~A sunny afternoon, on a nearby road.~ 

In the sky above, the sun's rays beat down upon the land with the ferocity of a blacksmiths dedication to his craft. As this goes on, within the large forest is active with movement. A large caravan is moving along the dirt road, kicking up dust as it goes. The beast that pulls this carriage quickly does so under the command of its tamer. As it moves along, the figure of its master starts to become visible from within the caravan as it turns.

During such, he fully enters our view, to which he appears to be a man of youth with hardly a hair upon his chin, dressed cheaply as a traveling merchant. Once this man looks around to his surroundings, he starts to become nervous and before long frantic, as this man struggles to takes out a folded map he had stored on his person. Once he succeeds in taking it out, and unfolding it, he does his best to keep it open in the wind as the picked up dust starts to blow into his face.

As it starts getting worse, I command my pet, to slow down to a fast walking pace, so that dust does not float up. once the dust started to settle down once more, I return my attention back to the well-written map, as I try to understand what I'm reading. As Lil'Sherlock, my tamed companion proceeds to continue along with the task I gave it, I try repeatedly to make sense of the map. But try as I might, I soon nothing added up about it, unless... "Someone altered the landscape? Though it's a little unusual, it's the simplest way to explain this discrepancy. Otherwise, why would the map made just a few weeks ago of the area be completely wrong?"

I begin to muse to myself of the possibilities to explain this oddity, before suddenly my pet snorts loudly, as just as rapidly the carriage makes an abrupt turn to the side, nearly flinging me into the wagon. Once I adjusted to the movement, I turn to look at what my carriage had narrowly avoided hitting, with that being a large cluster of Thornwood. I quickly put the map away, afraid that I may not be lucky next time. I take a cursory glance around, taking only a few seconds for me to realize that we seem to have drifted off the actual road and have even in fact gone deeper into the forest than we intended.

Before I start to panic, I decide its best to focus on breathing in and out instead, of the worst possible outcomes. Though it takes several minutes, my breathing and mental state start to return to normal. At which point, I begin to ponder over my situation and the implications its presenting. After some time thinking to myself over, I quickly come to the conclusion, this isn't as bad as I first thought.

Overall, I haven't had the chance to train seriously in a long time since I've begun traveling. Especially not anytime recently with all the rumors swirling around. With how badly my schedule has been messed up, at this point I should just consider this detour for my personal travels. It's worth gaining additional levels for the road ahead. Especially in the long run if I want to join any competent guild.

Maybe I can get the chance to gain the next level in scout or monster tamer after all this time. With my new plan forming, I quickly tell Sherlock to keep watch of our surroundings as ill be busy for a moment. Once I was sure Sherlock was watching the area, ready to deal with any threat to us, I turn my attention away. "Status," Is what I softly mutter, as once said, a screen appears in front of me, with a list of all kinds of personal information.

The system that which all living possess, though only for sapient beings does the status screen appear. For those that possess no sapience or language, it manifests as an instinct. It has existed since ancient time, rarely changing in its form or shape, outside of divine intervention.

Though enough of a history lesson, back to my current situation, which should I focus on now? Scout? Monster Tamer? try to become an actual mage and learn some good spells? As I begin to muse of all the possible choices, I quickly notice the strange atmosphere surrounding the area were in. Thoroughly wary, I close my status and return my focus to my surroundings, scanning for anything that could be causing this.

During my observation, Sherlock seems to have noticed that something is approaching us in a haphazard manner. Once informed of this through our bond, I myself ready with a spell and a small dagger for what dangers may be approaching our location. But it's only until when it gets close to be within sunlight do I lower my weapon and the spell I had prepared as I look on in confusion for what had approached our group. Appears even Sherlock is surprised, for what has approached us, is a squirrel. Though I'm at initially wary of its approach, once I notice it to be heavily injured, I can't really stay wary, especially with how awful the wound it has is. Sherlock extends a paw so that it would not hit solid earth once it did fall unconscious, and once lifted up to me, I pick it up gingerly and step back within the caravan, to find the medical supplies to treat this little fellow.