Beyond the door was a forest. It appeared to be a forest that was completely untouched by man as even the foliage was completely undisturbed. The ground was covered in a densely packed, almost knee high, type of grass that grew into a strange hook end at the top. The trees were scattered about as far as the eye could see but effectively blocked off any sight beyond thirty meters due to their spacing.
The sight of it was surreal to Altair. Not just because there was a random forest in the middle of a mansion, but because all of it made no sense to her. She had never seen that strange hook-type grass before. The trees had an orange colored trunk instead of the normal brown she was used to. The sky was even overcast, contrary to what she had seen just an hour ago from her own room. She also couldn't smell any of the usual smells you would find in a forest nor could she hear any birds or other critters either.
Lastly, there was the odd door. What kind of door slides open? How bizarre is that! Even the doors she had found so far in the mansion didn't do that so why did this one suddenly have to do that? And it opened on its own too! It was like it was some kind of weird God Magic that was probably powered by their commoner victims Spiritual Self or something… It was a really good thing that she didn't know how to use this Spiritual Self or she might have ended up like the others, or so Altair thought.
As Altair's mind finished going in a strange direction only after her hand fell back to her side. The door didn't close on her as she stared cautiously at the forest before her. It was similar to the forests she would spend most of her down time in back in the Coalition.
In that forest there were no nice amenities. She would sleep on the cold and hard ground like all of the others. Their meals would consist of whatever they could hunt or gather in the area plus some gruel if they were new. Pests were a constant problem and you had to be wary of others when you had a nice hunt. Just because you were allies didn't mean that others wouldn't try to take advantage of you to obtain what you had found.
Compared to the conditions that Altair lived in now, it was like hell.
Altair thought about all the hardships and the struggle just to survive back there as she dazedly stared at the forest. She had it so easy here, in the mansion. She had food that tasted divine, along with plenty of the vegetables that she considered a luxury. The access to a bath that seemed to have an infinite amount of hot water in it, along with the pleasant smelling cleaning soaps, melted her mind every time she used them. She was able to sleep in until her lessons to the Gods language. Although she was bored for most of the time, the only real threat was that brat that Donel had dragged away today and, perhaps, Donel himself.
The thought of Donel's might flashing through her mind caused her to bite hit lips slightly. Even if she had full access to her Mana she wasn't sure she would be able to match up to him. When she had encountered the Ancient Dragon before she only knew her Shadow Magic, Body Strengthening Magic, and basic Healing Magic. Even then, she wasn't able to use them that well due to her inexperience.
However, if she had to guess objectively, she wouldn't place her chances very high. She knew that her threads would get vaporized before an Ancient Dragons breath attack, so they would be completely useless. Dozens, or even hundreds, of Shadow Knights would probably get sent flying with the monster just spinning its body around.
But Donel was close to a Human in terms of physique. In fact, every God she had seen were very close to them as well, but a bit taller by comparison.
If it came to a full fight with someone who had the power of an Ancient Dragon in the form of a Human, then the battle would probably wind up depending mostly on the how they used their Magic against each other if she had full access to her Mana and her basic ability wasn't that far from theirs.
Altair was currently weakened heavily by having her body completely out of shape compared to what it used to be. On top of the strange weakness in her hands, she also barely had any Mana. That weakness frustrated her as she thought about how she stacked up to the Gods she was surrounded by.
They currently saw her as a child but she had already been here for quite some time. She didn't know how much longer they would continue to think that since she didn't grow like they did. At best, she would be able to hide it for three years. At that point, even the stupidest person would start to wonder and she didn't think that Donel was stupid.
Learning their Spiritual Self stuff would probably be useful for her. However, she doubted that she would be able to continue to fool them long enough for her to be able to learn everything about it. She needed a backup plan.
Unsealing her Mana would be a very amazing thing to accomplish but her resources for that were currently limited. Unless the forest before her had some of the ingredients she needed.
The very thought of it caused Altair to want to go in right now and start looking, ignoring the potential dangers a strange forest like this could have. She hesitated though to go though. Even she wasn't sure why she stopped herself.
'What is wrong with me?' She thought to herself, 'This is my chance to cure the poison and get my Mana back. I could go home and...'
Her shoulders slumped as she considered the depressing state that the Demi-Human Survival Coalition had been in even before the ambush. She had personally killed all of the generals they had before she was forced to flee. The shambles of an army they had were probably in a far worse condition now, if they even existed at all. There was also God's Hero that was, despite her really not wanting to believe it, probably still wandering around and using that sick Magic of his to force people to be with him.
The comfortable bed she that slept on here flashed briefly through her mind, along with Donel's stone-face sitting across the table from her with a plate of not-enough-food before her.
Her eyes widened into saucers when those images came to mind. She quickly shook her head as if to try and shake them from her very mind. 'No, this peace isn't for me.' She tightened her hands into fists as she took a deep breath and stepped into the forest. 'I have a promise to keep.'
The moment Altair stepped through the doorway she was hit with a blast of frigid air that caused her to suck in a deep breath. The cold air shocked her lungs by its abrupt appearance and her whole body shivered immediately. She quickly exhaled a puff of white fog as she had trained to do in cold environments. She couldn't believe how different the air was just by going through a single door.
The air felt wet and bit her straight to the bone. The grass that she had walked into was sturdy, like branches, instead of normal grass that would be easy to walk through. Still, even the grass felt wet on her exposed legs. Her feet even sunk slightly into the damp dirt. She could hear the sounds of strange creatures in the distance, possibly birds or some other type.
In any case, the forest was dangerously cold for her in the clothes she was wearing. She knew some Magic that could make her body resistant to the cold or heat for a time, but it would consume almost all of the Mana she had on hand. Still, if she wanted to find any ingredients for the cure to the poison, she would need to use it.
So, Altair burned most of her Mana and started walking into the forest. The Magic enveloped her body with a light glow before fading from view. With it came a warmth so comfortable that it felt like she was still buried in the blankets of her bed.
As she left the doorway, the door closed behind her without a sound. As soon as it did so, the door changed to match its surroundings, as if there wasn't a door there to begin with.
In the Observation Den below the mansion, Mihael was relaxing in a chair that shouldn't be able to lean back as far as it was. At a glance, anyone would assume that he was going to fall on his head in the next moment. However, the chair seemed to be extremely bottom heavy as it didn't so much was waver.
An engineer in a white coat and thin-rimmed glasses walked up to him nervously. Mihael didn't so much as twitch even when the man was standing right next to his chair. The engineer cleared his throat in an attempt to get Mihael's attention, but he got no response instead.
The engineer gulped hard and mustered up his courage. He had to tell Mihael what was happening now or he would suffer the consequences later, even if Mihael pummeled him for doing so. He opened his mouth and spoke in a voice as quiet as a mouse, "Mihael, sir, uh…"
Mihael responded with a voice full of annoyance without moving anything except his mouth, "You better have a good reason to be bothering me unless you're looking for a beating."
The engineer shrank back immediately and pleaded, "Please, sir don't! It's very important, I swear!"
Mihael opened one eye and looked at the engineer with it. He then asked, "You swearing on your life?"
The engineer's face paled. Still, he had to tell him, "S-Sir, it's about the girl that Master ordered the watch one."
Mihael sighed heavily before he sat up, the chair complaining noisily as he did so. He then stood to his feet and walked past the engineer. The last time he was bothered by something like this was several days ago when that stupid girl was walking around as if she was afraid of the wind. He did find it amusing to watch her jump in terror when he activated the Holodisplay next to her though. But after that it was so boring that he went back to sleep.
The engineer followed behind Mihael with quiet steps, hoping that his presence would go ignored.
Beyond the door was a forest. It appeared to be a forest that was completely untouched by man as even the foliage was completely undisturbed. The ground was covered in a densely packed, almost knee high, type of grass that grew into a strange hook end at the top. The trees were scattered about as far as the eye could see but effectively blocked off any sight beyond thirty meters due to their spacing.
The sight of it was surreal to Altair. Not just because there was a random forest in the middle of a mansion, but because all of it made no sense to her. She had never seen that strange hook-type grass before. The trees had an orange colored trunk instead of the normal brown she was used to. The sky was even overcast, contrary to what she had seen just an hour ago from her own room. She also couldn't smell any of the usual smells you would find in a forest nor could she hear any birds or other critters either.
Lastly, there was the odd door. What kind of door slides open? How bizarre is that! Even the doors she had found so far in the mansion didn't do that so why did this one suddenly have to do that? And it opened on its own too! It was like it was some kind of weird God Magic that was probably powered by their commoner victims Spiritual Self or something… It was a really good thing that she didn't know how to use this Spiritual Self or she might have ended up like the others, or so Altair thought.
As Altair's mind finished going in a strange direction only after her hand fell back to her side. The door didn't close on her as she stared cautiously at the forest before her. It was similar to the forests she would spend most of her down time in back in the Coalition.
In that forest there were no nice amenities. She would sleep on the cold and hard ground like all of the others. Their meals would consist of whatever they could hunt or gather in the area plus some gruel if they were new. Pests were a constant problem and you had to be wary of others when you had a nice hunt. Just because you were allies didn't mean that others wouldn't try to take advantage of you to obtain what you had found.
Compared to the conditions that Altair lived in now, it was like hell.
Altair thought about all the hardships and the struggle just to survive back there as she dazedly stared at the forest. She had it so easy here, in the mansion. She had food that tasted divine, along with plenty of the vegetables that she considered a luxury. The access to a bath that seemed to have an infinite amount of hot water in it, along with the pleasant smelling cleaning soaps, melted her mind every time she used them. She was able to sleep in until her lessons to the Gods language. Although she was bored for most of the time, the only real threat was that brat that Donel had dragged away today and, perhaps, Donel himself.
The thought of Donel's might flashing through her mind caused her to bite hit lips slightly. Even if she had full access to her Mana she wasn't sure she would be able to match up to him. When she had encountered the Ancient Dragon before she only knew her Shadow Magic, Body Strengthening Magic, and basic Healing Magic. Even then, she wasn't able to use them that well due to her inexperience.
However, if she had to guess objectively, she wouldn't place her chances very high. She knew that her threads would get vaporized before an Ancient Dragons breath attack, so they would be completely useless. Dozens, or even hundreds, of Shadow Knights would probably get sent flying with the monster just spinning its body around.
But Donel was close to a Human in terms of physique. In fact, every God she had seen were very close to them as well, but a bit taller by comparison.
If it came to a full fight with someone who had the power of an Ancient Dragon in the form of a Human, then the battle would probably wind up depending mostly on the how they used their Magic against each other if she had full access to her Mana and her basic ability wasn't that far from theirs.
Altair was currently weakened heavily by having her body completely out of shape compared to what it used to be. On top of the strange weakness in her hands, she also barely had any Mana. That weakness frustrated her as she thought about how she stacked up to the Gods she was surrounded by.
They currently saw her as a child but she had already been here for quite some time. She didn't know how much longer they would continue to think that since she didn't grow like they did. At best, she would be able to hide it for three years. At that point, even the stupidest person would start to wonder and she didn't think that Donel was stupid.
Learning their Spiritual Self stuff would probably be useful for her. However, she doubted that she would be able to continue to fool them long enough for her to be able to learn everything about it. She needed a backup plan.
Unsealing her Mana would be a very amazing thing to accomplish but her resources for that were currently limited. Unless the forest before her had some of the ingredients she needed.
The very thought of it caused Altair to want to go in right now and start looking, ignoring the potential dangers a strange forest like this could have. She hesitated though to go though. Even she wasn't sure why she stopped herself.
'What is wrong with me?' She thought to herself, 'This is my chance to cure the poison and get my Mana back. I could go home and...'
Her shoulders slumped as she considered the depressing state that the Demi-Human Survival Coalition had been in even before the ambush. She had personally killed all of the generals they had before she was forced to flee. The shambles of an army they had were probably in a far worse condition now, if they even existed at all. There was also God's Hero that was, despite her really not wanting to believe it, probably still wandering around and using that sick Magic of his to force people to be with him.
The comfortable bed she that slept on here flashed briefly through her mind, along with Donel's stone-face sitting across the table from her with a plate of not-enough-food before her.
Her eyes widened into saucers when those images came to mind. She quickly shook her head as if to try and shake them from her very mind. 'No, this peace isn't for me.' She tightened her hands into fists as she took a deep breath and stepped into the forest. 'I have a promise to keep.'
The moment Altair stepped through the doorway she was hit with a blast of frigid air that caused her to suck in a deep breath. The cold air shocked her lungs by its abrupt appearance and her whole body shivered immediately. She quickly exhaled a puff of white fog as she had trained to do in cold environments. She couldn't believe how different the air was just by going through a single door.
The air felt wet and bit her straight to the bone. The grass that she had walked into was sturdy, like branches, instead of normal grass that would be easy to walk through. Still, even the grass felt wet on her exposed legs. Her feet even sunk slightly into the damp dirt. She could hear the sounds of strange creatures in the distance, possibly birds or some other type.
In any case, the forest was dangerously cold for her in the clothes she was wearing. She knew some Magic that could make her body resistant to the cold or heat for a time, but it would consume almost all of the Mana she had on hand. Still, if she wanted to find any ingredients for the cure to the poison, she would need to use it.
So, Altair burned most of her Mana and started walking into the forest. The Magic enveloped her body with a light glow before fading from view. With it came a warmth so comfortable that it felt like she was still buried in the blankets of her bed.
As she left the doorway, the door closed behind her without a sound. As soon as it did so, the door changed to match its surroundings, as if there wasn't a door there to begin with.
In the Observation Den below the mansion, Mihael was relaxing in a chair that shouldn't be able to lean back as far as it was. At a glance, anyone would assume that he was going to fall on his head in the next moment. However, the chair seemed to be extremely bottom heavy as it didn't so much was waver.
An engineer in a white coat and thin-rimmed glasses walked up to him nervously. Mihael didn't so much as twitch even when the man was standing right next to his chair. The engineer cleared his throat in an attempt to get Mihael's attention, but he got no response instead.
The engineer gulped hard and mustered up his courage. He had to tell Mihael what was happening now or he would suffer the consequences later, even if Mihael pummeled him for doing so. He opened his mouth and spoke in a voice as quiet as a mouse, "Mihael, sir, uh…"
Mihael responded with a voice full of annoyance without moving anything except his mouth, "You better have a good reason to be bothering me unless you're looking for a beating."
The engineer shrank back immediately and pleaded, "Please, sir don't! It's very important, I swear!"
Mihael opened one eye and looked at the engineer with it. He then asked, "You swearing on your life?"
The engineer's face paled. Still, he had to tell him, "S-Sir, it's about the girl that Master ordered the watch one."
Mihael sighed heavily before he sat up, the chair complaining noisily as he did so. He then stood to his feet and walked past the engineer. The last time he was bothered by something like this was several days ago when that stupid girl was walking around as if she was afraid of the wind. He did find it amusing to watch her jump in terror when he activated the Holodisplay next to her though. But after that it was so boring that he went back to sleep.
The engineer followed behind Mihael with quiet steps, hoping that his presence would go ignored.
