I Found a Door to the Elven Realm

Chapter 193: Life with Emily

The last fight of the day was the one that tested his new skill properly.

He was heading back south toward the portal point when a bull-shaped creature with a lizard’s tail and scales instead of fur charged out of a thicket about thirty meters ahead. It was massive at maybe three meters at the shoulder with horns that curved forward and ended in points that glowed faintly orange from internal heat.

[Observe: Target Identified: Ember Horn Charger - Level 40]

The thing lowered its head and charged straight at him without any warning display or territorial posturing. Just instant full-speed aggression.

Eren’s Enchanter’s Focus activated the moment he locked eyes with the creature. The charm effect from his old Lovely Eyes took hold and the bull’s charge wavered for about half a second but during that half second the Prediction Window kicked in and Eren SAW the creature’s next movement before it happened. A slight weight shift to its right hind leg that meant it was going to angle left to compensate for the charm’s pull on its attention.

He moved right.

The bull crashed through the space where he’d been one second earlier and slammed into a tree trunk hard enough to crack the wood. The horns left glowing orange scorch marks in the bark and the impact shook leaves loose from three surrounding trees.

"Charming Voice!" he shouted and the audio charm stacked on top of the visual one. The bull froze mid-turn with its eyes going glassy and its massive body stopping dead. The triple duration from the synergy bonus gave him almost four full seconds of a completely stunned Level 40 creature.

He drew his bow and the Prediction Window showed him exactly where the creature’s body would be when the charm broke. It wouldn’t turn toward him first. It would spin left because its weight distribution favored that direction. The left side of its neck where the scales were thinnest from the heat stress of its own horns would be exposed for about one second.

He waited. He watched the prediction play out in his enhanced vision and timed the shot for the exact moment the charm was about to fade.

The arrow hit the neck joint perfectly. The Ember Horn Charger bellowed and stumbled sideways and a second arrow caught it in the same wound before the gap could close. The creature staggered and tried to charge again but its front legs buckled and it crashed to the forest floor hard enough to shake the ground under Eren’s feet.

[You gained 000% energy of Ember Horn Charger (Level 40)]

Zero percent. Of course.

But that fight was flawless.

Without the Prediction Window he would have guessed where to aim and probably missed because the scales on that thing were thick everywhere except where the heat from its own horns had weakened the neck plates. The skill had shown him the one weak point and the one timing window and he’d hit both perfectly.

[Congratulations! Your skill "Enchanter’s Focus (Uncommon)" levelled up]

-Level 1 > Level 2

Already leveling up in real combat. Two fights and it’s already Level 2. This skill is going to be insane at Level 9 if the base version is already this useful.

He folded his camping chair back into its straps and packed his remaining gear while the dead bull’s horns slowly stopped glowing beside him. The fading orange light looked exactly like cooling embers in a campfire and for a second it made him think about being around a fire with Emily and Selena on the farm, eating whatever stew Selena had probably spent all afternoon making.

His phone showed 4:47 PM Turkish time. Late enough.

He walked back to the portal point and stepped through to the farm where Toris was on the roof building something that didn’t look structurally sound and Selena was hanging laundry on a line that hadn’t existed yesterday.

Emily was asleep on the couch with her hand on her belly. Mel was cross-legged on the floor next to her sharpening a dagger while watching cooking videos on the laptop with the volume off.

Eren put his backpack down quietly and looked at the scimitar on his belt. There was dried strangler blood on it that he’d forgotten to clean.

I need to sharpen this. And figure out the weapons market. And train the new eye skill more. And eat something that isn’t wet almonds.

He went to the kitchen. Selena had left rice and some kind of stew on the stove.

But food first. Always food first.

He grabbed a plate and started eating standing up because his legs were too tired to walk to the table. The stew was good. Selena’s stew was always good. Two hundred years of cooking experience apparently made you incapable of making bad food.

Some things were the same whether you were a desperate copy fighting for survival in a tree or the original coming home to a farmhouse full of elves. At the end of the day you ate whatever was there and you were grateful that someone had made it for you.

He grabbed a plate and started eating because his legs were too sore to walk to the table. The stew was good. Selena’s stew was always good. Two hundred years of cooking experience apparently made you incapable of making bad food.

Emily appeared in the kitchen doorway while he was on his second plate. She had pillow marks on her cheek and her blonde hair was sticking up on one side and she was rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"You smell like blood," she said and yawned.

Eren looked down at his shirt. There were brown stains on the collar and a greenish smear across the chest that was probably wyrm blood. "Yeah. A monkey with six arms tried to strangle me."

Emily blinked slowly and then shrugged. "Was it at least strong?"

"Level 39."

She made a face. "Not bad. Did it hurt you?"

"Slammed me into a tree." He turned around and lifted the back of his shirt. "How bad is it?"

Emily walked over and pressed two fingers against the bruise on his lower back. He flinched. She pressed harder.

"Ow! I said how bad not how much pressure can you apply!"

"It’s just a bruise silly." She pulled his shirt back down and slapped the bruise lightly before he could stop her. "You’ll survive."

She does that on purpose. She’s been doing that since the first week I met her and she still thinks it’s funny every single time.

He finished the stew while Emily stole pieces of rice off his plate with her fingers. She was leaning against the counter with her belly pressing against the edge and her beanie pulled low over her ears even though they were inside the house. She’d gotten used to wearing it everywhere because taking it on and off was annoying.

"I want to go to town," she said while chewing a piece of rice.

"Now?"

"We need things. And I want to see the water."

She meant the sea. Emily had seen the Aegean from the car window during their drives to pick up farm supplies but she’d never actually walked near it. The concept of an ocean that went further than you could see was still something that fascinated her because the biggest body of water on Aradne near the elf village was a lake you could swim across in fifteen minutes.

Eren looked at the kitchen clock. 5:30 PM. The nearest town was about twenty minutes by car and the shops would be open for at least another two hours. The sun wouldn’t set until almost seven.

"Alright. Let me change my shirt at least."

"Change everything. You really stink."

..

They took the old Renault that Kalina had registered under a friend’s name. The car was a 2014 model with a dent in the rear bumper and an air freshener shaped like a pine tree hanging from the mirror that hadn’t smelled like anything in probably three years.

Eren drove because Emily couldn’t drive yet. She’d asked him to teach her twice and both times they’d ended the lesson early because Emily’s reaction speed at Level 51 was so fast that she overcorrected every steering input and nearly put them in a ditch. Normal human driving required you to be slow and gentle with the wheel and Emily’s body didn’t know how to be slow and gentle with anything mechanical.

"When are you going to teach me again?" She was looking out the passenger window at the olive groves going past. Her beanie was black today and it made her green eyes look even brighter against her pale skin.

"When you learn that turning the wheel two centimeters is enough. You keep yanking it like it’s a crossbow."

She turned to glare at him. "I don’t yank."

"Last time you turned right so hard the tires screamed."

"The tires were fine."

"The tires weren’t fine. I had to check them for damage after."

Emily crossed her arms over her belly and looked back out the window. "It’s a stupid machine. A yaksha or those dinos would be better."

They bickered a minute then kissed and made up.