Chapter 7: The Forest Scout
POV: Adam
Mikael's cartography shop smelled of ink and unfulfilled ambition, its walls lined with maps that spoke of a world larger and more dangerous than most people dared to contemplate. The cartographer himself was a thin man whose fingers bore permanent stains from years of careful linework, his eyes holding the distant look of someone who'd spent too much time imagining places he'd never seen.
"Northeast quadrant," Mikael said, spreading a partially completed map across his cluttered worktable. "Ancient forest, barely traveled. I need someone to fill in the blank spaces—water sources, clearings, ruins if any exist. Dangerous work, but you seem the type."
The map showed Cintra as a detailed cluster of streets and buildings, surrounded by increasingly vague sketches that eventually gave way to unmarked parchment labeled simply Terra Incognita. The unknown lands stretched toward the horizon like a challenge written in empty space.
Twenty-five days until invasion. Time to see what's hiding in the places maps fear to mark.
"Twenty-five crowns, plus you keep the completed map," Mikael continued. "Useful thing to have, knowing the land. Might save your life someday."
Or get me killed today. But death's always been an option.
Adam accepted the contract with the fatalism of someone who'd already committed to dangerous choices. He spent the morning gathering supplies—dried meat that could survive a week in his pack, water skins that wouldn't leak when it mattered, rope that might save his life if used creatively, and flint that could mean the difference between cold misery and warm survival.
The Golden Sturgeon's common room had become his unofficial planning headquarters, its familiar noise providing cover for decisions that might seem insane to anyone with functioning self-preservation instincts.
"I could come with you," Ciri said, materializing beside his table with the silent grace of someone who'd been raised by people who understood stealth. "Extra eyes, extra sword."
Adam looked up from his supply calculations, noting the way she held herself—ready for argument, prepared for dismissal, but hoping for something else entirely.
She wants to prove herself. But I don't know what's out there, and getting the future's most important person killed on a mapping expedition would be historically stupid.
"Too dangerous without knowing what we're walking into," he said, keeping his voice gentle but firm. "Unknown territory means unknown threats."
Ciri's expression cycled through frustration, disappointment, and reluctant acceptance. "Fine. But if you get yourself eaten by something with too many teeth, I'm going to be very annoyed."
"Don't die," she added, the casual words carrying weight that neither of them was ready to examine.
"I'll try my best," Adam replied, and meant it.
The forest northeast of Cintra rose from rolling farmland like a green wall that had been growing since the world was young. Ancient oaks and towering pines created a canopy so thick it turned midday into twilight, their massive trunks speaking of centuries undisturbed by human ambition.
Adam paused at the forest's edge, expanding his breathing technique until the air itself became a source of information. Air Sense—not an official ability, but a logical extension of the breath control that had kept him alive underwater and in smoke-filled chambers.
The technique revealed more than his eyes could see. Wind patterns that spoke of clearings ahead, scent trails that marked the passage of large animals, and the subtle atmospheric disturbances that meant water flowing over stone.
Everything in nature leaves traces. Learning to read them is the difference between hunter and prey.
He moved through the underbrush with careful steps, using Breath Control to minimize the sound of his passage. The forest responded to his presence with the patient watchfulness of something very old and very used to being left alone.
His first hour of exploration yielded a stream that cut through the trees like a silver thread, its banks marked with animal tracks that spoke of deer, rabbit, and something with claws that scored the soft earth. Adam marked the water source on his map, noting the direction of flow and the quality of the crossing points.
The second hour brought him to a clearing where sunlight painted the grass in shades of gold and green. Wildflowers dotted the space with colors that had no names, and the remains of what might once have been a road suggested this place had known human presence in some distant past.
Settlement ruins. Someone lived here once. Question is: what made them leave?
The abandoned hut crouched at the clearing's edge like a wounded animal, its thatched roof collapsed and its wooden walls green with moss and time. Adam approached carefully, using Air Sense to detect any current inhabitants before investigating the structure itself.
Empty. But recently disturbed earth around the foundation suggested something had been digging here, searching for whatever the original occupants might have left behind.
He was sketching the ruins' location when the forest's ambient noise stopped.
Shit.
Complete silence in a living forest meant predators. Large ones. The kind that made smaller creatures freeze in place and pray to whatever gods protected prey animals from things with teeth and hunger.
Adam turned slowly, his hand finding the knife's grip while his other senses strained to penetrate the green shadows surrounding the clearing.
They emerged from the treeline like gray ghosts given form—four wolves moving with the coordinated precision of pack hunters who'd done this many times before. The alpha led from the front, a massive specimen whose scarred muzzle spoke of fights won and territory claimed. The other three spread out to flank him, cutting off escape routes with practiced efficiency.
Level 6-8 enemies against a Level 3 human with questionable judgment. The math is not encouraging.
The alpha studied him with yellow eyes that held intelligence he didn't want to acknowledge. This wasn't mindless hunger—this was tactical assessment followed by calculated execution.
It lunged without warning, powerful legs driving it across the clearing in three massive bounds that closed the distance faster than human reflexes should have been able to process.
Adam triggered Air Jump on pure instinct, the power lifting him three meters straight up as the alpha's jaws snapped shut on empty air. He landed on a low-hanging branch that creaked ominously under his weight, looking down at four wolves who'd suddenly found themselves fighting something that didn't behave like normal prey.
Tactical advantage: high ground. Tactical disadvantage: everything else.
The other three wolves began circling the tree, their growls harmonizing into a sound that spoke of patience and inevitable hunger. They could wait. Time was on their side.
Target the alpha. Break the pack structure.
Adam triggered Air Blade from his elevated position, the cutting wind striking the alpha across its exposed back. Dark blood matted gray fur as the creature spun to face this new threat, fury replacing calculation in its yellow eyes.
[Damage Dealt: 40 HP]
[Alpha Wolf HP: 60/100]
He dropped from the branch, landing in a controlled roll that brought him up with his knife in hand. The alpha was already moving, but Adam used Air Gust to knock two of the flanking wolves backward, buying himself space and time to engage the pack leader one-on-one.
This is what all that training with Ciri was for. Time to see if sparring with a princess prepared me for fighting actual monsters.
The alpha lunged again, but this time Adam was ready. He rolled left, slashing upward with his knife, opening a line across the wolf's throat that painted the grass red.
[Damage Dealt: 20 HP]
[Alpha Wolf HP: 40/100]
The pack leader staggered but didn't fall, its massive form turning with desperate fury to snap at Adam's leg. Teeth found cloth and flesh, sending pain lancing up his calf.
[Damage Taken: 15 HP]
[Current HP: 115/130]
End this. Now.
Adam grabbed the alpha by its thick fur and triggered another Air Blade at point-blank range. The cutting wind opened the wolf's throat completely, sending arterial spray across the clearing in patterns that spoke of life ending quickly and messily.
[Alpha Wolf Defeated]
[Experience Gained: 15 XP + Pack Leader Bonus]
The remaining three wolves stared at their fallen leader for a heartbeat, then melted back into the forest with the silent efficiency of creatures who'd learned when to fight and when to survive.
Smart. Smarter than I was, coming out here alone.
Adam stood in the sudden quiet, breathing hard, his leg throbbing where wolf teeth had found their mark. Around him, the clearing looked peaceful again, as if the violence had been a brief interruption in the forest's eternal stillness.
[Current Status]
Damage Taken: 30 HP total (bites and scratches)
HP: 100/130
MP Used: 60 (Air abilities)
MP: 110/170
Time to see what a wolf is worth beyond the experience.
Harvesting the alpha proved easier than expected—his growing experience with monster anatomy making the work less clumsy than his first attempts with drowners. The wolf's hide would make decent leather, its fangs could be crafted into jewelry or weapon adornments, and the meat would keep him fed during the return journey.
[Materials Harvested:]
Alpha Wolf Hide - 8 crowns
Alpha Wolf Fangs - 6 crowns
Wolf Meat - Survival rations
[Total Value: 14 crowns]
But as Adam worked, skinning knife peeling hide from muscle with careful strokes, his eyes caught something that made his blood run cold.
Tracks in the soft earth near the ruins. Large, clawed, definitely not wolf.
The prints were twice the size of the alpha's paws, with claw marks that scored the earth like knife cuts through butter. Whatever had made them walked on two legs sometimes and four legs others, and the gait pattern spoke of something that moved with predatory intelligence.
Werewolf. Or leshen. Or something else that hasn't been catalog yet.
Adam marked the tracks' location on his map with a warning symbol that would tell any future travelers to approach this area with extreme caution. Whatever had made those prints was still out there, and it was hunting territory that included the approaches to Cintra.
Information that might matter when the invasion comes. Or might get someone killed who doesn't need to die.
The return journey passed without incident, though Adam found himself checking the shadows more frequently than the outbound trip had required. Knowledge of predators changed how a person moved through the world, adding layers of caution that hadn't existed before.
Mikael's reaction to the completed map exceeded Adam's expectations. The cartographer studied the detailed notations with growing excitement, his fingers tracing the marked water sources and cleared paths with professional appreciation.
"Excellent work," Mikael said, counting out twenty-five crowns with the satisfaction of someone whose investment had paid unexpected dividends. "The warning symbols are particularly useful. Most scouts don't think to include that kind of detail."
[Quest Rewards:]
25 crowns
Detailed Map of Northeast Forest
150 XP (quest completion)
+25 XP (creative airbending usage)
+10 Explorer Reputation
[Current Level 3 XP: 515/648 to Level 4]
[Airbending Progress: 300/500 to Level 2]
Adam left the cartographer's shop with heavier pockets and knowledge that felt like a weight in his chest. Something bigger than wolves hunted those woods, and it was close enough to Cintra to matter when the siege began.
Twenty-four days until the invasion. Time to see if anyone important will listen to warnings from a thirteen-year-old scout.
The castle loomed ahead, its stone walls promising safety that might be illusory but was better than the alternatives. Somewhere in there, people made decisions that would determine whether Cintra stood or fell.
Information is a weapon. Time to see if I can find the right person to wield it.
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