Location: Magicon Empire; Song Duchy; Vexton System; Vexton 2

The grass starts to get shorter as we get closer to the river. Sometimes, whole patches are missing completely, instead, there are big mud pits, and a few times even a few dinosaurs are lying inside. Other than that, we have to take more and more short detours to get a clear path toward the river. There are just so many dinosaurs.

At least most of them seem to be herbivores, as they are all munching on the grass – That's another reason why it's so short here. Whenever we get too close to one of the smaller dinosaurs here, they immediately become frightened and shy away. And that's all while we're still invisible! Just us moving the grass a bit causes such a reaction from them. That's so different compared to the dinosaur valley on the other continent!

Lydia is fascinated by their behavior. "That's amazing! I wish I could stay here and do a real survey… Their behavioral differences are just too crass. The others didn't even know fear and here they're on the run at the first movement."

"Maybe that's exactly what someone is already doing here… Why else would that one group be so isolated?" I answer her, then cast a quick Communication spell to connect to her privately.

"If you want, I can ask around. Maybe there really is a team investigating the behavior of the dinosaurs here."

"That would be great, thanks!"

Suddenly, I notice something else. Every dinosaur in a 100-meter circle is suddenly on its feet and looks around frantically. Some even go so far as to run away immediately. There's a general feeling of fear in the air.

"What happened?" Lucy asks and looks around for a threat.

"I don't know!" Nick and Tim say at almost the same time and look around. I look at Clara's camera streams but don't notice anything around us that could have caused it. Was it my spell? But we're constantly using magic for the shielding and cloaking?

"I did use a spell just now… But that can't be it, right?"

Alina shakes her head, voicing the same thoughts I just had. "Nah, that can't be it. I mean if so, it would have happened way earlier. We've got a lot of spells running all the time after all."

This is when Clara interrupts us with a cough. "I'm gonna stop you right here, as this is one of the rare occasions where I'm allowed to intervene. For those of you who don't know, we AIs are not allowed to help with new information in most situations because this would be considered cheating. There are some exceptions though, for example when unknown information becomes necessary for the students' safety. Now, back to the topic…

"What happened here is a phenomenon that will be discussed as part of your advanced magical theory class during your second year at FBC. Whenever a new spell is being cast, a certain amount of magical power gets released into the environment. This only happens during the initial casting and not when a spell is channeled. Spell detectors for example use this energy to detect if spells are being cast. Or in your case, the dinosaurs picked up the energy from Sara's spell and became alarmed by it."

I groan in annoyance. That would have been good to know in advance…

"Thanks, Clara," Lucy says and then continues to address the rest of us. "So what do we do now? It looks like Sara unwillingly pathed us a straight way to the river… But do we go there, or should we head back? It might be dangerous… Who knows what else detected the spell."

"I think we should at least take a look… Worst case, Sara can teleport us out," Nick replies with a shrug and Lydia nods along.

Then they all look at me in expectation. I sigh, the burden of a leader… "I think Nick is right… We're so close to at least taking a look and if things go south Tim or I can get us out. Maybe we can catch another dinosaur along the way, as I'm curious how they even managed to detect my magic."

Lucy nods. "It's decided then, follow me!"

Without anything obscuring our way, we cover the final stretch toward the river rather quickly. Lucy stops right at the edge of the riverbed. It's rather fast-flowing with a lot of rapids. I notice a smaller dinosaur slipping at one of the stones. It falls into the water and immediately gets washed away by the flow. It struggles mightily and finally manages to get back on its legs and out of the river. But now it's more than 100 meters past us.

We decide to just wait and watch for now. Mindful of what Clara told us, I don't cast my telekinetic benches for us to sit down. Instead, Tim takes out a set of folding chairs from our crate that still follows our every step. Then we sit down and watch what's happening around us.

It doesn't take long for most of the dinosaurs to return to where they've been earlier. They still stay away from our position; it almost feels like they are subconsciously aware of our presence and what threat we might be. Still, they come pretty close, and Nick starts taking notes again. He swears under his breath that he can't use his spells though.

When one of the smaller ones with four legs and a long tail comes very close to us and lies down to relax, Nick looks at me pleadingly. "Can you expand your cloak to include this one?" He points at the dinosaur which just closed its eyes. "I'd love to take a closer look. Maybe I even manage to find out how they detected your magic."

Ugh, that last part immediately plays with my own curiosity. I can't decline his wish, as I want to know too! "I don't know, but I can try… Be ready for anything, though, and use your syringe before I try."

Nick nods and produces another large syringe. The others gather closer around me and look for threats. Nick slowly steps forward and stops at every twitch of the dinosaur. After five agonizingly long minutes, he stands right next to it and uses his tranquilizer. It's fast-acting and besides one larger twitch, the reptile doesn't react at all. Seconds later its breath evens out and Nick informs us that everything worked out.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

We pack up our chairs again and slowly walk over to join up with Nick and his specimen. Then it's my turn. I close my eyes and start trying to modify my Cloaking spell even more. And all that while I continue to channel it.

It's hard! Sweat starts appearing on my face and I groan in exertion. I don't think that the Cloaking spell was ever intended to be used like this. I feel my control slipping more than once and immediately backtrack. Still, I make slow but steady advances.

The minutes fly by, and I can feel that I'm close. I've constructed the basic framework and now just have to fill everything with power. Then, if nothing goes wrong, the sleeping dinosaur should be included in our six-person cloak.

I take a deep breath and notify the others to be ready for anything. Then, with a leap of faith, I let my power flow into the modified addition to the Cloaking spell.

That's where things go wrong! I almost immediately notice that something isn't right. Then, just a second later the whole spell collapses and the released magical power hits me like ten fists to the guts at once.

I cry out in pain and fall over. Dinosaurs all around us lift their heads and look at us and the downed dinosaur before us. Most of them see us and start running away, but a few others practically lick their lips and start approaching.

Everyone curses out loud with Lucy being the most vocal. "Shit, shit, shit! Sara, are you alright?" She doesn't turn around but stays focused on the approaching reptiles.

I manage a reply. "Ugh…. Ouch! Dammit, that wasn't the plan. But yeah, I think I'm okay."

With Lydia's help, I slowly stand back up. The first dinosaur is currently rebuffed by Lucy's shield.

"How's it looking, Lucy? Can you hold it?"

She is quick to answer. "Yeah, so far there's barely any strain at all. But can you cloak us again? There are a lot more coming."

"I don't see why not. Give me a moment."

I close my eyes again and focus on my core. The backlash hit me hard, but I don't think there's any damage. I sigh in relief when I notice that everything looks fine. My magic still flows smoothly. That could have been bad.

"If your cores hadn't merged, I'd say your magic would be out of action for at least a week. Please try to be more careful in the future!"

Clara delivers some much-needed context, and I can barely suppress a shudder. That was even closer than I imagined.

After confirming that my core is fine, I start casting the Cloaking spell again. All the work I've done with it in the past minutes has one advantage at least: It's so much easier to modify it to cloak the six of us and the dinosaur than it was this morning when I tried it for the first time. It doesn't even take a minute this time, then I release it and fill it up with magic. We're invisible again!

The new magic pulse of a freshly cast spell frightens most of the dinosaurs close to us even more, and they move even further away. Even the ones attacking Lucy's shield stop in their tracks for a moment. They are quick to shake themselves out of it though, and we hold our breaths.

Then they tilt their heads in confusion and look around. Their target is suddenly gone!

Most of them turn around and leave. Only a single one stays and starts pacing. It walks up and down looking for us. I hold my breath whenever it gets close to Lucy's shield. But surprisingly, it never bumps into it. Finally, after five minutes it snorts out a puff of smoke and turns around to leave. I can almost smell the frustration emanating from it.

Tim breaks our silence. "That was way too close! I think we should go back."

I nod along. "Yeah, I agree. We've tempted fate once already, let's not stay here any longer."

Nick starts to protest. "I just need five minutes…"

But Lucy interrupts her boyfriend. "No, be reasonable… We've already got so much data, that's enough. It's getting too dangerous here. Who knows what all our magic just now attracted."

A shudder goes through Nick. He probably just thought of the same big ass dinosaur I had: The king of dinosaurs in the movies, the Tyrannosaurus Rex!

He sighs. "You're right, let's leave."

As if it was waiting for that moment, the silence is interrupted by a titanic roar!

"What the fuck was that?" Alina cries out and looks around frantically.

The ground starts to tremble in a rhythmic pattern, and every dinosaur I can see starts cowering in fear. That's not good.

"I don't know, but we're leaving!" I answer her and start whispering to Clara afterward. "Clara, I need the coordinates for the shuttle."

She provides them, and they lock into my magic. Just when I'm about to start casting my Teleportation spell, I catch a glimpse of something big running through the bushes on the other side of the river.

A head the size of a car appears, followed by a bipedal body with stubby arms. It's a T-Rex, holy shit. I stop in awe.

Nick gasps, while everyone else starts swearing. Alina's shove shakes me out of it. "Get us out of here," she cries out.

She's right, we're leaving! The T-Rex is way out of our weight class. Suddenly, it opens its mouth and roars again.

A horrible feeling goes through my body. It feels just like it felt in the Estriduros Republic. Just like the Mage collar! Even my Space Sense is restricted.

Lucy gasps and takes a step back as if punched. Her shielding spell is suddenly gone. Everyone else grimaces as well. A second later it hits me too, and I feel the Cloaking spell shatter. My Teleportation fizzles out as well. Fuck!

Did the freaking T-Rex just release an anti-magic pulse with his roar? The dinosaur's gaze snaps onto us and it starts growling. It takes a slow step into the river. We need to get out of here!

"Run!!"

The others don't need to be told twice and start following me. Clara provides a map back toward the camping spot. I hope we're fast enough.

"Use the crate to hold up the T-Rex, Clara!" Lydia calls out when Clara's livestream of the dinosaur shows it almost halfway through the river.

She makes an affirming sound, and the crate flies up into the air. Seconds later, it drops onto the T-Rex's head. It submerges into the water and I'm about to cheer.

But the head resurfaces, and it looks angrier than ever. We continue to run, and I finally catch sight of the circle of trees around the campsite. We can make it!

The T-Rex though stops being careful and speeds up. It crosses the final stretch of the river and exits it. We still have a lot of ground to cover. Shit, it's going to be close.

"Faster," I cry out and explode in a burst of speed. My friends pant into their microphones but they keep on running right next to me. We need more time.

The crate comes along for a second round and slams into the dinosaur's side. It lets out an enraged roar and swats the crate away with its tail. It lands to the side dented and smoking. That's it with our distraction.

The T-Rex starts running again and gets faster and faster. We're not going to make it!

What can we do? Magic is gone and we're not fast enough. Are our suits enough? They have to be! I can't die!

"Scatter!" Lucy shouts when it's almost upon us. She and Nick turn to the left and Tim and Alina run to the right. That leaves Lydia and me running mostly straight ahead.

Of course, the dinosaur decides to keep on running and focuses on the two of us. I can basically feel it breathing down my neck and ready myself for the inevitable.

I jump onto Lydia and throw the two of us to the side. We crash on the ground, and I see a set of jaws snapping close right where we've just been. My Space Sense saved our life… For now.

Wait!

Space Sense is suddenly working completely fine again!

I feel for my core. Magic is back!

I immediately cast a Teleportation spell and have Lydia and I appear close to Lucy and Nick. At almost the same time I cast a Communication spell toward Tim and tell him to teleport to the yacht. Then I cast another Teleportation and get the four of us up to the ship as well. Seconds later, Tim and Alina appear too.

We all fall over as we are and try to catch our breath. Clara's drones reconnect and now show a raging Tyrannosaurus Rex down on the planet.

That was too close!

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