"I must admit it does have its merits."

"I wonder how much XP that fucker was worth."

Does reaching level five, even before any quest completion rewards, make the brutal fight feel more worth it?

It does. It really does.

"I'm level five!"

She checks her notifications. "Ooh, we are too. Good shit. When we get back to town for lunch, it's upgrade time."

"Yeah, for sure." She grins.

And her gaze sweeps the surroundings again, just in case.

Some small birds chirp and flutter through the trees, but nothing bigger than that shows up.

She'll go on walking, then. 

"Mana's a serious drawback here, huh? Then again, normally I wouldn't burn to the dregs..."

She nods. "It's a moderately serious restriction. There's always room to expand it, but it's not something you can just ignore."

"In Realms of Dragons, eating would restore mana pretty fast. I guess I really should pick up that meditation option."

"It does contribute, I think. A boost to the rate or something like that."

"Makes sense. For now, though, let's keep our wits about us."

She nods, watching carefully around them as they hike back.

Eventually she scrapes together enough mana to slot a healing bolt and heal Hailey. (Entirely touchlessly.) Then they can continue on. 

Hailey's posture untenses in relief as her wings heal, off in their shifted-away state. The ambiguous ache fades away. She lets out a slow, relieved breath. "Thank you."

And they keep walking.

Hyacinth uses her staff as a walking-stick, and is glad of it more than once in the not-too-clear trails they're following. 

And eventually, the village wall is visible through the woods.

"At last, we're back." She grins.

She looks over at Hailey. "Let's see if we can hand in that bear paw for anything good."

"Yep." Then she looks down for a moment. "Hm. Do I feel like explaining anything about our shapeshifting or the reason behind it to Jorem? No, no I do not."

And before they get in view of the guards, she shifts.

And Sable's back. "Abrupt, Hailey. Not that I object to more time with Sin in any way, but still, abrupt."

She shakes her head and smiles warmly at Sin. "Well, shall we?"

"Let's!" She smiles brightly.

She loops an arm through Sin's and they head back into town, and into the inn.

On the bounty board is a new posting:

Fifty crowns to kill a corrupted brown bear in the hills east of town. (Min level 8-10)

Sable snatches it off the board as she passes and heads directly to Jorem.