It was almost noon when Master decided that we should head back and led me onto a dusty dirt path in the direction back. He had been haggling with Sir Bretan for half an hour over the price of a piece of equipment and the two had finally settled on a final price of thirty gold.

“Master, what are those rings for?” I asked as Master inspected the equipment more closely.

There were six black iron rings, three per set, seemingly for your second, third, and fourth fingers.

Master grinned, holding up a ring to the sun, “They help you harden and channel mana. I bought them specifically for your use.”

Master handed them to me, inviting me to try them on and test the effects. I slid them on my fingers tentatively. I knew of such artifacts that boosted your powers in Koqnia, but they could only be found in ancient treasure reserves or could be forged by a mere four blacksmiths in the kingdom. Sir Bretan seemed fairly normal with his techniques, so I guessed that metalworking had come a long way since my death as Kahil.

I looked around for any people, then took a deep breath, exhaling while infusing my fingers with mana. The grueling process of hardening mana was instantly easier, as the mana particles stiffened immediately at my fingers and grew out into chains that felt as good as real. I slammed the long spindly chains into the ground to test their power, but was surprised when a shockwave vibrated from the impact and dust flew up. The impact had created deep gouges in the ground.

Master whistled, “Impressive.”

“Master, who exactly is Sir Bretan?” I asked in wonder while dispersing the mana chains.

“It’s a trade secret.” Master winked as he covered up the scars in the ground with his earth magic.

We continued down the road in the wake of the forest ambience. Just then, a wagon appeared in the line of sight, seemingly led by a farmer holding the reins of two horses. Master and I passed them wordlessly, but I knew what was happening already.

A crunch sounded as I whipped around instantly and crushed the arrow flying at the back of my head. Another arrow had shot towards Master, but it promptly shattered after bouncing off his head.

“Master, allow me to take care of them.” I requested, excited to try out my new powers.

“Granted.” Master grinned.

The sound of wood splintering echoed as my arrow tipped chain protruding from the ring on my second finger punctured the back of the wagon. As swift as it was deployed, I retracted my chain and inspected the three bandits hiding in the wagon.

“Damn it! Shoot him!” One archer shouted.

Arrows flew at me but none met me as my chains appeared and destroyed them while snaking out to capture the archer bandits. Arrow tips appeared at the ends of my three chains and pierced the three bandits’ hearts. Blood splattered on the dirt and I turned to face the trees lining the path.

“Come out. I know you’re there.” I threatened, eyes lighting up with blue mana.

“Haha, truly amusing, right, Amos?” A woman emerged from the shrubbery along with a man.

The man grunted, hefting his oversized axe while retorting, “Shut it, Qillen.”

Behind the two leaders were rows of small fry that amounted to at least fifty bandits. The woman whose name seemed to be Qillen had unique red eyes imprinted with complex black patterns complementing her scarred face. She wore a fur-lined gray coat that seemed to be a magic equipment. However, she didn’t have any visible weaponry in contrast to the man, who wore an exotic fur cape and black trousers along with his lavish gold necklaces which hung in layers from his neck. His huge axe was made of well sharpened steel that gleamed in the sun.

The woman, Qillen, laughed and stared at me with her keen eyes, then said, “How interesting. You’re only a child. Fight me.”

“What are you getting at?” I narrowed my eyes.

“That wasn’t an offer.” The voice was strangely close to me.

I bent backward as a newly drawn blade shaved at me, cutting so close that strands of my brown hair were cut off. My eyes widened as Qillen the bandit was grinning devilishly with a short knife that glowed blue with mana.

The woman grunted in pain as the chain cut through her coat and sent her retreating while clutching her stomach.

However the the wound suddenly disappeared and Qillen sneered, “You fell for it.”

I was momentarily thrown off, but quickly came back to my senses. The woman was wearing an illusion coat, a rare magic equipment that could display anything on the outside its wearer wanted. Along with its ability, it was extremely durable to physical attacks. However, like all fabrics, it was vulnerable to flames.

I dodged another slash from the woman and jumped back, buying the time to prepare my final attack. This time, I created a chain from my right hand’s second finger that glowed with heat.

Heat could be created with mana if you condensed it to the right density as Master had once taught me, but I was aiming for something higher.