Civilization

Even though it was the closest human civilization, it was apparently not that close.

Mark traveled during the day, and rested at night. He asked Pass to warn him if anything dangerous showed up while he was sleeping. Thanks to his water alignment, and Pass being able to absorb mass at the price of Mana, he didn't need to stop during the day

He never got bored while traveling. Surviving may be his main goal, but he has to have a reason to have that goal. If he had nothing to enjoy or look forward to, there would be no reason to just continue surviving, even if his mind subconsciously wanted to survive. The only incentive he had to continue to survive before he met Pass, was the hope that he could find a reason to survive.

Now that he was away from the constant feeling of danger he had in his dimension, he could enjoy surviving. Almost everything around him brought joy, an emotion that was rare to him. The tall trees that swayed with the wind; the light blue, with a tinge of orange, sky; the healing sunlight, which in the past had burned, now felt so comfortable; and the back and forth motion of his arms, all brought him joy. This was the first time he felt glad that he survived, and he would probably continue to feel that way, if he allows his heart to open up to the once thought long lost feelings that he continues to find in this dimension.

The peace was nice, like the time his soul wasn't empty. However, all things have an end, or at least most do, and like most things, he's peace came to an end.

More than a week into he's journey he faintly saw a group of people, humans to be exact, fighting what he could only describe as sentient goo.

He activated his Light Marking, which at level 2 increased his eyesight, and he could see that the goo was blue.

The group that was fighting it didn't appear to be in any trouble. He has never fought in his life, only been beaten, so seeing how that fought was beneficial for his survival. For that reason, he got closer so that he could better observe the fight.

There was one human fighting up close and two in the back. Every time the human in the front punched at the goo, his fist would glow white. One of the people in the back had a bow and arrow. The arrow was formed out of the same white glow that appeared on the front fighter's fist. The last human, also in the back, held his hands up and fire began to gather in the middle of them.

Seeing fire startled Mark, and scared him slightly. Mark had almost decided to talk to those people, but seeing the fire come from one of their hands convinced him otherwise. Fire was something he didn't like as much as he didn't like blood.

After a brief moment of gathering fire, the person in the back fired it at the goo. The goo seemed to notice the ball of fire being hurled at it, so it moved the right of the fireball. The goo hadn't moved far enough away, as the fireball exploded when it landed.

The goo seemed to have taken serious damage, so the front fighter and the arrow user finished the goo off quickly.

When the goo was destroyed, it left behind a white stone. The warrior that was in front bent forward and picked the stone up. The group celebrated a little and turned to were Pass had indicated civilization was.

Mark just stayed were he was as all of that transpired. Seeing fire brought back painful memories of the orphanage, so he was left dazed. He decided to rest were he was for the rest of the day and night.

Since he spotted people, that meant that civilization wasn't that far away, according to Pass. Conflicting feelings welled up inside of him at that thought. It meant that he would be safer, but he would also have more encounters with humans.

Pass's definition of close must have been different form Mark's, because he didn't reach the human settlement for another month of travel. He did encounter more groups of people along his journey, some small and some slightly bigger. He also noticed, a little to his dismay, that most, if not all, of the groups had someone that could wield fire. Constantly seeing fire put his mind into a rather murky state, which made his Mana harder to move.

Time was a good remedy for his chaotic mind, for as he traveled, his mind slowly became clearer. Having fear was fine, and it may help you survive, but he needed to be able to overcome his fear, is what Pass said.

When he had the civilization in sight, he became a little uncomfortable. The civilization was clearly large. Just from what he could see, the walls had to be over twenty meters tall. How far the wall stretched was unknown, because he could not see their edges on either side, even when he used Light Marking.

The entrance was grand, similar to a medieval architecture, but the technology was more advanced. There were no guards to allow people in, instead they placed their Mana into a crystal ball that protruded out of the wall next to the entrance. When they placed their Mana into the ball, the doors of the entrance would open.

Lucky for Mark, he didn't need to go inside. All he needed to do was talk to somebody. Groups appeared often, so all he had to do was walk up to a group and say something to them. He wanted to get it over with quick, so he walked up to the next group that appeared.

The group was neither small nor big, an average size of five people, all men.

"What does that crystal ball do?" Mark hoped that their explanation would be short, so he could leave quickly. If the group had any females, he would have had to wait. He didn't think he had it in him to converse with a female, they scared him too much.

His question had startled them a little, but they reacted quickly as if it was normal.

"That's the nation's newest invention. Using it, we can make sure none of our enemies can send spies!" The pride in the man's voice was not hidden. Clearly, he was proud of his nation.

Mark turned around and left, glad that his mission was complete. He didn't even notice the weird looks the group gave him, before continuing into the civilization. As he walked away, he queried in his mind, 'Is the nation the thing you told me to watch out for?'

[Yes. Some nations are hostile towards others, and from what I've seen so far, this nation is aligned to the element of fire. It would be in our best interest not to use water magic here]

That meant he would have to use pure Mana. Not that he wanted to interact with other humans. If no one saw him use the magic, then he had nothing to worry about.