Slurp! Ruger cradled his bowl and sipped the soup, giving his spoon a break.
Few sounds of combat reached them. Roars and cries of terror were more common, coming from shifting directions, with different noises sounding every so often. Ruger considered it from those two Wizard Apprentices' perspective. Once they started doing this, they would not dare stop. After all, they had no idea how much the other had gained, or when that damned rabbit would wake up.
Their breakfast ended amid a peculiar atmosphere. He noticed that the number of Wizard Apprentices here had risen to over twenty. There might have been more hiding nearby; lurking in the shadows and adapting to circumstances was hardly a hobby exclusive to him.
The Wizard Apprentices gathered here occasionally glanced toward their campfire, and Ruger studied them in turn.
Questions about spells, choices of paths, understanding themselves-problems like these had brought them together here.
Vito suddenly tilted his head, and the hat he always wore askew fell off.
His brow furrowed, as though he was deeply puzzled.
"So quiet..." Vito murmured.
Abruptly, his head drooped. His entire body began to blur, a haze gathering around him. Even the flickering campfire slowed for an instant.
The hazy scene swayed left and right, then drifted away from his body, as though emerging from Vito's left ear. As the haze enveloping him departed, Vito became clearly visible beside the campfire again, waking in the same instant.
Vito sprang to his feet.
The haze floated toward the split, fallen giant tree. After traveling only a short distance, it settled to the ground and became a figure in a dark yellow wizard's robe. Once steady on his feet, the man snapped his fingers, and a pale canine familiar appeared beside them, hairless and lacking eyes, a nose,