"I haven't been here very long, that's true," Ruger said with a broad smile, looking every bit the loathsome villain.
He did not particularly want to smile, but the malice rising and falling across from him was quite entertaining, almost like a musical performance. In truth, the other party was weighing his options, then inevitably compromising. He also seemed to be overthinking things.
This only reinforced Ruger's assessment of the tree-gnawing behemoth.
After he said he had not been here long, the other party's malice noticeably dropped again. They probably had not believed before that he really just wanted to ask for information.
"Recently, a type of Emberfolk has appeared. They're troublesome, but not difficult to defeat. Since you're traveling alone, you might consider avoiding them first if you encounter any. This is no reflection on your strength." The man blocking his way considered his words, then continued in a low voice, "This newborn world is growing out of the collision between two great worlds, drawing on the characteristics of both. But the arrival of Wizards will also have some unpredictable effects on its growth. Every different power, every novel thing that has never existed here before, may have some unknown effect on this world when it first appears."
Ruger raised an eyebrow as he listened.
"I've heard there are more than five types of Invaders, counting the recently appearing Emberfolk, but I've only encountered three. Still, you should be careful. The stranger an enemy is, the harder it is to detect. Some people claim to have seen the bodies of low-ranking Wizards who all died in the same manner, one that doesn't match any known type of Invader. The ones I've encountered were rotting Mushroom People, Emberfolk, and a sort of humanoid monster made of flesh and blood. Each