She obliged, wondering what he was going to do. 

Ruith sent his mana into a few trees around, taking control of the roots. He chose those that were about two times the size of his pinkie this time. Roots were very strong, but beasts and Voidborne were also extremely strong. Thinner roots would likely just snap.

He moved the roots so that they were just an inch below the ground, waiting for Vaeri to step over them. The girl dashed forwards, and right before she reached where the roots were, he made them move. Her speed was fast, so prediction was necessary.

The dirt burst up, three roots wrapping themselves around Vaeri’s right leg. Her eyebrows raised slightly, but she didn’t slow down, instead moving her leg with as much power as she could muster.

KRR!

One of the roots ripped apart, but two still held, though not for long. It took Vaeri all of two seconds, but she managed to break free. However, Ruith was happy with this result.

‘Two seconds is a lot of time in an actual battle, she would have died right there. And it only took 10% of my mana, if I had used more roots while she was stuck…”

Ruith was pulled out of his thoughts by Vaeri, who had arrived in front of him. She threw a punch which connected with his chest, but she held back so it was not that bad.

‘Might as well try.’

Ruith instantly used all of his remaining mana. The ground around Vaeri burst apart, nearly  thirty roots shooting towards various parts of her body! Some wrapped around her legs, others around her arms and torso.

‘Perfect!’ 

Vaeri couldn’t budge an inch. She used as much power as she could, but there were simply too many roots. Their combined strength was like a grown man holding a small animal as tight as he could.

The girl gave up, and Ruith made the roots retreat back into the ground.

There was a dull and slightly painful throbbing in his head, the side effect of using 100% of his mana. 

‘I’ll call this attack [Constrain]’

Ruith sat down on the ground, focusing on absorbing mana.

‘I probably only needed to use 50% of my mana for the same effect, completely draining myself was overkill. I suppose the only problem with this is that it’s only effective against one or a few enemies at once depending on their strength.’

He recovered his mana, he and Vaeri sparring for the next few hours. They wanted to gain as much strength as possible before the next day.

Ruith could feel his mana core slowly drawing closer to its breakthrough, he doubted it would take longer than a few days. 

After they completed their umpteenth spar, Ruith dropped to the ground.

“Alright, I’m really hungry. Let’s go get something.” 

Vaeri agreed, they had only had water since yesterday. 

They made their way back to the building at the center. It was much emptier than before, though the group of three they would be joining tomorrow was still there. Ruith and Vaeri walked to the counter, paying for two bowls of food. They were filled with meat of unknown origin, and very few vegetables.

“Mostly just meat out here. Traders only come by every few months.” The woman who served them explained.

Ruith and Vaeri sat far away from the others in the building, devouring their food in silence. 

The group of three had looked over several times with the thought of inviting them over, but decided to leave them be.

The two finished their food, heading back to where they were training. There were still many hours before they would sleep, which meant many more hours of grueling training.

***

The next morning, a group of five stood at the edge of the village. They had large backpacks strapped on, heavy and full of supplies they would need for the next few days.

“Alright, let's get going. I’ll explain what we’ll be hunting today while we walk.” 

Lia led the way for the group, heading deeper into the Eastern Wilderness.