I kept pace with the stream of students, trying to blend in without looking like I was following them. No one glanced my way thankfully. The mud on my clothes had dried into stiff, patchy crusts, flaking off in places, but the thick leather shoes and tunic actually felt… comfortable now. Like armor I was starting to get used to. Weird how fast the body adapts when the alternative is dying in a forest fire.
Behind me, two students were talking in low voices.
"I've been to The Circle before, yeah," the boy said, barely above a whisper.
"Really?" His friend, a girl with short-cropped dark hair, looked at him with wide eyes. "How was it?"
"It's not as dangerous as everyone makes it out to be… at the edges, anyway." He shrugged, hands in his pockets. "But the further you go in… yeah. It gets pretty bad, from what I heard."
"Have you grabbed anything from The C?"
"Nope. Couldn't." He gave a nervous laugh. "Don't tell my mother, though. She'd kill me, revive me, then kill me again."
The Circle… I wasn't usually the curious type, but this place kept pulling at me. A spot just outside the western forest where people risked their lives for silver. Monster parts, rare herbs, old relics—stuff that paid well. Dangerous, sure. But if I wanted to survive here long-term, gold mattered. Guild quests seemed safer, but The Circle sounded like it could pay way more. And hell… maybe I could test my new spells there. Fireball. Heal. See what they actually did without burning down a tavern.
"Elves…" a man walking beside me muttered under his breath, voice thick with disgust. "Low-life bastards…"
"Hmm," I mumbled back, more to myself than him, and turned left with the crowd.
The city was waking up properly now. Market stalls were unfolding along the main street, wooden frames creaking open, canvas awnings rolled up, merchants shouting prices for fresh bread, root vegetables, smoked fish, bundles of herbs. The smell of baking dough and hot oil mixed with the sharper tang of forge smoke drifting from side alleys. Blacksmith hammers rang out in steady rhythm, clang-clang-clang, like a heartbeat under the morning noise. Guards patrolled in pairs, fewer than at night but still watchful, spears at their shoulders, eyes scanning every hooded figure and shadowed doorway. Probably still hunting for elves hiding in plain sight.
Around me, the crowd thickened with students, mostly my age or a little older, all in those midnight-blue uniforms. Some carried slim staves or leather-bound books; others had small satchels slung across their chests. A boy on my right was casually bending a thin stream of water between his fingers, threading it through the 'O' he made with his thumb and index like a living ribbon. His friends nodded approvingly, one clapping him on the back.
"Huh," I muttered under my breath. "Neat, huh?"
The energy was light, almost normal. Like any group of kids heading to class. Except the class involved learning how to throw fire or heal wounds instead of algebra.
I kept my head down, hands in pockets, blending as best I could in my mud-caked clothes. Northwood. Mandatory magic school. Gods and monsters and a place called The Circle that sounded like a death trap.
I followed the flow of uniforms, the city waking around me, and tried not to think too hard about what I was walking into.
╔═══════════════╗
Location Discovered!
─────────────────
Name: Bildirweight District
╠═══════════════╣
Region: Toakwood
Danger Level: ★★☆☆☆
Recommended Lvl: 1-10
╠═══════════════╣
Gained EXP: +20
╚═══════════════╝
Huh, so I was in another district?
I opened the map and focused on it. Clean white lines divided the city into sections—district borders. When I lingered on a specific area, the lines glowed faintly, outlining the exact size and shape. Handy.
"By Nythera's veil," a man behind me muttered to his wife, voice low but sharp. "Have you seen the execution yesterday?"
"I have. Good riddance, I'd say."
"Yeah… but… the kid? I mean, she was…"
"Kid or not. A monster is always a monster, dear. Don't let the guards hear you talking like that, now."
I kept hearing about the elves. Just what in the hell had happened between humans and elves to breed this kind of hate? The image wouldn't leave me: the mother and daughter dragged to the gallows, the nooses tightening… the poor man in the forest, gutted like livestock in the middle of nowhere. And I'd killed one too. Self-defense, sure. But if they came looking for revenge? I'd chosen me. No way I was dying like that. No. Way.
"Man, getting tired here," I muttered, tugging at the stiff patches of dried mud on my tunic.
╔═══════════════╗
Location Discovered!
─────────────────
Name: Northwood
╠═══════════════╣
Region: Toakwood
Danger Level: ★★☆☆☆
Recommended Lvl: 1-10
╠═══════════════╣
Gained EXP: +35
╚═══════════════╝
Turning right, I saw it ahead—behind tall iron gates.
Holy shit.
Northwood Academy was massive. The main building rose like a fortress crossed with a cathedral: five towering stories of pale gray stone veined with darker gray, arched windows framed in dark oak, corner towers capped with deep blue slate roofs that caught the morning light like polished steel. Vines, some silvery, faintly glowing, climbed the walls in almost artistic patterns. The entrance was a grand double archway flanked by statues, tall robed figures holding staves, books, or orbs, faces serene and ancient. Gods, probably. I didn't recognize them, but they looked important.
In front stretched a wide courtyard, perfectly manicured green lawns, winding stone paths lined with white and violet flowers, several fountains sending gentle arcs of water into shallow basins where sunlight danced on the surface. Benches sat under old, spreading trees; a few early students already dotted the grass, practicing small spells or reading under the shade.
Across the wide road outside the gates, normal city life continued: horse carts rumbled past, wheels clacking on cobblestones; a blacksmith's forge belched smoke from an open doorway, hammers ringing; shops sold bread, cloth, tools, and trinkets.
"Alright," I muttered. "Wow… that's something else, huh?"