Night had fallen on Marlon's camp, and only the glowing light of the campfire illuminated the surroundings. The wind was blowing lightly and carrying with it freezing temperatures that made the young man shiver, despite the fire, as much as the sporadic howls of wolves that echoed in the depths of the forest.

The young man made sure to load the fire with wood, perhaps a little more than necessary, but this allowed him to warm himself more efficiently and especially to better illuminate the surroundings.

Luna walked back and forth around the camp, patrolling and occasionally glancing up at the mass of trees in front of them, anxious that wolves might suddenly appear from the darkness.

"There's a better atmosphere to rest in, that's for sure."

Loki quipped, and that helped the young man relax somewhat. He hadn't planned on sleeping all night anyway, and that would be impossible even if he wanted to, an instinct as old as man preventing him from closing his eyes while predators roamed nearby.

Marlon took the opportunity and took out the vials filled with Arbol's blood. He looked at the thick green liquid for a few seconds, then put it all down beside him, undoing the bundle of bark that he had managed to recover from his last opponent. There was at least enough to make a dozen scrolls, and he was going to take advantage of it to experiment a little, knowing that the quality of the catalyst as well as the support were acceptable and could achieve a lot if his intention was strong enough.

He began by drawing two Fire Tracer spells to replace the ones he had used against Arbol. He knew that the explosion would probably be much stronger with the components used than with a simple scroll, so he would have to be careful not to start a monstrous fire by negligence, as the ground was covered with dead leaves.

To perfect his craft, he used the remaining bark to draw healing runes, concentrating as never before on drawing the patterns and visualizing the effect he wanted. When he was done, he carefully arranged his bark pieces near his tent and wanted to try something else.

He reached into his quiver and pulled out a dozen arrows, laying them out in front of him and wondering how he could draw a rune on such a small space.

He tried to draw one on the wooden rod but quickly gave up, the space being far too small and his brush far too wide to achieve anything. Thinking about the method necessary to achieve his goal, he tried various methods, from drawing with a small piece of wood to cut the rod with the tip of his dagger. None of them were successful, and after an hour he angrily threw away the arrow in his hands, frustrated at not having achieved his goal.

He would buy more equipment when he returned to Delia when he finished his hunt, wanting to try to improve all the equipment he had.

Disappointed, he removed the breastplate of his leather armor and placed it in front of him. He wanted to add some extra protection to it, and he had a little idea. Before drawing on the armor, he took a parchment and drew two runes mixed together, Protection and Life. He thought strongly of some sort of protective shield as he finished tracing the shapes on the paper.

Once finished, he waited to see if anything happened, but nothing moved. No reaction, the blood used and impregnating the fabric remained as it was instead of volatilizing and reducing the support to ashes as he had expected.

Grumbling at his failure, he did not admit defeat and made several attempts, mixing various runes and trying several intentions that came to his mind, seeming logical at the time.

But each time, the famous sound echoed in his mind, gradually increasing the frustration he felt until he couldn't take it anymore, throwing the nearly empty vial of blood into the fire in rage. It exploded in the fireplace and a hissing sound was heard as the blood still inside evaporated from the embers and flames.

Even if not all of them led to something, he was sure that some combinations should have worked, not understanding the reason for his multiple failures. He had seen the artifacts used by the guards and Drevos' artifact work, so what was the matter? Did he not have the right runes? Or was there a more fundamental difference?

He decided to stop drawing runes for the moment, frustrated as he was, putting away his arrows, quiver, and everything else he had used for his experiments before grabbing the pot he was using to boil water.

"You really need to go visit the Runist mage who resides in Delia. I'm sure he'll be able to help you better understand how the Runes work."

Marlon grunted his assent, not wanting to think about it anymore for the time being, too full of frustration and anger to be able to have an open mind to such remarks.

He collected the few plants and mushrooms he had picked up on his walk in the forest and decided to cut them into regular pieces before putting everything on the fire, filling the rest of the pot with water. This would be the first soup Marlon would cook for himself in this world, and the knowledge of how to prepare it had surfaced in his mind, just like all the other information related to his jobs.

He already knew that it would lack the seasoning and some ingredients to make it truly sublime. Shredded cheese and toast would be a perfect addition to his soup.

"But it's that you'll turn into a real cordon bleu! This knowledge transfer is exciting."

Marlon had to admit that it was amazing. He didn't know everything, far from it, but it was as if he had followed a training covering the basics of the five trades he had learned, allowing him to avoid the biggest pitfalls and giving him the necessary technicality to accomplish the various tasks related to them.

While waiting for the cooking to be complete, he took the herbalist's book and looked through it by the light of the flames, barely enough to read properly, but it did the trick.

Two hours later, a young man with a full belly was lying next to a still very lively fireplace. He had enjoyed his improvised mixture, and even if he had not taken any buff from it, no doubt because of his very low level of mastery, he was very happy to have this string to his bow.

The wolf howls had faded, and he was reassured that he would not have to fight those beasts tonight.

Not hearing them anymore, he relaxed noticeably and even surprised himself by closing his eyes, lying under the stars. Then he slowly but surely sank into a deep sleep.

The same nightmares invaded him once again. He saw his mother die again, as much in the insertion store where everything had taken place as in other unusual places such as a dark cave or a platform in the middle of the sea. All of them had only one thing in common, Marlon always failed to save her and always ended up screaming her name as his heart bled and tears streamed down his face. Again and again he saw her face disappear in a rain of flesh and brains that sprayed him and entered his mouth, suffocating him as if he were drowning.

Then in a misty swirl, the scene changed completely.

He found those who had perpetrated his murder, paralyzed before him like sacrificial lambs being offered to him on a red carpet.

This red carpet was not made of cloth. It was made of fresh blood, and as the young man walked towards them, his bare feet were wet with the sticky, smelly liquid, leaving Marlon totally indifferent, and he even felt an indescribable joy in his heart. It was intense, but also unhealthy, powerful sadism intended for those who had murdered his mother.

As this thought entered the dream, he found himself armed with a sword and the two men bound to the ground had their eyes widened, again and again, to the point where the skin on their faces was torn off, dripping more blood onto the floor. Screams rose from their mouths and wounds began to appear on their bodies which were suddenly bare. The wounds that appeared as they went along disturbed Marlon even more.

Part of him, however, felt deep happiness, an intimate enjoyment that only violence and madness could bring. He would avenge the blood with blood, ready to disembowel them and bathe in their viscera.

He was now seeing himself in the third person and a demented grin was plastered on his face, his eyes crying tears of blood as a mechanical laugh came from his mouth.

He saw himself raising the weapon he held in his hand and bringing it down on the two men, alternately striking each of them, tearing off pieces of flesh, cutting off a limb, staring at those who had caused him so much pain. The mechanical laughter had become a hysterical howl and the blows were coming down more and more violently while the two men had been dead for a long time.

He saw their bodies decompose as his image continued to strike, again and again, spraying foul fluids over his face and body, totally given over to his furious madness.

Finally, everything seemed to freeze.

His double, in a sudden gesture, raised his head towards him and began to stare at him, the blood still running down his cheeks. The mad laughter had stopped and only his teeth were visible, stained with blood. He shook his head as if despite himself and put the sword blade to his throat, gasping for air like sobs, but no sound came out of his mouth.

Then with a mechanical screech, he began to shear his own head as a single sound came from his mouth: marlon...Marlon...MArLon...MARLON

"MARLON, WAKE UP!"

The young man awoke abruptly, disoriented by his nightmare. The first thing he saw was a long, slender head covered in gray fur, yellow eyes with a vertical pupil, so close he could have felt its breath.

By reflex, he raised his left arm to protect himself as a full-sized wolf opened its mouth to grab his neck and drain him of his blood. His action saved him and he felt a sharp pain run through his nervous system as the beast's powerful jaw closed on his forearm.

He didn't have time to think or wonder what was going on, grabbing his dagger from his belt with his right hand as a scream of rage passed his lips, adrenaline pumping through his bloodstream in monstrous quantities and making him forget for a moment the pain of the bite.

The wolf pulled on his arm, shaking his head from side to side to take the young man with him, but Marlon planted his feet firmly in the ground, ignoring the extra pain inflicted by the lupine creature. He drove his dagger into the head of the enraged beast, putting all the strength he could muster into it.

Meeting resistance when the dagger met the beast's bone, he withdrew it violently and thrust it again, this time into the monster's eye. He ignored the blood that spurted out and splashed his face, the monster's eye shattering under the blow.

The wolf dropped his arm in pain from the wound and yelped as he backed away. Marlon didn't take his eyes off the beast for a second and inwardly blessed himself for leaving his sword beside him, catching it in one swift motion as he stood.

He couldn't help but let out a cry of pain as he grabbed his weapon with both hands, not looking at the state of his forearm so as not to lose focus, knowing full well that it was very damaged, a strange lack of feeling coming from his arm.

He didn't wait for his opponent to retreat and threw himself on top of him, the vertical blow he landed on his head hitting the bone mass of his skull without any problem this time, slicing it in two.

The wolf collapsed on its four legs and did not move, dead.

The young man glanced at the scene beyond his opponent's corpse and fleetingly saw Luna fighting two more identical creatures, each with deep wounds. But she was also wounded and limping heavily as she kept her distance from the wild beasts and let out roars very similar to those the Mantis had let out in the Forest of a Thousand Miles.

He was about to rush to her aid when he felt something grab his left leg from behind and yank it back, causing him to fall face-first to the ground. He dropped his sword and shielded his face by putting his right hand in front of him to cushion the blow, which saved him from being stunned.

With his second leg, he kicked hard to get out of the way, but nothing could be done, another wolf had closed its jaw on his calf and was trying to pull him back violently, tearing the flesh and inflicting more pain on Marlon who could not hold back his scream.

With his right hand, he grabbed a burning ember from the fire and ignoring the pain, he crushed it against the snout of the wolf that was holding his leg captive. A sizzling sound was heard along with the quadruped squeak of pain as it let go of the burning demon, the smell of burning flesh rising in the air.

Without wasting a second and taking advantage of his newfound freedom of movement, Marlon pushed off on his legs and threw himself against the pile of Arbol bark he had carefully prepared a few hours before. Grabbing the paintbrush lying next to it, he dipped the tip in his own blood and completed a first Stalker spell as he imagined his opponent burning brightly.

The bark of the monster burned with a cracking sound as a tongue of fire rushed towards the wolf who was already coming back to the charge. Marlon saw with satisfaction the flames covering its body and consuming in an intense blaze the flesh of the creature in a howl that had nothing of lupine but seemed to come straight out of the throats of hell.

Marlon grabbed a second piece of bark and did exactly the same thing again, this time targeting one of the two wolves going after Luna, who looked worse and worse as they continued to swipe at each other with their fangs and literally rip off whole pieces of flesh.

"BACK OFF, LUNA!!!"

The chimera heard him and leaped back as the flames enveloped one of the two monsters with the same violence as the first. Not stopping there, Marlon used a third piece of bark to target the last untouched creature and seeing that the fireball hit its target as intended, he retrieved his dagger from the ground and turned back to the opponent nearest him.

The wolf wasn't dead yet, although he wasn't really in any condition to fight. His coat had burned completely, revealing a leather blackened by the flames that had cracked in many places due to the heat.

His eyes had also melted and he could see nothing, rolling on the ground in violent spasms of agony, his jaw snapping in an attempt to catch a prey he could no longer spot.

The young man approached cautiously and he threw himself on him, squeezing his neck with his left arm, clenching his teeth, to the point of feeling several of them split, under the effect of the pain, before planting, again and again, his weapon in the nape of the monster's neck, rolling with him but not loosening at any moment his hold on him.

When finally the creature's movements stopped and its body softened, finally dead, Marlon struggled to his feet. His vision was blurred and dizziness disturbed his balance, the loss of blood surely not to be overlooked given the injuries he suffered. He was sticky with the blood of the creature that had completely soaked his clothes and a significant quantity had slipped into his mouth, releasing an acrid and metallic taste that he ignored, guided by his rage.

Staggering to the pile of Arbol bark that had been knocked over, lying on the ground in a macabre puzzle, and after making sure that the two remaining wolves were in the same condition as the one he had just finished, he grabbed a bark and activated the healing rune drawn on it.

Immediately it burned and the green aura he had already experienced rose into the air before melting into him and beginning to radiate from his body.

Two things happened at the same time.

At first an intense pain invaded Marlon, as if all the wounds and injuries present at that moment on his body were awakening at the same time and pulsating inside his body, all so many stabs directed against his nervous system. A horrible and heartbreaking sensation but fortunately it did not last long.

Instantly flesh reformed where there was none, tendons and nerves severed by the powerful jaws rebuilt themselves, as if rewinding a movie at maximum speed. He didn't take the time to admire the healing reaction, but if he had he could have seen the veins reassemble and the skin appear out of nowhere before filling in the holes left by the fangs of the two wolves that had tried to tear him apart.

Without waiting, he grabbed another piece with the Stalker spell on it and activated it, finishing off one of the two wolves with a howl of pain.

He was going to take care of the last one in the same way, but Luna jumped with what seemed to be her remaining strength and planted her claws in the neck of the creature already very weakened, the coat completely melted and the vision obliterated by the flames of Marlon.

It was all over a few seconds later, and it was with concern that the young man saw his chimera collapse on its side, breathing shallowly and blood flowing profusely from the many wounds that adorned its body.

He picked up another bark with a healing rune carved into it and rushed to her, finishing activating it when he was in front of Luna. The green aura rose from the holder, which was instantly consumed and melted into her.

The chimera suddenly arched its back in pain similar to the one the young man had felt, and its wounds disappeared as quickly as his, soon leaving only the memory of their pain and the surrounding corpses to remind them that what had happened had been real.

"Damn, this time I thought we were all going to die! You're hard to wake up, kid..."

"Sorry, I never should have fallen asleep in the first place. Thank you so much, Luna, and you too, Loki. Without you, I would certainly be dead by now."

"Lesson learned: when you don't hear the wolves anymore, it doesn't necessarily mean they are gone!"

After what had just happened, Marlon was more nervous than ever, and it was with trembling hands that he went to collect what he could from the wolves, that is to say, not much more than vials of blood, the leather of the monsters having been totally burned by the fire spells that the young man had cast on them.

Luna was circling around him purring loudly, happy that she no longer felt pain and that her master was okay.

Marlon didn't forget to cut a few pieces of steak from the carcasses, not neglecting such an abundant food source. It was a pity he couldn't keep it all, but without an efficient means of refrigeration, the meat would spoil very quickly, and he had no salt to make salted meat. Something he would never have thought of before, thanks to his profession as a cook.

-I need to set up more traps around the camp, but first I need to get these bodies out.

So he pulled them a little further away, away from the forest, and then he set fire to the bush to get rid of the bodies.

The rest of the night was very busy, and fortunately, the moon was shining brightly enough to allow Marlon to orient himself around his camp and retrieve the resources needed to strengthen his camp.

It took him until dawn.

He cut branches into spikes, all of which were about five to ten feet long, and buried them around his camp diagonally, like spears stuck into the ground to keep the cavalry from getting too close.

Before doing so, he passed each piece of wood over the flames, burning it lightly to make the points stronger, squeezing the stakes as tightly as possible to leave as little room as possible for the predators who would want to make him their snack.

He blessed his choice of professions at every turn, knowledge flowing into his mind as he manipulated it to fortify his camp.

He was going to set more traps, but he didn't have the components to create them yet. He was sorely lacking in materials, and he didn't want to abandon his camp and go back to Delia, not so soon after arriving, and he had a few ideas that might do the trick for trapping lupine creatures.

When the sun finally came up, Marlon's camp looked like the back of a hedgehog from a distance, wooden spikes planted in three rows and buried deep on the diagonal to impale anyone who tried to force their way in.

He had left himself a comfortable space around his tent so that he could train and live without feeling oppressed during the time he would be completing his quest.

The young man admired his work and felt deeply satisfied that he had accomplished all this in just a few hours. But it had to be said that a wolf attack and a near-death experience provided unparalleled motivation.

Another busy day was ahead, and Marlon was more than ready for the challenges it would bring with it.