Once everyone had sufficiently calmed down, Anatheia decided to stay right by Lilith's side. She wasn't sure why the younger woman was so upset at her departure, but she would make sure that she never felt that way again. If she had to guess, the girl had abandonment issues, but that wasn't fair to say without knowing anything about her.

In the interest of knowing more, Ana decided to simply ask about her past, “Lilith, you said once that nobody wanted you to join their party. It couldn't simply be because of your age. I've known plenty of extraordinary young adventurers.”

“I respect you a lot Miss Anatheia, but that is something that I would rather not talk about. Not with an angel, but especially not you. I don't want to cause you to distance yourself from me too,” Lilith intimated.

Using her wing to pull the girl close again, she looked the girl in the eyes and said, “I won't leave you, but I will respect your request and drop it for now. So, instead, how about a story about your travels so far. I enjoy collecting tales of adventure and heroism.” Lilith turned extremely red from the close proximity but recovered and began telling stories.

After an hours or so of stories, mostly about the team before the current party's composition, Lilith motioned for everyone to stop, then motioned for Syl to come forward.

“Deer. We need food. I go left and spook them right, you take one down,” she explained quietly. Syl just nodded and they went about their jobs. Within seconds of the herd bolting, she heard a deer cry out in pain then go silent. She motioned for Nase to come help them. On the other side of the trees was a clearing with a single deer corpse. Syl had placed the arrow perfectly through the eye.

“Impressive show of marksmanship Syl! I have rarely seen the equal,” Ana admitted. She said it that way to rile the woman up, and it worked a little.

“Thank you Lady Anatheia. I hope that one day I may hear you say that you have never seen my equal,” Syl admitted. Ana was happy to hear that, it meant that Syl was driven to be the best. If she was driven, she would likely climb higher and higher. And Tyan was intelligent and diligent. If he had the same work-ethic, which it seemed he did, he could keep up with her step for step. She wanted to see their ascendance into the pantheon of great adventurers.

With their food settled for today, and enough to sell some at the city, they settled in to begin making camp. Syl and Nase cleaned the deer and then placed it in inventory to preserve it. Luckily time seemed to stop in the inventory and objects entered a sort of stasis. However only living beings could not be placed in inventory.

As the clearing filled with the smell of food, Ana and Tyan set up the magical barriers. This time, instead of traps that hurt, they set up warning traps further out. They were close enough to the city now that they did not want to inadvertently kill someone. They especially kept this true in the direction toward the road. Ana would just have to keep extra close watch in that direction tonight.

Once camp was set, everyone relaxed until dinner, which consisted of deer steaks, was ready. Nase again produced an amazing dinner, which led to a question form Ana.

“Nase, why don't you start a restaurant? I am not saying you aren't fit to be an adventurer, but you are an incredible cook to be able to produce things like this in the field,” she complimented the man as she asked her question.

He blushed and scratched the back of his head before he answered, “Aw thanks Ma'am. I love adventuring, and once I'm done, I may start myself a restaurant. There are just so many ingredients to find and taste from the wild and dungeons that I want to get on that first.” Ana decided she now wanted to keep this man around. He would make a great cook on journeys, and he was capable enough with his sword and shield. She would try to get him to stay until such time as he wanted to leave for his restaurant.

“Well, I hope you're able to establish that restaurant and that I am able to eat there one day. If you can make things like this in the field, I can't wait to see what you can do in a real kitchen,” Ana praised again.

“Anywhere's a kitchen if you have clean water, a fire, and ingredients Ma'am,” he told her in his characteristic slow drawl. His optimism sparked a smile on her face. She realized again that, for all his faults, and he seemed to have many, Marcos possessed an incredible eye for talent. Maybe if he could be saved from himself, he would become someone important too.

When she looked over to Marcos and Olena, she found the latter staring at her, and a flash of a sadistic smile cross her face. This woman...she may be the source of all the problems. Something about her did seem to set off alarm bells in Anatheia's head. She was not as weak as she pretended to be, she had supreme confidence, and that smile. That smile was the worst of it all. If it weren't for that smile, she would not give Ana this sense of deja vu, but that smile only spelled trouble for those who saw it.

Shaking the woman's stare, Ana decided to take a deeper look at her mana gates since so many of her elements were sealed. She got into a more comfortable sitting position, and entered her own mind, following the flow of magic back to the source. As an angel, she was more in tune with magic, since she was a magical-being of sorts.

In her mind, she found the mana gates closed, except for Shadow, Light and Life. Not only were they shut, when she tried to go through the process of opening one, she found they were practically barred shut. Someone did not want her using her magic to any appreciable degree. It could have easily been the Council, or maybe someone from that other potential life, the one with the black hair.

Suddenly a memory of a battle, a blonde-haired woman using an artifact of tremendous power, and her magic being sealed away. If the black haired woman really was her, despite not having any angelic features, that blonde-haired woman was the cause of this.

Anatheia cursed the woman under her breath, and looked up only to nearly jump back out of her seat. Lilith, whose face had been extremely close to Anatheia's, jumped back in surprise as well. Then she fell over laughing at the sight of an angel so taken off-guard as to make her jump.

That had not been her intent, but it happened all the same. No, her intent was a little more embarrassing. She had been studying Ana's face to see if she had any blemishes whatsoever. She was always told that angels' beauty was flawless, so she wanted to know the truth. As far as she could tell, it was true, and that was when Ana came out of her trance.

“Okay Devil Child...what was that about?” Anatheia asked, trying to calm her heart.

She lied, “I was...um...playing a prank on you. And don't call me that!” Ana could pick up on the lie right away, the girl was terrible at it, but she accepted it. Clearly she didn't want to talk about what she had been doing, so she would leave well enough alone.

Lilith then continued to ask, “What were you doing Miss Anatheia?” Ana tilted her head in confusion, thinking it was pretty obvious what she was doing.

“I was checking my mana gates and realms. Keeping them maintained is vital to mages. You should concentrate on your Shadow realm to help you become better attuned to the element,” Ana explained.

Tyan nodded and added, “Lady Anatheia is correct. We must constantly ensure our connections are impeccable and our that we are constantly increasing our attunement. Especially with our main element if we have one. The better attuned you are to Shadow, the better you will be able to wield your shadow movement abilities.”

What followed was a lesson on the mana realms from both Ana and Tyan. Tyan, though an Ice Mage, actually had all the ability in him to become an all Elements Mage, as he had successfully attuned to 2 elements already. He needed a class up to receive a new class though, and that wouldn't happen for quite some time. Even then, if he wanted a higher rated class, he would have to cycle through the stars on his first class.

Once you reached the level at which you could choose to class up, you could also choose to start a Star Cycle. There were up to 5 Star Cycles per class up, and each involved a series of challenges given by the system. You either succeeded the challenges or gave up and classed up. Every star you added gave you a better chance for more advanced classes to class up into.

Her mind was occupied by these thoughts as she took up the watch.