I grabbed a large rock and thought about infusing my rose flames into it. When the rock warmed, I threw it to the knights. They turned and found me, but it was too late. With all my mana I ordered my vines to expand, and the rock exploded. Its fragments pierced the knights in one hundred different spots.

You killed 4 humans, you gained 800 Exp.

LVL 11. 5/2400

You gained 1 skill point; you now have 2 skill points.

Who knew a simple rock could be such an extraordinary weapon. It did consume most of my mana since rocks were more durable than trees, but I doubt wood could pierce a knight’s armour.

I found one of the knight’s horses, mounted it, and pointed in the opposite direction to the city, but it didn’t move. “Move!” I yelled; it didn’t move.

Then the instincts of Julian kicked in and I spurred on the horse and let it carry me up the stream, its mane jumped up and down, and its tail swayed right and left.

I entered the forest.

Mission: Retake what was once yours. Seize the sceptre of the kingdom of Liliana.

Rewards: 100 gods’ favour

Title of Emperor of Flora

For a mission to pop up out of nowhere, something must have happened in the city. Perhaps this was because the civil war had begun.

I pulled the reins and let the horse gallop back towards the city. But as I approached the city, smoke filled the air. We made our way out that region and trotted around the smoke until we reached a clearing with a packed earth road. There were many carriages and horse marks. I could ride straight to the city, but my eyes would give me away as a beast.

I had gained a couple skill points since I left. Perhaps a skill could help.

“What skills do you recommend to hide the colour of my eyes?” I asked the system.

Chameleon 1 pt. (You can change the colour of your various body parts such as eyes, skin, hair colour, and the like.)

Morphing 2pts. (You can slightly alter your physiognomy such as extending your nose, widening your shoulders, and changing the colour of your body parts.)

Grand illusion. 4pts. (You may change what targets see. Whether that be where you're standing, what you look like, smell like, or hear.)

These are the skills which would grant you your desired outcome.

These were all great skills. The Grand illusion skill would be useful in fights and sounded extremely threatening, though its mana consumption was probably extremely high. The Morphing skill would also give me more uses for the skill, but I didn’t know if I wanted to waste a skill point for functions I might never use, so I decided on the Chameleon skill.

You have bought the Chameleon skill for 1 skill pt.

You now have 1 skill points.

Now I really needed to save up skill points and buy a powerful skill like Grand Illusion. I could only imagine the power of a beast if they saved up all their skill points to purchase a single skill, but—

5 skill points is the maximum cost for a single skill.

I activated the Chameleon skill, envisioning myself with brown eyes. I didn’t have a mirror on me, but I could assume that it would take time for my eyes to change, though I hoped that cheaper skills took less time to come into effect.

The horse trotted forward. I guided it deeper within the forest till we found a small stream. I let it get a drink and have some rest. We had ridden for a while, so I scavenged some berries I remembered eating as a bird.

The horse finished the food I scavenged in an hour with two bits. It was disheartening. Were Rose here she could have caught us a meal in a minute. But this long scavenge was worth it. Being able to scavenge for food on my own was great.

I petted the horse’s mane. What could be the dream of a horse? I wondered. I didn’t know, but if I could help it achieve it perhaps it’d help me. Carabella, I decided to call it. “May you remain strong,” I muttered as it washed down the berries with more water. I tried to see my reflection in the stream, but the water rippled too much on top of the layer of rocks under the surface.

When an hour had passed, I mounted him again and rode off to the mountains. There we’d find more water and cover.

At the foot of the mountain, we found a large river. I dismounted Carabella and once again stared at my reflection. My eyes changed from black to grey; brown rings appeared in their center, where irises were supposed to be. Had I not had completely black eyes, earlier this wouldn’t have been enough to dissimulate myself as a normal human, but since they were on the hunt for someone with black eyes this wouldn’t do.

Thankfully, I spotted a cave in the distance. I led Carabella by the reins, but before we could get there a man called out to me, “Hey, traveller, could you spare me a second?”

The man was short and sported stubble on his face. Seeing him, Carabella neighed.

“What do you need?” I asked.

His old but clean tunic and happy attitude made it obvious that he came from a village. He reminded me of Tim.

“What’s your horse’s name if I may ask?”

“It’s Carabella.” I padded his neck and ruffled its mane.

“Carabella. That’s a good name for a strong horse.” He said, nodding. “Really good indeed, and what may be your name?” He asked.

I was a bit confused at his overly enthusiastic responses, but I went along for now. “It’s Veero.”

“Oh! That too is a creative and great name. Really…”

I grew tired of the man’s flattery. Thankfully, just as I was about to cut him off and ask him to get to the point, the man’s tone switched, and he lowered his head.

“Well, if I may annoy Carabella! May I ask you to relay a message to the lords of Forange. A group of orcs have taken up residency near our village and it's mighty inconvenient.”

I settled in Carabella’s back knowing why the man had such a friendly attitude and remembered the Boss’s tasks. Well, this would be a good way to kill some time while I waited for my Chameleon skill to increase in proficiency.

“Better,” I said. “I’ll get rid of the problem.”

The man stopped smiling. “Oh, but wouldn’t that be too much work for a noble such as yourself?”

“Don’t worry, just lead me to the trolls.”

The man’s face was now far from a smile. “No, I insist, you should get assistance.”

His insistence grated at my nerves. I held up my red sword and channelled my flames through it. “I will do it.” What did this guy want? Wasn’t it enough for me to kill the orcs?