Hah?

Rina crushed a branch as she looked at Arjuna

"HE DIDN'T TEACH YOU ABOUT THE DARKNESS ELEMENT?"

she yelled out she slammed her fist into a trunk leaving a sizable imprint on it as she raised her head to the sky.

"that idiot" she angrily muttered to herself "do I have to teach everything from the very beginning"

Rina looked at Arjuna and said in a slightly authoritative and interrogative voice

"Alright so what did Sninkkaakac actually teach you"

Arjuna shrugged his shoulders and looked at Alanis who also looked at Rina with a bit of confusion

"well... he taught me skills in archery... but as for everything else, he just kinda told us to go hunt some monsters"

Rina's eyes widened in rage as she growled at

"did he least give you the seed of darkness?"

Arjuna and Alanis quickly nodded their heads.

Rina let out a sigh and noticeably calmed down.

"thank goodness, at least he isn't completely incompetent."

Saying that Rina sat back down against the fallen log picking up a piece of jerky and biting furiously into it.

The warm fire in front of the group of 4 crackled and popped merrily as they all ate their meals.

Arjuna couldn't help but be impressed at the bags of provisions that were supplied to them. They had literally anything a person would need, a firestarter, plenty of food and water, useful tools such as a collapsible fishing rod complete with a metal hook, some metal wiring perfect for setting up traps even small compact beds that reminded Arjuna of sleeping bags.

Rina let out a laugh as Arjuna marveled over the expertly packed bag of provisions

"my merchant guild is one of the best in the city for a reason!"

Saying that Rina leaned back against the fallen log and looked up to the sky. The sky had noticeably dimmed which was why they were all currently resting and if one peered hard enough you could see the slight shimmer of stars in the dark blue sky.

The moon could also be seen slowly rising in the darkening blue sky.

Arjuna looked back at the campfire.

Rina continued to watch the night sky. While Alanis and Rei both squatted down at the campfire carefully cooking the meat that they had hunted a few hours ago.

With nothing else to do, and with a large impending self-imposed deadline Arjuna pulled out his alchemy tools and ingredients, his brother had asked for a large batch of health and mana potions. Apparently, the health potions Arjuna made were superior to regular health potions, which would just increase the health regeneration of a person. Arjuna's apparently could instantly cure minor scratches and wounds while significantly beating regular health potions regeneration rates.

Arjuna's mana potions were the same, though the meta for a mana potion was at a much higher quality Arjuna's mana potions could instantly give a higher amount of mana than a regular one.

A sudden thought hit Arjuna as he looked up at the sky. His brother and master were slowly but surely reaching influential levels in the city of Herdita. Jack was already a ripper executive, Jason was a rose knight and the silver wings guild was already starting to grow exponentially, also technically it was the strongest player guild in the world currently because of the tiny amount of actual guilds in the game currently.

It was just Arjuna, who was still trying to help one of his companions, who wasn't anywhere near become influential and powerful.

What Arjuna didn't know though. Was that he actually became increasingly influential, for instance, the person he just met the guild master of a merchant guild. His two teachers in the city of dawn Sninkkaakac and Cadmus.

Arjuna had so many connections to powerful and influential people that it even dwarfed what Jason and Perseus were doing currently. Arjuna just didn't know and kept on thinking that he was still at the very bottom in terms of work contribution even though Jason and Perseus kept on trying to tell him.

Rei walked over to Arjuna offering him a small piece of rabbit meat with a shy smile.

Arjuna rose up and took the piece of meat shaking his head as he tried to not think about his contributions to his master's goal.

He took a bite of the rabbit meat and let out a smile. It was delicious, the toughness of it combined with the juiciness as the hot sizzling bits on top went into Arjuna's mouth made him nod in satisfaction. It wasn't as good as Jason's but it was still plenty delicious.

Rei watched Arjuna's expression carefully letting out a joyful expression as she watched Arjuna's face light up when he ate it and she carefully sat down next to Arjuna as Alanis stared daggers at her.

Arjuna didn't see any of it but decided to use this chance as a way to see how Rei was doing, after all still needed to protect her for the quest.

"So," he said after taking another huge bit of the rabbit meat

"How has your life been with us?"

Rei smiled

"it's been wonderful, you are both so kind, and teach me so many new things, and I get to experience and see the greatest things!"

Arjuna laughed at Rei's childish response. He was happy, but Rei wasn't done yet

"and the magic that you guys have taught me, I really didn't think that spirits existed, but well now I think that perhaps they were the ones who brought me to you guys!"

Arjuna raised his eyes. Perhaps he would tell Rei later that it actually was a spirit that had brought them to her saving the last remaining servants of her household that were loyal to her.

A sudden thought hit Arjuna.

"Hey Rei" he said leaning forward and looking at Rei straight in the eye

"do you really want to be a magician?"

Rei quickly nodded her head

"yes! I want to have more fun adventures with you guys!"

Arjuna gave it some thought and then looked at Rei with a small grin.

"Alright, let's aim for having you become a spirit mage alright?"

Rei quickly nodded her head.

"yes! I can already use the mana arrow spell and the fireball spell Alanis is teaching me a few more! though she keeps on saying that it's not real spirit magic."

"it isn't"

Rina's voice cut through the air as she continued to lean against the fallen log watching the stars as they slowly emerged from the night sky.

She turned her head slightly towards the two.

"The essence of regular magic uses mana and a spell circle, like a formula that you inject power into to get your result. Spirit magic isn't a formula, it's an agreement, a contract with another living being to fulfill your request. That is why it is so special"

Rina flopped around looking at Rei quietly with her glimmering green eyes.

"but you're well on your path to become a spirit mage just keep on doing what you have been doing"

"also," Rina said stretching her arms as she stood up from the fallen log.

"Since I'm teaching you three various skills, I'm not going to interfere with the necromancer fight, you guys will have to handle it all on yourselves, ill intervene when I need to. But you will be on your own until I deem otherwise"

Alanis looked up at Rina and asked

"Hey, when are we getting to the necromancer's territory anyways?"

Rina let out a laugh and stood up opening her arms.

Any signs of sunlight had already disappeared and now only the moon and the stars were singing the black sky.

A sudden cold fog rolled through the forest given everyone chills.

The forest turned from a light cheery forest to a dark and menacing one. Branches stretched out like disfigured fingers. The entire forest seemed to have a huge shadow cast over it and the constant howl of the wind through the branches sounded like a tortured soul.

"we're already in," Rina said turning around to look at the white mist that seemed to charge towards them.

Arjuna hopped off his seat and grabbed his supplies and weapons. He let out a small grin at Rina who was watching the three of them panic with interest

"not so different from Sninkkaakac after all huh"

Rina whirled around to look at Arjuna with a slightly enraged expression on her face.

"oh you did not"

With a bit of laughter, Arjuna ran into the forest. With Rei and Alanis right beside him, plunging deep into the dark dense forest.

Rina watched as the group left with a small sigh on her face. With a small wave of her hand the tiny campfire next to her dissipated in the cold wind and the last remaining light source they had disappeared, the darkness of the forest enveloping them leaving only the stars and the moon to guide them.