A new camp

After Jay had passed the tower only two hours later he decided to test out his theory for experience gain.

Leaving the road he equipped a bow he had looted and searched for beasts he could hunt. After some searching he had hunted down three wolves of the same level and confirmed what he suspected.

With both pieces equipped he got one and a halve times the experience he got without it.

Him having the hero skill active meant he always received two times the experience points than normal.

With this settled, he went on for two more hours and as the sun sat behind the trees, he made his camp on the roadside.

Taking out the tent it was really already build up and ready for use. The size of two yards square was nearly correct as it had about two and a half, with only one and a half in height.

With some firewood lighted by a fireball he went inside the tent to make himself a bedding and got surprised.

As he entered the tent he could stand upright. But it was not only that.

With a big room in the middle adorned with expensive looking carpets and fully furnished, there were five smaller rooms connected to it.

All together it was more than seven hundred square-feet.

The walls were of the same linen cloth than the outside but it was not moving. The temperature inside was slightly warmer than outside and at normal room temperature.

Turning around Jay saw the same entrance he used to get in and the fireplace behind it.

Stepping out, he confirmed the size of the tent did not change as he walked around the tent. Sitting down at the fire Jay took out Mia's lunch bock and ate his tasty dinner while staring at the landscape.

After a really relaxing night in a fluffy bed he exited the tent and packed up his belongings.

To be precise he touched the tent and stored it inside his inventory the way it was.

Jay had eaten a little breakfast inside the tent as not only the there was a table and chairs, but a whole small kitchen with even some dried food stored inside.

Back on the road he traveled on for over three hours until he got to a crossroad.

To the left led a wide paved road and the signs stated "Eastvale 5 miles".

Turning left he soon reached the outskirts of what seemed to be a lumberjack settlement. Hundreds of logs were the first thing that greeted him and behind them he saw the roofs of log houses.

Passing the mountains of logs he finally saw the small village. Less than thirty houses were encased by the logs he just passed.

To the far right Jay saw a big building with no walls a little offside. Loud noises came from over there so Jay concluded it to be the sawmill.

But the location he was going to, was the biggest building in the village.

There, Captain McBride was lodging in the villages inn. A small Unit had been sent to Eastvale, guarding the Lumberjacks at work. But the Soldiers had no fort or the likes, so they had to stay in empty houses.

The wood works here had been better in the past. Since the incidents in Arathor and the bandits gaining momentum, the demand had receded.

That's why the capital built no station there and the people living in Eastvale, or to be precise the Eastvale logging Camp, got less every year. Only about Sixty people still lived in the village by then.

Entering the Inn, Jay could directly make out Captain McBride.

He was a slightly overweight blonde man and sat at a table near the bar.

While he took a small break he wore his shining armor.

Walking over to the man, Jay saluted like he had seen the soldiers greeting their senior. Haggard had told him to behave respectfully with Captain McBride or he might block him off.

"Greetings Sir, Commander Haggard sent me here to investigate the recent activities of the Gnolls in this region. If you could..." J.

"Stop it right there young man! I don't know what the commander thinks, sending a youth to investigate, but he should have his reasons. State your Name!" McB.

"Sir, my Name is Jay, Sir. It would be of great help if you could give me the location of the latest Gnoll attacks, Sir." J.

"That won't be a problem. But the Gnolls seem to not be our biggest troubles at this moment.

From the sixty-two Inhabitants here, five have gone missing over the last weeks, as well as two soldiers and even some adventurers.

That was not something done by mere Gnolls. In that case we would have found corpses. Investigate this at first and I will gladly help you with the search for the Gnolls." McB.

"Sir, as this already is my second task, I will take your order. Who and where was the last person that's gone missing?" J.

"That would be my daughter, Lily. She was guarding two of the towns people, while they collected herbs. One of them returned as she had fled when robed people appeared. It happened directly north of here." McB.

"Sir, I will see into that." J.

"If you manage to bring back my daughter, it'll pay out for you. You should also question the horse breeder west of here.

A stable boy there went missing at first, so maybe they can give you another hint. If it helps bring back my daughter... " McB.

Saluting to the Captain, Jay left the table and went straight to the front door.

From there he turned right and went towards the west.

Passing the wall of logs again he followed a small path to a ranch with multiple paddocks in a wide sink.

When Jay arrived down there, he went to the paddock closest to the ranch. A older woman was watching a man ride a horse in there.

But it was not any horse.

Bigger and more muscular, Jay thought it must be one of those monster-breds.

Greeting the lady he inquired her about the missing boy. The stable boy was apparently last seen north of there, close to the lake.

But that wasn't all that got Jay interested.

The Osbournes, that was the name of the couple, was cultivating, training and selling the horses there.

Asking them, he got informed that adventurers could buy horses there as well, but only the small versions as the battle horses were reserved for the military. The price was a whopping hundred gold for a normal one, and ten times that for the bigger and rare versions.

But as they were a special bred of monsters, once one formed a bond, they could be stored in their crystal form.

Every Monster has a core, formed from condensed mana, that was the source of their overwhelming power.

But not each and any animal could form a core and transform into a magic beast.

Those cultivated by pure mana and bred over generations could be used as pets, mounts and cattle with overwhelming performances. But the ones in the wild would only take up and condense free and miasmatic mana, turning them more ferocious and often more monstrous.

Taming those was only possible for real masters and even then only they themselves would be accepted.

After this lesson, Jay decided to buy one.

A pitch black horse bigger than most but not a battle horse was his choice.

Better said it was the aunties choice as she guided him towards it.

She even gave him a discount as he had promised to find their stable boy, dead or alive. Though she was totally surprised of him taking out the 90 gold so nonchalantly.

To him it was spare money.

Touching the horses forehead, Jay had to force a part of his mana into it.

In the next moment the horse started to slightly glow and got sucked into one specific point in the blink of an eye.

All that was left was a black crystal formed like a horseshoe.

Sending mana into the horseshoe, the black steed reappeared and neighed to Jay. Mounting his new horse, Jay saw the couple off and went towards the north.

The terrain was not one any normal horse could have passed through easily, but the magic beast under him marched forward with a speed faster than Jay himself on his travels. Soon he arrived at the shore of a big lake.

In the far distance he could see the shoreline of the other side and to his right ran a river from the lake, flowing towards Eastvale.

Following along the shore to the north-west, Jay soon arrived at a small pier with three rowing boats docked.

Passing it, he went on towards the north along the shore.

Only minutes later, Jay was then sure the opposite shoreline he saw was an island as the lake circled around in the north, separating it from the encircling forest.

And that island was massive.

Suddenly he heard voices coming from behind him as he watched the lake.

Dismounting, Jay resummoned his new horse and ducked behind a bis rock.

"...finally time for changing shifts. Man, patrolling this deserted forest sucks!"

"Yeah, not even a shipment is on schedule. 'Hope we won't have to stay here that much longer... or at least get some more of those slaves."

"Anyways, you're on with rowing this time..."

That was all Jay had to hear.

As their main base seemed to be on the island he had no further use for the two men that had come near him.

As they passed the rock he was hiding behind, Jay rushed in, grabbed the Cultists head and twisted it to the right, way more than it should have been able to. With the feeling of bones snapping and then the physical resistance dwindling after an audible cracking sound, the man went limp and fell.

Not waiting for the other man who have turned around or the chance to even utter a word, Jay hit his windpipe.

While the man grabbed his throat while he rang for air, Jay circled around him and took him in a choke. Soon the mans air ran out and the information of two killed cultists was written in Jay's log.

He had analyzed them beforehand and seen them being of lower level, so he at least used them to raise his martial-arts skill.

Taking one of their robes he donned it himself and pulled up the hood.

It was quite tight at the shoulders and threatened to rip, but the rest fit pretty well even over his leather armor.

While examining the black, magic imbued cloth, Jay leisurely walked back to the pier.

He had searched the cultists for anything of worth but only found two small wands.

As he arrived at the wooden construction, he climbed into the furthest boat and sat down. He had the feeling it wasn't his first time rowing as the principle was clear to him and he had no issues with the shaking boat. Sitting down facing the shore, he grabbed the paddles and started to row backwards onto the lake.

Even with his powerful status and a not too shabby rowing technique, it took him over twenty minutes to reach the other side. He rowed along the shore in hopes to find another pier. At the southwest of the island he finally found the pier.

On it, four more cultists were standing, waiting and searching for the last shift. Three more boats lay there as well.

Deciding not to take risks, Jay steered towards the reed and hid there.

Lucky the men weren't watching the shore, he reached land without getting noticed. Climbing off the boat and pulling it partially out of the water, he made his way over to the pier on land.

Two of the men were still standing on the pier, watching the lake, while by then three more stood on land and were talking with each other.

The distance to them was still to much to hear any of their conversation, so Jay walked closer.

"...id love to get a go on the boss's pet, ...what was her name? ..Lily, right?" Cultist A

"Not gonna happen, anyway what's up with the two idiots? They're late again?" Cultist B

"Hey, who're you?" Cultist C

As he had walked over, one of the group had spotted Jay. It was the only on looking decent and quite a bit older than the two middle aged men who were chatting.

"I was sent here to clean the pier." J.

"Sent by whom? And what the hell would you clean here?" Cultist A

"Cleaning the pier of you..." J.

Having analyzed the group while walking over, Jay threw his dagger which plunged into Cultist A's forehead.

With his overwhelming strength and a critical rate that was far from fair, most attacks would end fatal if Jay didn't hold back, at least for opponents of lower level than him.

And the group before him was exactly that.

With levels of 12 and 13 the cultists were only his level or lower and also caster types, as their skills had shown him.

While the older one started to cast his magic moments after Jay attacked, the still living middle aged cultist looked towards his dead friend.

He joined him a second later as his world spun for a moment and he saw his own body falling to the side.

Jay had copped off cultist B's head with his Wingblade and waited for the old man to finish his cast.

His disappointment was obvious as he saw a mere shadow bolt flying towards him.

Smirking he cast one himself.

Faster and without muttering a single word, Jay held a bigger one in his left hand.

With wide eyes the cultist saw his end nearing as three shadow bolts rushed towards him together. His own had been reflected and Jay himself had cast one double the size of his own.

But to top it off Jay had used a quick slot to shoot a second one, resulting in a small bombardment to the poor old cultist.

The two Cultists on the pier had seen what was going on and rushed for help.

While the first casted a spell, the second ran past him and dashed into the woods. Jay didn't mind him as he would lead him to their base, so he closed in on the last remaining cultist.

After another shadow bolt got reflected he swatted the man down and stomped him to the ground.

Jay came here hoping for new spells to integrate or find out more about his systems function, but the cultists seemed to only be taught all the same spell.

Following the track of the runaway cultist after checking the corpses he produced, Jay walked through the forest towards the islands center.

It took him ten minutes to reach a really hectic camp of cultists.