Travelling through the forest felt a lot easier now that Ethan didn't have to worry about those weird elves all the time. It seems their settlements were exclusively around the edge of the forest to protect their holy mountain from invaders, maybe it wasn't even on their mind that people could find a way around it. Well he certainly wouldn't complain about their lack of imagination. Still if his guess was correct he didn't see the last of them in those thirty days. Alas when he checked the new timer, the system had been introduced as a countdown, he noticed that he sat longer on that rock than he expected.

Time remaining in the tutorial: 27:19:44:03

For him it was no longer than a few hours but his willingness to blend everything out made him lose his sense of time, one day it might be his end if he found something that could occupy his mind forever. Surprisingly he wasn't hungry after all the magic training and the jogging just now, it seems his body could keep it up a while longer without new energy. He shuddered, Ethan couldn't take any more centipede meat anyway for the foreseeable future.

Shaking his head he tried to get his mind back on his current objective. He stopped for a moment and closed his eyes, sending his senses out into the world. He felt the magic move around him in an endless stream that followed the way of the earth, the breeze that danced through the air, or how it gathered in the rays of the sun. But there it was again, a rot that spread through the network of mana. It was different from his magic, while there were similarities this magic was vile and cursed. Looking at his own mana Ethan's was white or pale blue, this was a mixture of black and red, like tar that was covered in bright rust.

He opened his eyes and continued his run, using ice pillars to ascend into the air where he managed to land on the branch of a guardian tree. Squatting down on the rough bark he managed to look under the thick blanket of leaves towards the energy signature. There in the distance it was, a black flame like a bonfire that pierced the skies in an endless stream. Ethan sighed, exhaustion marred his face as he looked at the flames, the thick black smoke that drifted into the sky and slowly darkened the clouds above and the animals that fled from that place, running for their lives. Their instincts told them how dangerous this place was.

It was James all over again, that freak of mother nature couldn't stop getting into his way, it was especially annoying because Ethan wasn't even sure why he still tried to make this tutorial into an even bigger shitshow. His month of peaceful training was suddenly far away, as long as that necromancer walked around here there was no peace on his mind. Why the fuck was he even alive, the Wight King died after all and it sounded like he would keep James alive, not the other way around.

With a long and drawn out sigh he jumped from the tree, only to land on a snow cloud the next second as he floated over to the black flame. He looked down to the clearing the fire had already burned into the old forest. Only now could Ethan see what was burning, one of the massive guardian trees was wretched in flames, its bark charred and glowing with embers.

Around it lay a massive ritual circle drawn in blood and guts, the heads of animals could be seen in specific spots all around the ritual. Ethan was ready to stop this madness before the ritual couldn't be stopped anymore, a necromancy ritual of this size, fueled by the corpses of animals and a guardian tree which was obviously connected to large parts of the forest. That was just madness, what could somebody want with such an amount of life force?

Cracking his neck he readied his magic and was about to jump from his snow cloud to face James once and for all. But before he could make his first move an earsplitting scream cut through the air and made him clutch his head, trying to protect his ears from the volume of that screech. He managed to keep his focus so that he only dropped a few meters instead of falling from his cloud and landing on the ground, he could guess how well that would end for him.

Still pressing his hands to his ears he looked around for what creature could scream like that, even now his ears were still ringing like crazy. As fast as he could while standing on his little snowstorm he turned around only to be thrown around again the next second as something swatted him away like a housefly. Ethan flew a few meters through the air until he landed in some tree, his body crashing through the branches, the pain of wood digging into his back made him cry out only for the air to be forced from his lungs when he landed on one of the thick branches further down, his back slamming into the wood which felt more like a rod of iron that a living plant.

"Fucking…hell…" he groaned and closed his eyes, but then the next ear piercing screech rang out from somewhere and he pressed his hands so hard against his ears he feared his head could just break from the pressure he put on it. "What is going on in Ouroboros' name?!" he screamed, trying and failing to overshadow the shriek. Groaning, he turned around on the branch and looked towards the still burning guardian tree.

What he saw next was something he would never forget, his mouth open in disbelief, his eyes opened wide and his mind short circuited for a moment. In front of the tree was a massive creature, four massive white wings like the ones you expected on a bird. All of them worked in perfect sync to keep the creature in the air, a muscular back that moved hundreds of muscles with each beat of its wings. Further down weren't the tail feathers of a bird but a long slender tail covered in down feathers, only on the tip of the tail were long feathers that made it look like a half opened fan.

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Shaking his head he looked closer, nearly falling from the branch he was laying on. Nearly hidden in the thick mantle of feathers were clawed feet, they were covered in more down feathers, only exposing the underside of them and then those massive claws that looked like black sabers, each foot was big enough to grab three people of Ethan's side with ease or maybe one of the bigger Brammgestir.

Looking up he saw the long neck of the creature, which was also different from a normal bird. It didn't look out of place but it still freaked him out because he never saw something like this before. The head of the creature was like someone combined the face of a snow owl with the head structure of a great horned owl. Large white feathers sprouted from its forehead and formed horns that moved with each facial expression the beast made, the black beak in its face was a lot longer and instead of facing down it faced outward, making it look more like the beak of an eagle. The edges of the beak were serrated like a saw and looked like they could easily rip apart flesh and crush bones.

His eyes widened when the owl creature opened its beak wide and a stream of frost and ice erupted from its insides. Like a never ending blizzard it extinguished the black flames that engulfed the guardian tree. The icy wind also destroyed the ritual circle with ease. A third shriek sounded out, this one clearly a victory cry as it pushed itself up into the air again, the massive wings carrying it in a lazy circle around the clearing before it flew away into the distance. Ethan jumped from the branch, just far enough to see it again. He caught himself with a snow cloud and he identified the creature.

[Elysarion or Seraphic Frost Owl - Level 90] [The Elysarion, or Seraphic Frost Owl, is a colossal creature with the grace of an owl and the power of a wyvern, cloaked in icy feathers. Its luminous eyes pierce through blizzards, and its vast, frost-covered wings create dazzling auroras as it soars through the cold skies. With the ability to conjure storms of ice and snow, it is both a guardian of frozen realms and a symbol of serenity and wisdom. Its haunting cry echoes like the wind. Dwelling in icy mountain peaks and glaciers, the Elysarion embodies the majesty of frost and ice.]

Ethan stood there, watching the creature, the Elysarion, as it soared through the skies towards the mountain range. Its white feathers hid it from view when it finally reached the clouds. He knew instinctively that this was the thing guarding the highest peak and the rift that would open at the end of the tutorial.

He stood there a while longer before he floated down to the now frozen guardian tree. Jumping the last three meters to the ground before he started to look around. The carefully laid out ritual circle was gone, the lines that were still visible are covered in a thick layer of ice. Ethan walked around but he wasn't surprised to find literally nothing, James was a coward after all and he had run away the moment the guardian decided to show up, how typical.

Bending down to pick a half frozen panther head up, he inspected it without batting an eye, this kind of gore was becoming the standard for him these days. Ethan saw a crude symbol that was cut into the skin of the panther. His ritualism skill couldn't even recognize it, the symbol felt wrong to him. The bigger question was, where did James acquire the knowledge to construct such an intricate ritual?

He dropped the panther's head and was already gathering his magic to get out of here when-

"Hold, stranger! In the name of the Wildwood Conclave you're under arrest!"

He closed his eyes for a moment and stifled a groan. Ethan turned around and of course it was those tree hugging fucks again. To be honest at this point it was just mobbing, why couldn't he just go his way and stop investigating every little thing that happens in this stupid tutorial. He wasn't the hero of some fairy tale and that's why he should stop acting like one, starting now.

Slamming his staff into the ground he froze the feet of the elves and their animal companions to the already frozen ground. He made sure the ice crept up to their knees and wasn't that easily broken even if somebody of a significantly higher level was with them.

"Stay out of my way, this is your guardian's doing and it stopped whatever that evil necromancer planned to do here. So go and search for him and leave me alone." He looked at each of their faces, to his surprise, far in the back he spotted that girl from before. Faylin was her name if he wasn't mistaken. Well, not his problem. Gathering his magic as he jumped into the air, landing on the snow cloud. I really need to figure out a way to do this without the boots….

Floating away he didn't look back and just smiled, so let's think about weapons…the staff can be rather versatile after all. Fuck the hero life.

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