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The flight on Kikka went really well, so well it made Noah briefly forget about his broom. It was an unusual feeling, riding on something soft and being able to feel the lower part of the body. It didn’t go numb as it usually does when Noah flights for longer distances using his broom, which he managed to buy from a sketchy vendor on the streets of Royal Capital. Verena was leading the way, navigating the golems which worked really well for Noah, as he could focus on the surroundings and conversation. The only thing he had to do was to hold onto the cloth golem. When she answered his question, he smiled a little – maybe he wasn’t that terrible at conversations as he initially thought. The fact that her reply felt very intimate had made him feel much more comfortable, blurring the imaginary line between their ranks and standings. It helped him loosen up a little and answer without overthinking every single word he would say, therefore he naturally chuckled when she mentioned she gets scared very easily.
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“That honestly makes the two of us, but at least it will be less awkward if something scary encounters us… Or at least I hope so.” His mind went straight to the Cursed Forest when a group of overgrown mutated spiders jumped out on Noah and his group in complete darkness. He might have peed himself at that moment, but he wouldn’t confess that anyway. He quickly returned to the present, as Verena continued elaborating on her fears. Maybe they have been talking about different kinds of fear, but the young mage could understand that she had probably been through a lot, and for a little while he felt amazed with the coping mechanism she developed. “I think that is a great and healthy way to try and take control over things you normally can´t control. I am terrified of physical pain, but I didn’t really manage to do something about it, other than base my whole skill set around keeping the distance…”
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It was something that Noah had realized not that long ago, the difference between how he endured pain and how everyone else did. He still couldn’t tell if he was that sensitive, or if it was the fact that during his whole childhood, even when he tried to learn and control his magic for the first time, physical pain somehow always managed to avoid him. It caught up to him now, being a Magic Knight meant also doing tasks that naturally had elements of danger in them. This was one of the things on the list that he needed to work on, and once there was enough time and space to do so, he had some plans already prepared. Magic Knight that was capable of passing out after receiving a minor cut was of no use anyway.
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“Anyway, I hope I get to see more of your creations.” He smiled, as he managed to snap out of his imaginary self-pity party. The speed of the golem finally checked out, as it just proved that this was indeed a lower rank golem. Noah admired people with such a sense of perfectionism because he was never one of them. It took her magic to another whole level, and honestly, using magic to process personal hardships was a very interesting concept that he didn’t think about before.
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Once the golems stopped, Noah jumped down and took a closer look at the tracks which were very much disturbing. They were around seven to eight feet long; the farmers weren’t lying. Why would they do that anyway? With the trees being broken in half, Noah´s theory about bandits seemed to be getting less and less likely to be true. “This is certainly disturbing.” He said as he looked onto other footprints that were leading all the way to the forest. Once Verena mentioned nomads, Noah would just scratch his head. “Sooo, the woman said that the tribe lives in the mountainous area. She did not exactly specify the location, I suppose you are right and we should head north.” With this, he started walking towards broken trees, which probably marked the start of it. “I could try and use my very miserable sensory skills to see if I catch any mana signs. But somehow I feel like following these tracks could get us closer to that mysterious tribe, even if the farmers said that it is a dead end.” At this point, there was no reason to not believe what the old couple had said, but it seemed like the only lead they had.
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What worried him a little was the fact that the forest was apparently destroyed, and it seemed like something quite big had made its way through it. They also had no idea what the tribe was like, or if it was even real. “Can you smell that too?” He asked as the wind blew a little in their direction, bringing a smell of something rotting alongside it.

[attr="class","noahnotes"]Notes, spells and stuff[break]
Items: Magic Knight´s Mantle[break]