The second he stepped through his final gate, Felix’s feet landed in a familiar clearing. It took him only a moment to realise where he was. He was back at the first gate.

  The Ways quickly made it clear that rules were different. This was no longer a race. It was a hunt. He could feel that he had the option to select one of the creatures he’d faced before, but to pass, he’d have to do more than make it to the top of the mountain. He’d have to kill what he chose.

  Dread clawed inside him, threatening to burst into panic. He’d killed one before, sure. After it was weakened by one of the others, had its carapace softened by the river, was attacked by an unknown fish, pelted by javelins from a prepared battleground, and was lured into a trap.

  Even with all those advantages, it had taken him hundreds of tries. Now he had to repeat the feat in a single go, without any of the advantages.

  Felix quickly ran through his options. He could feel his mind slipping into panic, and panic would only make sure he died afraid. He needed the distraction.

  He immediately ruled out the owl and rabbit. The owl might have died early on due to its carelessness, but Felix would be a fool to rely on it making the same mistake. A flex of his mind dove into the information he was given, revealing that the original environmental hazards were removed. He wouldn’t be able to rely on the spiders to kill it this time. He didn’t want to fight a flying enemy, so that was out.

  He ruled out the rabbit. It was the only creature to make it to the finish line. Perhaps it was luck, or it was set up that way by the Ways, but he wasn’t willing to take that chance. If it got to the finish line because of skill, then picking it was a death sentence. Also, while it really shouldn’t factor into his decision, he just didn’t want to kill it after it had been so polite.

  ‘Maybe that says something about my mental state after spending so long alone in the Ways.’

  That left two more options. He could either fight the spiked carapace reaver or the shade panther. He shook his head. Without the river, he’d never kill the reaver. He had a hard time damaging it, even when it was already injured and wet. That left only one option. The shade panther.

  Felix quickly scanned his Memory Garden and found everything he knew about it. An ambush creature that thrived in deep forests. Not ideal, but he could work with it.

  Felix made his selection and sighed in relief. He had an hour to prepare before the panther would appear at the starting line.

  Hopefully, it would be enough, one hour to stack the deck in his favour. He hadn’t forgotten the brutal aftermath of this thing’s clash with the reaver. It might have lost, but just the fact that it was able to go toe to toe with such a monster told Felix just how hard killing it would be.

  With no time to waste, Felix dove into his memory garden, taking a seat in the middle. He focused his entire mind on what he could do.

  He’d spent months collecting as much information as he possibly could, memorising and sorting every scrap of information. The results were nothing to scoff at. He quickly identified the factors that would determine the outcome of the fight. He’d have to tilt as many of them as far in his favour as he could if he was going to survive.

  Quickly scanning his memories, he came up with eight things that could influence the outcome of a battle. The combatants, force multipliers, environment, mentality, traps, allies, condition, momentum and information.

  The combatants were fixed. There was no way for him to increase his strength or skill in such a short time. He had no way to weaken the panther either.

  Force multipliers had some promise. He’d have to secure some weapons. A staff wouldn’t do enough damage, but if he made some javelins, he’d be able to deal some damage from a distance. He could probably make a staff and keep it as a last resort.

  It wouldn’t be enough to overcome the difference in abilities, not by a long shot. The environment was good. He was intimately familiar with the forest, and he quickly went through a list of places he could use to his advantage.

  ‘It has to be somewhere that would give me an edge. There’s a cliff some ways east, but that’s risky. If it scales too quickly, the fight is as good as over. The river bank might work, the jagged stones could help, but it might help it as much as it helps me.’

  Felix went through every battleground one by one. Eventually, he ended up with one that could work. It was a risk, but even if it didn’t work out as he hoped, it would still only be neutral. Everything else had too much potential to backfire. In the end, he settled on a patch of forest where a massive termite colony had weakened the trees.

  By his estimate, they’d hold his weight but wouldn’t hold the panther’s. There was no telling if that was true, but if it was, it would be a major advantage. If it weren’t, then he’d still be no worse off than just fighting anywhere else in the forest.

  With a spot selected, he moved on to the next thing. Mentality, he nearly discarded it as a dud, but he quickly remembered a few of the ingredients in the forest.

  “Yes! That could work, finally, something that has a little potential. I guess it technically falls under traps, but it will do. Hmm, the fire I’d need for it might help as well. A shade panther seems like the type of creature that wouldn’t be too fond of fire.”

  His time working as a herb gatherer and an alchemist's apprentice came in handy. There were a few plants that, when burned, would have a hallucinogenic effect on anyone who inhaled the smoke. He could use his shirt and some other herbs to make a mask that would help him resist the effect.

  If anything, that might end up being his largest advantage.

  Next thing, traps. Simple snares wouldn’t do any damage, and pitfalls would take too long to dig.

  ‘I’m not sure it would work, but maybe I can use the trees… If I can get them to catch fire when they fall over, it might work.’

  His eyes lit up. Yes, that could work, maybe. It wouldn’t be very reliable, and he’d have to experiment to see if it worked. Even if just a few of them went off, he’d turn the environment even further to his advantage.

  ‘Come to think of it, I don't just have to rely on weapons as force multipliers. Whipping up a poison to coat the javelins should be pretty easy. What’s left? Allies and conditions are both dead ends. Momentum? I might be able to set up an ambush. It’s unlikely to work, but if I pick a good spot, I might get a javelin or two in before the real fight starts.’

  ‘That just leaves information.’

  Felix quickly collected everything he knew about shade panthers and reviewed it with the speed of thought. He’d worked as a trapper and a tanner, both of which had taught him a few things about beasts, so he wasn’t going in blind. That didn’t mean he liked what he found. Even with everything stacked in his favour, the odds of him winning were slim.

  ‘Just a sliver of hope to survive indeed. The thing is faster and more skilled than Eugene, and he wiped the floor with me. Not to mention the claws and teeth. At least its skills are geared towards stalking rather than direct combat, or I’d stand no chance.’

  With his plan made, all that was left was executing it. His Memory Garden had let him plan his approach at a speed that would leave any other aspirant in the dust. Even the martial artists who broke their limits were no match for him. His skills might lack combat applications, but Felix had spent more time than any other aspirant training his skills.

  He’d crammed into one year more training than most people did in a decade, and he’d practised his spells to a level most of his peers wouldn’t reach in their lifetime.

  The moment he dropped Memory Garden, he moved. He’d planned out every action, rehearsed every step. By the end of the hour, his preparations were done. Just as he got into position, a roar shook the forest. The next moment, it grew still.

  Felix quietly channelled Invigorating Rest, slowing his heart rate and breathing as much as he could, while recovering the energy he’d spent getting ready.

  It wouldn’t be long before the panther found him. The little fire he’d made in the middle of the clearing gave off enough smoke to reveal his location. That was ok. If it took too long to find him, the fungus would all burn away.

  So Felix waited. He’d made a decoy and left it next to the fire. Best-case scenario, the thing would strike at it, giving him an opening.

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  He barely blinked as he waited for it to arrive. He constantly scanned the bushes, trying to see when it would show.

  The panther lived up to its reputation for stealth as Felix never noticed its arrival. One moment, he was watching the clearing, and the next, a flash of black struck his decoy.

  He wasted no time. He was ready for it. The decoy shattered, coating the panther in a sticky sap while Felix launched three javelins in quick succession. One aimed at the beast while two more tried to box it in.

  The second Felix loosed his darts, he knew something was wrong. The creature wasn’t distracted by the decoy. It had turned his bait against him and used it to make him reveal his location.

  In a flash, it swatted away one of his attacks and shot towards the tree he was hiding in. Felix didn’t try to attack it. It was simply too fast.

  In a single great leap, it was halfway up the tree, Felix could feel the glee behind its gaze. It was already convinced of its victory. So when the tree shattered under the force of its landing, it was caught completely unaware.

  It tried to recover from the crash when the first flash berries Felix shoved into the tree's crevasses burst, letting out little pops of heat. It was just enough to ignite the juice of the ember apples he’d smeared all over the trunk. One second, the tree looked like any other tree in the forest, and the next it burst into a blazing ball of fire, catching the panther in the blast.

  As soon as the flames hit the sap stuck on the beast, it lit up with a brilliant white fire so bright it was hard to look at directly. An agonised howl ripped through the air along with a stifling power. Felix could feel the creature's bloodlust. It had hidden its presence while it stalked him, but they were beyond the point where stealth would help.

  Felix didn’t let down his guard or celebrate. It was still too soon for the fungus from the campfire to have much of an effect, and while the fire was impressive, he doubted it would do as much damage as he’d like. He simply swung to the next canopy using the vine he’d prepared ahead of time and readied his next javelin.

  The panther quickly tore itself from the burning remains of the tree, tearing at the parts of it that were on fire. While it managed to put out the normal flames, the tar-like sap couldn’t be extinguished so easily. It stuck to its fur, slowly melting into its paws and legs.

  The look of rage it sent Felix made him feel as if his heart were stuck in his throat. He didn’t look away. He stared into the creature's eyes. They both knew that this fight would be short. Either it killed Felix or the flames would cripple its movement, leaving it at Felix’s mercy.

  Even so, it didn’t immediately scale the tree again, afraid of another trap. Felix clicked his tongue. He’d hoped to catch it one more time before it caught on. Still, time was on his side. Every moment it was delayed, Felix’s advantage increased.

  Realising this, the panther wasted no time. It dashed towards the base of the tree and smashed it with a claw before quickly retreating. The tree went up in flames, much like the first one, forcing Felix to leap through the canopy to his next base.

  He had to do something, and he had to do it quickly. He only had time to trap three trees, and two of them were used up. Some of the others would crumble, but he’d trapped the weakest-looking trees. Gritting his teeth, he decided to take a risk.

  Felix dashed through the canopy to one of the more stable trees where he’d left a vine. The panther followed him on the ground, ready to smash his next stop as soon as he got there. The run didn’t last long. Felix had planned the battle around the campfire. He still placed a lot of hope in the moss he’d left to burn there.

  As soon as he stopped in the tree, the panther attacked the base just as it had done before. Its first strike wasn’t enough to bring it down. Felix had little doubt it could shred through even a healthy tree with little effort. The only reason it failed was that it was expecting the tree to collapse at what was to it a gentle pat.

  It quickly realised its mistake and went back for a second swing with more force. It was too late, though. Felix had used its confusion to swing down over it. It looked up just in time to notice the pouch of dust Felix had opened over its head.

  The moment the dust landed on its fur, it was set ablaze by the burning sap. A caustic odour hit both Felix and the panther, burning their eyes and nearly blinding them. Felix only spent a moment breathing in the fumes through his improvised mask, and it still made his lungs and eyes feel like they’d been dipped in acid.

  The panther, unable to escape the fumes so easily, writhed in pain, swinging wildly. It gave Felix the moment he needed to toss his last two javelins at the beast. One struck in its lower back near the tail, if it weren’t for a hacking cough that hit Felix at that moment, he might have cheered.

  His victory was short-lived as the beast followed the trajectory back towards Felix. With a speed that rivalled its first attack on the decoy, it shot towards Felix. He barely managed to dive out of the way thanks to the panther’s temporary blindness.

  The creature's claws just barely caught his side, tearing through his flesh like it was air. He barely managed to choke back a scream, knowing it would alert the panther to his location. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the last pouch he’d tied to his belt. It was a waste, but if he gave the thing time to turn on him, he’d be dead before he had time to execute any other clever ideas.

  He tossed the pouch halfway up a nearby tree, hoping the panther would think he’d somehow made his way there.

  It worked as if in a blind rage, the beast jumped into the air, jaws snapping and claws raking towards where it had heard the sound. As soon as it struck the tree, it burst into another plume of fire. Even Felix was surprised, the battle was happening so fast, he hadn’t even realised it was the final trapped tree.

  Another howl of pain ripped through the clearing as the panther slowly crawled out of the burning wreckage. The fight might have been short, but it had taken a lot of damage. Its paws were still slowly burning away. It struggled to put weight on its left as it crawled out of the fire.

  A foul brownish-yellow liquid bubbled from its hip where his crude javelin had managed to land a blow. If Felix hadn’t poisoned the tip, it would have been a mere scratch, but it had done its work. Its eyes and nose dripped with blood and mucus, while one ear was completely gone. Its tail hung loosely, and most of its fur had been burnt off.

  The clearing smelled like an alchemist’s worst nightmare as fire raged through the forest around them.

  Felix was faring little better. His breath was heavy, and he was losing blood at an alarming rate. He couldn’t see anything out of his left eye, and the vision in his right was blurry.

  He tried to keep still, hoping he’d go unnoticed and that the panther would just succumb to its injuries.

  It wasn’t to be as a hacking cough racked his frame, sending waves of agony through him. He only had a second to see blood on the back of the hand he used to cover his mouth before the panther turned on him.

  It looked unsteady on its feet. Felix wasn't sure if the moss in the campfire had finally started taking effect or if it was simply the effects of its injuries.

  It wasted no time and charged towards Felix.

  Felix had no trump cards left, his javelins were scattered, his traps had been triggered, and his escape routes exhausted. The only thing he had left to defend himself with was his staff. He’d sharpened the ends, but even weakened as the beast was, he doubted he’d be able to do much with it. The creature could smash trees with little effort. His javelin had barely scratched it.

  Still, Felix wouldn’t give up so easily. If he could find a way to hold on, he’d win. He was bleeding out, and he could feel himself losing strength, but he was still in better shape than the panther.

  He didn’t have time to consider anything else as it swiped at him. Felix knew that blocking would be pointless. He threw his weight to the side and used his staff to launch himself further. He barely managed to avoid its strike.

  The panther turned in place with such speed that it managed to take another swipe before Felix even hit the ground.

  Its remaining weakened paw couldn’t take the weight, just barely turning a lethal strike into a blow that snapped his staff in two, breaking the arm that held on to it in the process. Felix was sent tumbling through the ash-covered ground with enough force to knock the wind out of him.

  He smashed into a fallen log, cracking a couple of ribs in the process. The panther didn't let up. Its left paw could no longer support its weight, so it hobbled towards Felix on the right.

  Felix tried to stand, only for a wave of vertigo to send him crashing back down. He tried scooting backwards, only to be stopped by the fallen log at his back. He desperately searched for a way to survive, anything that would get him out of the desperate situation.

  He tried channelling Memory Garden out of instinct to buy himself time to think, only for the spell to fail. He was just too weak to cast anything.

  He searched the ground, but all he had left was the last part of his staff, little more than a sharpened stick.

  In that moment, Felix knew that he would die.

  He stared at the creature slowly stalking towards him. It wouldn’t last much longer than him. Even if both of them stopped, they’d probably both be dead in a few minutes.

  Felix chuckled.

  “Not bad for a useless mage.”

  Another cough tore through him as the panther wound up for its final strike. Even without channelling it, Memory Garden was kind enough to remind him of everything he’d learned about the shade panthers.

  He immediately realised what it was going to do. He gave a wry smile. Other people gained incredible combat arts, while his spell told him how he was going to die.

  Shade panthers liked to clamp their jaws onto the throats of their prey, causing them to either bleed out or suffocate. With only one good paw left, it was obvious how it would end for him. With the difference in strength, he wouldn’t have time to bleed out or suffocate. The bite would crush his neck and end him in moments.

  ‘Sorry, Lara, Grandma, Mom, Dad, Aster, Agrona and everyone else. Looks like this is the end, I love you all.’

  Tears rolled down his face, leaving trails through his ash-covered face, but Felix smiled. He’d given it his all. It might not be worth much, but even in death, he felt he made the right decision. His path was short, but it was his path. He didn’t spend centuries toiling away in jobs that slowly drained the life out of him.

  He’d taken his chance, and he was going out with a bang. He was scared, more scared than he’d ever been, but he smiled.

  As the panther lunged, Felix laughed. As a last act of defiance, he picked up his little sharpened stick and stabbed. It wouldn’t save him, but he’d die fighting, he’d die a Traveller.

  The panther, either blinded, drugged or both, didn’t avoid the blow. It bit down on his arm, its savage jaw tearing off the arm just below his shoulder.

  Felix screamed in agony as his body went into shock. As his consciousness faded, he barely managed to see the panther clawing at its throat in desperation as blood pooled onto the ravaged forest floor.

  As much as the chapter title would suggest it, this is not in fact the final chapter of book 1. There's one left that will be released on Tuesday. There will be a small break in chapters before the start of book 2. Not to worry though as I'll be releasing a few bonus chapters to keep you occupied during the wait. Details in the AN.

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