The darkness of night gradually faded away as the sun rose from the horizon.
Arlecchino finally stopped her training as she sighed in exhaustion. She did not get even an hour of sleep last night as she was so focused on training.
But her efforts were worth it as she was able to gain proficiency in the Rokushiki techniques - Geppo(Moon Step), Tekkai(Iron Body), Shigan(Finger Gun) Moon Breathing 1st, 2nd and 3rd Forms and she was also able to master the basics of Arcane dragon slayer magic.
Due to the enhancements given to her hands and body by the "Marauder Potion" she was able master Shigan(Finger Gun), Geppo(Moon Step), Tekkai(Iron Body), and "Moon Breathing" much easier.
And practicing Arcane dragon slayer magic wasn't as hard as she expected, maybe it was due to consuming the "Seer Potion" that enhanced her talent for magic.
After spending [1 × Thread of Fate] she asked the system for a full body clean up, after she was clean of all dust and sweat she took a Senzu bean from the inventory and ate it.
Feeling all her fatigue dissappear as if it was all an illusion she took out a new set of clothes and changed in to them.
After she was done getting ready she took murasame placed near the campfire and strapped it to her waist. And then she put out the campfire.
[Active Skill - Presence Concealment]
After activating "Presence Concealment" Arlecchino called out the "Status screen".
"Status"
As soon as she finished speaking a familiar holographic screen appeard before her once more.
[Status]
Name : Peruere Snezhevna
Age : 16 (mental age 27)
Condition : healthy.
Titles : Arlecchino, The knave, The fourth of the eleven fatui harbingers, The Anomaly.
Bloodline : Khaenri'ah nobility (Crimson moon Dynasty), Noctelaris royalty, Arcane Dragon (1%)
Power Level : Tier 1 [Mortal]
Pathways :
The Fool Pathway – Sequence 9 – Seer.
The Error Pathway - Sequence 9 - Marauder.
Strength : 20 -> 48 (average mortal : 5)
Endurance : 23 -> 48 (average mortal : 5)
Chaos essence : 200 -> 480 (average mortal : 1)
Intelligence : 30 -> 45 (average mortal : 5)
Agility : 20 -> 48 (average mortal : 5)
Luck : 15 (average mortal : 3)
[Passive Skills]
Master combatant.
Balemoon bloodfire.
Wild Card.
Enhanced Memory.
Danger Intuition. (Now include the Intuition for detecting valuable items of the Marauder Sequence.)
[Active Skills]
Spirit Vision.
Presence Concealment.
Theft (Stealing).
[Unique skills/Traits]
Thread Manipulation.
[Techniques]
Divination Arts & Ritualistic Magic – Novice.
Rokushiki (Soru – Beginer, Kami-e – Beginer, Geppo - Beginer, Tekkai - Beginer, Shigan - Beginer.)
Moon Breathing – 1st, 2nd and 3rd Forms -Beginer.
Arcane Dragon Slayer Magic - Beginer.
[Equipment]
House of the hearth training uniform.
Teigu – One-cut killer – Murasame.
Pirate Captain Jack Sparrow's Compass.
Seeing the improvement of her strength a slight smile adorned Arlecchino's face. She closed the "status screen", and took out "Captain Jack Sparrow's Compass" from the inventory.
After confirming the direction the compass was pointing, she was about to continue her journey, but suddenly, she stopped.
[Passive Skill - Danger Intuition]
Her "Danger Intuition" automatically activated, the feeling of danger was getting closer from her left side.
Arlecchino hid behind a huge tree and quietly waited to see who had alerted her "Danger Intuition".
As the feeling of danger got closer she could faintly hear voices. As time passes the voices got closer and clearer.
"Not a monster, but a group of humans?"
Arlecchino said in puzzlement and surprise as she could understand the language the group of people were speaking.
And after about 2 minutes passed a group of humanoid being appeard in the forest clearing. They moved cautiously while carefully observing their surroundings, and when they saw the cut down tree trunk and the burned out campfire in the forest clearing they visibly because much more tense and alert.
(Yokai...)
Arlecchino thought with surprise evident on her face. Without hesitation she asked the system to identify the two types of Yokai races in front of her.
After the identification results came out she was once again surprised due to how unusual these Yokai were.
According to the system these two Yokai races were lower ranking Yokai races namely the [Goblins] and [Arachne]. Lower ranking Yokai have some intelligence but not at the level of human intelligence.
But the group of Yokai in front of her obviously has intelligence akin to humans, which is seen by their fluency in speaking and other human like behaviours such as walking in formation while protecting the children in the middle of the formation.
(Interesting, are all of them Unique individuals of their respective races, but so many of them can't be Unique Individuals, is it some kind of collective mutation in their souls due to the higher concentration of chaos essence in Silverveil Great Forest?, hmm...)
Arlecchino thought as she continued observing this group of interesting Yokai.
One of the old male Arachne leading the group halted the groups advance as he slowly and carefully approached the campfire bent down and carefully observed it.
At the same time another Old male Goblin also slowly approached the Old male Arachne.
Arlecchino carefully listened to their conversation.
"What's the situation Elias" Grom asked as he slowly approached the old male Arachne.
"This campfire was put out not long ago, whoever made it should have left not long after we arrived here. We should be more careful moving forward" Elias said with a solemn expression.
"Ain, my child be vigilant, be ready for battle at any time, that goes for us old folks too, stay close to the children protect them with your lives" Elias stood up and said to a young female Arachne who seemed to be the leader of the warriors of the Goblins and the Arachne.
Then after discussing among themselves the Yokai group headed towards the direction of the top of the mountains.
Arlecchino watched the group leave and followed them closely from behind, no one noticed her presence due to the effect of presence concealment.
The group of Yokai were heading in the same direction as the the direction Jack Sparrow's Compass was pointing towards, so she followed them without hesitation.
After following the group of Yokai through the forest at about noon they were almost at the top of the mountain, along the way they met many low level monsters, all of which were killed quite easily by the young female Arachne named "Ain".
But before Arlecchino and the Yokai group took another step towards the top of the mountain, Arlecchino's "Danger Intuition" Activated.
[Passive Skill - Danger Intuition]
At the same time as Arlecchino sensed a sudden danger, the Old male Arachne named Elias immediately stopped the groups advance.
Cold sweat ran down the Old Arachne's face as he said with an extremely solemn expression on his weather beaten face.
"It seems lady luck is not on our side Old Grom, I know you're there come out"
Arlecchino hiding behind a tree near the Yokai group also had a solemn face. She saw it it with her "spirit vision". A group of 8 people "Humans" to be more specific had at some point surrounded the Yokai group, leaving no place for them to escape.
These humans wore black robes that covered their entire figure and wore masks with mysterious red patterns on them.
What made Arlecchino feel alert is that there was a [Tier 2] individual amoung them.