helplessness. It reminded her that no matter how strong she was, a cruel fate could await her by random chance.

She had hiked for several days now, though she still wasn’t entirely sure what she was looking for. Imri’s broad suggestion to build a new city centered around new strategic resources seemed like a good idea. What those resources were, she had no idea. She was going with the, know it when you see it philosophy, which was the exact opposite of her normal approach. Still, she wasn’t entirely clueless, her Nature Lore trait affording her some intuition. She could understand the properties of plants without prior knowledge, though most were lesser plants used in common alchemy, nothing worthy of being called a natural treasure. She hoped this trait would indicate when she found something worth building a settlement around.

Her intuition also told her that she was on the right path as she reached what appeared to be the edge of the stone forest. Just like its edge around Minneapolis, the end of the forest was abrupt, the line of trees almost uniformly ending along a straight line. What greeted her was a vast open plain of tall grass that had a slight blue tinge to it. Weirder yet, the strange grass seemed to move on its own accord, many of the stalks moving in different directions, making it apparent that they weren’t just blowing in the breeze. Far in the distance, a mountain range towered over the relatively flat rolling plains, its peaks obscured by the clouds. It was enormous, and even though Sylvi couldn’t see the exact height of the peaks, she felt certain it was taller than any mountain peaks on Earth.

As she gazed at the mountains, awestruck by their sheer majesty, a streak of blue shot across the sky before impacting the ground a scant thirty meters in front of her. It impacted the ground with a barely audible thud as it disappeared from view, obscured by the tall grass. It had happened so fast that Sylvi couldn’t see anything more than the blue streak, reminding her of a falling star.

Sylvi studied the strange landscape, looking for any signs of life or more of the strange shooting star-like objects. She didn’t have to wait long before she saw another blue streak across the sky. It quickly became apparent that whatever this phenomenon was, it was a regular occurrence as more and more blue streaks fell from the sky. They fell regularly, coming into existence every thirty to forty seconds. She wasn’t sure exactly where they all landed, as most had been far further than the first object, but she felt relatively certain they rained down close to the divide between forest and plains.

After determining the chances of being struck by a shooting star were slim, she decided to venture outside the stone forest and into the plains. Before she went far, she looked closer at the strange grass. With slight hesitation, she reached out and touched it with a gloved hand. She was instantly relieved that there was no reaction, relieved it wasn’t some strange creature or dangerous plant that was trying to kill her. Still, she found their motion strange and could not discern why they moved the way they did. However, their motion reminded her of how some plant life on the bottom of the ocean moved.

She briefly considered searching for where the shooting star had landed but quickly dismissed the idea. Instead, she made her way towards the distant mountain range. She wasn’t sure exactly how long it would take her to reach the mountain range, but she suspected it wouldn’t be a short journey. However, not having any better landmarks to navigate to, she set out.

She moved at a deliberate pace, moving slower than her top speed to avoid rustling the strange grass as much as possible. While she wasn’t sure if she could distinguish between the strange movements of the grass versus something disturbing it, she doubted that was true for any predator that called this terrain home. She also crouched down to have her head dip below the top of the grass so her entire body was obscured.

She was beginning to think she might have been overly cautious when she heard some rustling of the grass about fifty meters ahead. She crouched further down, straining her hearing to pick up the sounds. The straining proved wholly unnecessary as an explosion sounded out, followed by a plume of fire.

“How do you like that?” A man’s voice shouted, confusing Sylvi a moment before a bestial snarl could be heard over the crackle of burning grass. The man cursed and took off running, judging by the rustling of the grass in his wake. The creature was obviously faster, and Sylvi suspected it wouldn’t be long before the man was overtaken. Fortunately, the man’s path seemed to be headed closer to her, and she could catch up before the creature caught him. She continued to stay low, taking care that she didn’t overly disturb the foliage, though she was able to push her pace a bit faster, counting on the beast being distracted by pursuing its target.

The man rushed past her. Sylvi didn't notice much about his appearance, and the man didn’t even seem to notice her. The creature bounded into view a second later, in close pursuit of the man who had likely burned it. It was a tiger-like creature with jet-black fur that seemed to give off wisps of black smoke around its entire body, except around a large patch of burned skin. It was also slightly larger than any of the predator cats that had existed before the integration, though it still seemed lithe and agile.

Sylvi didn’t have time to reconsider helping, and her arrow was loosed before she had time to take in the menacing creature fully. The moment the arrow was released before reaching its target, she activated her Mark of the Hunt skill that she had just gotten from achieving E rank in her class.

Skill Tier/Rank Description

Mark of the Hunt 1F Mark a target creature within visual range to be hunted. Increase damage against this creature by 2.5% and the ability to perceive and track the creature by 5%. The mark lasts 24 hours unless the creature is killed. Only one target can be marked at a time, and the mark cannot be ended early.

The arrow struck true, embedding itself deep into the creature's side, eliciting a snarl of pain from the tiger-like creature. Unfortunately, the creature was too large to be felled by a single arrow that missed its heart, and the tiger snarled as it took in the ambush. Sylvi hadn’t been waiting, immediately discarding her bow to draw her scimitar.

She expected the creature to close on her, using its superior size and speed to knock her over. Instead, it just glared at her before shaking itself like a wet dog. However, it wasn’t water it released, but the strange smoke like black smog billowed out. The strange smoke instantly obscured her vision, reminding her of the effects of smoke grenades that had been deployed when she was a special forces operator. She didn’t panic; instead, she crouched low and waited for the effect to clear. Unfortunately, the smoke seemed to have a mind of its own, hanging in the air far longer than any gas she was familiar with. Eventually, it dispersed, but there was no sign of the tiger.

“It’s likely long gone,” The man said in a scratchy voice. Sylvi nodded but still scanned the surroundings for signs of disturbances for a couple more minutes before agreeing with the man’s assessment. “I’m Avery, Avery Winters,” The man said, holding out a hand.

“Sylvi Vesik,” she said, grasping his hand and still scanning for any signs that the creature was lurking nearby. “What the hell was that thing?” she asked when it was apparent that Avery was correct.

She turned her gaze to Avery. He looked wretched, his system-granted robes torn in more than a few places. His hair was long and disheveled, with a portion tied back in a bun, and an equally long and disheveled beard that had obviously been growing out since before the integration. He looked skinny, and his lips were cracked as if it had been days since he had eaten or drunk anything.

“No idea, we call them shadow tigers,” he said with a shrug.

“We?” Sylvi asked.

“Just me, I guess. There were more of us, but…” the man said, his sentence trailing off as the obvious implication hung in the air.

“Are you alright? Do you need any food or water?” Sylvi asked. Avery looked at her, and then his eyes widened as he noticed the pack lying on the ground and her generally less wretched state.

“If you have anything to spare I wouldn’t turn it down, but I already owe you my life, I don’t want to take the last of your supplies as well.”

“It’s nothing; I have plenty,” Sylvi said, pulling out some of the freeze-dried meals designed for backpacking. The man's eyes widened even further at this. While this was technically true, she was nearing the halfway point of her supplies, meaning she would need to return soon or get more supplies somehow.

“Where did you get all this?” he asked hesitantly as if asking the question would cause her to rescind her offer. Sylvi did her best to explain the situation: how they had found the ruins of Minneapolis and raided it for supplies.

“If you found a city, why come out this way?” He asked.

Sylvi then explained her mission: to search for a new strategic resource to build a city around. She also explained how they currently found themselves pinned between soul-sacrificing lizards and body-stealing parasites. The man’s expression of hope and excitement faded a bit at that.

“I guess nowhere is safe,” he said in a hushed tone that was almost inaudible, a sad expression crossing his face.

“If nowhere is safe, then we’ll fight to make somewhere safe,” Sylvi said with conviction.

“Do you mind if I come with you? I don’t have much mana now, but I can manage another decent fireball after some rest,” Avery said. Sylvi considered for a moment, knowing she was obviously in better condition. His expression fell when she didn’t immediately respond. “It’s alright, I’ll manage on my own,” he reassured her.

“Like I said, I have my primary objective. If you can keep up and keep quiet, I don’t mind having someone watching my back. If not, I can give you directions back to the camp,” Sylvi said.

“I’ll keep up, and I won’t be a burden,” He said resolutely.

“Good, then we move out in five minutes. We’re going to resupply,” she said with a wicked grin.

“Resupply?”

“I hope you like shadow tiger steaks,” Sylvi said. Avery’s mood dampened.

“I understand you’re strong, but we got lucky back there. Those tigers have killed hundreds, if not thousands, of people. It might have run away, but that’s only because they're cautious ambush predators. If we back it into a corner, things won’t be so easy,” He said, lifting his shirt to show a massive, partially healed gash.

“Like I said, you don’t have to come with me, but I’m not giving up on my mission,” Sylvi stated.

Avery considered it for a time, clearly torn between being left alone or pursuing a predator that had traumatized him. “I’ll come with you, just be careful. I’ve already lost too many good people.”

Sylvi spent the five minutes she gave Avery picking up the trail of the shadow tiger. Even with her skills, she doubted she could tell what way the tiger had traveled based on tracks or disturbance to the plant life. Fortunately, she didn’t need to rely on those methods; her arrow had left an open wound that bled. The red of its blood stood out against the blue tinge of the grass, and the creature couldn't move through the grass without leaving smears of blood.

With her Tracking skill, they could follow the blood trail, which ran perpendicular to the direction she wanted to take. She had hoped to overtake the wounded tiger quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn’t as wounded as she had hoped. They also weren’t moving quickly, frequently stopping to pick up the blood trail. Sylvi began to doubt they would catch it before nightfall, even though it seemed like they were slowly gaining on the wounded creature.

She was so caught up in their pursuit that she almost didn’t see it until it was too late. She likely only noticed because of her increased perception of it, thanks to her mark. The shadow tiger pounced towards her, having set an ambush of its own. Sylvi barely had time to react before it bore her to the ground, hitting her with the force of a small car.