Chapter 13: The Azure Moon

Slowly proceeding into the dark forest, Rachel took in her surroundings, seeing less of what was immediately around her and relying on her large ears to pick up the unseen activity of the night.

The land they were on was tilted and thick with shrubbery in places. It somewhat rose to what she assumed was the north, leading away from the road to her south. A brook ran along the base of the hill, but it wouldn’t for long, by what she heard.

The English voices in a long caravan on the route surprised her a little; by their struggles, it was at a bit of an upward incline. A few words in a conversation drew her gaze to the group of merchants traveling in the dual moonlit night.

"Wasn’t the blue moon supposed to come out later tonight? I can’t see it yet."

"Might be hidden behind the clouds... Do you think the Holy Abomination will make an appearance?"

"Haha! Ferrer, you crack me up sometimes. It’s a legend, like the Azure Sea Dragon that destroyed the Golden Isle of Passion. Did your parents tell you about the Wolf in Dunharv?"

"Whoa, heh-eh, maybe save it until after we’re out of these cursed woods."

She soaked in the unusual details, her thoughts a whirlwind. They weren’t on Earth; they had come to an entirely different planet.

Everyone...is speaking English. Seems unlikely, unless Anthony’s Feat translates everything for us. Convenient. Although...that also means it is affecting me without me being able to counter or detect it... It begs the question: what else? Unless this is a simulation of some kind. Also, two moons? How will they interact, or will they if this place isn’t real? Only one way to find out: experience them.

Her lips drew in upon seeing a sheen of white light and maneuvered to peer through the foliage, spotting an alabaster moon. It strengthened her resolve to push through opposition and obstacles, but when she stepped away from the beams, her misgivings about her transformation returned.

Huh... So, the white moon doesn’t necessarily get rid of my caution or inhibitions... Does it make me braver?

She shook her head; it had to be more intricate than that. Her thoughts drifted back to how stupid it was for her to enter this unknown space so abruptly. At the same time, she countered her own argument with the fact that being too cautious would cripple her progress—[Strategic Mind] interacting with her other Feats was doing a number on her mental state.

In any case, it didn’t matter now since she was here; she might as well test every bizarre aspect of this magical realm Anthony had opened up.

The sounds that permeated the shadows didn’t frighten her—nothing did when under the pale moon—and it wasn’t long until she found a break in the dense canopy overhead to study the heavens. It was partially overcast, and she figured the blue celestial object would likely be a separate body from the white one after a few more comments about it.

Rachel’s thoughts cleared as the pallid lunar beams hit her, refocusing her thoughts on the road, where Anthony and Zoe were headed to, before her dazed mind turned in the opposite direction to track a new duo caught in her sound net.

Now, why would teens be creeping through such a dangerous place while making so much noise? The goblins are far more cunning than I thought, as well.

A tilt lifted the corner of her mouth as she spun in a slow circle, keeping toward the breaks in the tree cover to soak up the power the two-thirds-visible alabaster moon provided her.

The unpredictable shifts that had suddenly taken hold of her life enticed her to dig deeper and explore how far this hole she’d entered went. It was similar to how she felt just before a major Muay Thai competition, or when she lost herself in a sparring match against Tyreese—it helped that the Jamaican man was a pro, and big enough to let her go all out.

Alexa may have been onto something, Rachel thought to herself while holding her arm behind her back and making her way toward the two teenagers; the pair were creeping through the forest far too noisily and would likely attract unwanted attention, which was ironic, considering their chosen career path she’d overheard from the merchants.

Maybe I am addicted to violence; I do love fighting... Why could I never accept that before? I fought at school... It started after Seo died—that was when Dad and Uncle Jintao started having problems... And Mom... She isolated herself for months, and I started fighting. I guess I wasn’t okay... I’m not okay.

Trying to dismiss the uncomfortable realization, Rachel tried to turn her thoughts back to the monsters around her rather than dissecting herself.

"Gah!"

This intense self-analysis is a double-edged sword! That’s in the past; this is now! What challenge can these goblins give me?

She had a Stat point she could put somewhere, but Rachel quickly dismissed the idea. She wanted to get a better grasp of her capabilities before pulling the trigger on anything, as Anthony had pointed out. Besides, she wasn’t sure she needed to do it in the first place; after all, at her base strength, she’d already seen the results of this System when crushing her phone with one hand, if with a bit of effort.

The boy and girl were named Martin and Verna; their heated argument made Rachel groan, but they were really young. Verna wanted to go deeper to find the goblins, while the boy wanted to return to the wagons since they weren’t supposed to investigate the area without their instructor.

From what Rachel could gather, they were some kind of scouts-in-training, attending a famous school for it. This was their first operation on their own, and the results would significantly affect their position in the academy. Their only objective was to scout the road for traps laid by goblins, not to enter the dark forest; they had trouble seeing with minimal light, being ordinary human teens and all.

They’d drawn the notice of a goblin scouting party of six, and the excited grunts and snickers of the creatures spoke volumes as to who would come out on top from this encounter. From what she’d heard from the murmured gossip of the caravan merchants about goblin culture, the kids were about to have their dental work done.

Rachel took her time in following the sounds they made, observing all the unusual animals and insects in the forest; some she recognized, such as owls and rats, yet others were utterly foreign. A four-winged bird that beat its feathers like a dragonfly caught her gaze, but it swiftly hid when spotting her passage through the forest.

Her illuminated red irises swept her surroundings as she continued. The creatures nearby seemed to instinctively shy away from her. Something new in the air made her tail bristle as she paused beside a large, fallen tree.

I’m the monster in this forest; I can’t smell anything that makes me think it will be a challenge...

[Divine Beast Empowerment - Advanced to E-tier]

[Bestial Instincts - Advanced to E-tier]

[Bringer of Misfortune - Advanced to E-tier]

Well, well, well...interesting, Rachel mused, returning to her slow hunt while processing all the information around her; she was about to leave the audible range of the road, showing how far the teens had strayed.

That confirmed that ability Tiers increase as we use them, which means passives are incredibly important since they’ll grow quicker than active ones; at least, that is a possibility, yet there could also be multipliers or limiters on growth. I’ll have to compare it to the others when they advance.

She came to a small clearing with a gentle brook, showing a magical sight of shimmering insects that moved between white flowers, causing them to glitter like stars. The alien world had so many things to distract her, yet the frightened chatter of the merchants regarding the goblins occupied most of her mind—it seemed they were a common threat in this area.

Unfortunately for these scout students, shouts from the merchant train indicated that they had failed their mission in spectacular fashion, and would be severely reprimanded when they returned. If they returned. They’d triggered a trap, causing three large trees on pulleys to swing down and crash into their wagons like battering rams.

It caused a few injuries, but that wasn’t the trap’s main purpose. The first wagon had sustained damage to one of its wheels, blocking the others’ path forward. A shrill screech from a bird in a cage—a goblin-planted alert system—gave the goblin hunting party the message that their plot was sprung.

Anthony would make it in time to get acquainted with the group, and he’d drawn Zoe into a run upon hearing the cries. They’d need him since a force of forty was forming a pincer maneuver further up the road, hiding patiently in the brush.

There were far more of the creatures in the area than Rachel initially thought as she proceeded into the forest. She honed in on their grunts and snarls that marked their communication, which seemed partly physical. They mostly kept to four- to six-man scouting teams, with the higher-tier warriors likely taking the prime spot in the raiding party.