Exodus

Vixen, although pissed off felt justice had been served. She used cleaning magic once again and returned back to the knight's barracks. She dressed in her second set of clothes, put swords on her back and left again. She had left a letter for Lucien explaining her abscense. Now that she had awakened and was able to defend herself for the most part she could travel to the capital to find his fiancé. She realized it's been eight years since she last seen her but she just could not get there. Now that she had a bit of time and could survive the journey she had to go. 

"I have to take care of some loose ends, where did you live again. Oh yes the captial..." 

Those words from Geoffrey echoed in her mind, expecting the worse but hoping for the best. With her twin long swords criss- crossed on her back she left Haulsten. She stopped at the bridge separating the city from the eastern forest and reminisced the time she spent here. It was part of her habit from being a hero, adventuring is so saturated with danger you never know what trip will be your last. Once her respects were paid she crossed over the bridge and disappeared into the woods. 

Runeford was quite the distance from Haulsten, and on foot it would take her a couple weeks to get there and that's if there are no additional hiccups. Vixen was dressed like a ranger; black leather pants, shin and arm guards, leather shoulder pads, a metal plate covering the girl's, and a dark green traveler's clock with the hood up. She still didn't feel comfortable enough to capitalize on her new ability's perk quite yet, and as unlikely peaceful travel was, she wanted to at least try to remain trouble free. The first few days at least she got her wish, apart from a stray wolf that got kicked out of the pack that had picked a fight with her. The wolf was easy enough to deal with, didn't even manage to break a sweat. The further she got from Haulsten the more lawless and treacherous the rode seem to become. While traveling she had been practicing a magic technique she was unable to perform in the past, detect presence. It was similar how a radar worked but with the mana particles in the air. It was great at detecting hidden enemies and even invisible enemies because they could not avoid the mana particles. It wasn't omnipotent though, she would be able to tell someone was there not where someone was. It was on the fourth day of practicing that she was able to get it mastered.

-Skill Learned [Detect Presence- lvl 1]

It was with this skill that she had managed to avoid the trouble on the fifth say. She had detected, most likely bandits, hiding underneath bridge she had to cross on the way to Runeford. She used Shroud to get through them undetected. She hadn't realized how powerful Ted's Shroud ability was. What she also didn't realize is that when she copies an ability its only level one, but when she permanently steals one like she did with Ted, she takes it at its current level. She also decided now was the best time to try and get her basic dual wielding skill she figured with everything as it was she'd be better off with two swords instead of a shield. 

Every night she was extra cautious, she did not want to get caught by strange men again, though getting stronger was exciting especially with the Russian roulette of skills or abilities she could take her heart wasn't in it. She's lived as a woman for eight years and she's much more a woman now than when she started but every day her soul melds more into her new body, her mind loses a grip on her former identity and every time she's forced into sexual encounters, not only is there a big leap forward, but the overall progression rate increases. It didn't just start with awakening her class, she color coordinates more, she's far more in touch with and erratic with her feelings, and she doesn't know if it has to do with her curse or with what Geoffrey put in, but she has been noticing boys since she hit puberty. She was so busy training it was much easier to shift that focus but every year it becomes exceedingly more difficult. So every night she climbs one of the tall trees and arranges her cloak in a way that allows her to use it as hammock of sorts. Kind of like how mountain climbers sleep on a cliff face. She's high off the road and feels safe enough to doze off. 

Another couple of days go by with no overtly perilous events, but once she hit the halfway mark she picked up on several presences, her detect presence skill finally managed to briefly fuse with hypersensitivity and picked up hostile emotions. Of all the hostile emotion two were fear. She took off at a sprint she was 100 yards out from the action. When she first noticed a bandit she slowed to a crawl. 

'Shroud.' 

She erased her presence and became invisible blending in with the forest. There was an old man and a woman huddled together surrounded by six bandits. The one she was behind was the lookout, the one to stay behind everyone else to prevent an ambush. Vixen took a dagger out from her belt, aimed well and struck hard into the left kidney. 

[Critical!] [Backstab applied]

The man was dead before he hit the ground, but she caught him quickly and dumped his body into the forest. She had to act quickly as a new notification popped up in front of her.

[New Quest!]- Save the tanner and his daughter! 

-Reward: [Title: Daughter of the Sun God]- You gain immunity to sun damage and can't be blinded due to light. Gain bonus stats when in direct sunlight. 

The she wasn't sure what sun damage was, but bonus stats are always welcome. While she continued having shroud activated she was able to pick off another three bandits without them noticing. It was tricky because the moment she made an attack her presence would be revealed she would have to quickly reactivate it. When the third member dropped dead, they caught a glimpse of her before she was able to reactivate her ability. 

"I don't know who you are but come out. You'll have to pay reparations for killing my men," the leader announced as he was making the other four fan out to search for her. She didn't respond, she silently made her way behind the leader. She went for the same kidney shot with the dagger, but as soon as she went to attack him, he side stepped and caught her wrist.

"Oh my, what a beautiful lass. Looks like we caught a good one boys," the leader said with a sneer. Vixen didn't wait, she used her other hand to rip her wrist free using the force against his thumb, her elbow catching the man underneath his chin. She used shroud again while the man staggered.

"Come on sweetheart, well take good care of you." His eyes swiveled trying to catch any hint of the woman's movements. 

'If he's too strong to backstab, then I'll cull his team,' she thought. 

The leader's men were significantly weaker than him and was able to take out two more, although she narrowly dodged an arrow shot at her after killing the second guy. The leader went to the old man and his daughter and had them at sword point. The other bandit took out a blade as well. 

"Come out lass, I've grown tired of this game." 

Vixen belted her dagger and dropped shroud. She approached the two, a sword in each hand, "Let them go," she ordered. 

The lucky whistled , "Hot damn boss you weren't kidding. This broad is something else."

The leader chuckled, "I don't know if I want to sell her or make her mine, if I do anything to her the price will drop. Though it might be worth it."

"You're assuming you can beat me," Vixen replied vehemently. 

"Don't move." The leader ordered the old man and young girl.

Two bandits circled her slowly, trying to get the advantage before they subdue her. It was for situations like these, that she was rather happy she started using dual swords over a greatsword. The lacky rushed in quick with a thrust, Vixen rotated her wrist down so the sword skid off to the side. Vixen slightly turned her body, the leader attacking he blind spot. She had to fully block that one with the flat part of the blade, but the weight to his attack was too much so she rolled out of the way. The lacky charged again with an attack targeted at her side, she used both swords to block it this time, the quickly ducked down avoiding a flat blade attack to her head she used the duck as a sweeping attack taking out the lackys legs. She jumped out of the way to avoid the follow up attack from the leader. The lacky this time while she was on a knee from her dodge came with a powerful downward slice, which she blocked and quickly countered stabbing him through the chest. The blade she blocked with cracked.  The leader roared in anger as he charged her but she kicked the lacky off her blade towards him which stopped him for a moment. 

It was now one on one.