The Moon Thief

After Heinald returned from the caves, he would buy materials for the Medium Level Strength Potion that he had been working on for a long time and try to make the potion again. He managed to obtain quite a bit of information and experience from his latest experiment, and based on these information, he corrected the mistakes with the experiments he envisioned and carefully calculated what he had to do. Even so, he still didn't know how the experiment would go.

Moreover, his body strengthening process must continue. Although his body was developing very rapidly, he still did not reach the level he wanted. Another issue that troubled him was how to cultivate his spirit. If he wanted to advance to Level 1 Ainsar, he had to find a way to cultivate his spirit. Unfortunately, spirit potions were out of the question for now, and spirit potion formulas were incredibly rare.

Even if he found someone who selling a Spirit Potion formula, he wouldn't have enough Arkana Stones to buy the formula, so he had to start looking for an alternative way. Potions were the most effective way to cultivate spirit, but it wasn't the only way.

Two days passed quickly. During those two days, Heinald brewed a few Low Level Healing Potions and some combustible oils. He hoped he wouldn't need to use healing potions. He could use combustible oils on spiders, depending on the situation. In fact, he still thought that mushrooms were not worth the danger, but he also wanted to gain experience. The world they lived in was a dangerous world and experience was very important.

Heinald got on his horse and started going to the Lich Hand. He hung his sword on the belt around his waist, and he didn't want anyone to know that his robe was a treasure.

When he arrived at the Lich Hand, he encountered a larger crowd than ever before. When he looked around, he saw that everyone was Apprentice Ainsar.

"Welcome, Heinald. Come, let me introduce you to the rest of the team." Seeing Heinald coming, Leina greeted him.

Leina started walking towards the table in the back corner. There were three people sitting at the table. When they arrived at the table, Heinald met Rigaz, Tanya and Hanfran, the other members of the team.

Rigaz was probably the youngest of them all, with curly brown hair and a scrawny body.

Tanya, on the other hand, was an admirable beauty with her blond hair and brown eyes. A bow was hanging from his back.

Hanfran was a man with long black hair and thick eyebrows. He was wearing a blue old robe.

"Are there any spells you can use?" Rigaz asked. He seemed to be trying to get to know his team mates.

"There are two Low Rank spells I can use." Heinald nodded and said.

"There is a Low Rank field spell I can use, but the casting time is too long." Hanfran sighed loudly.

"There are two Low Rank spells that I can use too." Leina shrugged.

"There is one Low Rank defense spell that I can use." Tanya exhaled quietly.

"Everyone,please listen to me. It's time to hit the road." Everyone turned towards him as Henra spoke loudly.

There were a total of thirty people around. Little later, everyone got on their horses and slowly began to advance to the northern gates of the city.

"You have a nice horse." Leina was staring at Heinald's horse.

"Mm,his name is Shadow." Heinald smiled slightly.

Soon they got out of the northern gates of the city and began their way through the Fall Plain. There were Yellowleaf Forests to overcome. When they left the Lich Hand it was morning, now it was noon. They would move forward until evening and have a camp in the evening.

"What do you think about the rumors?" Hanfran posed a question.

"What rumors?" Liena asked.

"There are rumors that there are dangerous creatures deep inside the Subdawn Caves." Hanfran shrugged.

"Don't be silly, if there was such a thing, nobody would go there." Tanya shook every head.

"By the way, is there anyone going there?" Heinald asked.

"I..I don't know actually ..." Tanya frowned slightly.

"Stay calm, we are not the only ones going there. Many interest groups like us have organized expeditions there." Leina rolled her eyes.

The progress of Starfall Group continued until the evening. They entered Yellowleaf Forest and moved on a little through the forest. They had stopped in a suitable place before it was completely dark. Each team prepared a campfire for themselves with tree branches they gathered around.

The environment was very active until night. Conversations and laughter arose around each campfire. By nightfall, the surroundings were getting much quieter. Most people had prepared a place to lie down and hoped to be able to sleep. Everyone in Leina's team was lying restlessly, except for herself and Heinald.

"Are you involved in any field?" Leila broke the deep silence with her question.

"I'm dealing with Potion Brewing." Heinald answered.

"Really? I heard it's a pretty tough branch. Moreover, it took a lot of Arkana Stones to advance." Leina's thin eyebrows rose.

"Yes, it is a really difficult and costly field. However, when you succeed, you can earn really big incomes. I made huge gains by selling Low Level Healing Potions that I could make." Heinald nodded.

"What? Are you serious?" Leila's eyes widened.

"What happened?" Leina's reaction made Heinald slightly frown.

"I thought you were just intrested in the branch. Can you make potions?"

"Yes...Why are you so surprised?" Heinald asked.

"You look very young. Have you been trained by a potion master?" Leina was looking at Heinald with a curious expression.

"Yes. My childhood passed by receiving education from my grandfather." Heinald nodded.

"I understand...Still, you are able to make potions at such a young age,which surprised me a lot. I've been educated about Magic Formations by my father since I was little, but I haven't been able to grasp even the simplest of formations yet." Leina sighed loudly.

"Magic Formations?" Heinald's eyebrows lifted. Heinald had only superficial knowledge of the formations. Formations are formed by magical schemes that manipulates energy to achieve an effect. He remembered the formation deep in the mountain that could manipulate gravity and dimension.

"Aaaaaaaaaaah!" The deep silence of the night was broken by a suddenly high-pitched woman's scream. Heinald and Leina jumped up from their seats.

"What's going on?" The people around got up in panic.

"Who was that screaming?" Henra asked aloud.

"Ennie! Where is Ennie?" A woman shouted in panic.

Heinald began to look around. The severed leg he saw forward caused his eyes to widen.

"Look!" Heinald rushed over to the severed leg.

"Wha ... Fuck!" When Henra came near the severed leg, his face turned white.

"Everyone should be on the alert." Leina shouted.

Heinald drew his sword and began to observe his surroundings again. He could see clearly in the dark, but saw nothing but trees around.

"Must be hiding behind the trees..." Heinald muttered.

"Everybody listen to me! Get together, let's get out of this forest as soon as possible." Henra stood out and said.

"What the hell are you talking about? Are we going to leave Ennie here alone?" A bald man opposed Henra.

"Look, buddy, I'm really sorry for Ennie, but we don't know what we were attacked by Every second we stay here, everyone will be in danger. We all come back to the forest in the daytime and look for her." Henra tried to persuade the bald man.

"I-I ... Damn it!" The bald man reluctantly accepted the situation. He knew Henra was right. 

Everyone began preparing.

They wanted to leave the forest as soon as possible. Heinald was still watching the surroundings as he walked towards his horse.

"What the hell is that thing!" As Heinald continued to observe his surroundings, he was dismayed by what he saw behind one of the trees. What he saw was definitely a creature. It had a long body and arms.Its hand was huge and its claws was like blade, its face unlike anything he had seen before. It didn't have a nose, had four eyes and teeth like nails.

Realizing that Heinald had seen him,the creature began to rush toward him. Heinald jumped back quickly and took a position, gripping his sword tightly with both hands. When the creature leapt towards him, he dodged the attack by taking a side step to his left and swung his sword quickly. The sword move created a long and deep cut in the creature's back.

"Ryaaaak!" The creature gave a shrill and painful scream. Pus flowed from the cut in its back.

"What in the world is this thing?" The people around started to react after their shocks were over from the fast-paced events. Everyone began to take position.

Heinald quickly observed the creature and people around. Some people had begun to cast spells they knew.

Tanya stretched her bow and aimed at the creature. When she released her hand, the arrow flew off quickly and got stuck the open wound on the creature's back.

"Ryaaaaaak!" The creature screamed in pain again.

"Basic Fireball" Heinald began casting one of the Low Rank spells he knew.

The creature started running back into the darkness in panic, but was constantly attacked by the people surrounding it. The creature lost its balance due to an arrow stuck in its leg and fell to the ground.

A man with a sword rushed at the creature on the ground to finish off it. However, the creature flew the man back with a kick, with its uninjured foot. The creature tried to straighten up and run, but was surrounded by thorny vines suddenly emerging from the ground. The vines prevented the creature from escaping. The creature also hit by couple of spells.

"It's done!" A fireball appaered on Heinald's hand. He sent the fireball squarely into the creature. When the fireball hit the creature its feathers caught fire. At that moment, an arrow stuck the eye of the burning creature and put an end to its pain.