CHAPTER 15

It didn't take long for her to reach close to the top of the mountain. From there she simply needed to descend straight from the southern direction and head towards her destination. She would have gone higher but it already got quite cold for her where she was, even though the sun was shining brightly in the sky.

From there she could clearly see the view till very far ahead. The entire mountain was surrounded by a lush green forest. She could see some area which had no trees, and she was well aware of the reason, after all, she was the reason. Further ahead of the forest she spied some grasslands with tall grass, and estimated she would reach them by dawn, it was midday by now.

"Appraise." She said hovering her hand above her head.

"Midnight wolf (female), name: Sapphire, level 2. HP: 790/790, MP: 1280/1280, Stamina: 1070/1150, Strength: 214, Defense: 178, Speed: 457."

"What is Appraisal's level?"

"Skill: <Appraisal > level 5."

"But it shows all the same things," Sapphire complained.

"Appraisal level 5 unlocks skill information."

"Oh, so I can now find out how to use the skills I didn't know how to use. What are all the skills I have?" Sapphire inquired.

"List of skills is unlocked at level 6."

Sapphire sighed, "Fine then, show skill info of sneak."

"Skill: <Sneak >, a passive skill that masks the user's presence. Higher levels increase effectiveness. Note: User can still be detected using skills like <Detection > and <Perception >."

"What about shadow movement?"

"Skill: <Shadow Movement>, an active skill that allows the user to travel through shadows at the expense of some MP. There are two modes, teleportation and sprint. Teleportation teleports user at the desired location within a shadowy area for no MP cost. For a non-shadow area the MP cost varies with distance and light levels. Sprint allows the user to move 10 times their normal movement speed in a shadowy area, MP cost depends on duration used. The user moves at 5 times the normal speed in non-shadow area and MP cost varies based on light levels."

"Okay that was a lot of information, but I got the gist of it," Sapphire sighed. "Let's try this out," he smirked looking towards the forest, "Shadow Movement: Teleport."

Again, nothing happened.

"What did I do wrong now?"

"Greater spells require a visualization of the phenomenon the user wishes to cause while channeling mana, a chant is not required."

"Oh, okay."

Taking in a deep breath, Sapphire focused on teleporting to the forest through the shadows. Her surroundings changed in an instant, the empty sky of the mountain changing to leaves and branches hanging overhead.

"I did it!" Sapphire exclaimed jumping in joy. "How much mana did it cost?"

"MP: 78/1280."

"T-that much?" Sapphire exclaimed, "I guess this is more suitable for combat, like short distance teleportation, to dodge attacks and stuff. How fast does my MP regenerate?"

"15/minute."

"Okay... that is very slow," Sapphire sighed. "Fine, guess I will just have to walk like I do."

She reached the start of the grassland before dawn, due to her shadow movement. She was hesitant to enter it, as she didn't know if she would find a suitable spot to rest in there. Finding such a spot was much easier in a forest, where she could just find a large enough tree and sleep on it.

She decided a bit of hunting would prove to be a good way to pass the time and even get stronger. This time, since she already reached as far as she planned to today and there was not much point in pushing herself too much. And so, she decided to use her sense of smell to hunt for suitable monsters.

It only took her a small amount of time to find a scent that belonged to a group of goblins. She wondered how they were everywhere. Even on the mountain she had destroyed a goblin den and killed all goblins there not long ago. It had taken her around thirty goblins to level up once, though she killed a total of sixty eight goblins there so she was certain even a small group of goblins would be enough for her to level up now.

She followed the scent of the goblins till some time after dawn and was starting to wonder how long ago the goblins were there. Speeding up was out of the option, as she would hate to be caught by surprise. The scent seemed fairly fresh so it didn't make any sense for her to not see any goblins for this long.

As she followed the trail she stumbled upon a village. The scent was very strong around the village, though there weren't any goblins in sight. Making sure her hat and cloak were in place she entered the streets of the village, which seemed pretty lively, and with humans and not goblins.

There were people going about their days, many were working in the fields, some were talking with each other. Many bargained at the various shops set up on the street. The village did not have any large inns like most other towns.

It also seemed like the people in the village woke up earlier as compared to the people in towns. Almost the entire village seemed awake this early in the morning.

As Sapphire walked through the streets many people stared at her in curiosity. While it was obvious from her attire that she was an adventurer, many people were sure to doubt that due to her height, not that she was old enough to be an adventurer either.

Not knowing what to do, she decided to head to the adventurer's guild. There was the need to keep moving to get to her destination as fast as possible, but that person wasn't going to go anywhere, and so she could enjoy the journey a bit more and discover things she would like to tell of when she returned.

She walked to the building with the golden compass logo on it and entered it. It was a stone building with wooden supporting beams. While the outside seemed very dull and worn down, the inside was very well maintained.

The floor was made of nicely carved and polished wooden planks, the roof similar in looks. The walls were marked by various boards mentioning rules and regulations, along with many paintings. There were many tables and chairs at one side of the room for adventurers to eat at, and many other chairs lined with the wall for those who wish to simply sit. The reception was at the corner of the room, an L-shaped table marking the reception. The table was mostly empty except a small golden bell and some papers.

Behind the reception stood two young looking women, both wearing a matching blue uniform. One had wavy blonde hair with green eyes while the other had short black hair with red eyes. Both of them seemed to be helping adventurers with picking quests and explaining the details to them. Both stood on either side of the reception, with a line of four people each.

A board near the reception, from what Sapphire figured, contained the available quests. She approached the board and examined the quests. Many of them consisted of collecting wild herbs, bringing back lost animals, or help with simple work. There were some which included killing monsters, but weaker ones like goblins, direwolves, and many she never heard of before.

She stopped looking at any of the other quests when she spotted the one she wanted to do, the quest to hunt down a dragon. Killing that last dragon boosted her 8 levels with ease, and that was on the weak side for dragons. If she killed this dragon, she was certain she would receive a great level boost.

She raised her hand up to grab the quest, but she failed to reach it. She stood on her toes to try and reach it but still failed. Suddenly someone else grabbed the quest and waved it right in front of her eyes.

"Sorry little girl, but if you can't even reach it I don't think you can kill a dragon. It will be better to go home and play with dolls," The man mocked.

He was wearing golden armor and carried a sword on his hip in a golden colored sheath. His blonde hair and emerald eyes went well with the golden armor.

While Sapphire didn't grasp exactly what he meant, she knew he was being rude from his tone. She sensed the eyes of all the adventurers on her and wondered what she should do. Slightly raising her head she glared at the man, trying to threaten him, though she knew it wasn't going to work.

Sapphire turned and walked to the reception, luckily all the people there already dispersed. Standing at the reception, her head barely reaching above the table, she placed the sheet of paper on it. The blonde haired girl exchanged confused glances with all the people in there.

The man that had snatched the paper glanced back and forth between her and his hand, which had the paper a moment ago, but not anymore. He looked to the other people for an explanation as to how and when Sapphire snatched that piece of paper out of his hand, but everyone else just shrugged and shook their heads.

The receptionist nervously examined the paper and put it back down. "Uh, this is a quest for only gold rank and above, what is your rank?"

"Bronze," Sapphire replied.

"Oh, sorry then, but you are not high enough rank to do this quest, I can help you pick one if you want," The receptionist offered.

"But I have already killed a dragon, this one can't be much harder," Sapphire insisted.

"Stop lying, there is no way someone like you could kill a dragon," The man in the gold armor cut in, rudely shoving Sapphire to the side.

Due to the sudden push she tripped and fell. The people in the room laughed at her and the man in gold armor scoffed at her. Sapphire bared her fangs in anger, not liking the unnecessary bullying.

"Allow me to do this quest for the adventurer's guild," The man in the golden armor offered.

"Certainl-" The receptionist started but was cut off by the thud of the throwing knife embedding itself on the wall behind her.

The man in the golden armor froze as blood trickled down from a shallow cut at his cheek.

"Do not disrespect me, shiny chunk of scrap," Sapphire snarled.

The man in the golden armor fumed as the room fell silent, though there were sounds of muffled laughter. Even the receptionist was still frozen from shock.

"Seems like I need to show you your place," The man in the golden armor growled.

Appraise.

"Human (male), level 60. HP: 688/688, MP: 800/800, Stamina: 900/900, Strength: 160, Defense: 196, Speed: 66."

He is so... weak. Level 60 with those stats? I am just level 2 and my stats are much higher.

The man grabbed the hilt of his sword, and pulled it out without unsheathing it. "I wouldn't want you to die in just a single hit now, though you might anyways from my strength."

I can say the same, but I wouldn't, I will let you see for yourself.

The man swung his sword in a low horizontal arc. Sapphire jumped over it and performed a front-kick that landed right at the man's lower jaw causing his head to reel back from the blow. Sapphire landed back on her feet and glared at the man from under her hat.

"You! Flash step!" The man yelled.

"Idiot," Sapphire sighed.

The man disappeared from in front of Sapphire and appeared behind and swung his sword in a similar way. Sapphire again jumped over it and kicked him in the face with the back of her heel while spinning her body. She again landed perfectly back on her feet as the man staggered sideways.

"You deserve death for this," The man snarled unsheathing his sword and throwing the sheath to the side. "Light Slash!" The man yelled as he brought his sword down from over his head.

Unsheathing her katana Sapphire swung it in an upwards arc. A Dark slash formed and collided with the light slash. While the light slash was destroyed from the collision the dark slash carried ahead and landed a hit on its target, though with much less power than it otherwise would have.

The man fell to the ground clutching his shoulder where the slash landed. Blood trickled down on his golden armor from a gap which was created by the slash. He glared at Sapphire, having the intention to get back up and fight. He reached for his sword that lay by his side.

Seeing this, Sapphire stomped hard on his hand and he let out a yelp. He fell silent as soon as Sapphire pointed the tip of her katana at his neck. Sapphire wondered if killing him was a good idea. It would certainly level her up quite a few times, but then the other adventurers might see her as a threat too, and she wasn't feeling up to a mass slaughter just yet.

Sapphire sighed and sheathed her katana as she returned to the reception, took a look at the paper and asked. "Where are the 'Poison woods'?"

"S-straight northwest from Here," the receptionist answered.

"Thank you for the information," Sapphire slightly bowed to show her gratitude. She glared at the man in golden armor from the corner of her eye as she walked out of the adventurer's guild.

Poison woods, what type of dragon will be there in poison woods? I didn't take the quest, but not like it would give me anything I need anyways. I just need the levels, for which I just need to kill the dragon.

Sapphire headed northwest, towards the poison woods. It was still quite a while before noon when she started, and she reached it by noon. According to her, the name was very fitting.

All the trees and bushes were withered and the air also contained a foul scent. The forest also seemed to be covered in a poisonous mist cloud, undoubtedly unsafe to breathe in. Sapphire clicked her tongue looking from outside the woods.

Turning around, she walked away from it after thinking it over for a moment. This is no good, I have no idea if the air is poisonous or not and I have no antidotes. I will have to prepare before heading in.

After walking some distance back towards the village Sapphire stopped in her tracks as she noticed something. "Perhaps I won't have to go all the way back," Sapphire smiled.