Moving On

The autumn and winter passed. My decision to remain in the camp paid off. I didn't break past the Half Step, but I felt that my body was slowly reaching a limiting point. The pose my father introduced to me was really useful in that regard. In a subtle way, that pose got me closer, much closer to the Half Step than any simple exercise would. Moreover, I put on some weight. That was the happiest change since the whole journey began. Though not a lot, my appetite improved a bit.

My sword and movement techniques improved tremendously as well. There were about twenty different rhythms available to me already, making my movements really unpredictable. Not so stealthy though. That part of my movement technique was still severely undeveloped. Mostly because I lived in an open area, there was no way for me to use the environment as a cover. The occasional trips to the forest weren't enough to learn something properly.

Though, being quiet and using the environment to my advantage wasn't as difficult anymore. I couldn't disappear like master Yater or my mother, but I could be really quiet and hard to spot. My energy control saw some improvements, though my focus wasn't on that. I couldn't compress my energy inside my fist, but I made some progress towards that stage.

The winter was especially harsh. Not only an open area meant more wind, the wind was really freezing. Normally no one would notice such a cold wind inside a forest, since the trees were there blocking some of it. Out in the open and next to the sea, sometimes even sand patches were frozen early in the morning. I had to wear animal skins on top of my armour, and during nights, I had to have a fire going not to freeze.

Thankfully, I had time to prepare for the winter, make sure to get as many skins as possible and fortify my shelter. Otherwise, I'd probably freeze to death. Of course, provided my destination was far away, and I didn't expect for the destination to be close anyway.

"I believe it's time for me to leave already. I don't care much for their games anymore. Since I'm supposed to head north, that's where I'll go. Great North to be exact, where my home and family is", I said to myself. This time, the shelter would stay there. There was no need to destroy it, and who knows, maybe someone would find themselves in that area. They might want to use the shelter, and they would be quite welcomed to do that.

I only took the skins on which I slept, then left my camp. "I guess there's not much to worry about here. I can increase my speed without much of a worry". My supplies would suffer due to energy consumption, but at least I'd get there faster.

After about a week, my water supplies were getting thin. That meant a trip inside the forest to locate a source. Treading through the forest for quite some time, I encountered something. Not a stream, a river or a source of water, but something rather strange.

"The hell is this place?... Looks like someone built? This place…". The sight in front of me was really peculiar. There were boulders scattered everywhere, but they looked very smooth. That could be thanks to the weather, but something was off about those boulders. They seemed to be placed in a specific arrangement, or pattern on purpose. There were chances that place was natural, albeit a bit weird. Yet, something told me that wasn't the case.

The area contained nothing out of ordinary either. That's what I thought, until stepping onto something. "Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, swoosh…", arrows flew my way from all sorts of directions, almost piercing my body. "The hell is this place?", I asked myself once again. Whatever my foot stepped onto, must've activated a trap. That much was obvious to me.

The ground had no ropes, strings or any sort of usual trap setup. When I examined it closely though, there were some faint marks embedded into it. " Now way… Are these Runes?... This has to be a Formation, but, it's kind of hard to see it properly".

That supposed Formation wasn't really that foreign to me, or at least its effect. 'I've already placed such Formations, although they looked different and had the wind blast effect too. This one simply activated the arrows', I thought. More surprising perhaps, was the fact that the Formation managed to survive for so long.

The age was indicative through the arrows. A few of them simply disintegrated already, while those that managed to stay intact, broke after being shot. The arrowheads were all rusted, and useless. "I mean, rain, snow, cold weather… That Formation had to go through all those seasons, for who knows how many years. Who placed such long lasting Formations, and why are they so basic?", I asked myself.

Surely, someone with an ability to place such long lasting Formations, must've had the knowledge to place much more advanced ones. Why would anyone bother with traps under those circumstances? 'Unless, they simply didn't have knowledge, but were really good or strong'. That was a possibility, since primitive Formations were used for everyday tasks and even traps. That was a perfect example of such primitive use.

"That would mean, this Formation is hundreds of years old…", I couldn't wrap my head around that at all. That one Formation really intrigued me, so I decided to scout the area for more. Not surprisingly, there were more Formations around the whole area. Most of them had something to do with arrows, but there were a few which seemingly did nothing at all. That wasn't because they ceased to work, it's because the physical part of the trap was totally useless.

"Some of those traps were designed to capture whoever stepped on them. I assume ropes and other such things would be long gone, hence no traps got activated. The arrows were hidden in those boulders, that was the only reason for their survival. What a peculiar area indeed". That perhaps suggested the most important question. Why did someone place so many traps around here? What were they trying to protect?

I tried my luck with the boulders, even broke a few of them just to have a look. There was nothing. No stuff hidden beneath the boulders, no hidden entrances anywhere. That area was as empty as one could get, except the Formations.

There were a few possibilities why nothing was there. This might've been a long term camp in the past, and the traps served as means to protect the occupants. There of course might've been something there, but was taken away a long time ago. Or there was never anything there, and the area was simply a testing ground or something like that.

"It's a shame I'll never find out what this place was used for… Anyway, there's no point sitting here and contemplating on some long forgotten past. There's still that water source I have to find". With that, I left the area. The forest was rather peaceful. No animals harassed me, and the weather was fine. The only problem was a source of water. "I'm trying and trying, but everything seems so…", a sudden noise made me stop talking to myself.

I readied my sword, while looking for whatever made that noise. A bear or a boar would make much more noise than that. My assumption was a wolf, but nothing else moved as far as my eyes could see. 'Hmmm, maybe it's those Elysians once more? A wolf wouldn't stay this quiet all the time, and the Elysians did appear in those parts before…', I thought while slowly taking cover.

They usually had archers, but no one shot any arrows at me yet. "Who's there?", I tried calling out, but no one answered. "Stop hiding, I know you are there. If you want something, say it. If not, just go about your own business", I added. There was no answer at all, which made me think I simply overreacted. That could've been a bird or something else, and a lone wolf would pose a threat to me.

I sheathed my sword, and was about to leave, when the noise came from the top of a tree. I quickly looked at the area, but only noticed a small shadow escaping quickly. That thing was small, but really quick. 'The hell was that thing? Anyway, since that animal left me alone, there's no point worrying about it now', with that in mind, I continued my search for the source of water.

There was a chance the creature tried to spy on me, and belonged to someone. That could mean trouble, but chasing the creature would be pointless and maybe even lead to more trouble. 'I'll keep my eyes open just for safety. If it doesn't follow me around, there's nothing to worry about'.

The rest of that day was mostly uneventful. I encountered a small pack of wolves, but none of them posed a problem to me. Either way, no source of water appeared yet. 'This is quite worrying. I'm only good for one more day, then my water will dry out. I can still survive on food alone, but…'. I had to head a bit deeper the following day, but still found no water.

'Well, I'm out of drinkable water right now'. That thought presented me with a few options. Try to locate something while going forward, or go back to a place where a source of water was present. The problem with the later option was lack of progress. The same situation would greet me, anyway.

"I'll continue. Going back will only delay me forever, instead of solving the problem. I'll preserve my energy as much as possible, and hopefully something appears in a day or two. When worse comes to worst, I'll drink a bottle of the medicine, just to drink something". That was the plan, therefore I headed forwards in search of any drinkable source of water.