I'll be forced to become Prince Bogdan's bodyguard." "No, not at all," replied Jaida. "You 'll be known as a hero for what you've done…at least at Lord Dragomir's Academy. But I'm sure the story will spread throughout the surrounding lands…maybe even throughout all of Tyraneus. But we will never know the outcome unless we hurry up and head towards Norfall now. We'll have to travel through the Marika Hills to get there. You're in the real world now so be prepared for anything. Now are you ready to pull yourself together and get going?" Nemeth wiped the tears from his eyes and nodded his head in agreement. Nemeth and Jaida began their journey towards Norfall by heading east through the Marika Hills.
Chapter Six
At the top of one of the hills, a lone Blood Wolf could be seen ripping into the flesh of a dead Annamite Deer. The Blood Wolf was startled by the presence of Nemeth and focused his attention away from the deer onto him. " I can detect the threat scores and threat levels that different creatures possess," said Jaida. "It's another power that Guardian Spirits possess. I can gather more data about different creatures as you grow more experienced. This Blood Wolf's overall threat score is only 550 out of a possible 1,000,000 points. The overall threat level to you is extremely low. Nonetheless, this is your chance to show that you have what it takes to survive in the real world. Let's see what you can do against it." The Blood Wolf began to charge at Nemeth, dripping fresh deer blood from his mouth. Nemeth braced himself and delivered a forward trust with his sword directly in between the eyes of the wolf. The tip of Nemeth's wooden sword caused the wolf's skull to fracture from the blow. The Blood Wolf toppled onto its side. Nemeth kneeled down next to the wolf and gazed into its sorrowful eyes. The wolf let out a low growling noise to express its pain for a short time. "You stupid filthy animal!" yelled Nemeth. "I would have left you alone to dine on your venison but y ou had to go and challenge me. Now look at you, just lying there helpless. One thrust of my sword and you've been taken out." The Blood Wolf died moments later. The wolf's body emitted dark blue smoke into the air and then vanished. There was no corpse remaining. Appearing where the wolf's dead body previously was were 2 gold coins and 4 silver coins. Nemeth promptly retrieved the coins and put them in his pocket. "Excellent job master!" exclaimed Jaida. "Did you expect anything less of me?" laughed Nemeth. "I know someone out there is listening to me besides you Jaida, so I'm going to say this. Whether it is men, monsters or the gods themselves, I will never be defeated!" Nemeth and Jaida c ontinued their travels through the Marika Hills. They came across what appeared to be a small brick house with smoke coming from the chimney. A sign in front of the house read "Madame Magica's Potion Shop." Nemeth tightened his grip on his sword. "I remember this place… " said Nemeth with hesitation in his voice. "This is the very place that caused us to get in a lot of trouble and have the Freedom Tunnel blocked off by the professors. Almost a year ago, a group of kids from Lord Dragomir's Academy decided to venture out on our own through the Freedom Tunnel. We ran around the Marika Hills and we found this place. We saw that it was a potion shop and we thought it might have some exciting new potions that we had never seen in class before. We also figured that that the owner was lonely and would enjoy our company. When we went inside, she asked us what we would like to buy. We told her that we were just wandering students from Lord Dragomir's Academy and we didn't have any money. We politely asked her if she could give us a demonstration of how some of her potions worked. She seemed more than happy to do so. After asking us to all to make our way fully inside, she shut the