"Rai, before we go into the forest, do you have a weapon?"

"I can use techniques."

"That is good, but what will you do if you run out of energy? You should grab a spare weapon."

"I can use my fists, you don't have to worry about it, I survived in here for years alone."

"Heh, you do have a point kid."

Both of us head towards the forest, we didn't take the other guard with us, I asked August why and he said that we need to at least let a guard stay in the village or else they might get pillaged, well, I don't need anyone else with me though. August was walking through the forest extremely carefully, being alert from every thing that passes by here, that was fair, as even the birds here could kill you if you aren't careful, we avoid most of the monsters we find, until we had inevitably got spotted by some goblins.

August gets in front of me to separate me from the goblins' sight, he holds his spear tightly and focuses on the goblins, when they move towards him he stabs one of them in its face and then moves it sideways to cut it horizontally and reach the other one, in one attack two goblins were dead, but there were three more remaining. I had just make balls of lightning then strike them with them, the lightning balls had created holes in them where they had struck and charred their bodies, yeah this was definitely an overkill, the essence absorbed from them was nothing to mention. I look over to August and he was definitely pretty impressed.

"Now I know how you survived for so long here, you are a strong fighter. perhaps I was too worried about you."

"Thanks, uh you too."

"Come, let's hurry and find the Avalyn mushrooms."

This time we quickened our pace through the forest, he was still being very careful but at least he sped up, after going through half a dozen battles, we had finally found some of them, now was the time to return, but I saw that August was looking pretty tired, but he still soldiered on, I guess he didn't want to show any weakness in front of me. We had continued on towards the village, this time much more creatures tried to attack us, foxes tried to surprise attack August, I had pushed them off without killing them, because I knew that creatures from the same species can't absorb their essence, so I did not kill them, although that confused August on why I didn't kill them, I tell him that I had a soft spot for foxes and he accepts that answer. We had finally left the forest and reached the village.

August leads me to a house that was near the village square, it was a pretty impressive house and was the biggest here, observing the villagers here made me know that this was likely their potion maker and village chief, we enter the house. I was stunned by the house, the furniture looked to be of quite a fine quality, but what was more amazing was all of the herbs hanging from the roof and on a table, there was also a mortar and pestle and quite a few tools that I didn't know their purpose, the so called village chief comes out from another room, the village chief was a short middle aged man, maybe he was also evolved?

The two of them were talking, at first the chief looked annoyed, but when August told him something, he looked impressed and then focused, he had then pushed us out without paying me any attention, was he that focused on his work?

"Thank you very much for assisting me in obtaining the mushrooms."

"It's no problem, so can I explore the village now."

"Sure, let me accompany you."

Now was the time to go explore all the different locations, most of the village was just houses for the people here, but there was also a training field with some wooden weapons, I saw a few young boys training there, it looked fun and I was going to join them, when I had went to them they said kind of ignored me, well that was rude.

"Hey august, could you ask them to let me spar with one of them?"

"Alright, but promise me one thing, you'll hold back against them alright? Also heal them if you injure them."

"Alright, I promise."

August yells something at the boys and they immediately listen to him, he talks to them and then they look at me, a few of them looked displeased and started complaining to him, this reminds me of when I asked the gym teacher to let me play football with the other boys. August yells something back at them and then they get shocked, they immediately change their attitude and walk up to me trying to be friendly to me I guess? One of the boys throws a wooden sword to me and then gestures for me to come at him, I better make sure for the mask not to fall of or my fur to be revealed in this battle, I don't know how to hold a sword though, so I just try to replicate the posture of the other dude, I try to hold the sword softly enough to not break the handle, now I move over to him and go for a sideways strike, the boy didn't expect that speed and barely managed to block with his sword, when my sword clashed with his, both had been shattered and he was knocked off his feet and back by half a dozen meters, uh oh, I thought I controlled my strength though?

"Didn't you say you'll hold back boy?!"

"I did! At least I thought I did?"

The other boys rush over to him and swarm around him, I was feeling pretty bad about it, I walk over to the knocked down boy, some of the other boys try to block me, but the knocked down boy says something to them, he gets up and then faces me, what was even more surprising is that he was smiling, he was also holding out his hand, I take it and we shake hands, the other boys now swarm me, they had stars in their eyes and were frantically asking questions from what I could tell, suddenly August yells at the boys again and then they let me go, I leave the training field with all of them waving goodbye or shouting towards me, they were pretty cool.

"By the way, you had the posture of a total amateur."

"August, I am a total amateur."

He starts laughing and we head towards other locations, we reach a place where they make their clothes, there was leather being tanned outside and fabric was being made inside, there were strange tools to hold the fibers as they used techniques to spin them, I was watching how they worked on making clothes and asked them how they do it, they were a little cold at first but when August informed them that the clothes I was wearing were made by me, their attitudes changed, August told me about their tips and how they praised that I was able to do that well without being taught anything, while I was there, I decided to make a sash for my robes, they were nice enough to let me make it and even keep it, we had then left that place and looked at the crops that were being tended by some men and women. All of them were pretty thin and tired.

"Hey Rai, I was thinking about it, but how did you get that name, that name and the clothes and mask you are wearing look like they came from somewhere far away."

"I guess I made strange clothes since I was never taught by anybody, and I named myself."

I guess he'll naturally get suspicious from all of that, but he didn't inquire any further, me helping them was likely reason enough for him to trust me. After we had completed touring the village, we had returned to the square and then waited, the chief had eventually opened his door and brought out a pale beige colored liquid, he gave it to us and then said something to August, August returns a nod to him and then we head off quickly to the house of Walter, we find him replacing the cloth on her head when we come in, when he spots the potion in our hands he starts tearing up, we give the potion to the girl and her temperature almost immediately starts to return to normal, her breathing had become less heavy and she stopped sweating. I guess she was fine now, the man was now being thanking August and me heavily, I didn't understand his words but I understood his intentions.

"He says that he'll do or give you anything since you saved his daughter, I'll also help you with anything if you want to."

"Ah ok, tell him that I want to learn the language, wood working and cooking, also that I want to being some friends here."

"Friends? I mean those requests aren't too hard but it'll require multiple villagers to help."

August tells him what I want and then tells me that he promises to be able to do these requests to his best abilities.

I tell August that I was now going to leave the village and that I'd return tomorrow with them, and as I was leaving I see that the villagers were looking at me, but they didn't have the same look as before, but that this time they saw me more favorably, and with that I had left the village.

"Ah! I forgot to ask for directions!"