The night passed peacefully for the trio.
It had been a struggle for the two youngsters of differing sexes to sleep right next to each other, but fortunately, they managed to fall asleep in the later hours of the night.
Having Loki, who was mostly active at night and slept as much as he could during the day, proved to be a massive boon.
A good night’s sleep was essential for proper recovery, and proper recovery translated into peak battle performance.
The mystical lights of the natural runes soon faded as the sun’s rays illuminated the land once more.
Meanwhile, Hal and Liora sat in front of a campfire, facing each other, while little Loki slept peacefully at his master’s feet.
They made the effort to roast a large chunk of Ironskull Hog meat they had stored the day before.
After all, it would be good for their energy levels to have a hearty breakfast, and since they would be leaving the area soon anyway, there was no need to worry about monsters or beasts discovering the location.
The Spirit Sparrow was also perched on a high branch above them, allowing Hal to check every few seconds or minutes if any other creature was getting too close.
Nothing went wrong that morning and the duo continued with their journey.
Since Hal still had plenty of mana to control the sparrow, he let little Loki sleep in a makeshift pet bag made from leaves and vines the day before.
He slung the bag’s handles over his shoulders, carrying the snoozing cub on his back as they traveled.
Of course, they used the same old method of slowly advancing close to the stream, tracking its source.
Hours passed, and the two inched closer to their target destination, collecting a few D-ranked monster cores and restocking on monster meat along the way.
Hal didn’t know it, but Liora was growing increasingly curious about him.
She finally couldn’t help herself another hour later.
While they took a break to eat and rehydrate, the tan-skinned maiden suddenly asked, stuttering:
"H-Hal, I know this is a personal question, and you can choose not to answer if you don’t want to."
Pausing in embarrassment as her comrade turned toward her, Liora continued,
"H-How are you casting all types of spells? What exactly is the path you’re following? I mean... not everyone can learn spells that fast, and having a variety is obviously useful in most situations, but... my professors told me that not specializing in the path chosen by your mana-bound artifact would be detrimental in the later stages as a combat wizard, since you’d be overpowered by opponents with stronger spells..."
Hal locked eyes with her, swallowing a mouthful of dried meat jerky.
’Hmm... should I give her a slight overview of what I can do and my limitations?’ he pondered. ’She seems like an honest and trustworthy girl...’
In the end, he decided to trust Liora.
He somehow felt that his secrets were safe with her, illogical as it was.
"Well... you probably won’t understand, but I’m following the path of Chaos," Hal explained. "Maybe that’s also why my arsenal of spells seems like a mess to you.
I do agree that I might be overpowered in terms of direct combat, but my advantage lies in unpredictability, adaptability, and perhaps even speed, sometimes...
While it’s true I might not be able to match others in raw power, that doesn’t mean I can’t improve the strength of my skills.
Given time and a bit of luck, I might be able to catch up to the blessed ones like you."
Hearing Hal’s explanation, the tan-skinned maiden blushed and stuttered in response:
"B-Blessed... n-not as much as you, though! I don’t think I could win if we sparred..."
Hal didn’t shy away from the unintentional compliment.
If he and Liora were to fight now...
"Yeah, I’d probably smoke you in a wizardry duel, hahaha!" Hal replied honestly and laughed lightheartedly, leaving the maiden with a mix of emotions swirling in her heart, the most dominant one being frustration at being told straight up that she was inferior.
Couldn’t he say it in a nicer way?!
But it didn’t take long for her heart to sort out her feelings, as Hal continued, shrugging in a carefree manner.
"Only for now, though. I’m not sure how I’ll fare against you guys’ raw power a few months or years down the line. I’ll admit, your artifacts’ boosts are kinda busted, and yeah, I’m a bit envious. Maybe once you and the others like you learn more spells, my parlor tricks won’t work anymore."
Silence ensued as Liora only nodded in response, her curiosity slightly satiated even though she didn’t really understand much about what Hal said.
’Path of Chaos...’ she pondered.
Their quick break ended a few minutes later and the two continued once more.
Hal made sure to mark the resting area using their Manatech Expedition Pro Mark 7 before leaving.
Two days passed in the same manner, with Hal using the Spirit Sparrow and Little Loki as enemy detection devices, though the former was far more reliable.
The cub’s senses only alerted them when a creature was about to ambush them.
It rarely acted with urgency to warn them of powerful monsters, and strangely, although they ended up in more fights when Loki was on watch, they never faced anything they couldn’t handle.
As a result, they had gathered a total of seventeen D-ranked cores.
They would’ve had a bit more if beasts also had one.
Ultimately, aside from that one time they fought the Firevenom Viper, they had successfully evaded all other C-ranked creatures.
Hal was especially thankful they hadn’t encountered anything remotely close to the Lightning Fox from the other day.
Currently, it was Little Loki’s turn again, and the two were always on guard for combat when relying on the pup’s senses.
That was when the cub’s ears suddenly twitched.
The next moment, it urgently turned and tugged on Hal’s trousers—just like it had on the first day he wandered into the Luminous Runeforest.
Liora found the little one’s actions strange.
But Hal knew exactly what Loki meant.
The cub was warning them that a creature they couldn’t handle was nearby.