《The Last Warlock》


 Chapter 1 - A Hand Rising Against The Red Sand

    EARTH, ATACAMA DESERT, 2020.


    Most people when they think about a desert, the first thing thates to mind is the Sahara desert, but in reality, the Atacama Desert is the driest nonpr desert in the world, in other words, the most lethal.


    A drynd, devoid of life, and red sands that spanned for an entire continent. That is the Atacama desert.


    The most lethal desert on Earth.


    In this inhuman ce, a man could be seen crossing the red sands on a motorcycle and behind him, dozens of police cars pursued him. If someone looked even further, they would be able to see a helicopter far in the sight.


    "Sargeant, are you sure this is the man? If so, why is he so dumb to run into the desert? It''s not like he can escape. It''s a desert!"


    "Of course it''s him.. We get the red alert from Interpol itself. But it''s indeed strange for him toe here. It''s much easier if he just stayed low in a small city."


    For the cops in Chile, this was the first time pursuing someone in the desert. After all, who would be crazy to escape to the desert where there is no ce to hide.


    On Earth, only this man would do something like that.


    The man in question, running on his motorcycle, looked at his gas tank to check the fuel level.


    ''Already in the red'' thought the man.


    He looked behind him and saw the number of cars in the pursuit was already a few less than before, it''s not like they expected to pursue this man for miles and miles through the desert, and some of the police cars already ran out of fuel.


    While still driving, the man took a bottle out of his backpack, opened the gas tank from the motorcycle, and turned the content in the gas tank, and just like that, he refueled while still driving. A thing that cars could never do.


    The most important thing in a pursuit like that is the size of the fuel tank. If you can''t change that, you need to be able to refuel.


    And just like the man expected, less than 30 minutester, he could not see a car in the sight anymore.


    Seeing no car behind him, he stopped the motorcycle, put some earphones, and touched the y in an old K7 yer.


    Then he took out a rifle from his backpack and attached a scope to it, and using the motorcycle as the support he fired.


    BANG


    BANG


    BANG


    Far in the sight he could see a helicopter smoking from the engine and spin in the sky.


    The man turned his back and lit up a cigarette.


    BOOOOM


    The helicopter exploded when hitting the ground


    The sound wave produced by the explosion was so loud that the long hairs of the man almost covered his face, moving like he was in the water.


    "Ok, this must buy me some time before they show up again. Let''s see what father buried here."


    Said the man aloud while looking at a monumental sculpture of a hand that raised itself from the red sands of the Atacama desert, as if the hand wanted to rebel against the odds of such a cruel ce.


    Dragging smoke from his cigarette, the man took a shovel from the motorcycle bag and started digging right there as if he was in his own garden.


    "And here I''m digging dirt in the Atacama desert. If you were alive, I swear by the gods I would punch you in the face old man."


    Said the man, digging while sweating a river in his ck jacket.


    After a few minutes of digging ...


    TUC


    "It''s indeed here." says the man, while removing the sand with his bare hands.


    After removing some of the sand in the hole, the man could now feel something made from metal.


    He pulled the thing out of the hole, and as expected, it was a metal box.


    "No lock?".


    Said the man, with a puzzled expression, but already opening the box, and to his surprise, he found a book.


    A book with a cover made from some kind of wood, and the cover, albeit damaged from time, depicted a snake eating his own tail.


    "A book? With an Ouroboros?" said the man.


    Even being infuriated about his father''s poor taste for gifts, his curiosity still gained over his rage and he opened the book to see what was so important about this book.


    Turning the first page, he saw a note, and recognizing his father''s calligraphy, he almost burst into tears.


    Almost.


    Trying to keep his emotions in check, the man took a deep sigh, and proceeded to read the letter aloud, he was sure that if he didn''t read it aloud, he would probably hear his old man''s voice in his head while reading and would start crying like a child.


    "Dear Mack, If you are reading this, it''s because I''m too old or I''m already dead. I don''t hope for thest one, but I''m a realistic person."


    "As an egoist father such as me, I ask you myst wish now. Please read and memorize the entire book and after that hide it again somewhere until you have children to pass on this book. Remember, this book is our family legacy."


    "Love you son"


    With the memory of his father returning vividly in his mind like he was in front of him telling him bad jokes, Mack felt heartbroken again, but s, time was short.


    Mack looked at the book one more time and put it in his backpack. When doing so, he looked at the horizon on his back and could see dust rising.


    More police cars wereing.


    "They finally used their brains, well it was time for me to leave this cursed ce".


    Said Mack, with a devilish smile turning his head in the other direction.


    His ride had arrived, but was something that no one would ever suspect.


    In front of Mack now raised a fog, the Atacama fog.


    The Atacama desert was not the biggest desert in the world but had the biggest Fog Desert in the world. A dense fog that could cover the entire Ennd, ifpared in size, wasing from the sea and covering the red sands.


    If someone were standing at the top of the monumental hand sculpture in the desert of Atacama right now, this person would for sure see one of the craziest scenes in life.


    With the nighting, at west a dense fog came advancing from the direction of the sea and from east a small sandstorm made by the police cars, and right at the middle, a man in a motorcycle hearing some rock-and-roll music with a K7 yer.


    And this man... was smiling.

 Chapter 2 - The Book

    The police cars, seeing Mack enter the dense desert fog, stopped the pursuit. They would need dogs and helicopters now to find Mack because the cars in the fog could barely illuminate 10 meters in front of them.


    THE NEXT DAY


    By the shadow of a bolder, inside a small natural cave.


    Mack knew if he attempted to go to any city near the desert he would meet a road blockade or cops waiting for him, so he chose to just wait until they cancel the search thinking he already left the area.


    Time solves everything, and Mack had food and water for days in his backpack.


    He also had already decided the ce to hide the book as his father asked, so now, the only thing that remained for him was to memorize every single word on the book, and that would take time, but he had plenty of time in the next few days.


    It''s not like they could find him. After all, this was an entire desert that covered itself with dense fog by night. It was a lot easier to find a needle in a haystack than to find Mack in this desert..


    Mack had made plenty of distance between him and the search partyst night, and today he would rest by the day and walk to another ce by night. He would keep this routine for the next days toe until the sound of helicopters passing in the sky disappeared.


    But right now Mack was looking at the dammed book his father made him dig up yesterday.


    "Time to see what''s so important about this book." said Mack aloud, opening the first page.


    And to his surprise, he saw a familiar runguage written in it.


    His father used to teach him this same runguage when he was a kid.


    ''So that why father insisted on teaching me this deadnguage.'' Thought Mack, realizing that his father nned this way before he was born.


    Reading the first runic symbols, Mack got stunned by the trantion and could not keep himself from saying aloud.


    "Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law."


    "One is the Law, the Law is one."


    "Life lives on Life."


    Reading these three disconnected phrases, Mack could see how hard it will be to memorize the entire book. "And here was I thinking it will be something like math or just some garbage story..... tsk... another shitty day ahead".


    The entire pageposed of runes tranted to that 3 sentences, Mack then turned the page and started reading again.


    Reading more pages of the book, he found various quotes like the first three. They seemed profound and disconnected but also connected somehow. But he could not pinpoint where this feeling came from.


    Unknown to him, something inside him was slowly changing but was not his body, but the way he thought. It was like a seed, slowly growing in his mind. Giving birth to a fresh way of thinking, just like one would feel after a shower.


    But the oddest thing Mack found in the book was on page thirty-three. It was a picture of a naked man with various unique runic symbols over his body. Those runes had no trantion. They were as if symbolizing something more abstract.


    And in some of the next pages of the book, he saw something that looked like a breathing technique from yoga.


    Today Mack was not trying to memorize the entire book, he just skimmed through the pages to get an idea of the book, and seeing that the book seemed to be some kind of cult stuff, he was not sure of what to do.


    Should he really memorize everything? But remembering it was his father''sst wishˇ­.. he could not avoid doing.


    And just like that, another five days went by.


    In those five days, during the daytime, Mack would read, sleep and eat and by the night he would change location.


    FIVE DAYS LATER


    "I still can''t memorize those dammed tattoos on the naked man, it''s as if every time a remove my eyes, in a matter of minutes I will forget the correct drawings. I need to memorize them quickly I''m already where I want to hide the book." said Mack, looking at the Lluico volcano in front of him.


    Chile was indeed a cruel ce for life. Not only it had a desert, but also an active volcano.


    After walking a few kilometers more, Mack could see a camp in the volcano''s base. It seemed someone was up to climb the volcano today, and not only Mack.


    At the base of the volcano, five men were disarming some barracks, and doing that one of them stopped and looked to the west. Where he saw the shadow of a man walking straight to them.


    "Hey Luke, is that guy for real? He will climb alone?" asked one man in a mocking tone, seeing Mack walking straight to them.


    "Who cares, there always some crazy bastards." said the man called Luke.


    "Yes, but that crazy bastard ising straight to us. I don''t want to be dragged down by someone else." said the man.


    Then the man called Luke turned his head to the west and saw the distant figure of Mack walking amidst the zing sun, alone, without a car, and using a ck jacket, and for some reason, the man called Luke felt like bad shit was about to happen.


    "Ok, let''s hurry and leave we already dyed too much. But double-check everything before we go, safety first guys." said Luck turning his focus to the task ahead.


    Mack, seeing them depart in the distance, stopped, drank water from his canteen, and continued walking.


    But while walking he started humming all the phases quoted in the book like a mantra. It had be a habit of his so he could memorize the book easier.


    And this scene, to the five guys, hearing a faint and barely audible mantra-like song in the middle of the desert by the foot of a volcano, could not sound more bizarre.


    Mack was a person of a strong will since birth, but he knew that climb a volcano with only water and military rations in his backpack would be a hell of a task even for him.


    Not only that, but the Lluico volcano was the second-highest active volcano on Earth, only losing to ''Ojos del Sdo''.


    But Mack chose de Lluico, not because of the altitude, but because at his summit there was an excavation site where Incas Mummies were found.


    The Incas used the Lluico summit to offer sacrifice to the god of the mountain. They had even built an altar at such an altitude.


    And because of the historical value of these discoveries, the government of Chile and Argentina dered the Lluico as a National Heritage Site for both countries.


    And being one National Heritage Site, no more digging was ever allowed again.


    And that''s why Mack chose the Lluico to hide his father''s book.


    But the problem with the unique runes on the naked man''s body was driving Mack inpatient. He could not understand how could this happen, and worst, he had no solution for that too.


    He could only hope to be able to memorize everything by the time he reached the summit of the volcano.


    TWO DAYS LATER


    At the summit of Lluico, the second highest active volcano on Earth.


    HUF HUF HUF


    Mack walked around trying to keep himself warm, but he was also without breath.


    He could not stop himself from panting while the thin air and the cold winds made him want to sleep. It was a frustrating experience.


    But the view, oh that was worth all the suffering, In one side he could see the entire of the desert and by the other the Argentines teaus. It was like the Yin/Yang of life. one green and full of life and the other reddish andpletely devoid of any life.


    It was one of the best views in Mack''s life.


    Unknown to him, he started humming the mantra-like song he created to memorize the book. It was like he was in some kind of trance at that moment. Like something was clicking in his mind


    Then like a rock hitting a calmke, a voice came to wake up Mack.


    "Hey Man! You really did it. All alone and even before us." said Luke.


    Waking from his dream-like state, Mack could only mutter a single response as usual "Hmmmm". Said Mack, turning his back to the man and walking toward the Inca altar.


    Luke, seeing this, felt offended but was not like he knew the man, so he walked back to his group and went in the other direction to take pictures and appreciate the view.


    Mack sat on the Inca altar and started to remove one of the stone bricks.


    After removing the brick, he drew a rune on top of the brick.


    It would be the sign of which brick contains the book.


    Then, like lightning striking, an idea came to his head.


    ''If I can''t remember the unique runes in the book, I will tattoo them, exactly as it is in the book!!''


    ''Why! Why! Why didn''t I think of this before?'' thought Mack, cursing his stupidity. He was at the summit of a volcano! Where would he find something to do tattoos here?


    Then Mack stood up. He remembered the guys from before and started screaming "Hey You! Wait!" and walked in direction of them, with the book in his hands and a brick.


    After a few minutes Mack catch up to them and said "Hey you guys, you probably have some kind of pencil or permanent ink, a needle, or even a re gun, right?"


    "Hey man, yeah, we have a re gun and a needle for stitches, but why would you need that? It''s only one day to go down from the summit now. And you seem to be fine. Did you lose your trekking equipment?"


    "I never brought one." Said Mack.


    "And why would we give ours to you? Go fuck yourself or die for what I care!" said another man from the group, clearly pissed off because of this shameless man.


    PAF


    A brick hit the man in the head.


    "Because I have a brick. An ancient one." said Mack, looking at the unconscious man on the ground.

 Chapter 3 - Tattoos

    Seeing the scene of one of his friends being hit by a brick, one of them almost jumped in Mack, almost.


    Mack was as calm as water, but his hand dropped the brick and was now behind his back.


    "Calm down guys, ok! You know how short-tempered our friend is. He is always doing stuff like this. We always end up saving his sorry ass." Said Luke, stopping his friends. He knew this man in front of them was not simple. And saw where Mack''s right hand went after dropping the brick.


    ''If this guy has a gun, we are more than dead.'' thought Luke, trying to avoid a bloodbath.


    "Good, it seems one of you can use the head.." said Mack, still looking at the unconscious guy, not caring a bit for all drama in front of him.


    After a few seconds, themotion stopped and Luke asked to Mack "Ok we will give you that stuff, but why you need that, here, and is he still alive?" asked Luke pointing to the unconscious guy.


    "ye ye ye, he is breathing. He will be fine, rx. I need those things so I can make some tattoos." said Mack, removing his focus from the guy on the ground and looking at Luke''s eyes.


    "A tattoo you said?" asked Luke, dumbfounded.


    "Not one, Nine! So, you better give me all of your re gun ammunition. I don''t care for the gun, only the ink inside the shells, I have my ways to handle it." said Mack.


    "Wait, you are going to use the ink from the re guns to make tattoos? and here?" Asked Luke, still not believing.


    If there was one thing that Mack could not deal with, was with stupid people that asked questions that were already obvious. But he refrained himself from escting more. It''s not like those guys deserved anything of that, anyway.


    "Ahhhhhh right!!!! Josh is a professional tattooer." said one of the five guys, looking at Luke.


    ''Dammmmit!!! Why open your mouth? We would leave in minutes. Now we are screwed!'' thought Luke, but for the sake of his life, he avoided saying aloud.


    "Wich one of you is Josh?" asked Mack, in surprise.


    Then the four of them looked at the same time at the unconscious guy on the floor as Luke said, "Him!".


    FOUR HOUR LATER


    Dziii Dziii Dziii Dziii Dziiii


    A man with a face that looked like an injured cat was doing tattoos on another man, on the summit of a volcano. Those two were Josh and Mack.


    Josh, unluckily, always carried his tattoo machine and ink with him. There was always a friend who would ask to do a tattoo and he could also make some bucks from time to time on the beaches and other touristic ces.


    "It''s done. I made thest one of the nine tattoos." said Josh.


    "Congrattions then. I think we set a new Guinness book record today. After all, who would make a new tattoo on top of an active volcano?" Said Mack, half-joking.


    Then Mack took the book that was opened on the page depicting the naked man full of tattoos, and looked at thest one made to check if it was exactly the same.


    ''Good, it seems he is indeed a genuine artist''. thought Mack, closing the book and putting it in his backpack.


    "You can go now, I will not bother you anymore, the price for offending me is paid." said Mack, turning his back to the man and walking toward the Incan Altar.


    ''This dudeˇ­..'' thought Josh, but refrained himself from saying anything and went to his friends that were already at the middle point camp area waiting for him.


    Mack approached the altar and, seeing those guys were gone, took the book out of his backpack and put it in the spot left by the removed brick.


    After that, Mack took some mud with snow from the ground and covered the book. That way, even if someone removed the brick by curiosity, they would only find earth below.


    Seeing that everything seemed unsuspicious to him, he was satisfied, and hell, he was a guy who suspected everything.


    After checking one more time, he grabbed the brick and put it over the mud, then after some jumps over the brick, everything seemed normal again, except, for a small carved rune on a corner of the brick.


    Mack finally concluded his father''sst wishes, except, of course, for the implied need of having a son to pass this book on, and that, he was not nning to do so soon.


    "Ok, time to go home now. Solomon Inds, here we go!" said Mack, wishing to return to where his best days of childhood were spent.

 Chapter 4 - The Mirror

    EARTH, SOLOMON ISLANDS, CURRENT TIME.


    In a house in the middle of nowhere.


    A man in his thirties is pacing around his own bedroom. At each step he takes he ruminates something, at each step, he breathes harder.


    Like someone who is about to make a big decision, he can''t stop walking around in the room and from time to time he stops and takes a drag on his cigarette.


    ''Stop!'' he thought to himself.


    He looks in the mirror in front of himself, ''it''s attached'' he thinks, that''s why he didn''t sell back in the days.


    He sees his own reflection in the mirror. .


    Long beard, long hair, and the marks of time all around his face.


    He kept looking into his own eyes until he forgot the time.


    In front of a mirror in the middle of his empty bedroom, Mack keeps looking at the only item remaining in his house, a mirror, like a joke made by the gods, to make him look at himself onest time.


    The cigarette in his hand is already burning the skin of his middle finger, but he is apathetic to the feeling. He looks into his own eyes, clear green eyes, once full of life, now ...


    ''Who cares.'' thought Mack to himself.


    He felt something warm on his face.


    Putting his hand over to feel, for his own surprise, a tear fell from his right eye.


    "It was a hell of life my man." he says in a sadder but also proud tone.


    He doesn''t even remember thest time he said something aloud, almost like it was a stranger''s voice, his own voice, ''so grave''.


    He closes his eyes and a deep breath leaves his lungs.


    And like a trained movement he already did a thousand timesˇ­..


    He stabs his own neck with a scissor.


    And darkness came to embrace Mack.

 Chapter 5 - Rise Again

    A FEW HOURS LATER


    Like someone returning from a bad dream, Mack opened his eyes, and a headache came before he even realized it.


    ''I guess I''m not isekaing.'' heughs at himself in his mind recognizing the roof of his bedroom.


    Stillying t on the floor of his bedroom, like a chalk outline from a crime scene, he searches for a cigarette in his pocket and lit it up, not even pulling himself from the ground to smoke or moving any part of his body that was unnecessary for the act of satiating his addiction to nicotine.


    "I guess n B it is then."


    Two minutester and still dizzy from the headache, he pulled himself up from the floor, walked to the kitchen and took some weird bag, and hung it on one of his shoulders.


    The bag is extremely heavy, so he walks a little off but still reaches the door of his house amidst the pain that assaults his head.


    Mack then opens the door, takes ast drag of smoke from his cigarette, and throws the rest of the cigarette behind his back.. Not even turning to look, he walks off his house.


    The still lit cigarette hit a pile of papers and some small containers in a corner of the room.


    Like a hungry wolf, the fire spread to the papers.


    Mack, still walking,ughs to himself aloud, and starts singing a line of one of his favorite songs.


    "... and you can have it all, my empire of.... dirt".


    In the middle of the night, Mack keeps walking off the house, while the fire consumes all the house walls and roof.


    By the time Mack walked for a few meters, the heat assaulted his back, and one momentterˇ­


    ~BOOOOM~


    He heard a muffled explosion, and with that, the night sky brightened itself.


    "Much better. Now I can see the path ahead".


    Unknown to Mack, his path would be anything but a clear one.


    Amidst the night sky and trees, Mack kept walking in the city''s direction, his old house, was in the outskirts of the city, surrounded by trees and close to ake, the perfect spot to rest on the weekends but far from the city center.


    Forgotten in his own thoughts and still dizzy from who knows what, Mack walked.


    A FEW HOURS LATER


    The sun peeked from the far mountains and on the streets already in the sight, people started their usual routine.


    From time to time some cars passed Mack in the street made only with mud, until, he eventually reached the main road of the city and business that sold coffee and pastries were already packed with people, some of those people looked at Mack with strange gaze while he was passing but not the usual one, it was a ''concerned'' look.


    ''That''s strange'' thought to himself Mack, not knowing why so muchpassion in their eyes.


    That was until a kid, slightly fatty, went to him.


    "ermm... sir are you okay?" asked the kid.


    Mack looked at the kid, a little annoyed, and only ruminated a response after a few seconds "Humm", and just like that, he walked away.


    The kid, not sure what to do, looked around, but no one said anything.


    Then the kid went to Mack again and said "Sir".


    ''What now'' thought Mack while turning his back to look.


    "Sir, you..... ahm... you have a scissor stuck at your neck." said the kid with preupied eyes.


    ''the fuck??'' it was the only thought that could pass in Mack''s head.


    "ohhhhhhh I totally forgot about that". said Mack aloud, remembering something.


    And with that sentence, Mack raised his free hand and grabbed the scissor that was lunged into his own neck.


    And pulled hard.


    ~shiiiiii~


    A blood volcano erupted from Mack''s neck.


    And this would be thest thing the kid would remember about this day because he too passed out seeing so much blood.


    This way, a man in his thirties and a fat kid ended up unconscious in a blood pool in the middle of a city in the Solomon Inds.

 Chapter 6 - Kill Me!!!

    EARTH, SOLOMON ISLANDS, MAKIRA ISLAND, CITY OF KIRAKIRA.


    Almost the entire ind of Makira was uninhabited. The total poption of this ind was barely five thousand people, and most were natives. The ind itself was a refuge to several rare bird species and had vast fauna and flora, with crystal clear sea and white beaches. An ideal ce for a vacation.


    Kirakira was a city in Makira with no more than 10 blocks of construction, and a long road that outlined several beaches and connected to small viges with no more than 10 houses each.


    The houses in Kirakira were mostly made with wood, and the locals survived from fishing and being touristic guides.


    Even so, being a touristic ind and a remote ce, it had a small airport and a hospital, along with the basic infrastructure of a small city.


    Inside the hospital of Kirakira, a man was being dragged to the surgery room. Behind that man, a trail of blood, and in his neck, an improvised bandage was responsible to hold most of the blood inside the man..


    This man was Mack and unknown to him, for his luck or not, he was in the same block as the hospital.


    The kid''s father, seeing both fall unconscious and all the blood, ran to the kid, then more people came to help Mack, one of them being a nurse that provided the first aid,ter, bringing Mack to the hospital with other people helping her.


    One could say that Mack''s luck was so good as his bad luck.


    Inside the surgery room of the hospital, the only doctor avable at that moment, seeing themotion, run to Mack and the other people and started the procedure immediately.


    A few minutester, the medic finally sutured the wound and applied saline on Mack''s vein topensate for the blood loss, but mack was still unconscious because of the excessive blood loss.


    "I think he may enter in a shorta due to blood loss, keep monitoring and applying IV saline, and he may recover in a few days. I wille to check on him daily." said the Medic to the nurses around.


    Mack, for the second time in months, could finally sleep.


    FIVE DAYS LATER


    ~ BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP ~


    The noise made by the heart monitor could be heard by Mack but he was stillying on the bed with closed eyes and was finally regaining his consciousness.


    "wher m?" he asked in a weak voice that no one could have heard.


    He could feel his head pulsating. It was probably the worst headache he had in life. At each pulse, it was like something was squeezing his brain and the excruciating acute white noise he heard felt so good and so bad at the same time that Mack himself could not believe it.


    Untilˇ­..


    ~sssssssssssssshalllbeliveonliveonformeon....aaaaaaaaaaandssssss...ˇ­eeeeeeee...ssswaaaeee~


    But for his misfortune, his hallucinations started again, not caring if he had a headache or was having a drink by a bar, or like now, in a bed of a hospital.


    Mack almost forgot about those voices when he woke up, but here were them again, and those voices were only in his mind.


    "ahhhhhhh! no, no, stop it!" urged Mack to himself, still in a weak voice.


    "dammed book, I will burn you!" screamed Mack, but his voice sounded more like a febrile cat.


    A few days after doing the tattoos, Mack heard some voices. At start was only one time a day, but then, each day it intensified, and now, Mack was hearing those damned voices all day long, for months.


    He could only sleep if he passed out from exhaustion, or got drunk enough. Those voices interfered with his thoughts, even when he was hearing music at the highest volume possible, not giving him a single moment of peace.


    ~sssssssssssssshalllbeliveonliveonformeon....aaaaaaaaaaandssssss...ˇ­eeeeeeee...ssswaaaaaaaakeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeˇ­.meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssyyyyyyyyyyyooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuu~


    "Arghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!! someone just kill me please! i cant, cant! just kill me! kill me!" screamed Mack, regaining his normal voice.


    "He woke up from thea, call the doctor." said a nurse in the hallway that heard themotion made by Mack.


    "I can''t take it anymore. I can''t!"


    Mack started to punch himself in the face, but he was so weak that any effort was futile.


    Those voices seemed to want to break his will to live. Wanted them to surrender to a simple death. And Mack sumbed to it. He did not care for his life anymore. He doesn''t have any family, no one who cared about him nor he had any grant goal in life.


    To make everything worst he was hunted by almost all the countries in the world.


    Who in this world would care about a life of running, not sleeping, not being weed? It''s not a life anymore, it''s a full-time torture.


    ~sssssssssssssshalllbeliveonliveonformeon....aaaaaaaaaaandssssss...ˇ­eeeeeeee...ssswaaaaaaaakeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeˇ­.meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssssssssyyyyyyyyyyyooooooooouuuuuuuuuuuu~


    "Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!! STOP!!!!!!!!"


    Mack was still extremely weak, but even so, raised himself from the bed to stay on foot.


    ~STUMBLE~


    Only to fall on the floor.


    His naked body, which was only covered by a patient gown, was dragged along the floor by his own bare hands and arms in the direction of the wall.


    He moved his body as the soldiers would do in war movies.


    "I will make you stop! I don''t care anymore!" screamed Mack furious and helpless at the same time.


    Mack face was red and protuberant veins could be seen on his neck and in his arms.


    When dragging his body, the vial that held his IV saline fell to the ground, and the machine that monitored his heartbeat went off. Making a scene that looked like someone was fighting ghosts while at the same time running from them.


    With themotion, the few nurses from the hallway or other rooms that were on the same floor of the hospital all went to Mack''s room, but the nurse that first came to Mack room was still there looking shocked not knowing what to do, nted by the door like an ornamental cactus.


    "Kill me kill me kill me! I can''t take anymore! Please kill me!" screamed Mack, looking at the nurse.


    The nurses never seeing something like that thought he went crazy during thea.


    A few nurses that cameter saw him on the floor while screaming and run to help him, but before they could restrain him or help him to calm down, Mack approached the wall and put his two hands on the wall, and with crazed bloodshot eyesˇ­.


    ~BANG~


    ~BANG~


    ~BANG~


    Mack hit the wall with his own head three times, and on the third time, his head slipped along the wall, leaving a trail of blood and silencing the voices in his head.


    Mack was finally freed from the voices and could sleep again.

 Chapter 7 - A Spark

    EARTH, SOLOMON ISLANDS, KIRAKIRA


    Inside the hospital.


    "Ohhh it seems you are awake"


    "humm" said Mack to the voice, not bothering to even open his eyes.


    "You see, we had to put those cuffs on you for your own safety."


    Mack already knew he was cuffed. The cold metal around his pulses was something no one would get confused about what it was.


    "I asked the nurse, and she said you had a scissor in your neck when you fell. Do you know what that means, right?"


    ''Means I don''t care about shit anymore.'' thought Mack but refrained himself to say aloud.. He could not care less what this man thought about him.


    "I also see you are not having a crisis now. Do you have someone to who you can talk?"


    ''No, but I hear a lot, hahaha.''ughed of himself Mack.


    ''if I told him I hear voices, even right now, he would probably send me to some mental Institute'' Thought Mack, still with his eyes closed.


    "We also didn''t find any documents with you. So I asked the local sheriff to take your fingerprints and check the system. I hope you don''t mind."


    ''Shit. I was nning to take down some of those bastards before they could kill me. But now... ''


    ''Doesn''t matter anymore, anyway. At least I know they are after me because of my father''s book, at least that''s the only exnation I can think of. ''


    "We were not sure if you would wake up soon nor in what mental state."


    ...


    "The sheriff wille back in a few minutes. I will need to keep you cuffed. It''s the procedure in case of self-harm in a hospital. I hope you understand."


    ...


    "How do you feel now? I know you can speak."


    ''Ohhhh that''s a rare question. When was thest time someone asked me that?''


    ...


    ''How do I feel?''


    .....


    ''How do I feel?''


    ...


    "Tired"


    Said Mack, releasing all the air in his lungs for this single word.


    After a few seconds of silence.


    "You know... Everyone has problems. Some are bigger than others, sure. But you can only resolve your problems when you ept them or you confront them. There is no running from them. Even if you leave, they will still catch you in the next life. That''s what my father used to say."


    Mack''s curiosity was picked with this. He wondered why a father would say that to a son.


    "Why your father used to say that to you?"


    "See for yourself" said the voice of a man.


    Unable to resist his curiosity, Mack opened his eyes and slowly turned his head in the direction the voice came.


    And there he saw a man, blond, healthy, muscr, using a mask and with a medic gown, in a wheelchair.


    "I was born this way." said the Medic, opening both his arms above his legs.


    "But this....." said the Medic hitting his wheelchair.


    "....Did not stop me from pursuing my dreams....."


    "And never will"


    Said the Medic looking straight into Mack''s eyes. The man was not proud of himself but more as if he could somehow rte to Mack Issues.


    ....


    ''and never will''


    ....


    The mind can be a cage or a forge. Only one single spark of will is needed to change that. And Mack just lit an entire pyre of repressed will.


    Will to live.


    Will to live a genuine life with all thates, no matter if good or bad, he will live both in his full.


    No matter the odds.


    After a few minutes of absolute silence, Mack finally expressed himself to the medic with a simple but very sincere word.


    "Thanks"


    The medic nodded with his head, feeling that was genuine appreciation.


    But this man would never forget the words Mack was about to say, because those next words...


    "My will shall be thew"


    "Thew is me"


    "And I''m thew"


    "Thew of Chaos"


    [ARE YOU SURE?]


    "I AM!"

 Chapter 8 - Arthur Hew McKenzie Draper

    5 MINUTES EARLIER


    ''and never will''


    Thought Mack, feeling rage for being forced to run his entire life, feeling rage for not having a single parent alive, not being able to have a girl to call his, not being able to have a true friend, always hiding, escaping, getting hurt, stealing, killing. Just for the sake of live another day. He was pissed, he was tired of this bullshit, he wanted to make whatever was responsible for this to feel the same and even worst, he wanted them begging to be killed just like he did thest days.


    And just as all these thoughts passed in Mack''s head, to his surprise, the acute voice that was always in his head talking bullshit after bullshit stopped.


    Feeling refresh by this, Mack looked at the medic and said "Thanks".


    But then, he heard a clear voice in his head, different from the noise he used to hear thest days. This voice was crystal clear.


    [Congrattions human, you passed the first trial, the trial of the heart.].


    ''Trial? What trial? Who is talking? Is this some hallucination? Am I finally going crazy?''


    [Those voices you heard for thest months were your trial. To test your will to live, stimting you to confront your own will to live]


    [You almost failed several times, but every single time that you almost killed yourself, you unconsciously left a path to live, you could have killed yourself in several more effective ways but every time you choose to do so, you choose one that left you with a drop of hope to live]


    ''Who are you? Is it all because of that book?''


    [Yes, the moment you engraved the runes on your body, your trial started. Now, you must do the Oath and I will be able to exin everything to you.]


    ''What Oath? oh right, the one on thest page of the book?''


    [....]


    ''Hey answer me, bastard!''


    [....]


    ''Fuck''


    Mack could see that the damned voice would not answer him anymore, so the only choice left was to do the Oath. At least this way, he would find some answers.


    "My will shall be thew"


    "Thew is me"


    "And I''m thew"


    "Thew of Chaos"


    [ARE YOU SURE?]


    "I AM!"


    The medic, seeing Mack scream some nonsense, thought all went wrong and the man finally went insane.


    ''I should never ever try to advise someone again.'' it was the only thing passing in the medic''s head, now looking with pity at the man in front of him.


    ~SWOOSH~


    But, just like magic, the man vanished in front of him. Only leaving the handcuffs making noises while hitting the metal bars from the patient''s bed.


    And just a few secondster came the sheriff from Kirakira. And seeing the guy was not there, he asked.


    "Where is the guy?"


    The medic, hearing the voice of his old friend, woke up from the stupor, and with a pale face, looked back and said.


    "Would you believe me if I say that he just vanished?"


    "Stop with the jokes. This is serious. That guy, Arthur McKenzie Draper, is on Interpol''s Red List. They gged him as a terrorist!!! A fucking terrorist!" screamed the sheriff.


    The Medic could not believe what he was hearing, but he also could not believe what just happened. That guy, ''Arthur'', just vanished in front of him.


    ''How is that even possible? I did not remove my eyes from him. I''m must be hallucinating, must be the new medication for pain, that''s the only exnation.'' Thought the medic, but refrained himself from saying aloud.


    "I don''t know, I came back, and he was not here anymore"


    "Did you leave? I told you to keep an eye on him and warn me if anything happened. Now we have a terrorist running free on the Ind. Dammit, what am I supposed to do? This city doesn''t even have any robberyst year, let alone murder crimes, and now we have a fucking terrorist. Dear God." said the Sherrif, cleaning the usual sweat on his forehead.


    "What should we do now?" asked the medic, still a bit shocked by all events.


    "You will do nothing. They will send a team from the capital, and I ˇ­.."


    ~sigh-


    " ˇ­.. I will be making coffee for them," said the sheriff, lowering his head, already thinking of the bad days ahead.


    The medic then looked at the handcuffs still hanging on the bed and moved closer. He touched the handcuffs, and to his surprise, they were still locked with not a scratch on them.


    ''What a hell is happening? How can he just vanish in the air?''


    For a man of science, any unrealistic event like the one that just happened was hard to digest.


    What neither the sheriff nor the medic knew was that they just brought the hell upon this small and paradisiac ind.

 Chapter 9 - The Nine Gates Of Hel

    Mack opened his eyes, or at least he tried, but still could see nothing in his sight. He was in apletely dark space, with not even a speck of light.


    "Where am I?"


    [You are in the Tower of Chaos, where your next trial will happen]


    "Wait, you told me you will answer all my questions!"


    [I Lied]


    "What a fuck? Was not you a book? How can you lie?"


    [I''m not a book human, you offend me and my creator with such aparison, I''m an Arcane Legacy, a very rare one, one created using a World Tree from the Nord Dimension, The best technology from the Duraks, and the most advanced knowledge from the Laws, specifically thews of Chaos]


    "That''s a lot of information already, so there are dimensions out there? Like the folks from physics say?"


    [...]


    For the first time in his existence, the book, I mean, the Arcane Legacy, felt cheated on..


    "So you not gonna talk anymore? Are you a child or something?"


    [...]


    If an Arcane Legacy could feel rage, this would be happening right now.


    "So, I guess you are a female book then?"


    [IM NOT A BOOK!]


    "Is that so?"


    [You left the book at the volcano. How could I be a book? The book was merely a tool, like a key, in more easy words. The runes you engraved in your body worked as a seal that would open a door for me to be able tomunicate with you]


    "So that''s why I could not memorize that tattoos, they are magical?"


    [They are way more than just magical, human. They are the nine keys to the gates of Hel]


    "Wait, I''m in hell? What?"


    [Yes and no, but I already talked too much with you. Now your test begins. I will only instruct you on what you need to do now]


    ~Sigh~


    "Here we go, another shitty day ahead."


    [To pass this test, you need to be able to feel the surrounding Essence. When you are able to feel the Essence, you will be able to see a door. When you enter that door, means you passed the test]


    "Can''t I just walk around and stumble on it and I will pass? What if I don''t see that door?"


    [Well, if I were you, I will not just walk around. If you could see with your own eyes where you are, you will not do so too. Humans are fragile things]


    "So I guess there are traps or something dangerous around me. Were you not supposed to tell me that before?"


    [...]


    "Definitely a female book"


    [...]


    "What if I don''t see the door? You didn''t answer me, and how am I supposed to see something with this Essence thing you talked about?"


    [If you fail, you will die, or do you see any food or water? Right, you can''t see anything, I forgot about thatˇ­... You are a clever human, you will figure out the rest. After all, you already have all the information needed, or maybe you are not that clever to figure out by yourself?]


    "Yeap. Definitely a female book, so resentful."


    [...]


    "So, I already have all the information, huh? What information?"


    Then Mack remembered the phases on the book and the naked man with the nine tattoos, andˇ­.


    "Oh, so is that yoga breathing technique. I thought it was just some useless hippie stuff"


    [...]


    "You will not help me?"


    [...]


    "Why are all women like this? Guys are so simple, just give us food and we will be happy. But girls.. noˇ­ they need attention, always a drama going onˇ­.. sighˇ­." Said Mack, remembering his few rtionships in life, probably bad ones.


    After a few seconds of pondering over his few rtionships in life, Mack seated, not sure where but looked solid to him, closed his eyes, no one knows why, since he could not see a thing even with them open, but he still closed them.


    Mack then started to breathe in a rhythmic way. While he breathed, he did a very peculiar movement in front of his mouth with his right hand, while his left hand stayed close to his sr plexus, doing another movement.


    The right hand looked like Mack was trying to tell to someone to stay quiet, except for his pinky finger that was a little raised, and his left hand looked like he was doing the same but pointing to his lower parts. Really looked like some hippie stuff.


    Mack''s thorax raised with air inhaled to his lungs and after one minute he exhaled while his body flowed along with the motion of his lungs.


    Thenˇ­..


    ''Nothing happened''


    ''I guess this will take some time.''


    "How long is this supposed tost?" asked Mack aloud, even knowing that the thing, or book or whatever, could read his thoughts.


    [I''m not a thing, nor a book, I''m an Arcane Legacy]


    "Ohhh, so she talks? How long will thisst?"


    [Depend from person to person, there is no fixed rule]


    "So I was right then, it was the yoga stuff"


    [...]


    "Thanks."


    [...]


    And like this, Mack cheated on the book again, now feeling more assured that at least he was on the right path.


    [I''m not a book]


    "Yo! Who you are talking to? You broke my concentration here."

 Chapter 10 - Who?

    After a few hours of meditation inplete darkness, Mack got bored. Super bored. Bored as hell.


    "I will take a break. I can''t feel if I improved or not, it''s really frustrating."


    Said Mack, standing up and stretching his sore muscles, but without taking a step forward.


    "Why I need to do this here? Could not I do this outside this ''Tower'' or ''Hel''?"


    [You could. But this was devised by my creator to improve the odds of seeding, here the Essence concentration is several times more than the world you came from, also, it serves as a measure, if you can seed before dying of starvation it means you have potential. ]


    "Essence. Is it like in the animes or like mana in the games?".


    [I''m unfamiliar with those terms. And if I was to tell in details, it could take days to exin all the concepts to you]


    "Care to exin why am I here? I mean, what was the goal of your creator? And what was his name?"


    [You don''t know why are you here? No one in your family exined?]


    "No. My father died a few years, while my mother, well, I never knew her, not sure if she is alive or not, my father always avoided talking about her. And I don''t have any other rtives"


    [I see.... I will open an exception for you, Human. I''m an Arcane Legacy, meaning, for generations, I was responsible for testing all your family members for a suitable person to inherit the knowledge of your first ancestor, my creator.]


    "How do you know that I''m one, like, can''t I just have opened the book and do the tattoos and is it?"


    [My creator did not wish his family to tread the same path as him. That''s why he created me with several steps and tests before actually giving any important knowledge....]


    [...As for recognizing any of your family. It''s simple. Because your family DNA differs from other humans on any others in this dimension]


    "So I''m an alien. tsc. Wish I had at least some wings. tsc tsc"


    "What would happen if no more people from my family came? I mean, I don''t have a child. The book is hidden, and I doubt there are any other rtives of my father alive. I may be thest one."


    [In that case, it would be a lonely eternity for me.]


    "I see."


    "Did my father attempted any test?"


    [No. Thest one that attempted was centuries ago in your world time. His name was Hew Draper]


    "Oh. It was my father''s grandfather. He put my second name in honor of him....."


    "..... I see. What the odds. Both attempting this tests when captured. I once researched about him....and...."


    "Right.... they captured him for doing witchcraft, but he disappeared one night before his execution. That makes sense now..... "


    [He was indeed a bright man by your world''s standards. Unfortunately, he failed]


    "Was he able to see the door?"


    [Yes. In a record time, but he failed in the next tests]


    "Thanks. I appreciate you talking to me. My family was always a mystery to me and this helps a little...but..."


    "... I can''t understand why if someone fails they need to die..... After all, is his family no? The family of this creator of yours? What was his name?"


    [He had several names in his life. But was mainly known as ''Warlock'']


    [He did this way to avoid leaking the knowledge to a non-qualified heir, and also to avoid his descendants to be hunted because of this same knowledge]


    "It was everything for nothing then because here I am, probably thest one of this cursed family."


    After a few minutes of boring silence while thinking of all the information that he gained about his own family''s past. Mack sat again and started meditating.


    He was determined to end this trial. He was probably thest one in his family and only knew his father, but for some reason, the responsibility and the weight of needing to finish this cycle of suffering only seemed bigger.


    His family had paid enough. It was time for some payback.


    He was not sure who was responsible for all this, but for him, seemed unbelievable that there was no one targeting his family from the shadows. After all, his family has always been hunted some way or another, be it with allegations of witchcraft or terrorism, or robbery.


    His father once told him that an uncle of his was killed in his own trailer by a mysterious explosion of gas, but he knew his uncle never cooked. He was azy ass and was always eating junk food.


    Every day that passed, Mack was more sure of this. There was someone hunting his family for the book. The question was, who?

 Chapter 11 - Like Lightning In A Raining Day

    After seven days inside the pitch-ck space.


    Mack was seated in his meditation position as usual but still could not feel the surrounding Essence.


    Seven days went by since he came here with not a slight signal of improvements.


    He himself didn''t know how much time passed. He was without a cellphone, watch, or anything that could help to measure time. The only thing Mack had with him was a patient''s gown that barely covered his body.


    Even if he had anything, he doubted he would be able to see. Mack never went to a ce so dark as this, and he was sure that was some kind of spell.


    If at least he had food and water he would not be so worried. Actually, now.. Mack was so hungry that he was seeing things in the dark already. Not the door. But a flying burger.


    "Dammm I''m already hallucinating. This is way harder than I thought"


    Mack was in aplete istion state. On Earth, this same environment, would be used for tortures. Food deprivation, light deprivation, sound deprivation, and confinement. After all, if he moved he would be dead. This was the mostmon way of torture on Earth and could easily make the strongest man break in a matter of days.


    He left behind sleep deprivation torture only to go to the full-package kind of deprivation torture. If thest one could kill him in months, this one could kill him in less than a month.


    In these seven days, Mack barely slept. A human mind is a tricky one. Knowing he had a goal in mind and with no way to ount for the passing of time, his mind didn''t let him sleep for long. The same way someone would jump from the bed when realizing he waste for school or work.


    But Mack now knew why he was suffering and had a motivation for doing so. He didn''t just want the pain to go. He wanted to achieve a goal. He wanted to gain more knowledge and power. This was the only way for him to stop running for the rest of his life.


    And in this world, nothinges free. There ain''t no free meals.


    And Mack knew this very well. He and his family have paid an enormous price, just to have a chance, a slim chance, of inheriting whatever is in here.


    When Mack was teleported or moved to this ce, he was not in his best conditions either; he had been through a lighta, only receiving IV saline. He was weak whening here, with nothing in his stomach.


    Seven days of agonizing starvation, seven days without light, seven days without water, seven days without a sound.


    He tried to ask a few more questions to the book, but no response came after the first day.


    A hellish test, it''s not surprising the book called this ce Hel or Tower of Chaos or whatever.


    "Focus Mack. Focus. Stop thinking useless stuff."


    Said Mack to himself, realizing he was lost in thoughts thinking of different subjects one after another.


    ~Sigh~


    "When will be my life peaceful and full of wine and girls and some delicious hamburger? Did I eat an entire vige in my previous life? Was I some glutton?"


    "Ahhhhhhhh even a candy and I would be happy."


    "It''s just a shitty day after another. One after another. One after another. How can someone have so much bad luck?"


    "I guess I''m just not good with this Essence stuff."


    Said Mack, putting his hand in the stomach. The pain was like something burning inside him. An Excruciating pain. So strong that Mack felt dizzy for the first time in those seven days.


    By luck or not, he was seated on the floor, otherwise, his test may be ended abruptly. Because in the next second he passed out. Falling to his left side while seated.


    No sound was produced by his fall. be it because of Mack being so weak or because of him falling to his side while seated. No one will ever know. But as well ... no one cared about this either.


    After a few hours.


    Mack woke up but was not really like waking in the morning of a sunny day. Here was all pitch ck. He was still dizzy because of malnutrition, worst, no nutrition at all. He felt light-headed, like someone drunk. Just like a permanently drunk person would be.


    "Ahhh im? where?"


    " ahhhh the book. the book was beautiful."


    " what is name? Girl!"


    And just like a drunk person, he spat out whatever''s crossed his mind.


    In a state of half-conscious and half-hallucinating.


    He tried to stand up, only to fall back on his butt again.


    "Ouch!"


    The acute pain brought his senses back, and he felt a little more rational.


    "Did I pass out? How many days have this going on?"


    He hoped to have a response from the book, but not a single word came.


    "Let''s try again. I guess this would be myst chance. If I fail now I bet the next time I pass out I will note back."


    But with his senses returning, the pain in his stomach came back.


    It was like a sun burning in his sr plexus.


    Mack avoided thinking and gritted his teeth.


    He tried to not think. only breathe. This way, he would not feel the pain.


    He entered the position of the meditation technique and forced himself to forget the pain.


    s, the pain was way too strong.


    He was feeling like he was going to pass out again. His head became numb. He felt dizzy again.


    Then remembering when he felt on his butt, Mack put his dried lips between his teeth and bit. Almost no blood came out. But the pain avoided him from passing out.


    He continued to force his mind to be awake while breathing using the technique.


    Numbness, searing pain in the stomach, dry mouth, eyes burning with no moisture to keep them lubricated, and the bites on the lips.


    One torture after the other.


    Mack forced himself to the limit of his mental strength to not surrender to the simple and easy path of just sleep forever.


    Twenty-five hourster, and the same suffering cycle kept going.


    Unknown to Mack. amidst his suffering pain and dizziness moments, he unconditionally recited the phrases in the book like a mantra.


    He didn''t think that both were rted, but reciting the phrases in the book made his mind more stable.


    For some people, the pain was the best type of meditation. Constant and always ongoing pain was a method many religions used on Earth to meditate. It removed the rational behavior, leaving one with only his instincts of resisting. More close to his natural self. More naked, and more sensible to the slight changes, that even a hair in his own body could be felt growing.


    But Mack was ignorant of all that. He only focused in stay conscious. Because he knew if he lost thisst strand of his mind, he would be dead, and just like lightning would strike to anticipate the rain, Mack heard something.


    -Tack-


    Something was snapping inside him.


    Like the sound of a bone breaking, it happened again.


    -Tack-


    And again.


    -Tack-


    -Tack-


    When he heard the same sound for the ninth time, it finally stopped.


    Mack opened his eyes. And it was like seeing for the first time, and the first thing he saw, just a few meters in front of him, was a giant door.


    Above this door, a sign with runic symbols that were very familiar to Mack.


    He looked at the sign and could not avoid saying aloud.


    "Fuck! I''m fucked! Damm! I''m fucked! fuck! fuck! fuck!"


    #Abandon hope all ye who enter here#


    Because in the sign, the words engraved did not seem to show that the door was leading to a treasure, food, wine, or girls.


    [Congrattions on achieving the minimum requirements to enter the Tower of Chaos]


    Mack was lost for words. He felt like all went for nothing.


    "Just one hell after the other"

 Chapter 12 - The Box

    Mack looked at the giant door and could not believe the size of that thing. It was monstrously giant.


    In front of the door, Mack could see a pit with no end, with only one bridge traversing.


    The door had the same style as the bridge, both ancient-looking, made of metal and full of carvings. In the middle of the door, a serpent eating his own tail could be seen.


    ''Again an ouroboros?''


    Mack looked around to see where he was and saw that there was nothing.


    He was in apletely empty space, only him, the pit, the bridge, and the door.


    Behind him, the barrennd stretched all the way to the horizon until he could not see anymore. .


    Not a single sign of life in sight.


    Mack was extremely weak but for some reason he was not that bad as earlier. The moment he heard the noises inside him he felt refreshed for a few moments but was still extremely weak.


    His mind was a bit more clear, but the body was not in a good state.


    Mack still could not understand how this Essence worked or what he could expect from this ce or what exactly was his ancestor and what he had in mind when creating this ce. But first thing first. He was starving. He desperately needed something to eat.


    "Where is the food? You said I could eat when passed this test."


    [I never said that]


    "What? I clearly remember that."


    [I have perpetual memory. You can''t trick me with this shameless act of yours]


    "Ok, and how am I supposed to continue? If I don''t eat, i will not even be able to reach that dammed door let alone passing the next test."


    [I also never told you that you would not be able to eat]


    "So? what I do now? Am I supposed to try catching some worms? I don''t even see a dammed tree in this ce!"


    "And how? How am I supposed to see all around me now? Wast this ce full of traps?"


    [I also never said that there were traps here]


    "Are kidding me? Is that all some god joke or something?"


    ~sigh~


    "I don''t even have the energy to be angry"


    Then, like magic, a box appeared in front of mack. No sound, no warning, nothing. Just appearing in front of him.


    "What''s this?"


    [This is all you can have before the next trial. It was prepared beforehand and each one aiming to enter that door receives one from me]


    Mack looked at the box the size of a man and for a second felt relieved. At least the box seemed to have a lot of things inside.


    Mack raised his right hand to touch the box, just to feel the nice engravings on the box. But to his surprise, before he could touch, the box started to hum in a low-frequency sound, barely audible.


    Mack retracted his hand, not sure if it was safe or what to do. Probably an instinctive movement.


    Seeing the insecurity of Mack the Arcane Legacy felt the need to prompt him to have patience.


    [Just wait a few seconds, its very old technology]


    And just as said, a few secondster the box stopped humming and becamepletely red. To Mack''s surprise, the box started floating in the air.


    [Now you can use. But before that let me advise you]


    [This box came from a peculiar dimension and has a few functions built-in, It has a universal trantor, an Essence convertor, an Essence Storage System, and a Gic Manufacturing Machine, along with a basic intelligent system, all in one.]


    [In other words, this tool can create items using Essence.]


    [But be warned, his battery has a limit as also the catalog of things it can create, and the velocity in which it gathers Essence is so slow that will take probably a hundred years in your world time to recharge 1%]


    "So this thing is like a 3D printing machine from Earth? How it can understand me? How do I use it? I just need to say what I want?"


    [No, you need to touch and say ''start'' and a menu in yournguage will show up on the side that you touched, then just choose what you want.]


    Mack reached the box and did as told, and not even a secondter he could see a list of categories that spanned several pages. He didn''t even care about the other categories he was starving and chose food.


    A list with innumerable pages appeared, and he saw many words that he didn''t know or he never heard before, like an ''Aabeia Amakut''.


    But he saw a search bar on the top of the box and just like a smartphone on earth, the moment he touched it, a keyboard appeared. s, theyout of the keyboard was way different from the ones on earth.


    After a long one minute of typing the word, ''burger'' he clicked the button by the side and a list of several types of hamburgers showed.


    And again, not the kind of hamburger Mack was expecting.


    ''Abarliot Hamburger. doesn''t seem to be from Earth''


    ~sigh~


    "Can I eat anything that shows up here? I mean will not I die from some alien ingredients?"


    [All items avable were selected by the creator himself to be safe for human consumption or use.]


    ''or use....'' thought Mack remembering the several categories avable on the previous screen, but s, he was hungry as hell and could not wait anymore to eat something.


    Dispersing his curiosity, Mack clicked on the first hamburger on the list, and a screen with an hourss rotating showed.


    "Well, I guess an hourss is a universal symbol."


    "Will this take long?"


    [Depends on the item. Food normally takes more time because of the gicplexity in each ingredient, but is extremely cheap, since all needed is to replicate DNA and simple biologic materials]


    "I need to know how long. Not a scientific exnation of how it works. Oh, never mind is ready."


    Said Mack, taking the burger from a cubic hole that appeared in the box.

 Chapter 13 - Burning Or Flourishing, At Your Will

    Mack grabbed the hamburger, and to his surprise, it was warm. But for some reason,, he was expecting it to be cold.


    Mack looked at the hamburger and it indeed looked like one made on earth, it had bread, and something that looked like meat and vegetables, but they all had a peculiar blue color on it, like if someone had sprayed just a tiny blue tint on them.


    ~sigh~


    "Indeed alien stuff. blue burger."


    Mack took a bite of the burger, and to his surprise, it was not that bad.


    And after another bite, and another bite, he was digging the burger ferociously.


    Not even a minuteter, the burger was devoured by Mack. .


    "Oh no, I feel dizzy again."


    ~stumble~


    Mack felt on the ground.


    He was several days without eating and the sudden ingestion of so much food made his brain release a torrent of dopamine in his body.


    It was a good sleep at least. A deserved one.


    [This one really is crazy master, I hope he can aplish what you could not.]


    Said the robotic voice like it was talking to someone, but there was no one there, except for the sleeping Mack.


    After twelve hours of sleeping like a drunk man, Mack finally woke up.


    He felt much better, but was hungry again.


    He stood up and went to the machine and took another meal. This time it was a soup. Seeing how he felt after eating something heavy Mack opted for something more light so he would not pass out after eating. He was sick and tired of going unconscious, and he needed some liquid in his body, so he opted for a soup.


    After eating the soup, Mack could feel much better already, and with some energy in his body. He was extremely dehydrated.


    Feeling bored and obligated to wait a few hours until the next meal, Mack could only try to kill time talking with this mysterious voice, the book, or Arcane Legacy.


    "The aliens indeed are way advanced than us. Such machine on Earth would be like a treasure."


    [...]


    "Can you exin a little more about this ce now?"


    [I can. You have reached the minimum requirements to enter the Tower of Chaos.]


    "You talked about these requirements earlier. But what were they? I know that use this Essence thing was one."


    [Indeed. The other requirement was to have a motive to enter. That was the first test. More than a motive, it was to have the correct motivations to enter the tower.]


    "I see. That''s why the first test made me think of all the bad shit in my life. To see where my bottom line was and where it would lead me in desperation."


    [Correct. Some people takefort in killing or ming others or just killing themselves. The only way to pass the first test is to realize that only yourself is responsible for what your life can be.]


    [I could say you had a lucky encounter, but I could also say that you had a terrible past. That''s why your test was so long and hard and also finished fast when you encountered the doctor from the hospital.]


    "Yes. I think I own a big one to that man. I hope I can repay it someday."


    [Since you already feel better, i will exin a few things regarding your situation.]


    "It was time already."


    [Your second test. Was not only to make you be able to feel Essence but also to test your Will, and to open the nine gates on your body.]


    "Test my Will, again?"


    [Yes, Will is the most important part of Essence Maniption.]


    [The gates in your body are a corrtion with the nine tattoos. Each one represents a gate, and each one opens a gate in Hel too, but that is too soon to exin.]


    [Different from other kinds of Essence Maniption like wizardry, or sorcery, Magick depends on the Will of the user and follow a different path in practice, a much harder one, Wizards, for example, if they practice for a year and have a powerfully crafted artifact, they can cast spells that could easily destroy a building in your world]


    "So, there is such a thing as sorcery, it''s not just alien tech."


    [Indeed. But you, you will be trained following the path of Magick, and will not be able to use such kind of items.]


    "Did I not just use the box? Was not that a simr item?"


    [No. The cube is a technological device.]


    "I still can''t fully understand. But you said I will be trained following the Magick path. Why can''t I choose the wizard path?"


    [Because that''s the wrong path and a short one. It can give you immediate power. But in long term it''s a dead end.]


    "How can you be sure? I mean no offense but I would love to destroy a building in just a year of training."


    [It''s too soon to talk about that, but I will give you an exnation of why you should never try to follow other paths]


    [Think of Essence like a virus, a virus that is present in everything and resonates with the will of those things, it''s a symbiotic virus]


    [Wizards, witches, and sorcerers even alchemists use external tools, like an array, or a wind or a solvent, or a chant to enforce and amplify their will over the Essence around them.]


    "I still don''t get it. What''s the difference?"


    [Everyone has essence inside them. This Essence is usually easier to manipte since it resonates with you. Now, what if your will is not strong enough? Or what if the spell you want to use was meant to affect the Essence on that bridge there? You will suffer from Essence depletion and the result would be far from the desired.]


    "I seeˇ­."


    [That''s why mages developed these various shortcuts, such as chanting or arrays, to use the Essence inside them as a trigger to manipte the surrounding essence. They don''t use their own Will over the Essence, they use these tools as a means to force the surrounding Essence to be guided by their Essence inside them.]


    "I still have a lot of questions, but I think I got a general idea. So they don''t use their Will over the Essence but use the Essence inside them as fuel to manipte the Essence around them. And the way to do that is to use those things to cause an amplification effect? is that it?"


    [You will learn everything in due time. What you really need to know is that your path is one where you will only depend on your will to manipte Essence]


    "And why is that? I don''t see why I could not do both? I''m still a newbie to all that, but why only go one way?"


    [That''s because you don''t have Essence that resonates with you inside your body anymore]


    "Wait what? Isn''t that supposed to exist everywhere?"


    [Yes, you have Essence inside you, but when you opened the nine gates in your body, you released your ownership over it. All the Essence in the world will now pass through your body and not be restricted by it, but at the same time, you can''t have Essence that resonates only to you anymore.]


    "Isn''t it the same as being a cripple in those cultivation novels? How am I supposed to do anything?"


    [Following the only true path of Essence Maniption, and if you practice hard enough, with just a thought you could burn the entire Essence in this world]


    "It didn''t burn."


    Say Mack, after thinking that he wanted the world to burn.


    [Of course not. If was that easy, why would the mages invent so many things to do that.]


    "Not even a sparkˇ­.."


    Said Mack,menting his weak will, or theck of knowledge.


    [Remember this. The path chose by your ancestor is the correct one. One that has no limits. Only you can limit yourself from achieving anything, and Will is the source to all that, and that''s why all the tests until now focused on this aspect.]


    [With a powerful enough will, the universe shall be yours to bid his fate]


    [Burning or flourishing, at your will]

 Chapter 14 - At Least I Can See In The Dark.

    Mack was still confused about all that was said by the Arcane Legacy but he guessed that all those mysteries and doubts would unfold themself if he continued forward.


    "How much time can i spend recovering before going inside the door?"


    [You can spend all time you want, this is a small and was very well hidden by my creator. But remember the cube has a limited supply of Essence.]


    "In other words, the cube is the limiter. When it runs out of fuel, I must enter or starve to death again.. All others that attempted this received one?"


    [Yes, but only the ones that survived to see the portal.]


    "I guess this door or portal will lead me to that Tower of Chaos you talked about earlier?"


    [Indeed. More specifically to Hel, the first floor on the Tower of Chaos]


    "And what am I supposed to expect there?"


    [I can only tell you after you enter]


    "As expected."


    Then Mack thought about this mysterious door and how he can now see it without using any kind of spell or magic. But still was not sure how all this worked.


    "I still don''t get. Why can I see this door now and not before? Was some kind of spell that kept it hidden?"


    [No. As i said before. There are some advantages and disadvantages to not owning any Essence.]


    [This doesn''t have daylight. So, even now, it''spletely dark. You can see around you because the nine gates in your body, responsible for the interaction with Essence around you, have been broken. So the Essence in this world now can flow along your body unhindered and Essence always carries some kind of Will, and the most basic will of any animal is to want to see and breath. Just like a recently born child. So we can say you are already influencing the Essence around you.]


    "I think I understand now. Unconsciously I''m already telling the surrounding Essence to show me what is around me?"


    [Yes.]


    "The other paths you talked about. Mages and stuff. Can they do this too?"


    [No. they can''t. Because the gates inside their bodies still exist.]


    [They can control the Essence inside them way better than you. But they can''t interact this easily with Essence outside them]


    "I still don''t see the pros/cons clearly. What can they do that im unable to? I mean, if they don''t have those artifacts and stuff"


    [They can, for example, with a few months of practice, strengthen their bodies and jump a few meters high, or they can punch you and brake several bones in your body.]


    "I see. So all those mages are way stronger in physical terms than me?"


    [Yes. If both start practicing at the same time. A mage will beat you a thousand times before you can make a scratch on him. That''s why they chose this path. It''s more easy and fast at the start and gives them immediate powerpared to a normal human.]


    "They can beat me to a pulp. But, hey! I can see in the dark! What a splendid start!"


    "I guess it will be an extremely long and suffering path."


    [Indeed. But as you saw for yourself. It''s a path with no return. You have no more gates in your body blocking and converting Essence to your own]


    [And because of that. Your Will flow outside of your body more naturally. And thats why you can see the portal even in this devoid of light]


    "I think I get now. Thanks for the exnation."


    [It''s my duty to instruct you. Unless it touches sensible topics]


    "Yeah, I figured this already. No asking about future tests and stuff."


    [...]


    "What can I do until I enter that door? should I call it a door or portal?"


    [You can do as you want.]


    [That door it''s a dimensional one-way door. But ismonly called a portal, depends on the civilization using it.]


    "One way? So I''m noting back here?"


    [Indeed.]


    "I see."


    [There is only one path prepared for you. Go forward or die.]


    "Even me being probably thest one of my ancestor family alive?"


    [Unfortunately Yes]


    Mack could feel in his guts how hard the next tests would be. But he could do nothing to change that. His ancestor seemed to be a ruthless one. Even to his descendents.


    After talking a bit with the voice. Mack could finally understand his situation a bit more.


    But he still could not swallow all this magical stuff. Nor that a voice could talk to him like was nothing. Or teleport him here. Dammed, even that box in front of him was already leagues ahead of Earth technology.


    How could Mack, a lone wolf, be dragged to this kind of stuff? All because of one dammed book and a few tattoos.


    "I need something to kill time. I am still too weak to even walk around let alone try to exercise my body or try this Will stuff."


    Saying this, Mack approached the red glowing cube and put his hand.


    "Link Start"


    "Damm I always wanted to say that." Said Mack remembering one of his favorites Anime when young.


    After a few minutes of clicking in the box, a pair of ck boots came out of the cube, then a few minutester a ck jacket, a jeans, and a t-shirt.


    Then Mack pondered for a few seconds and pressed the machine a few more times and a big sized bottle of water came.


    Mack then proceeded to take a cat shower. He was smelling like death itself.


    But before continuing, Mack looked at the corner of the cube to see the Essence remaining in the cube.


    "920/1000. At least those things were not expensive."


    "Damm I forgot to buy underwear."

 Chapter 15 - Entering The Tower Of Chaos

    After almost a month of boring days.


    Mack was already feeling much better he had also regained his muscr mass and looked normal again, not like skin and bones anymore.


    Apart from the daily meals and the cat bath Mack started to exercise too. He didn''t know what he will be facing when he enters the tower but he wanted to be as prepared as he could.


    And today was finally the day for him to enter the door to the Tower of Chaos.


    Standing right in front of the door. He had an alien backpack that looked like something made by Nasa, but ck, this man really loved ck clothes. And apart from the usual clothes, Mack had a gun in his left hand and another in the right hand. The Two small guns that looked like pistols made during the second war, except for the exquisite engravings that made the guns look like they belonged to some museum collection.


    "How do I enter?" .


    [You only need to touch the door]


    And just as said, Mack approached the giant door and touched. But.... felt nothing.


    "I don''t think it worked. Is this thing out of battery?"


    Said Mack, unconsciously turning his head back like he was talking to someone behind him. But to his surprise, when he turned his head he didn''t see the bridge nor the cube nor the he was before.


    What Mack saw was nothing. But was not a ''nothing'' like the dark days from before. It wasplete emptiness. And the moment he turned his head back to look at the door again. He lost the sense of touch and more nothingness. Now he could not see the door anymore too.


    He looked at his foot, and there was no floor.


    It was not darkness like the days before, Mack could see himself, but apart from him he could see nothing else.


    No sense of touch, no sense of wind passing by him, nothing.


    Complete emptiness, even his heart and mind started to feel like that, like there is nothing that mattered anymore, like there was nothing that could make him move a finger.


    And just like that, Mack stood there gazing at the nothingness, his eyes, started to fade the color and he found himself thinking of why was he here. He didn''t care. He could not care less.


    But just as he was waving between the reasons he was here, he snapped out of the trance.


    "These tricks will not work with me anymore."


    "I am alone in this world. But I will never stop moving forward."


    Said Mack, regaining the colors in his eyes and taking a step forward in theplete emptiness. And at the moment his foot moved, like a bubble of soap snapping, Mack could see around him again.


    This time, what he saw was a room, not too big but big enough to amodate a few dozens of people, and in the middle of the room he saw an altar, like the ones in church''s. And past the altar he saw another door.


    Mack took a few more steps, like someone wanting to confirm his beliefs, and stopped to look at the altar.


    [Congrattions again human, you passed the first test of the Tower of Chaos. The limbo gate.]


    [And I never saw someone do it this fast, it only took you four days on Earth time.]


    "What? Four days? I was in that state for days? It looked like seconds to me."


    [In the Limbo state there is nothing, not even time. So of course you lost the sense of time there. It may look like seconds but was actually four days.]


    "I see. But at least this one was an easy test."


    [Easy for you, but only a few passed this test, and is only the first one.]


    "Whats this altar for? Am I supposed to do something? I''m not a man of faith."


    Said Mack, looking at the altar that seemed like it came out of one of those terror movies where people did sacrifices to some god.


    [This is your reward for passing the test.]


    "Ohhh. Finally some good news. What kind of reward? I hope it''s not underwear, I''m full of them already."


    Said Mack remembering his attempts to find human underwear like the ones on Earth, in the end, the Cube gave him a brand new view of the Anatomy of the weirdest species he could imagine, he still could not believe one of those underwears that had two bags to hold something very sizeable, two of them, some aliens sure were very happy in marriage.


    [Go find yourself. Just follow the procedures in the tablet that is on the altar]


    "Is that another trick of yours?"


    [I''m not some circus clown, I only follow my creator''s instructions!]


    "Ok Ok no need to be angry." Said Mack, raising his hands like someone admitting his faults, s, better not make this book angry.


    [...]


    Seeing no response from the book, Mack walked in the altar''s direction.


    "Let''s see what kind of gifts Santa is bringing me today."


    After walking a few steps, he was on top of the altar and saw a small Cube. Like the onest time, but this one had a different design from the previous one and was the size of a man''s head. And by the right side of the Cube, a metal sign carved with runes was there.


    Mack seeing the familiar runguage spent a few seconds to read it and to confirm he was not wrong asked aloud to the book.


    "Am I supposed to drip blood on top of this Cube?"


    [Yes.]


    "Ok"


    Then Mack took a small knife from his backpack and made a small cut on his finger and blood started to drip and in the same moment, he put it over the Cube.


    ~Drip~


    The same moment a drop of blood touched it, the cube started to hum and turn from red to bright blue. And a few momentster a small cubic hole appeared in it.


    Mack was familiar with these machines already and put his hand inside to retrieve the gift.


    But to his surprise, it was a syringe, with some metallic grey liquid inside.


    "Let me guess...."


    [Don''t tell me you have a fear of needles?]


    "I just prefer not to take suspicious injections with unknown contents inside."


    [Up to you. But there is only one way for you to know what it is.]


    ~Sigh~


    "Alright. Once in hell, brace the devil."


    Mack looked at the syringe, and after a few seconds, he closed his eyes and lunged the syringe in his left arm, and pressed the content inside himself.


    Feeling the cold liquid run in his veins, Mack got a stifling pain in the arm, but was not that strong to make him panic.


    After a few seconds and seeing he was not dead, he opened his eyes and felt nothing different.


    "Is this thing working? I don''t see any difference. Only a bit of pain in my arm."


    [It needs a few seconds to take effect]


    "Ok."


    And just as Mack finished talking, his eyes started to burn in pain.


    "Arghhhh what is happening? My eyes are burning!!!"


    And white blindness came. And with the blindness, the pain stopped.


    And like a fog dispersing, his vision started to recover, and not a secondter, and he could see again.


    All that happened so fast that Mack barely could react.


    "What was that? I went blind for a few seconds"


    And like waiting to respond to Mack''s doubts, a string of runic symbols showed in Mack''s vision.


    (Installing System)


    (Starting System)


    Mack looked right and left with his head but his eyes continued to show these runic symbols ovepping with his normal vision.


    (System diagnosisplete. All functions avable to use.)


    "What system? What''s happening?"


    [Think of this as nanorobots from Earth but much much more advanced]


    "Nanorobots? That thing is not even fully developed on Earth. What this one does?"


    [Find yourself. Try looking at your gun and try using your Will to know what is this]


    "I know it''s a gun. I got from the Cube."


    [Just try. And focus your mind on wanting to know what is. This is a basic low-level use of Will]


    "Ok."


    Mack took his gun and looked at it. And focusing his mind in the Will of ''what is this'' a string of runic letters appeared in the right corner of his eyes.


    (Single barrel revolver,mon grade, made by Cube Inc)


    "That''s freaking cool! Now I can know obvious things that I already knew. Great!"


    Said Mack sarcastically, but he himself knew this thing would be extremely useful in some situations.


    [This will be of use when you encounter things from other worlds that you are not familiar with.]


    "Yeap I guessed. This thing has some kind of database in it?"


    [Yes. It contains most of themonly know information in several dimensions. Mages use a spell for this. But, as one that treads the path of Magick, you can''t use spells. My creator devised this method in his earlier days,bining technology and Will. The effects are almost the same as a mage spell]


    "Ok. Thanks for the boring exnation. Should I proceed to the next door? I don''t feel tired and there is nothing else here."


    [...]


    "Ok Ok sorry I was rude."


    [...]


    ~sigh~


    "All right, I guess next door it is then."


    Said Mack, already walking toward the next door.

 Chapter 16 - Gate Of Sloth

    Mack touched the door and like before it seemed nothing happened but turning his head back he saw a room that was thin but long. So long that he could not see the end of it.


    The room was like a giant tunnel, fifty meters side to side and twenty meters to the top, and the length of it Mack could not estimate, he could not see the end of it. It was very simr to those train tunnels from Earth.


    Mack wondered where this Tower of Chaos could be because this monumental building must use a lot of space and be quite eye catching.


    Looking in front of him Mack saw there was another metallic sign. .


    "Make haste or be slow, but be sure to achieve the goal. At each step a new test."


    "I guess I need to go to the end of this tunnel. But thisst phrase is intriguing. Is this some riddle?"


    Mack was not sure what to think and proceeded to walk forward. But just as he took the first step, he felt something strange.


    He could not pinpoint what it was and took another step. Then he felt, It was like his body suddenly became heavier.


    Then he walked for a few steps and was sure.


    "The gravity of this ce is increasing at each step I take. I see. This ce must have some kind of gravity field generator like in the movies."


    Until now, the effect was not big. Mack took barely ten steps. He could feel the effect but was not strong enough for him to suffer from it. But he was sure, one or two kilometers and he would not be able to handle it anymore. He would probably be crawling to be able to move.


    "What to do.... Now I know why the sign says make haste or be slow.... If I try to get used to the gravity I will suffer less sudden impact but will also take much more time."


    Then, remembering all the tests until now, Mack was sure. This was not a test to see if he could or not adapt to the increasing gravity. He felt like he needed to go as fast as he could.


    Having decided on what to do. Mack raised his head, took a deep breath as if he was preparing mentally for the next suffering round.


    Then, from his lips, the mantra-like phrases that he memorized from the book hummed. He needed any bit of help he could have. And for unknown reasons, humming those phases helped him to be more mentally strong.


    In the middle of this long, empty, and dark tunnel, this same man started to run. His long hair moving with the motion. His hands still holding each one a pistol and from his lips an eerie mantra-like music could be heard.


    He was alone in this ce. He did not need to show off to anyone, didn''t need the approval of others, didn''t need to save a girl or to rescue his family. He ran because he wanted. He ran only to himself. He ran to defy his own limits.


    And with each step this man took, the air seemed to be more dense. At each step, his muscles did a bit more of force to contain his own weight. But he didn''t stop running.


    Only death itself would make this man stop.


    In this long dark and empty tunnel, the noise of each step reverberated, making eco along with the eerie humming sound of the mantra.


    Each step his stride berger and with each step Mack could feel the burden increasing.


    This was the hell for anyonezy. This was the second gate of Hel floor in Tower of Chaos, The Gate of Sloth.


    If someone was not determined enough they would simply stop, don''t taking any step further. Humans are beings that adapt very easily to their surrounding circumstances. But here. If someone was not determined, they would be like a frog boiled in water. Slowly increasing the temperature until the frog stopped breathing. The only difference here is it was the gravity instead of the temperature.


    Running along the tunnel, Mack focused only on his breathing and the mantra.


    His Muscles, after running for over a thousand steps, got sore. He felt like carrying two times his own weight already.


    For any regr human, running with this weight, they would barely be able to walk, let alone run.


    But when Mack passed the mark of two kilometers running, the entire feeling of increased gravity stopped. He almost fell on the floor because of the weight difference changing instantly. It was like trying to walk using the same force to jump.


    ~Pap~


    Mack felt on the floor, tired. His forehead covered with cold sweat, his breathing rough and his heart beating fast.


    He threw the guns aside and justy on the floor.


    After a few seconds of resting, he seated and took a look at the floor where the gravity had returned to normal. Then he saw a thin line draw on the floor that stretched from side to side of the tunnel. He moved his head to the direction he was running to and a few centimeters in that direction he saw another line draw on the floor.


    Mack suspected this was like a safe spot to rest. Only if one reached here they would see that there was no gravity. The line on the floor was so thin that was impossible to see it from a few meters.


    This ancestor of his was indeed cruel. No one would suspect that were safe spots. If you took step by step and walked slowly you would suffer the gravity increased for a far long time. But if you blindly run, you would eventually reach here, and in far better conditions. Truly a cruel joke.


    To confirm his hypothesis, Mack walked to the line and took one step outside, and as expected the gravity increased. He then pulled his feet back, and the gravity effect was gone.


    "I guess this will be like a sprint and a marathon at the same time." Said Mack, looking to the horizon and not seeing the end of the tunnel.


    "I hope the food I got from Cube canst until the end of this tunnel."

 Chapter 17 - Run Mack Run!

    After resting for three hours Mack already felt less sore in the legs but he didn''t risk running again. Because he knew he probably won''t make it to the next safe zone, if existed a next one.


    So he chose a risky strategy instead.


    He knew that every time he took a step outside the safe spot the gravity would increase. But once he came to the safe zone, it was like it would reset to the beginning.


    So instead of dumbly running while betting his life. He thought over the matter of this test and all the tests before, and all of them taught something along with the test. He was guessing the goal of this one was to have control over the body using his will. Be it to make it stronger or faster.


    Thinking over all this, Mack came with a n. A more safe one, at least..


    He would use this safe zone as a training ground.


    He still didn''t have a single clue about using this ''Will'' thing. But he was determined to learn even if was just a little.


    "But how?"


    Said Mack, pondering the best way to do it.


    And after a few minutes, he walked off the safe zone and felt the gravity. He then started to walk in a small circle in front of the safe zone, to increase the gravity slowly while also being close to the safe zone.


    After a few minutes, he reached his limits and felt the pressure stifling him. It was hard even to breathe.


    Then the humming mantra-like music came out of his mouth.


    But this time instead of just humming and thinking of nothing or just doing nothing. He closed his eyes and focused on his legs. Just like a football yer would do before kicking a ball in a stadium.


    He focused on the pain he was feeling in his legs, In how the muscles were contracted, In how his leg bent a bit to support the pressure.


    He opened his eyes. He knew there was Essence around him because he could see when opening them. Even in this tunnel, devoid of light, he could see clearly.


    But if he could see, why could not he feel and use it?


    Then. Like lightning, an idea popped into his mind.


    What if what was increasing was not the gravity?


    "Ohhh my, how I did not see this before! It''s not gravity force. Its Essence concentration!"


    "I''m actually feeling it in my body right now."


    Mack needed to admit his ancestor was batshit crazy, but was a genius. How could someone teach another person without teaching him? This way. Exactly this same fucking way.


    "Crazy. But a genius. That guy must have been a monster."


    After this realization, Mack closed his eyes again and focused on feeling the pressure in his body. It was not like he had a mountain over his shoulders but more like every single part of his body became heavier.


    "If every single part of my body can be heavier, then every single cell can contain more Essence."


    Thinking about this, Mack moved two steps and went inside the safe zone again.


    The pressure of the Essence concentration was gone.


    He sat on the floor and put only his arm outside the safe zone. And hit hard on the floor. And the pressure came again but only affected his arm outside the safe zone.


    He focused on his arm trying to feel any differences and even after several minutes in this same position he could not figure out anything.


    ~sigh~


    "And here was I thinking that just dumbly running would solve everything"


    His ancestor was truly a cruel one. To put riddles inside riddles. What a crazy bastard.


    Mack thought about asking the book for some tips but knew that while doing a test she could not help. At best, she would just ignore him. At the worst, she would make him suffer even more.


    "What should I do?"


    "The book phases are supposed to strengthen my mind and will."


    "The tattoos are some kind of spell or keys that connect me to this ce and the book girl"


    "The breathing technique I only used to break the nine gates in my body that locked Essence inside me and converted the outside Essence in mine."


    "What am I missing?"


    Mack pondered over and over and over. He thought about being able to see in the dark and how this was subconsciously done by him.


    He thought about the nanorobots in his eyes and how easy was. They are probably connected to his brain somehow. That''s the only conclusion he came to.


    ''My own cells and everything else in my body is also connected to my brain''


    "But is always like my subconscious is controlling what I do. Like ...."


    "Like boxing.... in the first day, everyone sucks because his body is not used to do such movements and can''t recognize or do what the brain asks. So..... we do over and over again until our body can do what our brain asks.... creating what they call as muscle memory ...."


    Mack pondered but still could not pinpoint how to do it. It''s not like just dumbly staying saturated with Essence would solve.


    He needed to get or stronger, or faster, or cancel the influence of the Essence around him.


    Thinking of this, Mack looked at the line drawn on the floor that separated the safe zone from the rest.


    ~paf~


    He pped the floor right in the middle of the line. Half of his hand inside the line and half outside.


    He raised his hand and put only one finger very slowly outside the line and touched the floor.


    "Shit. What am I supposed to do? Be the Hulk or learn how to fly? Is that it?"


    Said Mack, seeing the pressure returning when he touched the ground with the softest touch possible. There was no way to trick the floor.


    He hoped it was easy as just dumbly running. But, s, his ancestor was a cruel one. A genius in how to make other people suffer.


    The Sloth Gate of Hel floor was not only a metaphor for physicalziness but also for theziness of one thinking. But Mack was ignorant of this and only followed his extremely inquisitive nature.

 Chapter 18 - A Scurata

    After a few hours without any progress, Mack chose to take a pause and rest a bit while eating.


    He took an alien dried fruit that looked like a banana but was pink and had some small protuberations. If Mack was notpletely sure that this came from the food category from the Cube he would probably think it was some alien sex toy.


    Mack took a look at the banana thing for a few seconds and a message in the right corner of his vision appeared.


    (Dried Scurata,mon grade, made by Cube Inc)


    "At least I''m getting the hang of these nanororobots."


    Said Mack, already putting the suspicious food in his mouth.


    After a few more minutes of rest, Mack decided to take things step by step. He would focus on small gains. And the first thing for that was to know his limit..


    He chose to try and see the exact number of steps he could sustain outside the safe zone.


    Having made his mind, he walked of the safe zone and kept walking in circles close to the line drawn on the floor.


    "Twenty."


    Said Mack, counting the steps.


    "Fifty"


    ...


    "Seventy"


    ...


    "One thousand"


    Said Mack, already feeling hard to continue. But he needed to know his true limit.


    ...


    "Two thousand twenty-five"


    Now Mack already felt sluggish and difficult to even raise his foot.


    ...


    "Two thousand thirty three".


    ~plop~


    Mack fell with his knees on the floor.


    And to make everything worst another increase was made when he touched the floor again.


    Mack chose to do this close to the safe zone exactly because he could feel safe going to his limit. Worst case, he would drag himself along the floor to the safe zone.


    Seeing he could not take anymore, Mack threw his upper body to the right side and fell inside the safe zone, with only his legs remaining outside, but he quickly pulled his legs with his arms. And the area outside the safe zone came to normal again.


    Reaching his limit was important to measure his own progression in the days toe.


    "What should I do now?"


    Mack knew that the Will was the key to everything. But it was a strange thing. It was the same thing as trying to control his heartbeat or the feeling of having an invisible arm. You could touch things, but when you paid attention to it, there was nothing.


    "At each step a new test."


    Said Mack, remembering what was written on the sign close to the door.


    "Maybe the step is not only referring to the literally steps taken. But its referring to the safe zones too?"


    ~sigh~


    Mack looked behind him to the dark and long tunnel that had no end in his view.


    "Should really I gamble on that?"


    He had no way to know for sure if there was another safe zone. And if had one, he had no way to know if the next safe zone would be close enough for him to reach it.


    "Two thousand thirty three steps, if running withrge steps that can get me as far as 2 or 3 kilometers at best. This safe zone was like 2 kilometers apart from the door."


    "If the next one is like 4 kilometers from here I''m screwed. Nahh. I''m dead. As dead as an apple pie thrown from the 10th floor of a building can be."


    ~sigh~


    "I wish I had some real knowledge about this stuff."


    It was then that Mack remembered something the book voice said to him.


    ''And this is a low-level usage of Will''


    "Right! Let''s do that. First. Let''s improve what I can do! I''m going to use my eyes until they bleed or until I get the information of everything I see instantly."


    With that said, Mack opened his backpack and took out everything inside, and grabbed a small fruit that looked like an apple but was orange instead.


    And after a few seconds of ring at the fruit. A message popped in his retina.


    (Maskita Ananas,mon grade, made by Cube Inc)


    Then he took another fruit and did the same.


    And another one.


    And another one.


    Mack was training his Will to be able to instantlymunicate with the nanorobots and provide him information about everything he looked at.


    If he could achieve this. It means he improved somehow.


    TWO DAYS LATER


    Mack had no way to know how much time passed because in this tunnel there was no sunlight and the sense of time passing got messed up. But his body asked for sleep and eat and he figured it was approximately two days since he entered this tunnel.


    Mack looked at the gun in his hand and the moment he put his eyes on it, a message popped in his retina.


    Then he moved his eyes to the side looking at his backpack and another message popped.


    He was happy with his progression. In these two days, he got instant recognition of anything he looked at.


    But his food was the problem, he had food for only five more days. Water, he chose to drink only 100ml a day, and he had 2 liters at the start. It couldst him 18 days if he kept to only 100 ml a day.


    Now, achieving the desired result with his nanorobots in the eyes and somehow improving his control over the Will, it was time to move to the second training session.


    Time to control the Will over his own body.


    Just like a child would learn how to walk step by step. It was time for Mack to take his first step in bing a True Warlock.


    One that would cause changes to all the dimensions known to this date.


    One that would be known for all the intelligent species as The Last Warlock alive.


    But Mack was still ignorant to all that, and his only concern right now was that he forgot to buy toilet paper from the Cube before entering the tower.


    "Dammit. Another shitty day. Literally. How could I forget that! How!?"


    Said Mack using a t-shirt in an improvised way that was better to not be described by this poor author.

 Chapter 19 - A Thousand Punches

    After Mack finished dealing with his ''intestinal problems'', which he believed were caused because of excessive alien food ingestion, he thought about what other effects the excessive density of Essence could cause. He felt heavy, but what more was actually happening that he could not perceive?


    With this question in mind, Mack moved to the next phase of his experiments.


    First of all, he needed to increase again the density of Essence, so after a few minutes of walking in circles, literally, he stopped.


    ''A thousand steps should be enough for tests''


    Then he put his right hand behind his back and took a knife out.


    And with the knife, he made a long and thin cut in his left hand.


    Blood started to drip. That caused the Essence to increase.


    But Mack was already expecting.. He put his hand right above the safe zone line. Half his hand inside and half outside. And the Same for the cut his mad with the knife.


    Mack then just looked at the cut and waited.


    And waited.


    And waited.


    He was bored, so he sat in the floor. The cut in his hand was not dripping blood anymore and was coagting already.


    But nothing else happened.


    So, he just waited.


    While waiting he thought about several things, but his real concerns were in front of him. If things didn''t work as he was expecting he was doomed. And if they worked, he was even more doomed.


    Mack could only picture pitiful days ahead.


    After a few hours, few very boring hours.


    "Just as expected. It did influence my body in positive ways."


    Said Mack looking at the cut in his left hand.


    The half outside the safe zone was already mended with a line of blood on top. While the other part, inside the safe zone, looked almost the same coagted blood from the beginning.


    "So..... Somehow, my regenerative abilities are improved along with the increase in Essence density."


    After pondering for a few minutes....


    ~sigh~


    "Lets get this done already!"


    Said Mack removing his clothes, all of them, while holding his knife with the mouth.


    After throwing everything inside the safe zone. Mack stood there. Naked.


    Naked.


    With a knife in his mouth.


    Mack walked ten steps away from the safe zone.


    And fell on his knees.


    And still holding the knife in his mouth he punched the ground.


    One punch.


    Two punches.


    And like a mad man. He continued to punch the ground.


    Right.


    Left.


    Right.


    Blood gushed from his hands from time to time as small cuts were formed from the impact.


    But Mack continued to punch the ground.


    And from time to time he let escape grunts from pain, his improvised gag using a knife, only worked partially.


    After almost a thousand punches on the ground. The pressure caused by the Essence was so strong that Mack fell unconscious to the side.


    In the middle of a blood pool formed by himself Mack saw darknesse to him one more time in his life.


    But this time, he was not trying to kill himself. Quite the opposite, he was doing this, so he could save himself.


    [What a crazy bastard. To think of this way to improve faster, he deserve the result of his own actions.]


    Said the Arcane Legacy, but did nothing to change the man situation. An Arcane only role was to guide, not to change.


    Mack''s fate was only bound to his own actions.

 Chapter 20 - A New Body

    With his hands mangled from punching the ground, dried blood all around him, and the Essence saturated to over 3 thousand times.


    Mack woke up.


    He felt tired, and with pain all over his body. He could not move. The Essence density was so strong that he barely could move his lungs to breathe.


    His vision blurred from the dried tears that involuntarily escaped during the self-harming session from before.


    "Argh! My head hurts. I guess I lost too much blood."


    Said Mack, feeling a severe headache. .


    He looked at his hands to see the result of his crazy endeavor.


    Broken bones. The skin all dcerated and pain. A lot of pain.


    Mack tried to move a finger, but the finger barely moved.


    His hands werepletely disfigured.


    He knew it was a risky strategy. But he needed to gamble.


    Mack was not a doctor nor he had advanced knowledge in anything. He didn''t even went to school because him and his father were hunted all around the globe.


    But Mack knew a few things, be it learning from his father or reading online. And one of those things was that the human body changed all its cells, except for the brain, at an interval of seven years.


    In other words, the human bodypletely changed in a span of seven years.


    And with Mack''sst test, the knife cut, he confirmed that Essence influenced his body''s normal healing process.


    Mack was gambling his life that if he could elerate the process of healing, while outside the safe zone, his ''new body cells'' would be adapted to the increased density of Essence.


    It was a risky gamble because Mack could not be sure of this until he tried.


    He could go several ways to test this, but all of them would be hard to measure and would take much more time. The time that he didn''t have. He barely had food for five more days and he was unsure how much time this gate will take him or if at the end he would have any kind of food or a Cube for resupply.


    And the best way to trigger the healing process of the body was to cause harm to it. The more harm was done, the more new red cells would be produced by the blood.


    Mack woke up not even half-hour after passing out, but even with the disgusting sight of his hands, he knew they were healing super fast. He could not see clearly because of the dried blood in his hands but he could feel that at each passing minute his hands were bing better.


    ''Another shitty day''


    He would love to have some music to pass the time. These lonely days were truly boring without some kind of entertainment for the mind.


    He did find music devices on the Cube. But all of them came with alien music. He could barely hear that kind of music so he just left outside. He preferred to not carry excessive weight. Even if it was just a few grams. A few grams equaled to minus one fruit that he could carry in his backpack.


    Mack was not sure if his strategy would work, because he had no way to know if his body would adapt to the new Essence density or not.


    But one thing he knew for sure. If he just dumbly run forward he would eventually be dead. Sometimes progress is made when you took a step back.


    Or in Mack''s case, when you punched the ground and self-harmed your own body.

 Chapter 21 - Its A Bird? Its A Plane? No!

    After an entire day ofying on the ground, Mack finally could move his fingers again.


    The increase in Essence density really made him heal faster.


    And was not only his hands that benefited from that. But his entire body felt better too, and he could feel less pressure from the Essence.


    What Mack didn''t knew was that his cells being reced in such an environment made him special.... very special.


    Mack put his hand on the floor and forced himself to stand up. But this time the Essence felt less pressuring than yesterday..


    He was adapting to the environment, and at a fast pace.


    Then, like a psychopath, Mack grabbed the knife on the floor and started to stab himself in several parts of his own body.


    He did avoid vital parts when stabbing himself, but even so, the blood gushed from his arms and skin non-stop, just like a dying pig in a ughterhouse.


    Not even five minutester, the blood stopped flowing out of his body, and was coagting while healing. Seeing that, Mack restarted his cutting and stabbing session, every time changing or alternating between ces he cut himself.


    The only way for him to adapt faster was to have more blood being produced.


    Or.....


    ~Tap Tap Tap~


    Increasing, even more, the Essence Density around him.


    Mack started to pace around the bloodied floor. Every step or two he would cut himself again in some nonvital part of the body.


    ~Tap Tap~


    Every step made on the bloodied floor carried the sound of someone walking in a street after a rainy day. It was really a rainy day. But what was raining was blood, his own blood.


    And just like this, a long day of torture started.


    After a few hours of this torturous endeavor Mack stopped counting the steps. But was far from 5 thousand steps already. If he could move he would take another step, otherwise, he would just stab himself and wait until he could move again.


    He guessed that his body should be out of blood if was on Earth but here.... He lost in a day more blood than what a few humans could have in their bodies.


    Truly a magical thing. Essence seemed to help not only in increasing his healing rate but also supplying what his body needed to produce more cells.


    "Will I not need to eat anymore?"


    Mack could not avoid asking himself this aloud, since this realization made a lot of things easier for him. After all, he had food for only five days.


    He initially thought he would be starving by now and extremely exhausted.


    But, for his luck or not, he felt energetic and not a bit hungry.


    Coming to this sudden realization, Mack went forward with his n with even more gusto.


    ~Tap Tap sh Tap~


    If one looked at this scene, one would think it was some bizarre cult ritual.


    A man, naked, covered in blood, slowly walking and stabbing himself, and behind him a trail of blood.


    Mack was not some super human that did not feel pain. But true to be told. He was numb to physical pain already. He suffered so much over the past weeks that this was literally a walk in the park for him.


    After a few more hours of this insane and inhuman training, it was time for a break.


    Mack was mentally exhausted.


    He walked in the direction of the safe zone, not stabbing himself anymore, and by the time his two feet crossed the line drawn on the floor....


    ~swish~


    He fell with his face on the ground. Outside the safe zone.


    To his surprise, he was on the other side of the safe zone. Not the side he entered.


    Mack stood up and looked behind him, to confirm what just happened but still could not understand. Did he break any unknown rule and was being punished?


    Mack turned his body and raised his foot to try entering the safe zone again...


    ~stumble~


    "What the hell?"


    Mack was back to the other side of the safe zone.


    With his face on the floor and legs over his own body, Mack was looking more like a ragged potato bag than a human. A naked potato bag. Tossed to a corner.


    But this time Mack saw with the corner of his eyes that he actually passed over the entire safe zone, that was around 5 to 10 meters, in a blink of an eye.


    Mack had no clue of what was happening.


    The Essence around him was restored to normal since he passed thru the entire safe zone. So this was not rted to the Essence Density.


    "Wait!"


    Mack stood up.


    He was mentally exhausted, so he did almost everything like a machine would do, in automatic mode, without thinking.


    He focused his eyes and shook the dizziness and sleepiness out of his mind.


    Instead of trying to walk to the safe zone now, he chose to walk around. To see if what he was thinking was really happening.


    Tap.


    He walked one step, and Mack vanished from where he was appearing 5 meters from the spot he was earlier.


    This time, not stumbling.


    He looked behind to confirm.


    "I just can''t fucking believe in this. What the hell? Did I be Superman? or The sh? No way!"


    Mack moved his feet. And again, he vanished and appeared 6 meters from where he was earlier.


    Just like a kid with a new toy. Mack started running from side to side. Appearing and disappearing from time to time. Until he finally got used to this new kind of speed and force.


    And controlling his new strength, Mack walked normally to the safe zone. This time without stumbling or falling, just like a normal human would do.


    Mack grabbed his clothes and put them on. Then after a few minutes of resting and eating something he already felt less mentally exhausted.


    He grabbed his backpack, the pistols, and the knife and walked outside the safe zone.


    Looking at the endless tunnel ahead, Mack felt anticipation for the first time in weeks.


    He was eager for the next tests and what magical things they would bring.


    Mack took a step in the direction of the darkness in front of him.


    "Its time to finish this gate."


    Said the man, vanishing from the spot he was earlier. But this time he did not appear anymore.


    Just a blurred image of a man could be seen moving along the dark tunnel.


    And if one could see this man''s face, they will see that he was smiling.

 Chapter 22 - Entering The Third Gate

    Mack moved fast as lightning. Running in the dark tunnel for hours.


    He passed several safe zones during this time. But each time the safe zones became farther from each other.


    His ancestor clearly wanted to make the ones who entered to adapt to the increased Essence density.


    ''But Why?''


    Mack could not figure the motive. Of course, he did be faster and stronger. But clearly it was not for this reason only.


    Then while running, Mack came to a realization. .


    ''Must be because in other worlds or dimensions the Essence density is several times strongerpared to Earth.''


    Mack could only guess the reasons.


    ~tap~


    Mack stopped running.


    This time, the Essence density was several times more strong than when Mack did his self-muttion training.


    He did not counted the steps anymore but was over one hour already that he passed thest safe zone.


    He could not run anymore. For the first time, he had to walk since he left the first safe zone.


    ''Maybe this is thest one.''


    Thought Mack, walking in the dark tunnel.


    After a few more minutes of walking, Mack could finally see something different in the dark tunnel.


    Indeed, this was thest part of this test, because Mack could recognize, far in the distance, another gate like the one he entered before.


    And after walking a few more meters, he saw another distinct figure he already saw before.


    A cube on top of a small altar.


    Mack kept walking forward in the direction of the small altar. He guessed this was like thest time. A gift for the ones who passed the test.


    After walking half the distance, he heard the familiar voice in his head.


    [Congrattions human, you have passed the Gate of Sloth test, go to the altar for your reward]


    ''Cold as always. tsc.''


    [You know I can read your thoughts, right?]


    Mack raised his hand and shook them in the air pretending to not know what she was talking about.


    "I don''t know what you talking about. I was thinking about this tunnel. It''s way too cold here."


    [...]


    Mack pretended to be a fool but could not fool even himself. His smile while talking could not be more obvious.


    Walking a few more meters, Mack finally approached the altar, just like before, a sign was there and with the same inscriptions too.


    Mack made a small cut on his finger and dripped blood over the Cube.


    The Cube glowed, and after a few minutes of waiting, a very small cylinder appeared. The cylinder had the size of a baby thumb and was bright red in color.


    Mack took the cylinder from the Cube and inspected it for a few seconds.


    (Modified health monitor device,mon grade, made by Cube Inc)


    "Ismon for all aliens to have so many devices in the body?"


    [No. Most use spells for this. But some wealthy people that can''t use spells end up using it. Some warriors use it too. But only the ones rich enough to afford that]


    "I see. spells again. My life would be much easier with them."


    "How should I use this?"


    [Just use it as a pill. Swallow.]


    Hearing that, Mack gave a look at the small device onest time and threw it at his mouth.


    ~gulp~


    And nothing happened.


    "Let me guess. Need to wait a bit?"


    [Indeed. This device was modified by my creator tomunicate with the one in your eyes. Wait a few minutes and then say ''Status''. Be it aloud or with your mind, just like you do to inspect objects]


    "Ok."


    After a few minutes.


    [You can try now.]


    ''Status''


    Then, like magic, a screen appeared in Mack''s view.


    |----------------------------------------------------|


    | GENERAL INFORMATION |


    |----------------------------------------------------|


    | RACE HYBRID |


    | HEIGHT 1.90 CM |


    | WEIGHT 85 KG |


    | AGE 29 |


    | CONDITION NORMAL |


    |----------------------------------------------------|


    | BODY STATISTICS |


    |----------------------------------------------------|


    | CONSTITUTION [02] |


    | DEXTERITY [02] |


    | STRENGTH [13] |


    | AGILITY [11] |


    |----------------------------------------------------|


    | ESSENCE SATURATION |


    |----------------------------------------------------|


    | BODY [14] |


    | ENVIROMENT [16] |


    |----------------------------------------------------|


    "So, I''m indeed an alien. tsc."


    Said Mack, looking at the first information that disyed his race.


    [You are human from Earth but your ancestor was not from there, it is expected.]


    "Indeed. But still leaves a bad taste in the mouth."


    "What about those numbers?"


    "I mean. Why constitution is 2 while strength is 13?"


    [Those numbers are based on before you entered the Tower of Chaos versus your current situation]


    [01 is equal to you when you entered the Tower]


    "So that means I''m 13 times stronger than before?"


    [Correct.]


    "I indeed knew I was way faster while running. But 11 times faster? That''s a lot"


    "What constitution means? Is it my bones or something else?"


    [Constitution represents your body toughness as a whole, bones, skin, muscles, etc. For example, If a normal human punches you in the face now with all his force, he probably will break a bone in his hand while leaving you with small scars in the skin.]


    "So this is more of my body sturdiness. I see."


    [For now, you can consider this, yes.]


    "But why is the difference so discrepant?"


    [Normally, a body constitution should actually be forever the same. It rarely increases. It''s more rted to the species characteristics. It''s not something easy to change]


    "But mine changes."


    [As said, normally, it would not change]


    "You are not going to give me one of your long exnations?"


    [Why? You already know how you achieved this change.]


    "Indeed."


    "The rest of the stuff is not really important. It''s not like I didn''t know those informations. I just didn''t have the exact numbers."


    [The most important feature for you is to know the Essence saturation in the environment and the device can also inform if you get poisoned and which poison was used, the same is valid for arge number of disabling andsting spells that may influence you negatively.]


    "I see. So his most useful function is to monitor my health and provide urate info about whatever may be wrong. That alone is indeed very useful"


    Said Mack, pondering on how far those aliens had advanced inbining technology and magic. Truly marvelous races.


    "Alright, let''s move to the next game. I''m anxious to know what gifts grandpa left to me."


    Said Mack, already walking toward the giant gate.


    After walking for a few meters, he approached the giant gate, touched it with his hand, and disappeared.


    The dark tunnel thatposed the second gate of the Tower of Chaos bes devoid of life once again.

 Chapter 23 - Gate Of Fear

    Mack turned his head and seeing what was ahead his spine went numb. It was disgust mixed with fear and rage.


    He could not believe what was in front of him.


    Mack forced himself to keep looking, but his contorted face disyed vividly his emotions.


    "Please tell me this is all fake! Is this another kind of dream I''m in?"


    [...]


    But no response came from the Arcane Legacy.


    "ANSWER ME!!!!!" .


    [...]


    Mack took his pistol from his back with his right hand and in a rapid motion pointed his gun to his own forehead.


    "FUCKING ANSWER ME! YOU KNOW ME ALREADY!!!!


    ~click~


    Mack removed the safety lock of the gun and put his finger on the trigger.


    [You already know the answer.]


    Hearing what he feared, Mack dropped the gun and he fell on his knees.


    He could not believe someone could be this cruel.


    Mack looked to his right side and more of the same presented in front of his eyes.


    Children. Hundreds of them. On spikes.


    Small disfigured bodies covered in fresh blood.


    Some with perforated eyes, others without them. Some with legs broken and dozens without a leg.


    Guts filled the ground and the screaming and cries resounded in Mack''s ears.


    Thousands and thousands of children''s impaled in wooden spikes.


    Mack looked close to him and saw a familiar signboard.


    "The children''s of the wicked. It was the way they called us. But to me, they were my friends, family, and neighbors."


    "For the ones with our blood, there ain''t peaceful days in life. Don''t let the past repeat itself one more time. Choose wisely."


    "Know your enemy."


    Reading the sign, Mack could feel all the rage and pain inside every rune carved.


    "There is no way to avoid this?"


    Asked mack aloud.


    [...]


    "ANSWER ME!"


    [This scene repeated itself several times in history already. Every warlock found would be hunted down, and, all people around them have the same fate too]


    "WHY?!"


    Asked Mack, not believing his eyes. Children''s. Only kids. Why be so cruel? Why this way? Why?


    "WHY?!"


    [Fear]


    "Fear?"


    Mack knew the atrocities made by people who were engrossed by this simple but powerful emotion. History on Earth was not that different.


    But as a man who disregarded his own life. That thought of himself as a mere ant. He could not ept this. Did he kill before? Sure he did. But never like this. This is not killing to live or to survive. This is a cruel and sadistic purge.


    Even animals are not like this. A lion, when killing, strikes at the prey''s neck. A merciful and quick death.


    But this. Mack could not even find words to describe this scene in front of him.


    It was disgusting. He had pure disgust for the people who did this. He wished they were in front of him. He would kill them the same way those poor kids were.


    Mack looked down at his own hand, and it was dripping blood. He unknowingly was clenching them so hard that his nails left holes in his own skin.


    With the sound of blood dripping on the ground and the screams of kids in the distance Mack was almost losing his mind.


    He was a simple man. He didn''t have huge ambitions. Just living a good life was enough for him.


    But this.


    This was his bottom line. Mack could never ept something like this and simply walk away doing nothing.


    Even if all this was not really happening in front of Mack and was just a magic spell showing what happened in the past. Even this way. He could not ept this.


    He wished, he truly wished, he had the power to kill all the ones responsible for this inhuman scene in front of him. Not just kill but make them suffer an even more cruel and painful death.


    [Now you need to choose. There are two gates in this room. To your right side, the gate will teleport you to a sealed where you can live a new life free of all this. And to your left side, there is a gate that will lead you in the path of a Warlock.]


    "There are no tests in this room?"


    [The choice is the test itself. You saw what happened in the past, it happened several times, and this may happen in the future too.]


    "I see."


    "Well, there is nothing to be tested then."


    Said Mack, already walking to his left.


    He had no one anymore and nothing to lose either. He could live an easy life if he quit these tests. But he already made his mind. He would bring pain for the ones who caused him pain.


    More than never, Mack was sure that his family was hunted because they simply existed too. No reasons. Just fear for what anyone in his family could be.


    It was time for Mack to bring them genuine fear.


    Fear of what he is, not for what he could be.


    A man with nothing to lose is not a helpless man. On the contrary. A man with nothing to lose is the scarier form of an enemy that any sane man would avoid like the gue itself.


    A man with nothing to lose is free to do whatever he wants. And Mack, already set in stone his own fate. He will be the worst nightmare for those people.


    Beforeing to this gate, he wanted to know why he and his family were hunted and maybe get rid of the ones who killed his father.


    But now.


    He will be fear itself in flesh and bones.


    "Stick and stones may break my bones. Arrows and bullets may cut my skin, but even in myst breath..."


    Said Mack, looking one more time behind him to see the scene of the children''s, impaled and agonizing for the crime of just existing.


    "I shall bring to them the true meaning of fear."


    Said Mack raising his right hand and with the left one he took a knife from his backpack and made two cuts in his right hand.


    The blood dripping from the back of his hand made visible two long red lines in the format of a V letter.


    "This is my oath to you, to my parents, and to myself."


    Said Mack, clenching his fist, now full of blood.


    One minuteter, Mack touched the gate and disappeared from the ce.


    He set his fate in stone. There was no turning back now, and no need to regret what he would do in the future.


    He chose to be fear itself.

 Chapter 24 - Gifts From Granpa

    Already familiar with the way the gates worked, Mack turned his back to the gate and saw arge green field in front of him.


    Some trees and small nts but mostly green grass.


    Close to him, the already expected signboard and one unexpected small cube.


    After seeing the two, Mack walked closer to the signboard so he could read the runes.


    "The path you chose will be filled with blood. This gate shall ensure that the blood is not yours nor from your loved ones, but from your enemies."


    Mack pondered over the words in the signboard and thought it must be another kind of training.


    [You know what to do with the cube already. The rest will be self-exnatory once you pass that hill] .


    Mack looked in the distance and could see that there was indeed a small hill a few kilometers ahead and behind that hill only clouds and nothing more.


    ''Maybe some kind of valley is beyond that hill?''


    Then Mack''s gaze fell on the Cube.


    He walked to the cube and raised his bloody right hand, and after a few seconds, the sound of blood dripping on a metallic surface could be heard.


    Fourteen long minutester, Mack was looking at several metallic boxes on the ground.


    Every time Mack retrieved one box of the Cube another one would appear and just like that Mack saw himself looking like a Christmas tree, surrounded by boxes.


    "And here I am. An alien Christmas tree."


    Said Mack, realizing the awkward scene.


    "Ok let''s see what we have here"


    Said Mack, grabbing one of the boxes.


    The boxes themselves were nothing extravagant, just some kind of purple metal that resembled stic to the touch, with a more soft surface, but were cold as normal metal.


    Mack opened the small box, pulling the lead in the indicated engravings.


    And to his surprise, what he found inside the box was a pair of boots.


    Metallic ck boots.


    [The colors were chosen based on your usual preference by me]


    "Hmmm. I indeed love ck clothes a bit too much."


    Said Mack, looking at his current outfit all in ck color.


    His gaze changed back to the pair of boots as he grabbed them and he could see they were also made of some kind of alien metal that looked like the same as the box but more rough to the touch.


    The ck color was not some shining ck with a metallic luster. But more like an opaque and unreflective ck. It was as if the light itself could not touch the boots. Yet, they were as cold as metal could be.


    Mack raised the boots and felt almost no weight.


    Looking more closely at the boots, a message appeared in Mack''s vision


    (Durak Special Forces Boots, rare grade, made by Cube Inc.)


    (Modified Design: Small gravity canction engine added)


    "Some fancy boots indeed"


    "I wonder how this gravity canction stuff works"


    Said Mack, already putting the new boots and throwing his old ones to the side.


    When he put the boots on, they shrank a bit to fit Mack''s feet.


    "Really? Alien stuff is the best."


    Even in those simple things, their technology was worlds apart. Literally.


    After stomping his feet a bit to feel the new boots and appearing very satisfied with the grip and malleability, Mack grabbed the next box close to him.


    "A swimsuit?"


    Said Mack, raising the thing inside the box.


    (Durak special forces battle suit, rare grade, made by Cube Inc)


    "Am I going to receive aplete package from those Duraks?"


    [Yes, you will. The Duraks have the most advanced technology know to this date and this suit is capable of shock absorption to a certain degree, and also has self-repairing capabilities.]


    "You are very talkative today. Why the sudden change?"


    Asked Mack, already used to this non-responsive book girl.


    [I only follow my protocols. If what you ask do not affect the objective of each gate, I will dly help you]


    "I see. dly. Yeap. Such big soul."


    [...]


    Mack removed his new boots. Then removed all his clothes. And put on the Durak battle suit.


    He stretched a bit and felt nothing wrong. It was veryfortable to use.


    Looking from a distance one could easily mistake Mack for a surfer. It really looked like a swimming suit. Itpletely covered Mack from the base of his chin to the arms, body, and legs. Even his fingers were covered. Not a single line or drawing could be seen on the suit, it waspletely ck.


    The only unprotected ce was his head. The suit covered everything else, even his neck.


    "Don''t tell that I will need to remove this every time I need to pee?"


    [If you touch your neck, you will be able to spot small buttons on the right side. It allows you to use several functions of the suit]


    "How these things work? I mean they use a battery? They can''t simply repair themselves using nothing. Right?"


    [You are correct. They can''t. They use the heat produced by your body to work. That''s why the boots and the suit only shrink to adjust to your body after a few seconds]


    [All the items in those boxes also came with self-repairing ability. It''s hard to exin but they use a replication matrix simr to the cubes. A far simpler one. But if the suit is notpletely destroyed and the core area, the neck, is intact. Then given time the suit will repair itself using your heat as energy and converting the free Essence in the environment to the material used in the suit. And it''s an intelligent material simr to nanorobots from Earth]


    "That''s quite cool. I guess there is not any clothespany anymore in those Duraks ce."


    [...]


    "Ok, let''s open all those boxes. It seems is time for a visual upgrade hahahah"


    [If I may advise. Don''t rely too much on them. After all, their designs are from thousands of years ago in Earth time. They are for sure obsolete. Remember that my creator designed me and the tower before his death. Thousands of years ago.]


    "I see. Thanks for the reminder. I guess tools are only tools in the end. One must rely primarily on himself to achieve anything."


    Said Mack, grabbing one of his two guns at the side.


    Then he pointed at his own feet.


    ~bang~


    "But. It does feel nice to be bulletproof."


    Said Mack, seeing that no damage was done to the suit after shooting at his own foot. But he still felt a sting of pain. As if someone was stomping in his foot very hard.


    Mack threw the guns away. Put the new boots on again and approached another box.


    There were several of them. He was curious to see what gifts better than this suit he would still receive.


    For him. This ''bulletproof'' suit was already the pinnacle.


    s, he could not be more wrong. This was only the start.

 Chapter 25 - More Gifts From Grandpa

    Mack opened one of the boxes, and to his surprise, he saw a very unique device.


    He was not sure what to do. He never saw something like that before.


    It looked like a piece of cloth but was moving by itself. It Was very small in size and looked more like some rag, an alive rag.


    (Argonian cape, Unique rank)


    "Ohhh, this was the first item I didn''t see ''made by Cube Inc'' on them"


    [Indeed. This is a unique item. If can be called as such, and the cubes have no way to replicate them]


    "I read it''s a cape but how do I use it?"


    [Drip a few drops of blood.. The argonian cape can be also be called as a symbiotic life form. It''s a Biotechnical and very unique item. Even my creator had only one of such rare and unique item]


    "So. Nobody got here in this gate before?"


    [Dozens entered this gate. But all died in this tower, and with their deaths, the cape was recalled]


    "I see.... Just drop some blood?"


    [Yes. And it will belong to you until you die]


    Mack still had some dried blood on his hand so he touched the neck until he found the button to free his hand from the suit. After a few attempts, the suit retracted itself and freed his hand. Then he touched the rag.


    And just like a hungry beast, the rag, that kept moving like it had some wind around it, expanded and enveloped Mack''s hand and sucked all the dried blood.


    [Keep feeding it]


    "By feed, u mean.... geez what is this? Is it some vampire stuff?"


    But evenining, Mack was already cutting his hand with a knife. He was already used to such weird stuff from aliens.


    Then the thing, the cape, as if feeling joy, jumped on the running blood and suck directly from the cut made by Mack.


    The cape kept sucking Mack''s blood like it had an insatiable craving for blood.


    After a few minutes and seeing no change, Mack felt inpatient.


    ''Is this thing going to suck all the blood in my body?''


    [No, it will not]


    "Oh, I almost forgot you could read my mind"


    "So.... Should I leave it there? Just... sucking my blood?"


    [It must be strong enough already]


    [Remove it from your hand. And do a small and thin cut on the back of your neck. Just a little above where the suit ends]


    Mack could guess why. So he didn''t even bat an eye and a few secondster he had the rag stuck at the back of his neck, sucking his blood.


    [This is a very special item. And like I said it''s a biotech life form. The Argonian cape has a parasitism rtionship with his host and will act as if it is a new leg or hand for you]


    "So... to this thing work, it will keep sucking my blood? And what this cape does?"


    [It has three modes. Sleep, Alive and Active]


    [Urge with your mind for the cape to be ''Alive'' and test the other modes the same way]


    ''Cape Alive''


    ~floosh~


    And instantly the little rag behind Mack''s neck expanded and transformed in a long and dark cape.


    The cape as dark as night itself enveloped Mack''s neck and formed a hood around his head.


    And in his back, the cape kept lively dancing in the wind, even with no wind at all.


    The cape looked like some alive shadow but full of holes and ragged borders.


    Floating and dancing in the non-existent wind.


    Mack put his hand on the neck and felt nothing to the touch. Looked like it was some illusion. Then he looked behind his back to see the cape and it indeed looked very cool and mysterious. Mack felt as if he was some spawn from hell with this cape.


    He extended his hand to touch, but again, no sense of touch at all. His hand passed thru the cape and back again as if it was some optic illusion.


    But he could still hear the faint and almost inaudible sound of the cape fluttering in the wind.


    [The cape is in another dimension. The only link to this dimension of us is the small part that touches the back of your neck]


    "So it''s indeed an illusion?"


    [Yes and no. It''s a very special biotech life form that lives between dimensions]


    "So what''s the use of this apart from looking cool?"


    [...]


    "Don''t give me this guilt silence. None?"


    [...]


    "Geez..."


    Mack could not believe it. All this high-tech just to look cool?


    ~sigh~


    ''Well, let''s see... Cape Active''


    ~vuush~


    Mack heard a small noise and looked behind himself but could not see the cape anymore.


    "Don''t tell me .... no use again?"


    Mack said aloud, but for some reason it felt odd.


    [Look at your hands]


    Mack looked at his own hands but saw nothing.


    In more appropriate words, he didn''t saw his own hands. He looked down at his body and could not see his body either.


    Now he realized. The cape made him invisible, even to himself.


    "And I can''t hear my voice. Now I know what was odd when I talked before."


    [Correct]


    "It''s weird to talk and don''t hear feedback. That must be the same feeling as deaf people. It''s so hard."


    ''Why I''m even talking if I don''t hear anything? Such a morom''


    ''Cape Sleep''


    ~voosh~


    The Cape disappeared, and Mack felt better. It was very strange to not see or hear himself.


    "It''s a very agonizing feeling, to tell the truth. But is indeed a fucking exceptional cape"


    [It not actually made you invisible but more like it tries to move you between dimensions at a very high frequency]


    "So that''s why the weird feeling I was having"


    [An important note is. Do not try to fight while in this state. And do not try anything way tooplex either. It may disarrange your body and kill you]


    "So this thing is more for sneak operations or run than to try to confuse the enemy in a fight. Got that."


    [Yes. Please bear that in mind. Or else you will be so disfigured that not even your enemies will recognize you anymore. That, if you keep living]


    "There is a threshold I must avoid?"


    [Slowly walking is good. Run is not. Don''t jump. Don''t fight. Don''t grab anything. The ideal and more safe way to use it is to stay still while in active mode]


    "Gotcha!"


    ''Cape Alive''


    ~fluushh~


    "Dammed aliens. The cape is indeed cool"


    Said Mack, looking at how cool was the cape fluttering like it was alive. He wished to have a mirror to see how he looked now.


    Then his gaze fell on another box. He still had more gifts from grandpa.

 Chapter 26 - Honor

    Mack opened the other box and saw a mask.


    The mask was made to cover only the part of the nose and mouth and extended back to the ears covering both of them.


    Mack took the mask and put on and felt like he could not breath nor hear anymore.


    Then after a few seconds, all came back to normal again.


    [This mask has shock absorption, auto repair, a trantion device and air purification. It''s already pre-configured to your world standards too]


    "That will be helpful. I think"


    Said Mack, but this time his voice came out a little more rough and robotic.


    He noticed too that the sounds around him became louder.. He could hear a little better than before.


    But he knew the best thing was the trantion device. If he met any aliens in the future this mask would be vital to him.


    Mack didn''t dy too much and picked another box to open.


    Inside, he found five belts. One for the waist and four others. Mack guessed the others were for legs or arms since they were smaller.


    Mack removed the belts and put them aside for the moment. Belts were nothing muchpared to the stuff he saw until now.


    He opened the next box and found four daggers inside.


    The daggers were very in, like any other he saw on earth. He guessed the materials were different. But daggers were daggers. Nothing much.


    Mack put the daggers close to the belts and left them there. There was one small belt for each dagger. He would put themter.


    Opening the next box, Mack saw a sword. A very elegant one. It was in ck and didn''t reflect light. Different from the daggers that looked like made from silver.


    Mack felt curious and inspected the sword.


    (Mage yer, Legendary Rank)


    "Mage yer?"


    "I thought I was going to learn how to manipte Essence. Why I would need a sword in a spell fight?"


    "You know there is a saying on earth....."


    "Don''t bring knives to a gunfight."


    [Indeed. But the path of a warlock differs from the mages. It''s harder and very specific. You will learn about that in the next trials. And the sword is a very special one too.]


    "Why is that?"


    [Like the name said. This sword was specifically made to y mages. How do you think mages fight?]


    "I never saw one so I can''t say."


    [In a mage fight there are two types of fight. The quick ones where one is caught unguarded. And the fights whost until one of them run-outs of Essence]


    [There are two important aspects in a mage fight. The damage output. And their defense. Normally their defense is done using Essence shields or barriers or simr spells]


    [And this sword was specially designed to counter that. You remember when I said that everything has Essence?]


    "Yes, I remember that, of course. Don''t tell me. Does this sword have no Essence? How is that even possible?"


    [Wrong. Everything has Essence.]


    "Are you ying with me girl?"


    [The difference is that the Essence in this sword was made by forging the blood of thousands and thousands of warlocks]


    "Those children from thest gate?"


    Mack could not believe someone would do something so inhuman like that.


    [Not only them. But using the entire poption of warlocks that lived on that. To create this single sword]


    "But why would mages create something that could kill them?"


    [To kill other mages, of course. There is not such a thing as mages versus warlocks. Warlocks, even at their peak of civilization, were so tiny in numberspared to the mages that they could barely be expressed in more than 0.1% of the entire mages alive at that time]


    "I see. It never was a battle. It was more like they were hunting a rare and special prey."


    [Mages fear the potential of warlocks. But they also crave for their blood. It''s a very special blood. And they use it to create weapons like those]


    Mack looked again at the sword and now he could see that the sword was not exactly ck in color. But more like a deep dark red. Someone could only tell the difference if looking for a long time at the de.


    "A very special blood. My blood. What so special about it?"


    [You will learn if you live the next trials]


    "Always mysterious"


    "You said the word ''warlock'' several times already, was that the name of my ancestor race? My race?"


    [Not exactly. Your ancestor lineage and race name were forgotten in history, and from several Aeons ago until this date, they are called warlocks. The original meaning of the word warlock is someone who is a pariah, an outcast, to the mage''s civilization.]


    "I should be expecting that would be something like that. No one would call a pig as ''a human'' if you eat it for dinner every time, even if it talked the samenguage."


    ~sigh~


    "How this de works?"


    [It neutralizes spells or wills to a certain degree. The will of the sword is to cut. And is strong than most spells created by normal mages. Remember what I said to you already. Will is the secret to manipte Essence]


    "I see. Unfortunately I never used a sword before."


    Said Mack, putting the sword close to the other belts and opening thest box.


    [This. Is not required for you to use. And also doesn''t give you any advantages but was my creator hope that anyone that left the tower would use]


    Mack looked at what was inside and it was some kind of kilt and a long shirt withrge pants. All ck in color, but with runes engraved on the borders.


    The clothes had a medieval design but looked modern at the same time.


    [These are the typical clothes for a warlock back in the time your ancestor was invaded. The only modification he made in the design was to make it able of self-repairing]


    Mack took the clothes and put them on.


    The slim figure of someone using a swimsuit now was reced by one of a medieval warrior. He still had the Durak battle armor below the clothes cause the battle suit offered protection and was sofortable that sometimes Mack even forgot he had them.


    But now. He somehow felt proud of himself for using those warlock clothes. It was like a piece of himself was missing until he put them.


    Mack them grabbed the belts and daggers and put them under the clothes, two of them on the right leg, one in the left leg, and one in his left arm.


    He grabbed the sword and put it over his shoulder while holding the hilt.


    For the first Mack felt like his life had really changed from what he knew.


    He was in a mysterious ce. Using alien clothes and holding a sword. But somehow he felt like this was right for him, as if he was born to this. It was like he himself was craving for this but he never knew.


    Anticipation was what Mack felt right now. Anticipation for the unknown and adventurous days ahead.


    He didn''t knew how his future would be, but he was sure that the oue would only depend on himself.


    And Mack was ready. Ready for whereveres in front of him.


    "It will be my honor."


    Said Mack, turning his back and walking in the direction of the small hill where the next trial would begin.

 Chapter 27 - Battle To The Death

    Mack walked to the small hill. When reaching the top he saw an immense field in front of the hill. One that the eye could not reach its end.


    With his cape in his back fluttering in the air and his new warlock clothes, Mack looked like a warrioring for a battle.


    And indeed, a battle was waiting for him.


    A battle to the death.


    Because in this immense field, warlocks and mages were fighting. Mack could recognize the now familiar clothes of the warlocks. And the other side could only be the mages.


    Mack was at the back of the battle on the warlock side.. And in those few seconds while looking at the grand battle scene he already saw several spells and magic effects running amuck through the small skirmishes on the battlefield.


    A ball of me killing several warlocks. A warlock stabbing a mage with a small sword and another warlock raising his hand and turning in to a pulp of flesh and bones dozens of mages at same time. With no grand and flourish effects at all. The warlock pointed his hand at the mage''s direction and they be a bloody mass of disfigured corpses.


    Mack felt astonished by theter one. It looked like he killed those mages with no effort at all.


    "So strong. Is this what a true warlock is capable of?"


    [That and much more]


    "Correct me if I''m wrong. Is this is a recreation of a battle when my ancestor was invaded?"


    [Yes]


    "As I expected, and my guess is this is not only a holographic projection like in the previous gate. The spells, they are really damaging the ground."


    [Correct. Those are simr to real spells and the damage dealt is almost the same too. This battle is being reyed by a very advanced magic circle, inscribed on the top of this room]


    Mack looked up but could see nothing, only the sun shining behind the clouds.


    "So this is a room"


    [Correct. Just like the others gates before this]


    "But what is the goal? I''m sure you don''t expect me to win this battle with my meager strength."


    [...]


    "You must be kidding with me. Do you saw that warlock there? If he can''t win this battle what can I do?"


    [The rules of this gate are as follow]


    [All mages should be killed in less than a hundred days]


    [If all the mages are not killed by the 100th day, the battle will restart from the beginning]


    [This will happen until you achieve the goal or you are dead]


    [These are the rules of the Gate of Pride]


    Mack could not believe what he heard. How could he change this clearly losing battle? And in a hundred days kill all mages. He was not sure if he could kill even one. And there were several hundred thousand of them.


    ~sigh~


    "And here was I, thinking on adventures. Maybe save a princess or kill a few dragons. Tsc."


    Mackpletely lost his will to fight.


    Fight a lost battle? Why? He could not understand. And even if he wanted to fight... What could he do? Sure, the sword was cool and all, but he would never have the chance to even get close to a mage before being burned alive, or worst.


    "I bet no one passed this trial. Right?"


    [Correct]


    "Of course not. Who could turn a battle like this?"


    Said Mack siting on the hill and looking at the fights in the distance.


    He was not stupid to throw himself head on in a battle like this.


    [There was one. This battle is a memory rey of your ancestor''s first battle ever]


    "So you are saying that my ancestor won this?"


    [Not exactly won. He was the sole survivor of this battle]


    [He didn''t knew at the time. But this was thest battle fought and he being the only warlock alive in this battle made possible for him to escape the. If were hundreds of warlocks, the mages would pursuit them. But only one small mage ship leaving the was an unsuspicious move]


    "But he was a true warlock with training and this sword and all... ohhh no, this sword was made after the battle. He didn''t have this sword! How did? Did he forged himself the sword? How he won?"


    [No. The Mage Association forged this sword. He stole this sword several yearster]


    "So how did he survive? He must have been extremely lucky or extremely strong."


    [Neither. ording to his memories, he was far weaker than you are now when he entered this battle]


    "How is that even possible?"


    Mack simply could not believe in this.


    [That is for you to discover. I''m not allowed to tell you]


    Mack fell into thoughts and pondered over why his ancestor would do a trial like this.


    "I doubt he would put a scene like this just for me to y hide and seek with mages. He would not taint his memories with such low test"


    "Can I talk to those warlocks fighting? Or take a ship and run to somewhere?"


    [No, you can''t. They are not real peoples. They are Light Constructs generated by the magic circle on top of this room. You can''t also move them. They follow certain pre-configured rules only enough to recreate this battle]


    "So they are just like puppets in a puppeteer show? What happens if I somehow appear in front of a mage? Will they attack me or follow what happened in the battle, ignoring me?"


    [They will attack you. Because for those Light Constructs, you arebeled as an enemy. They have basic intelligence. But only at the level required for this battle to be simted]


    "So they act like those NPCs from games."


    [...]


    "How can you know so much about Earth and dont know what video games are?"


    [I only have records from what the host does. Starting at the moment when the runes are engraved on the body]


    "I see. As soon as we leave this tower we gonna y some games."


    [...]


    "And I will give you a book about how to interact with humans."


    [...]


    With the awkward silence, Mack knew for sure that the book girl could not differentiate a joke from a normal sentence.


    s, he had much bigger problems right now. What to do when leaving the tower was thest of his concerns right now.


    First, he had to live another day. A Hundred days would be good too.

 Chapter 28 - Popcorn

    Mack had no clue what to do, so he just stayed there. Sitting on a hill looking at the battle in the distance.


    He first needed to figure out the goal of the gate. Otherwise, he would just run in circles, or worst, die.


    ''Why would he put all this grand battle here for me to revert it? Just because he did it too in the past?''


    Mack thought that was unlikely that his ancestor wanted him to pass the same thing he passed just because he felt like doing it.


    Mack knew from the past trials that his ancestor was wise and ruthless at the same time. A man like him would never do things on a whim. Not when creating all this grand scheme to train someone from his own bloodline.


    ''What I''m missing?''


    "Ok.. Let''s recapitte things..."


    ''First, I received a bunch of gear and a legendary sword when entering this gate''


    ''Then..... a bunch of NPCs are killing each other in a historic battle that willst for at least a hundred days''


    ''And my ancestor was the sole survivor of this battle''


    Mack still could not believe his ancestor was weaker than him when he entered this battle. This was not a battle for shrimps. One wrong step and you are dead.


    "But the goal for me is not to survive to the end of the battle as my ancestor did. But to y all mages before the 100th day."


    "If really was something about pride.... he would just set the goal for me to survive too"


    Then Mack remembered thest gates. All the previous trials taught him without actually teaching. Even the previous one. Showing that scene of the children being impaled taught Mack how cruel mages could be.


    ''Teaching without teaching''


    "Why?"


    Mack could not figure out why his ancestor would choose the hardest way to train someone. It would be far easier just telling exactly what to do.


    ''If his modus operandi is the same as the previous gates, then he is trying to teach me here the same way too''


    "How? By jumping in a fireball and getting burnt to ashes? tsc..."


    Mack kept looking at the battle in distance, with his head resting over his hand in a pensive expression.


    After a few minutes of pondering over the matter.


    "I''m such a moron!!!!!!! How could I not see this! It''s so obvious!"


    "I have broken the nine gates in my body. I can influence Essence to some degree because I can see in the dark. But I don''t know how to use it actively! I only know how to use it in a passive way."


    "Such a moron!"


    "And here I am! Watching an epic battle with the bests teachers in the world performing all kinds of stuff in front of me. And! For free!"


    "The copycat method! Fake it until you make it!"


    ''Where should I start? Right! The sword! I never used one. I should first try to learn how to use it.''


    Having nned the first step, Mack focused his gaze on the battle in search of a man using a sword.


    But he was too far to see the details in the fights, and if he approached the core areas, he risked being blown away without even seeing how.


    ''How can I approach the battles without risking my neck?''


    "The only survivor! That''s the key!"


    "Hey book girl. Are you allowed to point me who is my ancestor in this fight?"


    [Finally a smart human. Most just assumed they were ying the role of the ancestor]


    [He is the only light constructpletely made in green color]


    Mack looked at battle again and searched for some green spot. There were many colors and was hard to locate a single green spot.


    After searching for half an hour Mack found what he thought was the correct green spot. It was way too green to be someone using green clothes and was on the warlock side. Most of the warlocks used in gray or ck clothes with only a few using different colors, but even so, the battlefield was so huge that he needed a long time to locate this green spot. And he found it because he was searching specifically for it. There was no way for someone to just stumble on it and keep following it for a hundred days.


    "Found you! If I survive this by your side I will fucking punch you in the face! I don''t care if you are a NPC. I will punch you twice!"


    "All those rules and tips. All to confuse us more. Fucking asshole!"


    From the top of the hill, Mack screamed, enraged with his ancestor schemes.


    But no one listened to what Mack said. After all, he was the only living thing on this entire battlefield.


    Now, Mack will have to survive a hundred days by the side of his infamous ancestor.


    And if he wanted to pass the trial...


    He needed to kill all mages remaining on the 99th day.


    He was not sure how the battle would progress in the next days, but he was sure that his side, the warlock side, was on the losing end right now.


    "Dammed! Why give me a cape that turns me invisible if I can''t touch anything! If some random guy stumbles in me I''m doomed!"


    Mack thought hard about how to go to that green spot but the green spot was miles from him. He would need to traverse several skirmishes to reach there.


    It was too risky for Mack.


    ''Night! At least in movies, they stop the frontal assaults by night. Maybe that''s my chance''


    Thought Mack remembering that this gate or room or whatever had a sun. If it had a sun. It should have night too.


    Having decided how to go there, and feeling less pressured and with a lot of free time until night came, for obvious reasons, Mack wished he had popcorn now.


    Watch a battle like this for hours and hours until night came without popcorn was a pity, in Mack''s opinion.


    Mack took his backpack from the side. Grabbed an alien fruit and started to slowly eat.


    The next 100 days would be super busy ones. He was not sure when or where he would eat. If he ate at all.


    ~chomp~


    The fruit was good and had almost the same vor as strawberries from Earth. But what Mack really wanted now was some popcorn.

 Chapter 29 - The Warlock Camp

    When night came Mack finally moved from his spot at the top of the hill and started walking in the direction hest saw the green dot, his ancestor NPC, or in the Arcane Legacy words, the light construct.


    Mack, as all the warlocks NPCs around him, could see in the dark. A natural advantage caused by the destruction of the nine gates inside the body responsible for blocking Essence to leave and enter the body naturally and also responsible for converting the Essence in the body to an imprinted Essence.


    Mages, on the other hand, could not see in the dark and had to use spells or technology to aplish the same feat.


    On a battlefield, any advantage could be lethal, and the mages came prepared with several ways to monitor the battlefield at night.


    But just as Mack expected, the battles diminished greatly during the night. With asional raids happening to keep the other party at bay.


    Be the warlocks or the mages. Both used the same tactic at night. Retreat the frontline and raid the enemy camp with smaller units..


    After walking a few minutes, Mack reached the warlock camp and chose to wait close to the entrance of the camp.


    He was guessing, that just like the majority of the warlock warriors, his ancestor NPC woulde back to the camp at night.


    Observing the light constructs walk by him. Mack could see the limitations of such arge spell being used. The light constructs had the same form as humans, but the details were roughly done. Just like a statue made by carving wood. But on the other hand, all the things used by those light constructs were the real deal. The clothes, weapons, and tools all looked like stuff made by a cube.


    Mack guessed that was easier to use a cube to create those things instead of a spell.


    Mack touched one of them to feel what it would look like. But the light construct reacted like he was annoyed by Mack and walked away from him.


    No word came from that warlock light construct, but Mack was sure that they had at least a basic programmed intelligence just like NPCs from games.


    The night at the camp was anything but a calm one. Several warlocks passed by the entrances carrying others mutted or bleeding warlocks. If they were not light constructs, Mack may be already throwing up after seeing so many bizarre scenes of injured or dead people.


    Some were thrown into a pile of dead bodies and incinerated. Others were moved to the medical tent.


    Mack saw this and was not sure but thought that maybe they didn''t have the tradition of burying their fallenrades, or this was specific to wartime.


    Mack also saw a few eating some kind of nts, and tracing back from where they kepting from, he saw a tent giving meals.


    He was not sure if the food was also a light construct or real food, but he decided to go thereter to check.


    With all the chaos in the warlock camp, Mack''s figure distuned from the rest. Not only because he was the only living thing there, but because of his calm, and there was not a single warlock resting. All of them were doing something, be it repairing their gears, helping the injured, or serving food to others.


    Only Mack stood still.


    He knew they were light constructs, so there was no point trying to save or help them. But even so, he could feel the vibrating atmosphere caused by them. It was like all this chaos and this restless attitude from them urged Mack to do something too.


    Unfortunately, he came way toote for this battle. All of them were already dead, even before Mack was born. And now he was thest one of them.


    ~sigh~


    Mack took a hesitant step.


    And another one, and stopped.


    Then he put his sword on his waist belt.


    And took a firm step, then he grabbed by the arm a fallen warlock. The poor man was carrying way too much weight and tripped.


    Mack pulled the man. And helped him carry the bags of some sort of nt.


    The man gave a quick bow with his head and secondster both were now walking in the same direction.


    To the food tent.


    Even knowing they were just light constructs, Mack could not stay still anymore.


    His heart urged him to help them. To help his own people. To help this doomed race of his. His mind could not stop his injured pride. He was in need to do something.


    After reaching the food tent Mack dropped the bags where the man also dropped the ones he was carrying.


    The man then walked off the tent and Mack stood there. Not knowing what to do.


    He saw a few people cutting the nts and removing some kind of barbs and mixing them with something that looked like milk


    The final thing looked just like a white burrito from Earth.


    Mack grabbed one of the spare knives on the table and started doing the same.


    One warlock looked at him, but a few secondster focused on his own task again.


    Mack removed the barbs from the nt using a knife and put the nt aside for the time being.


    Grabbed another and did the same.


    After half an hour, Mack put all the nts on a metallic te and dropped the white liquid on them.


    Mack did the same as the others were doing and revolved the nts in the white liquid using a long metallic stick.


    After a few minutes, he removed it one by one, using something simr to a fork, and put it aside for others to eat.


    Mack didn''t knew what he was doing. He just repeated the same processes the others were doing. But, for the first time in life, Mack made a ''chemical cooking''.


    One that did not depend on fire to cook. Only in the chemical reactions between the white liquid and the nt.


    And just like this Mack on his first day at the camp, bes a cook.


    He was not nning this. His ancestor did not n for this too. But this is life.


    One different step and a fresh new path of unknown possibilities is created.


    Chaos in his most beautiful form.

 Chapter 30 - A Busy Night

    Mack spent almost the entire night working at the food tent, helping to do the food and serving the light constructs that came from the battle.


    By the time the sun was about to rise, no more light constructs came, and Mack could feel the anticipation in the air.


    Mack saw all warlocks walking in small groups in the direction of the front line.


    Even the cooks went out of the tent and grabbed some weapons in a weapon rack by the entrance of the tent.


    Mack was guessing that all of them were going to fight in the battle somehow. A losing battle had no sparing hands after all.


    "Shit!"


    Mackpletely forgot to track the green light construct, his ancestor.


    And that construct didn''te for food, not at least in the tent Mack was working.. There were several tents like the one Mack worked in, and he could have gone to any other of them.


    The camp itself was not like a construction with walls or fences like in WWII movies that Mack saw. But more like several groups of five to ten tents. And there were hundreds of simr camps, spanning by miles and miles in a long line. Only a few of those camps had a small earth trench dug around the camp.


    Mack also guessed that in the real battle, behind this long line of camps must have been a city or an important ce that they tried to protect.


    Or maybe it was just one of the several battlefronts in this war, after all, it was a war that was happening on the entire.


    Mack stopped thinking of useless stuff and focused again on what to do.


    He had to find the green light construct again.


    "Hey book girl. Are you with me?"


    [Always. And no, I can''t point you in the direction of that light construct]


    "It''s not that. It''s actually a more personal matter"


    Mack took a pause, not sure how to talk about this.


    "Do you remember I bought from the cube one device that yed music, right?"


    [Of course. I have a perpetual memory. You also threw it away before entering the first gate]


    "Exactly. You see. Music puts me in the mood to do the stuff I need. But only the music I like, from Earth. Not those weird noises from the aliens"


    [...]


    "And you, have a perpetual memory, just like you said."


    [...]


    "And is always with me...."


    [...]


    "Hearing the same music I heard when I was at Earth....."


    [Do you want me to sing for you?]


    "No! Geez! God no!"


    "I want to make a deal with you. I know you have your ways."


    "Can you give me one of those devices but with the songs that you heard on Earth while stalking me?"


    "If you can.... Name your price."


    [...]


    "So?"


    [It''s not against the rules. But is also not in the rules. Because I can''t give you anything that is not prearranged]


    "Come on girl, there is always a ''but''...."


    [But... if somehow you get a music yer device I can pass the songs to it. Because I''m allowed to pass information to you. If that information is not restricted and does not go against the objective of the tower. Then, it''s just a different format]


    "That''s my girl!"


    [...]


    "Wait. Is not this mask I''m using the same? I mean. I''m 100% sure the sound I hear is not the original sound around me."


    [You are correct. The sound you hear is being amplified by the mask using an algorithm. But the mask doesn''t have a memory ....]


    "It has somehow. The trantion!"


    [Indeed. But for that to work, I would need to remove from its database severalnguages. Since its database is made to fit only what is needed. And also, it does not have a way to y the songs]


    "Well, it has voice recognition because it recognizes what has been talked and trantes it. Even me a newbie in tech knows this."


    [Well. But for that, I will need to change the code that remains on the small chip in the right ear. And to do that. Morenguages would need to be removed to free more space.]


    "So you can do it. Right?"


    [Technically. I can. I''m only giving you information. Even the change in software. It''s just the ce and how I give you information that changes. But by my estimation, two thousandnguages will be removed from the database to put all the songs you heard on Earth plus the software upgrade. Are you sure?]


    "Yes please! Remove thenguages that are less used or not used at all"


    [Done]


    "What? ALREADY? that was instantaneous!!!! Girl! You have some big brain don''t you?"


    [It''s just a matter of numbers for me]


    "You are amazing! How do a y?"


    [Just say ''y music'' and the name of the song. Or ''y music'' and ''All'' to y all the songs in alphabetical order. And to stop. Just say ''stop music'']


    "Alphabetical order. What a way to sort music. Even shuffle makes more sense. s, it''s still better than nothing"


    [...]


    For Mack, music was his moststingpanion in life.


    "Music y All"


    And the first song being yed was from a rock band that started with AC and ended with DC. Alphabetical order didn''t seem so bad after all.


    "It''s time to get serious."


    Said Mack, hearing the familiar song being yed by the mask.


    He didn''t care anymore for the green light construct.


    It was time to do things his way. Not how his ancestor wished.


    All in ck and with the Argonian cape fluttering behind him. Mack removed his sword from the belt and closed his eyes.


    He felt the thrill of the song and all his mind went nk from all the thoughts and doubts and questions he had.


    He was one hundred percent focused.


    Focused on killing all the mages. Or die trying.


    Mack opened his eyes, his expressions nowpletely different from before. The childish attitude was reced by a ferocious beast.


    One step.


    Two steps.


    Then he started running at a slow pace.


    A few meterster. He was running side by side with several warlocks.


    And behind Mack.


    Hundreds of Hundreds of warlocks were running. Each step more vigorous. Each step faster.


    Small acts could change an entire battle. Just like a forest only needed a spark to be burnedpletely.


    While still running. Mack raised his sword high in the sky and pointed it forward.


    And feeling the thrill of the moment.


    "KILL THEM ALL!"


    He shouted with all his lungs.


    Behind him, all the warlocks raised their swords. And for the first time in all the years doing this test, the Arcane Legacy could hear the warlock''s screams.


    "KILL THEM ALL!"


    It seemed even his creator, the ancestor, did not tell everything to her. The light constructs were not supposed to talk nor scream nor feel motivated.


    But it seemed the Arcane Legacy herself forgot the name of the gate.


    The gate of Pride.


    They could die. But they were going to die with honor. Something his creator didn''t have the chance to. To die in hisnd, and fight with his friends to the death.


    "KILL THEM ALL!"

 Chapter 31 - Kill Them All!

    Mack kept running with his sword in hand.


    And behind him, a long V line of warlocks formed. Just like birds flocking together the warlocks grouped and run to the front together following the others already running.


    And Mack was the first bird at the front of the flock.


    He didn''t care if he was going to die. He never cared for his life before. The thing he most hated was being cornered, controlled, or obliged to do something. What he cared about the most was his freedom. Freedom to act, freedom to think, and freedom to be himself.


    Mack ran at the front of them all. His speed was several times faster than a human already..


    After all, his body went through a sort of evolution in the past gates, and his muscles were harder than normal steel already.


    He didn''t know that, nor he cared.


    He just wanted to stab a fucking mage in the heart and hung it in the air.


    He was tired of those mages already.


    He was a hundred percent sure that all his miserable life was because of them. He was sure that they killed his father. Even if they didn''t. Now that Mack knew he was a warlock, there was no turning back.


    They were mortal enemies.


    ~sh~


    Mack''s sword shed with an acolyte metal staff.


    Both he and the mage acolyte had almost the same strength.


    Mack holding his sword with both hands in an attack stance while the acolyte defended with his metal staff.


    Mack didn''t knew how to wield swords so he just hit the acolyte with all his strength.


    But Mack knew the acolyte would defend. After all, he knew he was an amateur with swords.


    Mack removed one hand from the sword grip and took a dagger from his right while still holding the sword with that arm.


    With the immediately gained advantage in strength, the acolyte pushed his staff to force Mack''s sword to cut himself.


    But before the sword could bite his owner. A dagger was lunged in the acolyte''s eye.


    And all the pressure Mack felt in the sword quickly subsided.


    Mack grabbed the sword with both hands.


    And in a fluid motion hit the acolyte neck with all his strength.


    Mack was not sure if the acolyte would die with the dagger stuck in his eye. So he chose to be sure of the kill.


    And a beheaded body felt to his back.


    ~tump~


    And no longer. A head was rolling on the muddy ground.


    Mack walked to the head and grabbed it.


    Even knowing they were only light constructs, his heart was racing.


    He raised the acolyte''s head in the air. And screamed with all the air in his lungs again.


    "KILL THEM ALL!"


    Mack did his first kill in this long battle.


    One that he would never forget. Because that was his first kill with a sword.


    Mack looked around and could see thousands of other acolytes fighting the iing tsunami of warlocks. It seemed mages used them as cannon folders in wars.


    Mack threw the head he was holding in an iing acolyte and stabbed his sword in the acolyte''s chest.


    Another acolyte dead.


    And the battle had just begun.


    Thousands and thousands of Warlocks passed by Mack while he was fighting these two acolytes and he now was at the second line of attack.


    Spells and explosions brightened the still toe day, and shes of swords could be heard all around.


    Mack was at the heart of the battle.


    One could also say that he was the battle heart of today.


    All that happened in mere seconds while Mack was still with his sword lunged in the acolyte''s chest.


    Mack tried to pull the sword back, but the acolyte seemed to still be alive and trying to hold Mack back.


    Mack pulled his sword hard while also kicking the acolyte in the chest.


    His sword was freed from the acolyte body.


    He looked to his right and saw one warlock fighting against three acolytes.


    The strange part was that the other warlocks seemed to ignore that fight and just passed by. Mack didn''t knew what to do. Should he go help?


    He reinforced the grip of his sword and was about to move to help that warlock but was surprised to see that the warlock threw his sword at one mage. And in a continuous movement, the warlock threw himself at the other acolyte. Both falling on the ground and rolling.


    A few secondster the warlock stood up, but the acolyte no. The acolyte now had two holes in the chest and the warlock was now holding two daggers.


    Mack saw these daggers before. They were exactly the same type as his. It seemed all warlocks had the same type of basic training.


    Not only that. But now Mack realized that all the mage acolytes fighting had the same kind of metal staff too.


    It seemed that all of them, be mages or warlock, had some kind of basic training that all of them followed.


    While thinking of this Mack raised his sword and aimed at one of the 2 remaining acolytes. He would hit this one on his back.


    But the acolyte somehow felt the approaching danger and rolled on the ground to the left.


    Leaving Mack in an awkward position, not knowing what to do.


    He still had not made the move, and the acolyte had already rolled on the ground away from Mack.


    Mack lowered his sword.


    "You! Bastard! Stay still and die!"


    Said Mack, pointing his finger at the already running acolyte. Mack felt he was way too noob for a battle with swords.


    But his pride made him want to kill that acolyte so Mack ran after him.


    The acolyte was retreating cause he was now in a 1x1 battle inside the enemy line. He had no way to win and if he won, he would be killed by another warlock.


    Mack ran to catch that bastard. But before he could reach him, another warlock raised his sword and only half the body of the same acolyte now continued to run.


    The other half was lying on the ground in front of Mack''s feet.


    Mack could not believe it.


    He looked at the warlock that killed the acolyte but the warlock light construct seemed to be unfazed by his look and moved to continue battling.


    Then the other half of the acolyte still running fell on the ground too.


    ~sigh~


    Battles were pure chaos. One wrong step and you will be just a puddle of blood for others to step on. Thought Mack, stepping on the face of the dead acolyte.


    Mack averted his gave from the halve of that acolyte body and looked at the front line of the battle, only to see several magesing.


    The robes they used gave them away from far away. All luxurious and colorful robes.


    "Now I''m fucked!"


    Said Mack, seeing the direction they wereing.


    His direction.

 Chapter 32 - Mages

    The mages wereing for his head.


    They were not stupid. It seemed the intelligence of those light constructs was not something tough at.


    They seemed to understand the reason for the warlock''s momentum lies in Mack''s attitude.


    It was an old and simple tactic. Kill the head of a serpent. And his huge muscr body would fall.


    Mack saw the mages advancing thru the warlock line. The more the mages advances more warlocks would go to fight them, even so, they kept advancing.


    Those mages, different from the acolytes, did not use their staffs to fight head-on.. But used them to channel their spells. They only used their staffs in a physical battle to defend themselves from the warlocks that somehow cut or passed by their magic shields.


    One warlock just did exactly this. His de hit the magic shield so strong that his de cut the shield in half without losing momentum.


    The mage used his staff to block the iing attack. But before the warlock could continue his attack with another movement, the mage pulled his staff back and cast a spell with the same staff.


    Fireball.


    The small fireball hit the warlock in his chest and the warlock stopped moving.


    Not even a secondter the same warlock was burning more brightly than the sun itself.


    A few secondster nothing was left from that warlock, only ashes on the muddy ground.


    Mack seeing all that happen, could not believe his eyes. One thing was to observe the battle far away from the hill like he did yesterday, and another was to see how powerful those mages were from this close.


    The mages regained their march and advanced to where Mack was. Mack didn''t knew if he ran or what. He was sure he had no way to deal with them.


    But his problems were solved. Because in the next second Mack suddenly felt a heavy hand pat on his shoulder.


    Mack looked behind.


    "You!"


    It was the powerful warlock from yesterday.


    Mack somehow felt assured because in the next second the warlock raised his hand from Mack shoulder and pointed at the mages.


    ~boom~


    A heavy pressure could be seen falling around the mages. From Mack''s distance, it looked like the air itself became denser around those mages.


    The warlock snapped his fingers.


    ~ssh~


    All the mages be a pile of broken bones and disfigured bodies.


    If the light constructs had blood Mack would be throwing up already because the scene was a brutal and gore massacre.


    One warlock, several mages. one snap of fingers and no more mages.


    That was the true power of a warlock.


    That was what Mack aimed.


    Those few mages that advanced through the line of warlocks killed hundreds of warlocks. To be stopped by a single one.


    Mack was not sure if this guy behind him was the most powerful warlock here or not. But for him. This was true power. No fancy movements, no fancy effects. Simple and powerful.


    Simple and deadly.


    While Mack was thinking all this, the warlock behind him moved and walked to the front, going toward the frontline.


    Not even caring for his life anymore, Mack followed him.


    He would stick to this guy for the entire battle. If he didn''t learn anything, so be it. But he had to risk.


    The temptation was too huge for Mack to resist.


    The battle was a non-stop killing and this small fight was only one of the thousands that were happening at the same time.


    No one had time to apud or say thanks in a battle. Only life and death mattered.


    Kill or be killed.


    Mack moved behind this powerful warlock and followed him like a duckling would follow his mother.


    From time to time Mack would help in battles involving acolytes and other warlocks, but never saw a magee close to him anymore.


    It seemed this powerful warlock thought was be him to kill acolytes. Or at least, was what Mack believed.


    ~sh~


    ~sh~


    Another bout and another acolyte''s head. As time passed, more and more Mack improved using the sword.


    He observed the other warlocks fighting and tried to do the same. Some movements were even hard to see, but Mack was able to grasp the basic pattern of attack and defense used by the warlocks.


    After a few more hours of fighting, Mack saw something he didn''t even think existed before.


    A small mage tower.


    The tower only had 5 floors but in this battlefield it seemed to exalt itself as if had a hundred floors.


    Several mages were around the tower in what looked like a defensive formation and no warlock tried to approach it.


    It seemed they knew something that Mack didn''t knew.


    The warlock in front of Mack kept walking in a straight line in direction of the mage tower unfazed by the mage''s formation or the warlocks that stopped attacking.


    A Few secondster the same powerful warlock put both his hands on the ground and Mack could see the warlock''s lips saying something. But no sound came out. Light constructs could not talk.


    ~crack~


    ~crack~


    ~boom~


    The Earth split itself in front of the warlock and a thin but profound crater started to open and extend in the direction of the mage tower.


    A few secondster the crater reached below the tower.


    And Mack could see the tower tilting to the side, just like the Pisa Tower from Earth.


    A few mages happened to be on the path of the crater to the tower and fell on them. Unable to fly or even run, the few mages were engulfed by the crater to never be seen again.


    The warlock pressed his hands on the ground more and more and the crater started to expand the sides. Until....


    ~boom~


    The mage tower fell to the ground. Killing both mages and warlocks in the process.


    The few mages remaining, seeing their tower was gone, started to run back to their defensive line, only to be pursued by the warlocks.


    Mack had no clue what the tower was capable of, but seeing how important it seemed to warlocks and mages, he engraved that information in his mind.


    But more important than that, he engraved how a single warlock was capable of destroying it. And also, how he destroyed.


    Mack was sure he would need to do the same in the future.

 Chapter 33 - Second Night

    After a few more hours of battle, the momentum of the warlock army had stopped and the battlefield became a mess again with both lines of attack struggling to advance a few meters.


    Mack was already way better than when he stepped foot on the battlefield. He already didn''t feel nervous when going 1x1 against a mage acolyte. But he knew he had a lot to improve. His aim right now was to improve his sword-wielding. But he would not stop following that powerful warlock.


    It even seemed that they had a silent agreement, That warlock would take care of the mages while Mack took care of the acolytes.


    And just like this, an entire day went by.


    When the moon rose, both armies started retreating. But today the warlock army did not retreat to his back-line of supplies, but more as if they met at the middle. .


    It seemed a minor advantage was done today.


    This could be seen as useless by anyone inexperienced in battles like Mack but was very important for the army. The less they retreated, the more injured people they could bring back safely.


    The more they saved, the more would live to fight another day.


    While retreating with the army, Mack didn''t have the opportunity to help and bring anyone back, it seemed all the others retreating before him did what was needed to help others. Even so, Mack took a dead body and helped bring back.


    The warlocks didn''t leave behind their dead warriors. Mack guessed that was because of their special blood.


    When reaching the new camp, Mack threw the body on a pile of dead bodies and moved to clean himself.


    One minuteter the pile of dead bodies was burning brightly on the full darkness of the night.


    Warlocks could see in the dark so they didn''t care to have light at night. But used that as their advantage. Even the cooking process was done without fire.


    The only exception was the pyre to burn their diseased brothers.


    Mack looked at those light constructs behaving exactly like humans and almost could not believe how such an advanced thing could be done using a magic circle.


    More than that. His ancestor was a warlock and using mage stuff like the magic circle must for sure be an offense for him. All for the sake of training one man. He wondered why. Just to get his revenge somehow? Seems unlikely.


    Mack stopped the useless thinking and focused on cleaning himself.


    He could not lose sight of that powerful warlock. He would even sleep side-by-side with him if needed.


    Mack left the cleaning chamber, and another warlock entered the same chamber, almost stumbling at each other.


    Mack looked around and found that powerful warlock sitting in a small table and eating that white burrito thing.


    Mack went to the food tent and grabbed one and started eating too.


    He was starving.


    He took a bite and the same feeling of something hot yet cold came to his mouth. And then a burning sensation spread in his stomach.


    He could not get used to this white burrito thing. The name of it was even worse. So Mack just called this stuff of ''white burrito''.


    Mack was seated at the table eating along with a few more warlocks. But was a strange atmosphere because the light constructs behaved like normal warlocks, even talking to each other. But when they opened their mouth to say something no sound came. It was really frustrating.


    This absence of voices around him, while in the middle of so many ''people'' made Mack felt strange and irritated because gave the warlock camp an eerie aura.


    Mack heard the light constructs scream today early in the morning when he pushed the advance but could not understand the principle of why only at that time. And not knowing why bugged Mack even more.


    All this magic stuff and will and spells were all too new for Mack. All he had were bits and pieces of information.


    Mack took thest bite at the burrito thing and followed the powerful warlock.


    That warlock went to pee.


    ~sigh~


    ''I''m really ashamed of my current life. Why just don''t teach me? All those rules and mysteries and drama!''


    Then Mack saw something he would never expect.


    The green light construct appeared.


    And to fuck things up even more, he went to pee at the same ce that the other warlock went.


    ''Wait. something is fishy''


    Mack followed them behind some bushes and saw that they were not peeing but talking to each other.


    Of course. No sound came from their mouths.


    ''What are they doing?''


    Then that powerful warlock looked exactly to where Mack was. And following his gaze the green light construct too looked at the bush Mack was hiding.


    ''Fuck! They saw me.''


    Even knowing that they knew he was there, Mack didn''t move. Be by guilt or shame. He stood still.


    Then to fuck even more things. That powerful warlock raised his hand in Mack''s direction.


    ''Oh no. I didn''t even have the chance to do a threesome.''


    Was the only thing passing in Mack''s head. Remembering the gruesome scene from the battle where this same warlock just raised his hand and snapped his fingers to kill several mages.


    Mack even closed his eyes. He knew he had no chance.


    But after a few seconds.....


    Nothing happened.


    Mack opened his eyes and saw the warlock was calling for him, using his hand.


    ~sigh~


    Mack raised himself from the ground and stepped out of the bush.


    Then the green warlock just waved to him.


    Like he knew him.


    ''Did I became famous or something today?''


    Feeling more assured somehow, Mack walked to them.


    The powerful warlock talked to Mack, but Mack just dumbly looked at him. Not knowing what to do. After all, He heard no sounding from their mouths.


    The green light construct talked to the other warlock and like trying to figure out something looked at Mack again and then pped his own forehead.


    Mack had no clue what was happening, but stood there. After all, his goal was to be close to that powerful warlock. And somehow this bonus green warlock appeared from who knows where.


    After pping his own head, the green light construct went to the side and grabbed a dried branch from a small tree, then came back and started drawing something on the ground.


    Mack looked at the ground and saw some runes written.


    Then his mouth went agape.


    Because on the ground was written something Mack would never expect.


    # Are you deaf? #


    ''Fucking smart NPCs they think I''m deaf! Of course they will. Geez. Those guys are even smarter than me.''


    "I am"


    Said Mack, hoping that his trantor would work and trante what he said. He knew how to write and read the warlock runes, but to speak? He had no clue.

 Chapter 34 - Master?

    The two warlocks talked to each other and after a few seconds, the green light construct ran back to the camp.


    Mack saw this but could not understand what was happening, so, he stood there.


    Ten awkward and long minutester the green light construct came back and gave the powerful warlock a small device.


    Mack looked at it, and a message popped out in his vision.


    (Portable tactical drawing table,mon grade, made by Cube Inc)


    ''Clever! Very Clever! This will make things easier'' .


    Now they couldmunicate somehow. But Mack still didn''t know why they were doing all this.


    That powerful warlock drew some runes using his fingers on the device and showed to Mack.


    # What''s your name? #


    "Mack"


    Hearing Mack''s name the warlock made a weird face but moved his fingers to draw more runes on the device, but this time took way longer and after almost 2 minutes, he showed the board to Mack.


    # My name is Raz and this by my side is my apprentice. I need someone to train with him by night as a sparring partner. To repay you, I will also teach you. But I will only teach you the second stage. Are you up for the challenge? #


    ''Second stage?''


    Mack thought hard about it, but not if he should ept or not. But about the implications of that ''second stage'' he read on the board.


    "Please be my Master. If in a hundred days I can''t kill a mage I will kill myself"


    Said Mack, dropping onto one of his knees while talking.


    Raz looked at Mack for a long time but did not respond. He then talked with the green light construct and looked back at Mack.


    Raz hesitated a bit, but in the end, grabbed his board, drew a few runes, and showed them back to Mack.


    # I will teach you to my best. Mack. My second andst disciple. #


    Raz approached Mack and raised it from the ground with his arm.


    After helping mack to stood up he grabbed Mack''s waist belt.


    He looked into Mack''s eyes for long three seconds and then moved his gave to the belt on Mack''s waist.


    ''What know? Did I trante it wrong?!''


    Raz grabbed his dagger with the other hand and started drawing a rune on Mack''s belt.


    Mack looked down but could not read it. It was not a word he knew, probably a symbol of something.


    Mack looked at the belt in Raz and saw several symbols there too. Five symbols on one side and one alone on the other.


    Mack looked at the green light construct and saw he had only two symbols carved. One on each side.


    Raz carved one rune at each side of Mack''s belt too. The exact ones in the green light construct belt.


    The belts seemed to be more than a tool to just hold the sword. Mack guessed it was one of their traditions.


    Raz moved back and showed a board with runes.


    # Now we are officially a master and disciple. #


    "When do we start?"


    Said Mack, eager to finally have some real training with a proper master.


    # We will start now #


    Read Mack on the board that Raz showed him.


    "Wait! Before that. I have some doubts. You told me about the second stage. But what is the first one? I never learned that."


    # You never learned? But how could you go against those acolytes today without reinforcing your body with Essence?#


    "Reinforce the body? I never did that."


    Said Mack, remembering that gate where his body got stronger with the self-muttion training.


    "I don''t know how to reinforce the body. But my body went thru some strange thing that made me this strong."


    Raz looked at Mack not believing what he was hearing.


    # Stay still and don''t move. #


    He approached Mack with a dagger in hand and stabbed Mack until the de reached the bones of Mack''s right arm.


    "That hurts."


    Said Mack, feeling annoyed. He was already used to feel much more pain than that.


    # You did not manipte Essence now? #


    "I don''t know how to do it. I never had a master before."


    Raz not knowing how to react kept ring at Mack. His expression a mix of disbelief and awe.


    # If you are saying the truth, then I can teach you. #


    "What would I gain lying about that?"


    # True. There is nothing to gain. #


    "So?"


    Raz looked deep into Mack''s eyes, but in the end, he already epted him as an apprentice, there was not much of a change. He would teach him, just, more than he expected.


    #What do you know? I mean. From where should I start?#


    "Well. I know essence exists. And my gates were destroyed too."


    # So, you know nothing? #


    "As I said, I never had a master."


    Raz took a deep sigh. Like a tired old man like him would do. First a battle. Now he had to teach this new disciple from the scratch. When would he have time to progress his own arts?


    Raz looked at the board thinking about where he should start. Then remembering his own teacher and how he used to learn, he started to draw a few runes on the board.


    # To begin. There are five basic stages in Essence Maniption. #


    Mack read that and nodded with his head. He didn''t have a clue what those stages were.


    # First Stage. Is to pull the essence around you and use it in your body to reinforce your muscles or bones during a short time #


    "Ok"


    # Second Stage. Is to use that same essence and transfer it to any given object that you have physical contact with and reinforce them. Like your sword, clothes, or daggers. #


    # Third Stage. Is to pull the essence around you to your body and channel it to outside of your body. Like the wind that follows your punch when you hit something. #


    ''Oh like a kamehameha! that''s cool!''


    Thought Mack, remembering one of his favorites animes when he was young.


    # Fourth Stage. Is to manipte Essence around you so it did not need to pass thru your body but it directly congregate in a specific ce or object. Like I did in the battle today to stop those mages from advancing. #


    "So that snap of fingers was that?"


    #No. That is an Essence Maniption Art. I''m talking about the air getting denser around the mages before I used that Art. #


    "What is an Art?"


    Raz looked at the inpatient Mack and said for him to wait with a hand gesture. First, he needed to exin the five basic stages.

 Chapter 35 - The Five Basic Stages

    # The fifth stage. Is when a warlock can change an Imprinted Essence. But this stage I know nothing about because I''m in the fourth stage. So I''m not qualified to talk about it. Only a few of us achieved that stage in history. #


    "I see. Thanks for exining all this to me. It was very important."


    # Now to the training. The rest i will teach you along the way. #


    Raz moved to the side and gestured to Mack to observe. .


    He then took his sword, and after talking with the green NPC, bot started sparring.


    Raz was showing the basic forms of attack and defense to Mack.


    After a few minutes of sparring they stopped and Raz took the portable board, drew some runes, and showed it to Mack.


    # You two are going to repeat these same movements until you get it right #


    Mack nodded with his head and started repeating the same movements while sparring with his ancestor NPC.


    While one did the defending movements, the other would do the attacking ones.


    Repeating and alternating.


    The movements themselves were not in any way advanced, just basic sword movements.


    But for Mack, they were very hard already.


    Even seeing the warlocks fight during battle and trying to copy them, he still struggled to move the feet or to put the correct force in each attack.


    After half an hour of training, Raz signaled to them to stop, took his board, and drew some runes on it.


    # Ok. You two are going to practice these movements for 2 hours each day. I wille to check from time to time. Use this same ce here to train. We will only change ces if the army retreats or advance too much. #


    "And what about the first step of Essence Maniption?"


    Raz looked annoyed, but drew some runes on the board.


    # I will teach you for one hour a day about the rest. Come to me after the training. #


    After saying that, Raz left the two alone and went back to the camp.


    And just like this, Mack now had a Master. An NPC Master, but a master in the end.


    Mack was not sure if his ancestor arranged this. But seeing the annoyed face of his ''Master'' he knew it was not an easy feat to be his apprentice.


    Mack turned his gaze to his ancestor light construct and resumed the sparring session.


    He still did not punch him in the face twice, as he had promised himself.


    ~ng~


    The sound of sword shing could be heard from meters away as the two practiced.


    This would be a daily routine for Mack in the days toe.


    Only he knew how he will miss those simple days.


    Train. Eat. Sleep. Fight. Repeat.


    Humans are simple creatures. Give them a motive and a routine and they will strive to do their best. And Mack had the best motive someone could have. To survive.


    Ten dayster.


    At one of the warlock camps.


    "Ten days already. You promised to teach me how to use Essence to reinforce my body."


    Said Mack, furious because his master kept avoiding him like the gue.


    # I told you already. But you don''t listen! I''m very busy with the war right now #


    "You are eating now. Why can''t you spare 10 minutes? Just 10 minutes."


    Mack, for the first time in his life, saw himself begging for attention. His master had not taught him anything in the past 10 days.


    Seeing no response from his master Mack took his dagger and scratched the two runes on his belt.


    "Now you own me nothing."


    And turned his back, walking to the bushes where his ancestor NPC was.


    Seeing Mack, his ancestor NPC waved and was about to write something on the portable board.


    ~p~


    ~p~


    Mack gave two ps at the Ancestor NPC and walked away. Leaving a stunned man with a board in hand not knowing what to do.


    ''Done. It was two punches, but the anger rose. Dammed bastard!''


    Leaving the bushes, Mack walked in direction of another camp. He was tired of being a sparring partner for his ancestor NPC. Better y solo now.


    ''10 days! 10 fucking days lost!''


    But in reality, they were not lost at all. Mack improved a lot on how to use the sword.


    But still.... He felt like he could have progressed way more.


    Mack also felt like all this was prearranged. It was strange to learn from an NPC how to yield Essence. No matter how he thought, it seemed wrong to him.


    Maybe..... He was not supposed to learn this way.


    ~sigh~


    "Why all this secrecy? Why all these tests. Dammed!"


    Screamed Mack, kicking a small rock by the entrance of the camp.


    Mack walked a few meters, entering the camp, and seated on a small rock close to the food tent.


    He needed to figure out what to do now.


    Annoyed by the situation, Mack rested his chin over his hand and entered in a deep thought and contemtion state.


    Several minutester and in the same state he suddenly moved his head to the right.


    He looked at one light construct doing something trivial. The light construct was actually cleaning his sword.


    But the odd part, Is he was cleaning his sword from a non-existing blood. No light constructs left blood behind when being cut.


    ''They are just the result of a magic circle, after all, it''s not like they could really teach me anything about how to use Essence.''


    "I see."


    Said Mack, remembering he was alone here in this huge tower, passing gate after gate.


    Alone.


    For a few days, Mack forgot he was alone. Interacting with those light constructs, even if in a strange way, made him feel like he was with other people for a few days.


    Alone again. As always.


    ''At least I got information about the five stages. This will help me progress somehow''


    "And I can go 1x3 against normal acolytes already."


    "The problem is those mages."


    "Without being able to reinforce my body or my sword with Essence. I will never be able to kill them."


    Mack pondered over the matter for a few minutes.


    ''How did I break the gates on my body? Just breathing that technic? Impossible.''


    ''And the chants..... ''


    "I guess it''s time for me to review the basics."


    Said Mack aloud, thinking of a way that may be the correct way.

 Chapter 36 - Runes

    Mack closed his eyes and started to breathe using the nameless technique from the book.


    A few minutester, he then started to chant the phases from the book like it was a song.


    He did one cycle of the chanting and alternated to the breathing.


    After a few minutes of doing this, Mack stopped, feeling that something was odd in the process.


    Didn''t feel natural to alternate. But he needed to stop the chanting to breathe from time to time.


    This same process worked before to break his gates of Essence but wasn''t working for what he needed now.


    It needed to be something way more strong. .


    Mack believed that his gates were broken by an extremely huge influx of Essence passing by the gates in his body.


    The breathing technique pulled essence from the surroundings to his body as a whole, the chanting imposed his will over the essence and the tattoos worked as a marker in his body for the essence to umte.


    That was what Mack believed. But now he had no more gates in his body and his body was different from the others warlocks. It was way stronger. And resisted much more to the Essence from surroundings.


    It was as if all the pieces of a puzzle were in front of Mack but he didn''t know how to connect them because he didn''t know what the final picture was.


    "How am stupid! My body resists the surrounding essence because it is already saturated with Essence."


    "You can''t pour more water on an already full cup."


    "but....."


    "You canpress water. Will Essence work the same way?"


    Mack thought about this problem for a long time but still could not find a solution.


    Then Mack remembered of the Cubes. All of them produced veryplex things that in total had much more mass than the cubes themselves.


    "They must have some way topress Essence"


    Then Mack remembered the Cube he saw at the entrance of this trial.


    "They are technological devices. But.... I may find my answers there. At least I will have some clues"


    Mack stood up and started running back to the small hill.


    One hourter at the entrance of the 4th gate of Hel floor.


    Mack paced around the small cube but could not figure out anything from it.


    No joints. No way to remove anything. No way to open it.


    He even poured blood on it like in previous times. But nothing happened.


    "Why the blood? Is it like a key to making them function? Like a password?"


    Mack looked closely at the cube. More specifically at the several runes scribed on the cube. They were simr to the Ragnarok Language he knew but was not the same.


    The cube was covered with them. Every single inch of the cube had a rune.


    "The sizes!"


    Every time a cube appeared in front of Mack the size was different. A huge one. Two very small, and this was a medium one.


    "And the only thing that changed was the catalog"


    In other words, what the cube could produce was rted to the size of the cube.


    "And all of them were full of those runes"


    Mack came to a realization.


    "There is nothing to open because there is nothing inside. All the mechanics are here in in the sight. Inscribed all over the cube."


    "And that''s why the sizes vary. The catalog. And if my guess is correct then all the content inside the cube ispressed Essence."


    "Oh no. Here was I thinking that was all small talk from the book girl. All clues. All of them! From the very beginning. She was not doing small talk with me, she was supposed to say all of that one way or another!"


    Said Mack, realizing why she suddenly said that the cubes had a kind of battery and were rechargeable but would take a millennium to recharge one.


    "Because it needs topress the Essence!"


    Mack dropped to his knees. The realization was too huge for him to bear.


    He was astonished by how wrong his assumptions were from the start.


    "I''m am a huge moron. That''s for sure."


    "But as well..... a fucking genius!"


    Mack pressed a finger on his own neck and the suit retracted itself from both his arms, leaving them naked.


    Mack extended his arm and looked at the tattoo in his right hand.


    The tattoo was formed with three parts, a small sun with a runic letter inside and a few very small runic letters around.


    Mack looked at his left hand and the same pattern was there. A small moon with a Runic letter and small runes around.


    But both had the same runic letter in the middle.....


    "Thepression rune"


    Then Mack looked at the cube in front of him again.


    "If I find the same rune. Then all my hypotheses are true."


    With that said, Mack started to look at one rune after another in the cube. There were big ones and very small ones. Some the size of a thumb while others were small as letters on thest page of contracts.


    12 hourster.


    "Found you! Now there is no doubt."


    Said Mack, looking at one rune identical to the one in his arm.


    Then he started to see the runes that connected with that one.


    The odd thing about runes was that Mack found that they always connected somehow to one another. Be it a minor detail or a big one. In the middle, or a small leg in the rune, or a small one connecting two big runes. There was always a pattern.


    Just likeputers from Earth.


    The most impressive thing that Mack found in those 12 hours looking attentive to the cube was that the runes sometimes formed a bigger one.


    And apart from one single rune, he knew nothing of what was the meaning or function of the other runes in the cube.


    Now for the second part of his test, he would need a guinea pig.


    And he knew exactly where to find thousands and thousands of them.


    "An epic battle without a mad scientist is not an epic battle at all."


    Said Mack, unable to contain a devilish smile.

 Chapter 37 - Tests

    Mack wanted to use the light constructs as guinea pigs but then he remembered....


    "Dammit! They are light constructs!"


    They were created using a magic spell. If he tried to change them. It was like going right to the 5th stage of Essence Maniption. Impossible for him.


    And as well. They were not living beings. So the tests may be useless. .


    In the end. He would need to be ruthless again.


    Ruthless to himself.


    He was not sure how simple drawings could influence the behavior of Essence. It seemed a thing out of a fantasy book for him.


    But he had to try.


    Mack looked at the cube and tried to choose which one of the runes he should test first.


    He started looking at the runes close to the one he believed was responsible for the Essencepression.


    There were too many runes on that part of the cube. Some stacked so much that in a ten centimeters area seemed like it was another cube itself of so many runes.


    "It''s going to be a long day. Better rest before."


    Said Mack, looking at the sun raising on the distance.


    He was without sleep and spent the night looking at the cube. His mind and eyes were tired.


    Mack stopped using his backpack during thest days because it was inconvenient and made his fighting more clumsy. So now he had nothing to use as improvised bed.


    He went to the other side of the cube, the one where the sun''s rays did not touch yet,y on the grass and closed his eyes.


    Dreams he did not want to have came to haunt him during the sleep. And he woke up four hourster covered in cold sweat.


    Because of his battle suit, only his head looked like went to a sauna. Or Hel.


    "Fuck. Those nightmares again."


    Said Mack, raising himself from the ground.


    The sun was already shinning full of light. But his mind was not one that could appreciate that. Not with those nightmares.


    Mack looked at the runes again. And an idea popped into his mind.


    "Right! If Essence is everywhere and is like a virus. And if they are influenced by the will of thing....then.... maybe the runes are for them like my nightmares are for me. Changing my mood or behavior in a passive way."


    "But why it must be runes? Why not English? Or drawings? Or music?"


    Mack pondered over the question then remembered something....


    "Those cubes were supposed to be technological devices....."


    "Hey bookie girl. Did you lie to me? Are they magical stuff?"


    [To answer that question I will quote someone from your world]


    [Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic]


    "You didn''t answer me at all. And that quote is to be used in apletely different context."


    [Think this way. To create a cube. Is impossible doing it using only your brain and knowledge. The process involves quantum physics. Tons of data analysis. And what humans call programmingnguage]


    "I thought they came from a factory or something. After all, it says ''Cube Inc'' in the items created in the cube"


    [Like on Earth,panies are everywhere in the multiple dimensions ands, Cube Inc is only one. A rather famous one. And the cubes they create are the most advanced too. But no. The cubes are not created in an automated process. Each cube has the signature of his creator. And only one per cube. Some of those spend years to create a single one. And those are very very expensive]


    "So my ancestor was really a wealthy guy."


    [Yes. But all those cubes you saw until now are themon type. They are mainly used as a ''safe box'' or used to create simple gic forms. Not much creation process was necessary for them. So they were extremely cheappared to the sword you are using, for example. This sword could cause the very same Cube Inc to go broke to buy if it was auctioned]


    "I see. After all, this sword uses a very rare kind of blood as material. One that is the same as mine. Warlock blood."


    [Indeed]


    "Wait. Is the blood the key? The blood and the runes?"


    [...]


    "I guess I will need to do tests to figure this out. I only hope I don''t blow up myself"


    Said Mack, already grabbing one of his daggers.


    Another self-muttion session was about to start.


    One that would change the course of all thes in the vast dimensions.


    Because what Mack was about to start, was somethingpletely unheard of before. Not because no one ever thought about it. But because no one had the exact perfect conditions for that.


    A body over saturated with Essence.


    Warlock Blood.


    Basic runic knowledge.


    A strong will.


    And more importantly, one needed to have the balls to do it.


    And Mack had all those.


    ~sh~


    A single rune was carved in his left hand, close to the tattoo.


    But nothing happened


    ~sh~


    ~sh~


    Two more.


    Nothing happened.


    Mack focused his mind on his left hand. He used the same process he did with the Argonian cape. Thinking as if the newly carved runes were part of his body.


    He could feel a change. He urged with his mind for it to work. To Essence to go there. To activate. All ethereal thoughts but with the same will behind them. To active the runes.


    Mack closed his eyes. He could feel something moving in his skin and flesh. It was there yet not. It was very subtle. Almost imperceptible.


    Mack opened his eyes. The runes were blinking in red blood light.


    ~boom~


    "Arghhhhh!!!!!!"


    Mack screamed in pain.


    He grabbed his left arm with his right hand.


    The pain wascerating.


    His hand had exploded. And now a hole appeared where the runes were supposed to be, he could even see thru the hole.


    Not even half a secondter, blood started to pour from the hole like it was a bottle of wine that was just opened.


    The explosion had hit an important vein in Mack''s hand.


    ~stumble~


    Mack fell to the ground.


    Only a few seconds passed, but he already lost too much blood.


    Mack passed out in a pool of blood.


    Again.


    Present seemed to repeat the Past. While the future seemed to be anything but a good one.


    And that was just a regr day in Mack''s life.

 Chapter 38 - More Tests

    After almost an entire day, Mack woke up.


    Mack raised himself from the dried blood beneath him and looked at his left hand.


    "The perks of being a freak."


    His body now had a strong regenerative ability. And his hand had alreadypletely healed. Looking at his hand he guessed that if he didn''t suffer a fatal injury, his body wouldpletely heal after some time.


    Mack knew that this change in his body was also the reason he could not go on the normal path of a warlock. He deviated from his ancestor initial n the moment his body adapted to that enormous Essence saturation level in the previous gates.


    It gave him a super healing ability and a strong body but also made a thousand times header to manipte Essence. .


    The first stage of a warlock was to use Essence in his body and surroundings to flow to specific parts of the body and reinforce it. Doing a saturation process for a few seconds or minutes depending on the desired effect of the person doing it.


    But Mack''s body was already entirely like this.


    He could barely move a bit o Essence to the runes on his hand to activate the runes.


    The explosion itself was because of wrong runes used in conjunct. Mack would need to try a few mores now.


    "What should I do now?"


    Mack had now to figure a better way to test. He could not keep exploding all the time.


    What if an explosion injured his heart somehow? Or his brain? He could not take such high risks.


    Mack pondered over the problem for a few minutes. And concluded that the real problem was his knowledge of the runes. He knew the runguage but only the basic. Only formunication. Read and write. Not those advanced runes that could influence Essence. He didn''t even know how to talk in runguage.


    But then he remembered something. Something very, very important.


    The Arcane Legacy, or, the bookie girl.


    [I know what you thinking. And yes, I can give you. But please, stop referring to me as ''bookie girl''. I''m an Arcane Legacy]


    "If you give me what I want. I promise to no call you bookie girl anymore."


    [As I said. I can give you. But the problem lies in the format again. I can''t give you items. Only Information.]


    Mack pondered. He could ask her to create some music files and put them on his mask so he could listen. But was a hard process. Runes were visual things. Imagine describe a rune format thru talking.


    "The eyes!"


    "Can you do it?"


    [I can. But you will lose information again. The nanobots database in your eyes works the same as the one in the mask. A precise space to fit only the information needed]


    "I guessed. Remove information about Earth and allmon items. They are not that important. But prioritize the items or food that can''t harm me."


    [You want to keep information about venoms and dangerous food, is it?]


    "Bingo. How good is to talk with smart a ''person''? I don''t even have to exin it all."


    [Done]


    "Wait. Why didn''t hurt my eyes this time?"


    [The pain the first time was only because the nanobots attached themself with your synapses nerves. This time I only needed to change its database and a few lines of code in the AI responsible for image recognition]


    "Thanks again."


    [It''s my duty. No need for thanks]


    This...Arcane Legacy... was a very strict ''person'' in Mack''s opinion. But was also a very effective one. If she could do, she would do, and no questions asked. Mack liked people like that, direct, and to the point.


    Mack stopped thinking in the Arcane personality and gazed at his own hand.


    Looking at the runes tattooed in his left hand, information started to appear in Mack''s eyes.


    (Ry - Compression)


    (Tuk - Key)


    (??? - ???)


    (??? -???)


    "Why I can''t see the information on these 2 runes?"


    [That is restricted information. Those runes were designed by your ancestor and also are part of what make possible for you and me to interact]


    "If is that so. When I damaged them before with the explosion, you could not read my mind?"


    [I could. That tattoo was not responsible for that, and also, the tattoos now are only for the eye to see. I can''t exin too much but think of this as a benefit of your warlock blood.]


    "When I will have the answers for that?"


    [If by miracle you survive pass the nine gates of Hel floor and still don''t learn. Then I have the obligation to tell you everything you want]


    "I see. Warlock blood again"


    [But I will give you a hint. Look at your left hand with more attention]


    "My left hand?"


    [...]


    Mack looked back at his own hand, only to see the same information again. Nothing changed.


    He looked more closely. Searched for anything weird, but everything was fine.


    But a few secondster....


    "Don''t tell me!"


    Mack saw a thin and small scar that was barely visible to the eye.


    (Sur - Conversion)


    (Pari - Stop)


    (Si - If)


    He saw the same runes he did before the explosion.


    But the weird part was... his body was supposed to heal that! How could they still be there?


    "Fuck! Did I make a big mistake? Are this what you talking about? Am I doomed?"


    [By luck you did not connect them properly. You just drew them without connecting. So you can say you had luck]


    "Fuck! Is this ''the warlock blood'' thing you were talking about? They will never disappear?"


    [Indeed]


    Mack could not believe. Is his blood the most sought after product on all the dimensions? Mack was a newbie in all this, but he could figure the implications of he what he saw.


    He was not a genius, but even a dumb person could figure the importance of something like this.


    Runes that stayed functional forever? Only waiting to be activated?


    [Since you figured that. I am now allowed to tell you something more.]


    [Warlock blood is the only Essence conduit know to this date that can be multiyered. Once you activate a runic circuit for the first time, a new one can be created on top of that. And if the matrixes are designed properly they can interact with each other. But only if they are designed as such.]


    "Eh?!"


    Mack could not believe what he heard. If his blood acted as conduit. And the runes like a programmingnguage. Then ...


    "Am I a humanputer motherboard?"


    [A very expensive one]


    "Did you learn how to make jokes? This is not funny."


    But in reality, a new light was shed on Mack prospects.


    After his first test yesterday he knew warlock blood was special and knew the runes affected the behavior of Essence.


    But now.....

 Chapter 39 - A New Path

    Mack started to glimpse a different way for him. One that could change his current limitations and one that could make him progress much faster.


    But he still had doubts. Many doubts. And the path itself was not clear yet. It was like something was missing in all this.


    "There is one thing that bugs me. Why runes can influence Essence this way? Why not othernguages? Or music?"


    [I already told you this before]


    [Everything influences Essence. It''s just the degree of Influence that changes.]


    "Yeap, but is still not clear for me.. Why runes?"


    [Think this way. If a say to you ''I forbid you'' or ''you should avoid doing this''. Wich one of those two sentences you are more likely to obey?]


    "The first one. Sure."


    [And what if I scream to you ''DONT'']


    "Then thisst one."


    Said Mack, realizing the meaning of the Arcane Legacy words. If this was true then maybe his path could work.


    [Do youprehend now? Everything has a will, and everything influences Essence, just the degree of it that changes. Runes just happen to be a more strong way.]


    "Yes. I think I finally understood. It''s like finally everything is connecting."


    Said Mack,ing to a big realization. It was as if everything was starting to make sense for him now.


    Just like a missing piece of a big puzzle finally cleared the path for him to put thousand other pieces.


    The Essence, the will, the runes, his blood, the gates in his body, the trials, and the mages.


    The mages....


    "Mages still have the gates in their bodies. So they can''t influence Essence outside their bodies. Because their imprinted Essence conflicts with the Essence outside. Just like water and oil that can''t mix."


    Said Mack remembering everything he learned about mages until now.


    "So they use runes, magic circles, staffs and so on. All to amplify the will inside them to the outside. Forcing the essence to obey while burning the Essence inside them like fuel"


    [Indeed]


    "But my gates are broken, so I don''t have Essence of my own. I can''t use a staff or whatever. I don''t have imprinted Essence to burn. But I can influence Essence be it outside me or inside me to the same degree. Just. It''s a very very small degree."


    [Correct]


    "That''s why all those tests. To make a strong-willed person. All for the sake of making me able to manipte Essence more easily."


    [Correct]


    "But then my body mutated during that test. And the Essence saturation in my body is several more times than outside."


    Said Mack, remembering his self-muttion session.


    [Correct]


    "And because of that, I barely can do anything with Essence. Activating that runes I draw on my left hand was the limit already."


    [Correct]


    "While normal warlocks would easily pull essence from outside to his fist and make that fist stronger"


    [Correct again]


    "And it seems the Essence tends to upy all avable space too..."


    Mack kept talking aloud to reaffirm to himself all he knew. It was like he was getting to an epiphany. Just a small piece was missing in the puzzle. It was as if he could touch that single thought.


    "And it''s there where my path deviated from the one nned by my ancestor. That NPC could not teach me because he knew I was a freak."


    [Indeed]


    Mack pondered over and over while mumbling something inaudible, like trying to find the correct words....


    "Did I be an overpowered Mage? Is it not the same?"


    Said him, remembering the way of mages and warlocks.


    "I mean, the mage path heavily depends on external tools. Like staffs and magic circles. While the traditional warlock path is heavily dependent on a strong will."


    "But I myself can barely stir the Essence inside me because it''s several more times dense than a normal warlock."


    "I''m like a living battery without a way to use that energy."


    [Indeed. that is a very goodparison]


    "But.... if I draw runes on my body, then I can activate them, and I will be able to output this energy. And also, the desired effect will be innumerable times stronger than a normal warlock."


    "The problem lies .... In the knowledge of the runes and their limited scope of use. Because I will need to have runes carved in my body for whatever I need to do with Essence."


    [Correct again. It seems you found your way]


    "My way? Right..... I bet no one was stupid or crazy as me before. A fool with no knowledge is more dangerous than a genius with all the possible knowledge."


    [But you are smart enough to find a path on your own. Your path.]


    "All that is needed now is to do more tests."


    Said Mack, remembering hisst runic test that almost took his life.


    "Thest warlock alive be someone who would tread both paths. The warlock and the mage path. Who could have thought of that?"


    [...]


    "Don''t tell me....."


    [Indeed]


    "That bastard!"


    [He was sure the warlock path was powerful. But you saw for yourself. Thousands of warlocks dying to a single mage. The progression/learning curve is too huge. Your ancestor''s aim was that someone could grow as fast as a mage and be as powerful as a warlock]


    "Clever bastard. I look at that NPC copy of him and can''t see how he had be so powerful."


    [Living for thousands of years]


    "Right. Only a ghost to be able to n this much. Wait, did you say thousand of years?"


    [Yes. It''s normal for mages or warlocks that are fortunate enough to live way longer than normal humans]


    "Crap. I hope my life doesn''t be boring to the point I decide to open a sect. Just imagine... All my disciples bing viins? Better avoid."


    But that only if he survived the next trials.


    Mack stopped thinking of useless things and his gaze changed to the cube in front of him.


    That cube had thousands and thousands of runes for him to learn and practice.


    That cube did not have all possible runes in the world but had plenty for Mack to learn.


    Not only learn which rune was responsible for what, but also how to connect them. How to create circuits and how the circuits interacted with each other.


    Only after learning enough and nning carefully what to do with the runes and the knowledge he would gain he will be able to use them.


    The only problem was time.


    Because he had only 88 days remaining.


    "Time to get dirty."

 Chapter 40 - Fighting Against Time

    Mack seated in front of the cube and started to read rune after rune.


    He knew some concepts were too advanced for him but he hoped to be able to learn something from the cube.


    For aplete newbie in runes, any progress was a tremendous progress.


    The advantage now was that his eyes could read the meaning behind each rune.


    The problem was that to be able to produce any result using a single rune was impossible. He needed to create a circuit.


    And Mack had no idea how the circuits worked.


    He needed to guess all by finding patterns and trying to replicate them or simte them only using his mind. .


    Mack chose to start with the smaller circuits. That way, he could slowly advance.


    Mack was now looking at the circuit responsible forpressing Essence. The one he knew what the use was for. But that circuit alone had dozens of runes and was a circuitposed of several smaller circuits.


    Mack found one of these smaller circuits that were part of that big circuit and saw it was quite isted from the rest. This circuit only had one rune connecting with other circuit. He would start from there.


    (Para - For)


    (Tik - Each)


    (Avac - Anis)


    "Arcane, what is Anis?"


    [Is the mostmon measure of time used with runes, it''s the equivalent of 3.14 seconds from Earth]


    "The Pi number? What are the odds.... I guess not everything on Earth is just a coincidence."


    Mack refocused his gaze on the cube. He had not time to lose pondering over the Pi being used on Earth. Or why a rune equaled to 3.14 seconds from Earth.


    Mack kept reading the rest of the runes and got the idea that this circuit tracked the time. Like a clock. It would fire the next circuit at a fixed interval of 3.14 seconds.


    That''s why this circuit was so isted from the rest and so simple. It had a really basic function.


    "So this circuit is responsible for activating the circuit connected to him at a fixed interval of 3.14 seconds"


    Mack had one doubt. Who would activate this circuit? It had to be activated first..... Because it was isted. It did not have any other circuit connected to it apart from the one that would be triggered.


    Mack looked at the circuit again....


    Runes for tracking the time.


    Runes responsible for activating the connected circuit.


    And the runes that dictated the power source.


    Runes could influence the surrounding Essence but they had to have a ''source'' or ''origin'', in other words, you needed to move Essence thru the runes for it to ''be changed''. Otherwise, the runes would keep affecting the same essence around them in an eternal loop and causing not a single change.


    That''s why cubes were cubes. They had a grand reserve ofpressed Essence inside them and runes were draw over its surface. Then the rune specialist could specify that a circuit would use the Essence below the carved runes as fuel. In this case, the Essence inside of the cube.


    Then Mack thought of something.....


    ''Just like runes can say where the essence used ising from..... must be possible to say where it will go too.''


    ''Maybe there is a circuit somewhere on the cube that acts like a switch but location-based.''


    ''....Activating all those smaller isted circuits based on the ce they are on the cube.''


    [You guessed right. Circuits can be activated based on their locations. That''s a very advanced technique used by cube makers and mages. Most mage towers, like the one you saw, use this technique too. But instead of activating a rune based on the fixed location of that rune. They attack enemies in fixed locations around the tower]


    " I see. That''s why no one came close to those mage towers. If I was topare it with Earth, then they act like a base forunching missiles. Or like a grenadeuncher."


    [Correct. But that is only one of the simple defensive mechanisms of a mage tower. Each mage tower, just like the cubes, can havepletely different functions on them]


    "Thanks for the exnation"


    Mack looked at the circuit connecting the one he just figured out.


    It was a bigger one and had three other circuits connecting to it.


    ~sigh~


    "Let''s find another smaller one."


    While reading the runes Mack tried to engrave in his mind how they connected each other and the meaning of them.


    ''But before finding another one.....''


    Mack took his dagger and removed arge patch of grass from the ground.


    He cleaned the spot and stomped a bit to make it tter and then drew the same circuit that kept track of time on the ground. Just to keep a record of what he was learning and also to practice drawing the circuits.


    He felt was the right thing to do at the moment.


    Learn and practice.


    Even if he could not activate the runes because his will was not strong enough to pass the Essence density of his body, he felt it was worth practicing runes on the ground without activating them.


    Mack did not know how ''will'' worked exactly, but he guessed that if Essence was like some invisible water permeating everything, ''will'' was like a fish, the only problem was that the essence inside Mack instead of looking like water was more like snow.


    One needed to make do with what he had instead ofmenting his misfortunes, and Mack chose to use runes.


    Mack''s stopped thinking about useless stuff and his gaze changed to the cube again.


    Time waits for no one.


    And just like that, twenty days went by.


    Mack''s daily routine changed from one of sword practice to one of rune practice.


    During those twenty days, he woulde back to one of the warlock camps from time to time to eat and clean himself. And also to check on the battle progression.


    The battle was on a stalemate these twenty days. Even so, the warlocks were retreating the front line day by day. Mack guessed that if things continued like this in 5 more days, the warlock backline where the camps were situated would need to retreat to the initial position.


    The advantage that Mack unintentionally created would be lost on that day.


    In those twenty days, Mack progressed a lot. His rune knowledge was solidifying day by day as he learned more.


    The problem was that the cube was not an attacking device. So Mack didn''t see a single attack circuit.


    Unknown to him. This practice of him learning from a cube was several times more important in the long run than learning a single powerful circuit.


    Because this process was solidifying his base knowledge of runes in several aspects. And each cube was created by a specialist in runes. So Mack was indirectly learning from the bests.


    Mack didn''t know but even the most simple cube created by Cube Inc was created focusing to be the most optimal and have the best performance possible.


    Mack was not only learning the basics of runesmithing. But also indirectly learning the same ''thinking process'' behind each circuit created by those specialists.


    After all, there were several ways of doing something. Even if the result was the same. The process may bepletely different. Just like any kind of job on Earth.


    This day, after twenty days of learning, Mack finally felt confident enough to carve the first circuit on his body.


    And the chosen circuit was...

 Chapter 41 - The Timer Circuit

    The first circuit Mack chose to carve in his body was the timer circuit. The first one he learned.


    "I hope I''m choosing wisely."


    His firm hand grabbed his dagger and like a man doing a surgery his head came extremely close to his left hand observing the minute details of his skin.


    The tip of the de touched the skin slightly and blood started to leave the small cut but Mack''s gaze did not change a bit and slit the dagger over the skin of his left thumb.


    Mack was carving very small runes over the thumb of his left hand.


    And the runes were the same as the timed activation runes he first learned. But with two small differences.....


    The circuit multyered design.


    And the time for activation was almost one second from Earth.


    Mack carved the rest of the runes and cleaned the residual blood from the cuts and finally could see a rune circuit pattern over his fingerprint on the left thumb.


    It looked like a sand clock from Earth with a hexagram around. Small yet beautiful.


    The hexagram was responsible for the circuit ovepping and the runes carved inside it formed a symbol of a sand clock.


    Mack didn''t dy pondering over the beauty of such a symbol and directly focused on activating it.


    He could not lose too much time, or else he risked damaging the rune with his passive inhuman healing.


    If the rune was not activated while the blood was still on the cuts it would just heal normally and disappear forever.


    Mack focused his mind on that circuit and tried to activate it. But was hard for him. His Essence density was too huge and his will not strong enough, it was like trying to lift a car using only one finger.


    Three long minutester and the rune finally started to blink in red light.


    Mack, covered in cold sweat, opened his eyes and could finally see that all his efforts until now finally paid off.


    The rune was now a perpetual rune. Using the essence inside Mack''s body to continually blink at each second.


    ~sigh~


    "It worked!"


    [Congrattions]


    "All thanks to you. That ovepping circuit rune didn''t exist on the cube. Even being as simple as an ''odd'' hexagram I would never have guessed."


    [The merit is all yours. As I said already. Information is the only thing I can provide you]


    "Thanks anyway"


    [...]


    "Now to the real hard part."


    Said Mack, looking at several circuits draw on the ground.


    The circuit he carved in his hand was useless alone.


    And around him, in a radius of more than 20 meters, not a single patch of grass could be seen.


    The ground was brown and full of carved runes. And in the middle of all those runes a man and a cube.


    Mack looked at the various prototypes he drew over the days and could not choose one. All of them seemed insignificant. With no great damage output.


    He needed one to use in battles. That was the only reason he spent all those days researching and learning and practicing how to carve runes.


    Most of them were useless in battle. Only three of them had a slim potential.


    Mack devised these three circuits by himself because the cube had no circuits with battle purpose.


    The biggest problem was he was not sure they would work or not.


    The first one was very simple. It made all the Essence in a radius of 1000 meters congregate in a radius of 10 meters around the circuit. These 10 meters would have 100x more essence than the normal environment.


    This was inspired by the trick he saw his former ''NPC'' master doing during the battle in the first days.


    The essence saturation would increase by a hundred times and would look like gravity itself was increased by 100 times for anyone in that 10 meters radius around the circuit. Just like the second trial on this tower.


    It was good for stopping the enemy or defending but had not much attack power. No mage would die from this. But they would be stopped and had a hard time doing anything.


    Mack looked at the other two circuits. One of them was just like a mage fireball.


    And the other was an Essence st. Essence would bepressed at a small point and move forward at a very fast speed.


    Those two had much more attack power but Mack didn''t have many hopes for them. They were the mostplex of the three. The fireball one being the mostplex.


    If one stopped to think about the three circuits they were actually very simr in principle. The first one only condensing essence and making it denser in a radius of 10 meters. The second one did the same at a smaller point and then applied propulsion and made that condensed point to move forward. While the third one did the same as the two before but converted part of the Essence to fire.


    Mack looked at the three of them and chose to test the harder one first. The fireball circuit.


    He did have hopes that it would work. But not many hopes. He was an amateur after all.


    Mack walked to the circuit draw on the ground and grabbed his dagger and made a cut in his index finger. A deep one.


    Blood dripped on the ground and Mack raised his index finger above the lines of the circuit and now blood was falling on the circuit lines.


    Mack was redrawing the runes on the ground using his blood.


    Half a minuteter a bloody circuit was drawn on the ground.


    Mack came to the side of the circuit, crouched outside of it, and touched one of the lines with his left thumb.


    He could now activate runic circuits outside his body. But only the ones made with his own blood. And only ones with that hexagram, the multyered hexagram design.


    The runes on the ground blinked red.


    And then nothing more could be seen.


    More exactly..... Mack went blind.


    "What a heck just happened!"


    Mack only saw white. No explosion. No fireball. Not even fire!


    "Dammit! did I converted too much essence to fire?"


    Mack fell on his butt, and the circuit on the ground stopped working.


    He was still blind.


    But he could not care for that at all. He knew his body would eventually heal. He was concerned about his new circuit.


    "A failed experiment. At least I can blind myself now."


    ''Wait!''


    "Maybe I can use that? Like a sh grenade from Earth?"

 Chapter 42 - The Flashbang Circuit

    A few secondster Mack''s vision returnedpletely to normal.


    He looked at the circuit on the ground and pondered.


    If he was really going to use that, he needed a way for it to be smaller.


    He cleaned a patch of soil and redraw the circuit but now removing the propulsion runes.


    The circuit became a bit smaller.


    Mack repeated the same process as before. Dropping blood on the lines and activating the rune using his thumb.


    And just like before when the circuit activated a blinding light came not even a secondter. .


    "Yeap that looks better. Now let''s do it in a small version."


    Then Mack started to draw the same circuit several times on the ground, each time smaller in size until he could fit it in a finger.


    The smaller a circuit was, the more precise the lines needed to be. Any involuntary movements could ruin a rune. Any hesitation, a trembling hand, or even a heavy breath could affect the drawing.


    Mack practiced for hours and hours until he felt satisfied with his precision.


    "Time to get real"


    Mack grabbed his dagger and with his right hand started carving runes on the backside of his index finger, even over his own fingernail.


    The runes on the finger formed a circuit responsible for the shbang itself.


    Mack cleaned the cuts and could see that the rune circuit looked good.


    Then, with his left thumb, he touched the back of his index finger, more exactly where the fingernail of his index finger was.


    The runes on his index finger blinked. But nothing happened.


    Then Mack started to draw another circuit in his left palm.


    It was the Essencepression circuit.


    Mack went ''all in'' with the multyered idea. The three attack circuits he devised used the same principle behind them.


    Essence Compression.


    But the Essencepression circuit was too big to be drawn every single time with other circuits. So he chose to carve only once, using his entire left palm for that.


    Five minutester, the Essencepression circuit was carved.


    It looked like a spider web in the middle of Mack''s left palm. With tentacles extending to his four fingers.


    And just like before, he cleaned the cuts to remove excess blood and quickly touched the tip of his little finger.


    The runes blinked once, but nothing happened.


    But a smile bloomed on Mack''s face. It worked.


    Mack looked at his left palm and observed each minimal detail of the runes he carved.


    He now had two more perpetual circuits in his left hand.


    Mack extended his arm to the front and opened his hand.


    If one looked at Mack now, they would think he was practicing some martial art and giving a palm strike.


    Well.... they would not be incorrect.... just that... Mack moved his thumb finger and touched the tip of his index finger.


    Then, like magic, the three circuits connected with each other. The timed activation circuit on his thumb, the shbang circuit on the back of his index finger, and the Essencepression on his left palm.


    They connected with each other and the timer circuit that blinked at each second now activated the other two.


    ~sh~


    A blinding light came from Mack''s left hand.


    But this time it looked several more times strong than before. As if the sun itself was in front of Macks''s hand.


    The shbang circuit was activated with sess.


    Mack''s mouth went a gap. The output was several times stronger than the ones carved on the ground.


    And this time he didn''t be blind. The light was only projected to the front of his palm and his own hand protected him from the light.


    Mack removed his thumb from the tip of his index finger, and the light stopped.


    He now had tested two important things.


    The shbang circuit worked.


    And the timer circuit indeed worked as he expected and tried to activate everything he touched with his thumb at each second. Even in his body.


    This way Mack would not need to wait three long minutes or even more to activate a circuit using his will.


    He could press his thumb over another circuit, and that circuit would be activated.


    Mack pressed his thumb against the tip of his index finger again, and light shinned once again.


    "Finally! I have one useful spell! Can I call this a spell? It''s a runic circuit after all."


    [Indeed the method of activation you devised is quite unique. And also the fact that they are carved in your body makes you able to use them in a different way too. Not only that, but they will use the Essence in your body that is several more times denser than the current environment. So the power will be far greater]


    "Hum hum, but what should I call them? They are not spells and not runic circuits either."


    [I think a fitting name for that would be Runespell]


    "Runespell? that''s sounds good.... I think."


    "Ok, I will call it that way for the time being."


    Mack knew this way of using runes was specific for him to use. Hebined the properties of the warlock blood with runes and his freak body to produce his own path.


    But Mack also knew the endgame was to have a stronger will. With a stronger will, he could do much more without the need for runes.


    But time was short. And he had to think of a different way for the time being.....


    Mack tested the shbang runespell a few more times and fell happy with his progress.


    But now he had more tests to do. He needed to know if the two others circuits were good to use too.


    Mack fixed his gaze on the rune circuit by his side.


    It was the one that should produce an Essence st.


    He wished that it would work.


    This way he would have a long-range attack that he could use.


    Mack did a cut on his index finger again and started to drop blood over the lines of the circuit.


    And just like before, he crouched by the side of the runic circuit and pressed his thumb on the activation part.


    ~st~


    Mack felt a strong wave of air passing by him but nothing more.


    "Eh?"


    "That was too weak. I was expecting something like a bullet firing or something?"


    ''Right! I don''t have a target! it''s not like the fireball circuit that I can see it because of the fire. Essence has no color or other aspects in his natural form."


    ''But how I test it? It''s pointing to the sky. After all, its carved on the ground.....''


    Mack looked at the cube a few meters from him and a crazy idea popped into his mind.


    "Hahahha that would be fun to see."


    Mack raised himself and walked to the cube .


    He grabbed the sides of the cube and raised it over his head. This was a used cube. Only the shell was there without any Essence inside, so it was very light.


    With the cube over his head, Mack walked back to the rune circuit.


    ~tuk~


    And dropped the cube right above the part of the circuit responsible for firing the st of Essence.


    Mack then crouched and put his left thumb on the activation rune from the circuit.


    ~pooof~


    A muffled explosion came from the cube and Mack saw the cube raising from the ground a few centimeters.


    "hummmmm..... not what I was expecting...."


    But then Mack raised himself from the ground and saw something he would not believe.

 Chapter 43 - Forcefield Runespell

    Mack saw the top of the cube. And there was a finger-sized hole there.


    The thing is..... Cube material was super hard!


    [That''s because the material is special and is reinforced with Essence. Just like ...]


    "Just like this st from the rune circuit!!!"


    [Yes]


    "I should probably name it different. It''s not a st. It''s more like a sniper shot"


    "Yeap I think I will call it ''shot runespell'' for now."


    "Or should I call it Makankosappo? Nahhh that would be offending my few good memories while watching animes with father...."


    Mack started to remember his childhood, and the image of his father came to mind.


    ''Dammed mages! I will make them pay for killing my father. I bet it was them''


    Suddenly all the good humor that Mack was having those few hours, because some things were working his way, was ruined when he remembered all that the mages took from him. By force.


    He was sure it was them. It was the only possible exnation.


    But how they are on Earth without no one noticing? Mack had no clue about that.


    ~sigh~


    "So much to do..... And I''m not even ready for that yet...."


    Mack lowered his head and looked at the rune circuit.


    It was time to practice another rune circuit until he felt confident enough to carve in his own flesh.


    The prices he had to pay to gain power...


    Would be returned a thousandfold to the mages.


    Remembering the mage''s atrocities, Mack''s gaze fell on his sword and a crazy idea popped in his head.


    "A sword forged with thousands of warlocks lives....."


    "Capable of negating most of the will of all things...."


    "And a runespell capable of making a hole in a cube."


    "And me ..... A huge Essence battery. Do you follow me, Arcane?"


    [Yes. I think is possible. But is extremely risky]


    "Hmm. But it will not work as it is now...."


    [Indeed. You will need to alter it a lot and will only be able to test once is fully carved on your body]


    "Hmm"


    Mack''s gaze became serious.


    That could be a game-changer for him.....


    But only if it worked.


    Should he go ''all in''? Mack had doubts. It was not an easy matter to decide. One mistake and he would explode himself.


    "Let''s think of thatter.... I will first check the area circuit."


    Mack moved to the other circuit. He would ponder better if he should risk his like on that bet.


    With a more calm mind.


    Mack started the same ritual as before, dropping blood on the lines of the circuit.


    And a few minutester he touched the circuit with his left thumb.


    ~zummmmm~


    Mack could hear a faint buzzing sound around him.


    It looked like the circuit worked the way he devised and also produced some kind of sound due to air friction.


    Mack felt the heavy pressure over his body and a smile bloomed on his face.


    It worked.


    Mack removed his finger, and the pressure started to decrease bit by bit.


    One minuteter, all came back to normal.


    Essence tends to upy all avable space.


    Only if Mack''s body cells had not so much ''space'' inside.... he would already be following the traditional warlock path.


    Mack activated the rune circuit on the ground again, and the pressure fell over his body again.


    Just... for Mack was not much at all.


    "It''s not as heavy as I was expecting."


    [Of course not. Your body has a lot of Essence inside and your muscles and bones changed because of that. It''s not a simple math reduction. Your body constitution changed. Is more like a multiplication.]


    "Like 2x40?"


    Said Mack, remembering the numbers he saw on his health monitor device.


    [Correct]


    "I see. That''s why the pressure for me is nothing as I was expecting."


    [But for amon person from Earth...]


    "Yes, I know. They would probably be a pool of blood and flesh"


    Mack looked at the ground around him and the ground became tter than before.


    Just like a gravitational field from movies.


    "I think I will name it as Gravity Runespell"


    [Actually, this is called as ''Forcefield'' by mages]


    "Forcefield? Ok, I will use it. Seems to fit well."


    "Forcefield Runespell is it then"


    "I think is done. Time to test it."


    Said Mack grabbing his dagger.


    But once mack grabbed the dagger he was not sure in which finger to put this circuit. He needed a ce that he could use during battle without stopping.


    Mack closed his left hand, making a fist, and saw where the thumb naturally touched.


    He punched the air a few time to see if felt natural and looked at his hand again, the thumb touched the middle part of his middle finger and the middle part of his index finger.


    ''Thank god I thought before designing them, otherwise I would be activating a sh bang every time I punched someone without the gloves covering my hand''


    Mack brows furrowed. He wanted to be able to punch while using this runespell.


    Or he changed the way he punched, or he had to think of other way.


    The problem was that the legs of thepression circuit ended at the tip of his fingers. The same legs responsible for activating and connecting thepression rune.


    ~sigh~


    "Back to the drawing board"


    Mack walked a few meters and went back to where he drew all the runes.


    Mack looked around on the ground and searched for a rune. A very specific one.


    It was a switch rune. The three attack runespells Mack devised were ones that needed him to constantly keep his thumb pressed on them for it to work. The moment he removed his thumb it would stop working.


    What Mack was devising now was a tap to activate and tap to deactivate kind of circuit for this gravity runespell.


    This way he would be free to do other things while the forcefield was active.


    A few minutester....


    "Found it."


    And not a secondter Mack started to draw a new circuit on the ground.


    It was the same circuit as before with a minor change, but Mack had to test it. There is no way he would risk his life because ofziness.


    ~drip~


    ~drip~


    The now familiar sound of blood dripping on the ground happened again, and the circuit runes shined in red not long after.


    A new circuit was tested with sess and Mack was ready to carve that circuit on his own flesh.

 Chapter 44 - Middle Finger

    After a few hours of practicing that circuit and being sure that it would work in a reduced size, Mack took his dagger and maimed his left middle finger.


    Four minutester, a bloody runic circuit could be seen in his middle finger.


    Mack touched his thumb on the back of his fingernail, and the entire finger blinked. That was the signal that the runic circuit was perpetually carved on his own body.


    No matter if his nails would grow or his cells get older and die. That circuit would be there forever.


    Seeing the circuit was done, It was time for Mack to test if it would work properly.


    Every time Mack wanted to activate a runespell, he would need to touch the tips of his fingers with the thumb finger. Then the Compression circuit would activate and ''drain'' Essence from his body andpress that Essence. While the runes activated on the finger would change how thatpressed Essence worked..


    This was possible all thanks to the multyered design of the circuits. Otherwise Mack would need to carve those runes in other bigger parts of his body. And that would be cumbersome to active during a battle.


    Mack could have also opted to carve those runes on tools, using his thumb to activate them. But by doing that he would lose the advantages of his freak body.


    If he carver runes on tools than the used Essence for the circuits would be the Essence of the tools or from the environment and they were far less denser than the Essence inside Mack. And he would need to keep carrying all those tools with him all the time. And for Mack, that was annoying as hell.


    A rune circuit could ''dictate'' what the surround Environment Essence would do. Just like the Forcefield rune circuit that Mack carved. But even those, used Essence as a means for that. The Rune circuit would ''drain'' Essence from Mack and change it. Then that Essence would act like a virus, Infecting the surround Essence and telling it to behave in the desired way. If the ''drained'' essence was denser than the affected one, the desired effect would be better.


    And that was the biggest advantage of Mack freak body.


    Mack touched the tip of his middle finger.


    ~zummmmmmmm~


    The ''Forcefield runespell'' was activated.


    But Mack didn''t felt the ''Gravity'' increasing like he expected.


    "What a heck?"


    The circuits were working.


    But not as he wished!


    [We did not ount for that]


    Mack suddenly felt his blood churning. Like several ants were crawling over his skin.


    "Fuck. Whats this red wind over my hand?"


    Mack touched again his fingers, deactivating the runespell, and the weird feeling along with that red wind stopped.


    Mack felt slightly tired.


    "We tested it several times!"


    [Indeed. But not in a living being]


    "Lets try to figure what went wrong."


    Mack touched his middle finger again and activated the Forcefield runespell.


    Mack looked around and could see the grass on the ground slightly moving in a circr pattern around him. Like wind was passing by it. It was the effect of Essence moving quickly on the grass and air.


    Mack looked at his hand and arms, and they were covered in a reddish thinyer of wind.


    Red Essence?


    "Why red?"


    [Maybe it''s your...]


    "Blood!"


    "Essence is fucking moving my blood out of my body! Thats why I feel all my body churning!"


    Mack touched his finger and quickly deactivated the runespell again.


    "What a heck is going on?"


    Mack passed his hand over his forehead.


    His hand now was covered in red sweat.


    Mack approached his hand to his nose and could smell the strong iron odor typical of blood.


    He was indeed losing blood through his pores.


    "But why? Why is this happening?"


    Then Mack remembered the grass moving on the ground.


    "Dammed! How could I forget that!"


    "Essence tends to upy all avable space!"


    [Indeed. It could be the reason. The only difference from the tests to the carved on your body is the source of Essence used. You.]


    "Hmm"


    [I think it creates an infinite loop of Essence leaving your body. Going 1km away and then trying to congregate more essence in the 10 meters radius. That''s the normal expected behavior. But when it reaches the 10 meters radius, it goes to your body. Because it has more ''free space''. Because you are using it and consuming it.]


    "Then it start to elerate the process... leaving more quickly because of the flow...."


    [Indeed]


    "Just like a whirlpool."


    "Shit."


    [The more time it''s on. The more it will speed up the flow and more blood you will lose per second]


    "Until I eventually die. Yeah. I figured. There is no way my freak healing ability can cope with that after a few minutes."


    [Correct]


    "Do you have knowledge about something like that?"


    [Unfortunately no. There are no records about something like that. This is a very peculiar situation. Essence does not flow naturally in mages because their gates are still there. And no warlock ever carved runes on their bodies because they didn''t have the need to. They had a clear path. A long and slow one, but very clear and powerful. They did not have reason to do that because their bodies never mutated like yours.]


    "And those tattoos in my body? The ones from the book? Was that the first time?"


    [Indeed. This was made specially by your ancestor. Otherwise there was no way for me tomunicate with you or transport you to the tower]


    [In general. Warlocks never use runes. Even for daily tools. They tend to rely on their will the most. That way, even not wanting, they are training.]


    "I see. So I''m indeed a freak."


    Mack looked at his own hand and could not decide what to do. Should he leave it there and never use that runespell again?


    Should he try to adapt that runespell somehow?


    "Too much risk. I don''t even have an idea of what to do with it."


    Mack kept ring at his left hand.


    And his thumb touched his middle finger again.


    ~zummmm~


    Not even two secondster, a slightly red wind revolved around his body.


    Mack looked at his right hand, legs, and torso. All the same. Blood kept leaving his body by the pores and crossing his ck battlesuit.


    "How it can pass through the battlesuit?"


    [The same way normal air can cross it]


    "You never told me that."


    [You never asked]


    "Tsc"


    Mack could not believe. Was this Arcane learning how to behave this bad because of him?


    "But indeed alien stuff is the best."


    Said Mack, pping his own leg, like one would do to a horse when praising it.


    But Mack''s hand never touched his own leg.


    ~stumble~


    "What a fuck just happened?"


    Said Mack, lying on the ground.


    And one secondter, the pain in his leg came.


    Mack looked at his left leg, and it indeed was his leg. But not in the correct shape.


    "Fuck!"


    His leg had been broken and looked more like a ragged doll thrown to the side of his own body.


    "HaHaHaHaHaHaHaHa"


    Laughed Mack, assaulted both by pain, surprise and joy, because he could not believe what had just happened.


    He broke his own leg with a p.

 Chapter 45 - Time

    Mack could not believe what just happened.


    He barely used any force and he broke his own leg.


    Mack seated on the ground and looked at his broken leg while pressing a button on his neck to retract part of the battlesuit.


    The battlesuit was intact, his skin was intact, yet, the bottom part of the left leg was by his side while the upper part to his front.


    "Arcane?"


    [I have no idea why this happened]


    "Me too"


    Said Mack, grabbing his broken leg and trying to put in the correct ce.


    ''Better put things in ce to avoid growing another leg. I''m already a freak, no need for 3 legs'' .


    ~crack~


    "I think its in correct ce now. Do you have a way to check?"


    [I have. But not allowed to. Rules]


    "I guessed."


    ~crack~


    "Now I think its correct."


    Mack looked at his leg and almost forgot the reason why that happened.


    He touched his middle finger and turned off that runespell.


    That burning sensation stopped, and his body now drenched in a fineyer of his own blood went colder.


    "Another shitty day"


    "Or maybe a few..."


    Said Mack, looking at his leg. He was not sure how much time it would take to heal that.


    "Arcane, There is a mage spell like that?"


    [There are thousands with the same effect]


    "Nothing special than.... Only.... Unexpected"


    [Yes]


    Three boring dayster....


    "Damm I can''t figure this circuit properly."


    Said Mack, surrounded by rune circuits drawn on the ground while looking at the cube in front of him.


    ~sigh~


    "There is no helping. Its too advanced for me."


    Mack raised himself from the ground. Stomped a bit with his leg and felt that seemed much stronger now.


    "The healing is almost done."


    ~grumble~


    "And I''m starving."


    Said Mack, already grabbing his sword by the side and walking in the direction of the warlock camp.


    It was time to have a proper meal and a bath.


    After a long walk, Mack finally reached the warlock camp.


    And as usual, not even a single spot of light could be seen during the night at the warlock camp.


    Mack went for a bath first and then went to eat.


    The same old "white burrito" was served.


    Mack seated at a table where two other warlocks were eating and did the same.


    The same taste. The same ce. The same ''silence''.


    Mack was already used to all that and kept thinking on the rune circuits while eating.


    ~pat~


    A heavy hand touched his shoulders.


    Mack didn''t turn to look, only stopped eating, but his gaze turned serious.


    A few secondster a warlock seated in front of him.


    That warlock looked in Mack''s eyes without talking anything.


    Both kept ring each other eyes without a single word or unnecessary movement.


    A long one minuteter.


    Mack raised from his seat.


    Turned his back.


    And walked in the direction where he came from.


    While walking, Mack could hear two people walking behind him all the way out of the camp.


    Mack stopped.


    And the steps behind him stopped too.


    Mack didn''t turn, not even his head.


    "Go back if you don''t want to die. The price for dying me will be your lives."


    ~step~


    ~step~


    The two continued to walk forward in Mack''s direction.


    ~sh~


    A bright light, like the sun itself, shined in the dark night outside of the warlock camp.


    ~shing~


    ~nk~


    Swords collided with each other two times amidst the blinding light.


    ~plop~


    ~stumble~


    And two bodies without heads fell to the ground.


    Mack turned his back and resumed walking in the cube''s direction.


    "Stupid traditions."


    It was not the first time, and would not be thest. Warlocks had a strict martial tradition and once someone was defeated in a duel they could have all the belongs of the loser.


    And many had already coveted Mack sword and battlesuit.


    Not just these two.


    But this only started to happen when he left his former master.


    Mack guessed his former master had a kind of grunge. Or wounded pride. Probably both. But he could not care less.


    They were just light constructs. And even if they weren''t, Mack probably would do the same.


    His life and his goals came first.


    Always.


    A minute lost may be the difference between life and death in a few days.


    The camp was less crowded. And the supplies less too. Tomorrow they would probably retreat to the backline again. A few more days, and they would need to retreat to where Mack practiced his rune circuits.


    The battle did not seem that wouldst for a hundred days. More likely it would end before that.


    "If at least I had more time."


    Mack stopped thinking about the warlocks and focused on the cube in front of him.


    Unconsciously, Mack already reached his old practicing ce.


    Time flowed in odd ways.


    "Focus Mack! Focus!"


    Said Mack to himself, emptying his mind of useless thoughts.


    Today he was studying a veryplex circuit.


    His twost attempts of carving runes wentpletely different from what Mack expected, one was supposed to be a fireball and be a shbang, The other a forcefield and be.... Mack didn''t even knew how to describe that...


    ''A mess. Aplete mess.''


    Mack needed to learn more and practice more if he didn''t want to blow himself in the next circuit.


    Because in the next one.


    He had no way to test before. It would only work if carved in his body.


    But that was a game-changer for Mack. He needed to at least try.


    It was a crazy idea.


    Yes.


    It was a stupid and almost suicidal idea.


    Yes.


    But he needed to try.


    Mack could regret a failure.


    But he would never regret not doing something.


    ''At least there is a positive outlook on this. I will not be able to regret. Even if I fail.''


    Because he would be dead.


    "That old man would probably scold me if I said something like this in front of him."


    ~sigh~


    Mack looked at the horizon where the sky touched the ins, and nostalgic memories came to his mind.


    No matter how cold or detached someone looked. Everyone had his soft spot. His dragon scale. His Achilles tendon. And for Mack was his father. His funny yet rigid father.


    "I hope not matter where you are. Be it with angels or devils. That at least they are hot."


    Said Mack, still looking far on the horizon.


    For some unknown reason Mack smiled, a genuine and honest smile, one of those that does not show the teeth.


    And on this cold night, Mack felt warmer for a brief, but also long, time.


    Time flowed in odd ways.

 Chapter 46 - War, War Never Changes

    Mack kept practicing runes everyday and trying to understand the ones that were a bit moreplex.


    Runic circles in the end tended to look a lot like programmingnguages from Earth. But Mack didnt knew that. He was only guessing using his logic and what the database in his eyes provided.


    But there was a limit of what Mack could learn from that single Cube, and today, Mack reached a bottleneck.


    He felt like he was progressing almost nothing.


    ~sigh~


    "I need a break."


    Said Mack, rubbing his eyes. .


    It has been more than 20 days already since Mack started to learn rune circuits by himself.


    "And yet, I can''t figure other runespells for attack apart from the initial three"


    The first one was supposed to be a fireball and be a shbang, the second one was supposed to be a forcefield of 10 meters around him and be a ''Power up'' kind of runespell.


    And because of this two failures Mack didn''t felt confident enough to carve the third one, The st runespell. And neither he tried that crazy idea he had, it was better for him to learn more before.


    The problem was that he needed some ranged attack runespell.


    "Time to go with n B"


    Said Mack, standing up and grabbing his sword by the side.


    Mack looked at the ground around him onest time to see the hundreds of rune circuits carved on the ground.


    For a second, all felt surreal.


    He learning rune circuits in the middle of an alien tower.


    A cube.


    A voice in his head.


    Thousand of NPC fighting a ''simted'' battle.


    And he, In the middle of all this.


    For a few seconds Mack only wished to go back to Earth and eat a barbecue while drinking a beer.


    Mack shake his head.


    He needed to be focused.


    He was only at the fourth gate of Hel''s floor. And he knew there were at least 9 gates in total.


    "If this gate is this hard. I can''t imagine how thest one will be."


    Said Mack, before quickly looking at the gate a few meters behind him and taking slow steps in the direction of the warlock camp.


    Today was the day to have mages for dinner.


    Approaching the familiar small hill, Mack could already hear the noises of battle.


    The warlock camp had retreated to its maximum, and they were about to retreat to the hill where Mack was now.


    A timed rescue?


    Mack doubted. He was far more stronger than before but to change the flow of this battle alone he would need another miracle.


    And miracles, like lightning strikes, don''t tend to fall twice at the same ce.


    Mack went to the top of the hill and could see the warlock camp retreating his backline while the frontline gave cover.


    They were pressured by the mages. They could not let the mages reach the backline, but they needed to use people to move the backline too. Thus, they were in a desperate situation. They could not use the full army to defend and they could not retreat too.


    Mack looked at the far horizon and saw mages moving mage towers.


    The mage army was solidifying their advance.


    And worse than that....


    The warlock army had reduced a lot, because now Mack could see in his field of view the entire warlock army. Something impossible in the early days.


    It was still a huge battle, but had reduced a lotpared to before.


    And the mage army let only one path for them. The back. All the sides and the front were surrounded by the mages.


    And the mages were moving those towers to the back of their attack line.


    In a few hours they would be done and the warlock would have no way to cut the lines to have a small advantage.


    They only had one possible move left. And that was to retreat.


    "What a pinch. It''s going to be a hard day."


    Mack stretched his muscles and resumes walking in the direction of the warlock camp. Now, less than a hundred meters below the small hill.


    As Mack slowly walked to the front line of the battle, warlocks passed by him carrying boxes or tents or barrels.


    Some stumbled in a hurry.


    Some yelled and pointed to Mack to retreat too.


    Some threw a few things in the ground and just run.


    Humans were humans, after all.


    In despair and seeing no way to win, they left their pride behind and run for their lives.


    Mack kept walking.


    Drew his sword out of the belt and rested it on his shoulder while holding the handle.


    The non existing screams and panic in the face of the warlock did not faze Mack.


    He was a man that almost died countless times already.


    He was a man forged by despair and pain.


    While most would scream Mack wouldugh.


    Where most would panic, Mack would take popcorn and watch.


    Mack didn''t even cared for his own life.


    Why would he despair?


    One warlock passed by Mack while holding his own guts and with a pleading face.


    But no one stopped to help.


    Three worlocks run to the front with enraged expressions and holding their swords high.


    Mack could guess the reason. Someone close to them must have died.


    A tent in fire with two warlocks lying on the ground at the exit.


    And Mack kept walking to the front line.


    The same pace as always.


    With his sword resting on his shoulder.


    Fire started to consume a trench by the side.


    A fireball hit the ground 10 meters by the side of Mack.


    One warlock stabbed himself in the neck while holding another female warlock.


    Both dead now.


    An acolyte run behind an alone warlock and pointed his staff to him.


    A pointed metal hit that warlock in the chest. But he did not stop running.


    Mack''s gaze went to that acolyte, and saw another warlock throwing his sword at him.


    One less acolyte now.


    Mack''s gaze changed back to the front and saw two warlocks crawling on the floor.


    Both without their legs.


    "War. War never changes."

 Chapter 47 - Dancing With Mages

    Mack tightened the grip on his sword and said aloud.


    "Music y White House Road"


    Mack could hear the familiar country song ying that had only a guitar, and a stretched vocal.


    ~early in the morning when the sun does rise~


    And the music kept going while Mack walked to the middle of the battle.


    ~run me ragged but I don''t fret~


    SLASH!


    Mack hit an acolyte in the back.


    ~cause there ain''t been one to slow me down just yet~


    Mack blocked another acolyte staff and punched it in the face. .


    ~lord it''s a mighty hard living~


    Mack threw one of his dagger at the acolyte neck while still slowly walking.


    An acolyte came from the side and tried to hit Mack on the face with his staff.


    Mack tilted his head back and pushed a dagger below the acolyte chin.


    Mack kept walking and hearing the familiar blues.


    ~but it''s a damn good feeling to run these roads~


    Mack pulled his daggers from the dead acolyte and kicked it aside to bite the stones.


    With his sword resting on his shoulder.


    His cape fluttering in the air.


    SLASH!


    Another acolyte was dead.


    ~I got people tell me red~


    Mack spotted a mage fighting against three warlocks.


    His gaze changed.


    His sword went to the back of his body like an arrow about to be released from a bow.


    Mack muscles tensed.


    He touched his middle finger in the left hand and a blood mist surrounded him.


    ~keep this living and you wind up dead~


    Mack stomped hard on the ground with his left leg.


    And dust rose around where he was.


    A mist of dust and blood covered where Mack was, and in the next second, a man shot out of that same mist.


    Like a bullet fired from a machine gun. Mack run as fast as one.


    CLANG!


    He hit that mage shield with his sword. The magic shield crackled all around, but resisted.


    And just as Mack expected, a fireball came for him.


    The other three warlocks, seeing Mack was targeted, used the chance to strike at the shield at the same time.


    BOOM!


    The shield broke, and the mage was sliced by two swords while trying to defend the other one.


    But the fireball was already shot.


    ~cast your troubles in the lord of lords~


    Mack raised his two arms in front of his face. Today he was going to meet his maker or have the head of all those ''lords''.


    BOOM.


    Dust rose to the skies and debris of the ground shot an acolyte dead by the side.


    The three warlocks looked back to where Mack was.


    ~rot gut whiskey is gonna ease my pain~


    The dust settled, and in the middle they could see a man.


    ~and all this running is going to keep me sane~


    With ragged clothes and a sword in hand.


    ~lord it''s a mighty hard living~


    "What are you looking at?!"


    Screamed Mack at the three stunned warlocks.


    But the warlocks kept there looking at Mack, unmoving.


    Mack stopped caring and walked past them, passing right between the three of the them.


    Raised his sword and stabbed the already dead mage in the eye.


    Stomped his feet on the mage, and removed his sword.


    Now he was sure it was truly dead.


    Mack looked at the front and saw another two mages fighting dozens of warlocks several meters in front.


    He did not have time to lose.


    His blood was leaving his body by the second.


    ~lord it''s a mighty hard living~


    "But its damn good feeling to run these roads"


    Sang Mackpleting the music he was hearing. His blood was literally boiling.


    The three warlocks looked at each other without understanding. But followed the already running Mack.


    He had no time to lose.


    It''s all or nothing.


    At every second, the mist around him grew stronger and denser. But at each second Mack lost more blood.


    ~lord it''s a mighty hard living~


    BOOM!


    Mack stomped hard on the ground with both legs.


    A mage looked at where the sound came but the moment he looked at it he be blind.


    Sun itself was in front of his eyes burning his retinas.


    BOOM


    Mack shed at the mage shield but different fromst time, this time his de passed by it like a hot knife on butter.


    That mage never saw the face of his reaper.


    Mack rolled on the ground and another head came to fall.


    Two mages were dead and Mack could not care.


    He did not stop.


    Rolled on the ground and jump to the left, and another acolyte was now dead.


    ~cause there ain''t been one slow me down just yet~


    Surrounded by dozens of acolytes and warlocks fighting, Mack zed right and left.


    One step back, two daggers to that acolyte neck.


    One step forward and a knee by the groans.


    His sword at bay. No one came to y.


    Two staffs for his head, a roll to the side and no more legs.


    ~Same old blues, just a different day~


    "Come! Let''s have a y!"


    Mack pushed a warlock aside and head-butted another acolyte. His sword at bay keeping the wolfs for ater day.


    ~keep this living and you wind up dead~


    Mack stomped on a fallen acolyte head. Now for sure, it was dead.


    Broken bones and guts all around. No one could stop this damnedw.


    Kill or be killed.


    The onlyw of war.


    Mages or warlocks, no one would save your ass.


    Mack was stabbed. A pointed staff hit his bones in the back.


    Mack turned to look, as his arm followed his gaze, hitting that man in the face.


    He broke that acolyte jaw, with a punch that could look like a maud.


    And another came in his ce.


    That was a true battle.


    Where no one could escape.


    Dead was the ruler.


    And thew was to kill.


    To kill until the sun sinks low on a bed of blood and bones.


    "Come! Come for me, all of you! Damned fucking mages! Come all!"


    Screamed Mack, seeing dozens of magesing in his direction.


    Today he would not have someone else to help him.


    Today he would make the ground feed on mage tears and yells. Or die trying.


    "COME ALL OF YOU!"


    Screamed Mack, removing the staff from his back and letting his blood flow out of his body.


    The red mist around him grew even more, and he looked like a devil painted in ck and red.


    -cause there ain''t been one slow me down none yet-


    Because today those mages would meet their reaper, and leave their heads.


    "COME! LETS MEET OUR MAKER! ALL OF US!"

 Chapter 48 - A Bed Of Blood And Bones

    "COME ALL OF YOU!"


    Screamed Mack with all the air in his lungs extending his arms to the sides.


    Just seeing those mages faces Mack was enraged. The memories of all those impaled childrens and his dead father resurfaced while the pain at his back made him even more enraged.


    "COME TAKE A PIECE!"


    Mack was snapping.


    He was going berserk.


    He never cared for his life.


    But now? He was seeking his own death. .


    Mack looked at the sky and dozens of balls of mes wereing for him. Like birds made of fire searching for his prey, leaving a trail of fire in the air.


    BOOM!


    Several spells hit all around him.


    Fire surrounded every inch in a hundred meters all around Mack.


    Hell itself descended on Earth.


    Dozens of warlocks and acolytes around the explosion died on that single attack from the group of mages.


    The mages took Mack as dead as the stones on ground. All melting to the zing heat.


    But a man walked out of the fire, stepping in dead bodies and carrying a red blood sword.


    Step after step.


    Ragged clothes and an even more ragged cape fluttering behind him.


    Sword in hand and blood in his eyes. Rage consuming his own nerves. And blinding his own mind.


    Sun done run out of rays.


    And the night sky blurred his shape.


    Only the fire burning in his way.


    Trying not to go insane.


    Mack stomped on the ground, and dust rose in dozens of meters all around.


    The mages fired another round, and Mack shot out of the cloud.


    One man against dozens of mages.


    Mack stomped and changed direction to his right side. And than he stomped on the ground again a few meterster and another dust cloud rose.


    The mages could barely follow Mack''s speed with their eyes.


    Another time he stomped on the ground and changed direction again.


    Mack was circling around them.


    Who was the prey again?


    Fireballs followed Mack''s path, but it seemed they could barely scratch him now.


    The red mist around Mack seemed so dense that every time he slightly stopped running to change direction, the mist would cover himpletely, making impossible to see his silhouette anymore.


    Mack kept running around them until he made a full circle.


    Then he suddenly stopped.


    The mages knew he was up to something, and they spread around, leaving the formation they came.


    The mages fired another round of fireballs, and again, hell descended on earth.


    Mack raised his hand, and the fire, like a behaved cat, extinguished itself.


    The mages looked at each other, not understanding what happened, and seeing the fireballs made no effect, they started to chant their most powerful spells.


    Mack run for a mage almost in the middle of all of them and before he could finish the chanting a de impaled him upwards.


    The mage shield was like a bubble of air snapping to the touch of the de.


    Mack didn''t grew stronger as time passed. It was the will of everything that he touched with his essence infused blood that grew weaker.


    Everything in contact with this essence infused blood would bow to Mack''s will.


    And Mack''s only wish was to kill all mages.


    Every. Single. One. Of. Them.


    Another mage by the side saw hisrade die like a cow in a ughter house and hit his staff on the ground.


    Mack turned to him and slowly walked in that mage direction.


    Several stone thorns big as a man''s leg rose from the ground all around Mack.


    But none below him.


    Mack walked in that mage direction, dragging his sword on the ground. Just like a child would do carrying a stick. Uncaring for all the chants and mages, a child ying with his toys.


    A Mack walked, his sword left a long trail carved on ground.


    That mage only a few steps from Mack panicked and looked at the other mages all around. All of them focused on chanting their most powerful spells.


    That mage did not knew what to do.


    He raised his staff and in desperation pointed at Mack while releasing a fireball.


    He knew it would not work. But he was out of any powerful spells at bay. He could not restart chanting again or he would be dead.


    The fireball blighted the sky and went for Mack''s head.


    Mack raised his left hand and pped that fireball,magically, that fireball that was supposed to explode upon contact flew to the side.


    BOOM


    Another mage was hit by that same fireball.


    That other mage shield broke, and his chanting too was stopped.


    Mack didn''t even look at that mage that was hit and took a dagger from his waist and threw at him.


    Another dead mage.


    Twelve to go.


    All mages kept looking to Mack direction and monitoring all of what he was doing while chanting their spells.


    All of that took barely a few seconds to happen, but the mages felt chocked, they never saw something like that.


    Mack, right at the middle of all them, knew they were almost ready to pull all their most devastating chanted spells.


    He raised his left hand and closed his eyes.


    Then a blinding light came out of his left hand.


    So bright that all the battlefields stopped.


    Everyone looked at that blinding light in the middle of that dark night.


    The mages close to Mack, all of them ring at him, be blind just like Mack itself. He closed his eyes, but the light did not care for that, and blinded all of them.


    Mack stomped with both feet on the ground and jumped to the sky.


    Like a missile leaving the ground, he rose several dozens of meters in one second.


    And at the same time, all spells from all mages in that group, were fired.


    Mack kicked both of his feet backs and his boots antigravitational engines started to work.


    Mack deactivated his middle-finger runespell, blood stopped leaving his body and the mist around him transformed in a rain of blood.


    Dozens of meters below him, several spells hit all around where he previously was.


    A chaotic mix of fire and ice and stones and green mist fired at each other.


    The mages missed and fired back at each other.


    Aplete chaos unfolded.


    And Mack there, high in the night sky, slowly descending like a plume.


    A few minutester.


    ~tuk~


    Mack fell to the ground,pletely tired and exhausted, and below him, a bed made of blood, bones, and body parts.


    Behind that almost dried blood over his face, Mack was pale white as a grain of rice.

 Chapter 49 - The Mage Slayer

    Mack killed dozens of mages with his strategy and blunt bravery.


    But also thanks to that runespell on his middle finger.


    Mack''s biggest problem was that the Essence inside his body was too dense.


    But when he activated that runespell. He created a mist revolving around him. That mist was Essence mixed with his own blood cells.


    The flow was so strong that his blood left his body bit by bit. But also this flow made possible for Mack to use his will over that blood mist.


    Because his body had less essence inside and his will could flow along that Essence more easily using his blood as a medium. .


    But this strategy could also cost Mack his own life.


    Mack used the blood mist runesspell for a few minutes and was already dead weak.


    The more he used, the more he became vulnerable.


    That could be Mack Trump card. But could also be his demise.


    Just like now.


    Mack was lying t on the ground,pletely unprotected andpletely vulnerable.


    If someone approached Mack and stabbed him in at his chest, Mack would only be able tough at his own misfortune, because he could barely lift any finger.


    But for Mack''s luck, no one approached that doomed ce after what happened. It seemed no one clearly knew what happened and avoided the ce like gue itself.


    For safety, while Mack was descending fromt the sky, he activated his cape invisibility mode, and because of it no one saw him there.


    The Argonian Cape truly had its perks.


    Dead tired and unable to move, Mack stayed there on ground hoping no one fought close to him.


    Be it by luck or not.


    The battle that day ended a few minutes after Mack ''light show''.


    The mages thought some strong warlock went rampant while the warlocks thought some mage went crazy.


    Unsure of what happened, both sides retreated for the day.


    Both avoiding that ce, because they could still see a very peculiar thing there.


    A half carved rune circuit on ground that spanned for almost a hundred meters in size.


    No one would approach there to try their luck just to see if it was still working or not after seeing what happened there.


    Mack carved that half rune circuit as a ''bait'' to make the mages haste their attacks. He could not wait for all the night. The more time passed, the more he approached the doors of hell.


    His n worked in the end.


    But at a huge cost for himself.


    He was weak and vulnerable.


    His clothes and battlesuit were ragged and would need time for them to fix themselves.


    On the dark night, Mack kept looking at the sky.


    In the boredom of the night, he remembered the first day he stepped foot on this gate.


    He barely could fight an acolyte at that time.


    And now he could kill mages. In the plural.


    He improved a lot in those forty plus days.


    ''How many days passed since I said that weird oath at the hospital?''


    [72 days]


    ''So much time already. But really feels way more than that''


    Mack remembered that voices in his head, way before he came to the tower.


    Theck of sleep that drove him crazy.


    Remembered that doctor.


    And him breaking his own gates. Without eating or sleep for several days.


    That odd feeling from the second gate. The feeling of nothingness.


    The third gate showing the true face of mages. And how cruel of a enemy they could be.


    ~sigh~


    ''Those NPCs light constructs are not even that strong, right? For mages I mean.''


    [You could guess?]


    ''Yeah, the acolytes never used spells, they only have a stronger body''


    ''While the mages, apart from fireball, almost never used other spells too.''


    [Indeed]


    ''And they took way too long to chant those spells at the end of that battle too. I was expecting way more.''


    ''If I''m not wrong, these mages in this battle, when it really happened back in the time, were here only to cure favor from bigger yers watching from the back''


    [You guessed right]


    ''The ones I''m going to meat in real life would be way stronger, right?''


    [Correct again. They will be several times stronger than these here. Some immeasurably stronger.]


    ''And once they know I''m with the Mage yer sword, they will hunt me down like a golden goose''


    [...]


    ''I know my fate already. Don''t need to be afraid that I didn''t see thising. Or do you take me as a fool?''


    [...]


    ''The moment I received this legendary grade sword, I knew my ancestor had a scheme up his sleeve. There ain''t free meals in this world.''


    [Unfortunately, I can''t talk about your ancestor ns]


    ''Rules, I know''


    [Indeed]


    ''A legendary sword made to kill mages used as a bait to attract all the strongest mages of all dimensions.''


    ''The blood of a ''until now'' extinct race, the warlock race, me.''


    ''All to lure them to pursuit me''


    [...]


    ''And me. Trained to the peak by this tower to be a mage killing machine.''


    [...]


    ''But that''s not all right? I know I''m missing something. Can''t be this simple.''


    [...]


    ''Yeah yeah I know... rules.''


    [Indeed]


    ''A n that goes by thousand of years and took who knows so many more years to be made... only for revenge? I understand the desire for revenge. But can''t be only because of that. My ancestor is anything but a simple person.''


    ~sigh~


    ''This will be a long and tedious night.''


    Said Mack, disabling his invisibility cape.


    Everyone had retreated already to their respective camps, and it didn''t seem someone woulde there anytime soon.


    He was dying to eat something.


    But had no way to move back to the warlock camp.


    Not for the next few hours, at least.


    Mack used all the force he could muster and extended his arm to the right, grabbing half of a dead mage body.


    Then he pulled it, inch by inch.


    He was damn weak.


    Fifteen minutester, a dead mage body, or half of it, was over Mack''s body.


    ''At least this way if someonee here they would think I''m dead too.''


    Mack could not risk someone stumbling on him while in invisible mode or he would be dead for sure.

 Chapter 50 - 50. When The Sun Goes Up

    After a few boring hours.


    Mack finally could move his legs and arms and dragged his tired body out of the silent battlefield.


    Today was an eerie night. More than the already usual eerie nights.


    Just like the quiet before the storm. This night was strangely and agonizing quiet.


    Mack walked amongst the bodies on the ground while dragging his own tired body.


    The silence only made all worst, not even screams for help, or other wounded warriors trying to save their poor lives.


    Nothing.. Just broken bodies. Like dolls of a bored children. Everywhere.


    Mack walked for a few miles until he saw the backline of the warlocks.


    Reaching the warlock camp, Mack received a few odd res but none tried to approach Mack, not even for a duel.


    It seemed no one was in the mood for little games today.


    The battle that was supposed tost for a hundred days was oddly reaching its climax.


    And it seemed tomorrow would be a do or die kind of day.


    Mack went to the food tent and grabbed a few white burritos.


    He was starving.


    And he would take anything he could have.


    Mack didn''t search for a table today and just seated beside the food tent.


    He was too tired to even walk this small distance of two meters. He could not care if others thought badly of him. Or gave him odd res.


    He was in a damned battle, after all. What you want? Finesse?


    Mack ate one ''white burritos'' after another.


    Truly like a madman.


    Eating as if there was no tomorrow.


    Five white burritoster.....


    ''Ohhh they must be ring at me like that because I''m covered in blood''


    Thought Mack, pping his own forehead.


    ''No doubt. I would do the same as them.''


    But Mack could not give himself the luxury of going to take a bath in the cleaning boxes.


    ''I need to rest more''


    Macky back and rested on the pole of the tent food.


    No one would openly kill him while sleeping.


    Walocks had stupid traditions, but they had a solid moral ground.


    At worst case, someone woulde to annoy him for a duel. But today? Mack doubted. The atmosphere at the camp seemed far more eerie than the usual eerie days.


    Mack had a few more hours of rest until the sun came from the mountains.


    And most warlocks around seemed to think the same, all resting or sleeping.


    Only a few kept watch while some did some maintenance or ate. All the rest was sleeping or resting.


    The camp had indeed retreat all the way back to the small hill Mack was this morning.


    And it was not anymore a single horizontal line of several small camps.


    Looked more like a half moon of trenches protecting all the front and sides.


    Mack guessed they intended to use this advantage point of the hill as thest line of defense.


    ~sigh~


    ''Lets stop thinking and sleep. I need to recover as soon as possible.''


    Though Mack pulling down his ragged hood to cover his eyes for a better sleep.


    He didn''t had any dreams that night.


    A FEW HOURS LATER


    Something stumbled on Mack''s legs.


    Twice.


    ''What now?''


    Mackzily opened his eyes and saw three warlocks standing tall around him.


    And one of them was Raz.


    The other one was his ancestor NPC.


    And the third, Mack never saw before.


    Raz took a step forward and extended his arm in Mack''s direction.


    He seemed to try to insinuate for them to make peace, or just wanted to offer a hand for Mack to stand up?


    ~sigh~


    Mack grabbed Raz''s hand and stood up. Both looked at each other eyes but not a word was said.


    Than like a mutual agreement, both gave light nods with the head. Together.


    Both of them knew that they could only try to revert this war together.


    There was no hope alone. Only death.


    Mack looked to the warlock at his right side, the one he didn''t know, but didn''t say anything.


    Just kept looking into his eyes.


    After a few seconds, Mack lowered his gaze to that warlock belt and saw that there was only one rune carved on each side of the belt.


    He moved his gaze back to Raz.


    "Is that all you have?"


    Raz took a drawing board and showed to Mack.


    #Lets talk inside#


    And pointed to the tent behind Mack.


    Mack looked back and saw the tent was now empty without others distributing or preparing food.


    Mack looked in Raz''s eyes again and turned his back, entering the tent.


    Raz and the others followed.


    And the tent was closed.


    ONE HOUR LATER


    The tent was opened and the four came outside.


    Mack looked to the sky and saw the day was about to bright again. But today the warm rays of light didn''t make one feel any better.


    It was a cruel battle going for days already. Everyone there saw somebody they knew die. Or worst.


    It was a battle of resistance, yet, on this day, nobody seemed in the mood to resist anymore.


    The morale of the warlock army was low. Even a blind man would see that this battle was lost already.


    Their army was reduced to only the best or the lucky. All the rest were reaped from their duty and turned into ashes on the pyre.


    "Are you sure?"


    Asked Mack, looking behind him.


    Raz, in response, gave a long a slow nod with his head.


    Mack looked back to where the front of the battle would happen today.


    Smoke wasing from the distant field, the remains ofst night''s battle.


    Fireballs were the basic mage spell for wars. And that was not for no reason. They were truly devastating.


    "Another shitty day ahead"


    Said Mack, removing his sword from his belt and resting her on his shoulder.


    He already forgot the count of how many shitty days he had since entering this dammed tower.

 Chapter 51 - 51. The Last Battle Begins

    Looking far in the distance, Mack could see thousands of mages and acolytes lining up.


    The battle was about to begin. Probably thest one of this war.


    "What are you waiting for?!"


    Said Mack, looking to Raz.


    Raz raised his hand and screamed something that Mack could not hear, and made a circr motion with his hand in the air.


    Then Mack saw all the warlocks in that small camp stopping doing what they were doing and walking toward Raz.


    After less than a minute, every warlock there was in front of Raz. Waiting for his orders. .


    Mack quickly counted, and there were around 40 warlocks in total.


    "I hope it will be enough"


    Murmured Mack.


    Raz gave orders, and the warlocks quickly divided in three squads.


    After a few rounds of inaudiblemands, Raz looked at Mack and gave a nod.


    It was all ready.


    "First squad, follow me! We are the tip."


    Screamed Mack, already walking outside the camp.


    And the almost twenty warlocks followed.


    Not long after, the others two squads followed behind.


    If one looked from afar, they would see 40+ warlocks moving in a ''goose'' formation. Or in simple terms in a ''V'' formation.


    Mack was the tip of the formation, and Raz was right in the middle of this formation. Raz was the only warlock there that could cause damage from a long distance, like mages did.


    A simple and straightforward strategy is most of the times the better choice.


    Mack didn''t read many books when a child, at least is what he thinks, but hepensated in his adult life. And one of the books he read was the famous The Art of War by Sun Tzu.


    To tell the true, Mack only read this book because it was trendy at the time. But once reading it, he realised that most of his way of thinking aligned with the strategies and phases of the book. He just didn''t know how to put in ''words'' before.


    Mack, different from most normal people, didn''t have a peaceful life. Running and killing was part of his daily routine. He didn''t had a choice. Or he learned how to survive or he would be dead by now.


    "Iing!"


    Screamed Mack to alert the fireballsing their way.


    Warlocks didn''t use shields. And that''s why most of normal battle tactics didn''t work with them. They didn''t have a clear way to defend. All depended on each individual experience and thinking toe with a way to defend or evade when under attack. Thus, breaking any kind of formation.


    But this was about to change.


    Raz raised his hand, and the fireballs exploded while still in the air.


    "They prepared a firework show to wee us! Lets make them know how much we appreciate!"


    "By sending them to their graves!"


    Screamed Mack, running toward the mages.


    Normal warlocks had the advantage in closebat. They needed to engage in battle as soon as possible to maximize their advantage and reduce losses.


    "Iing!"


    Another round of fireballs, and Raz raised his hand again.


    This time no one stopped running or watched the beautiful fireworks that Raz provided them, because in the next twenty meters they were about to sh with the mage''s army.


    Only 40 ish warlocks against a sea of mages and acolytes.


    All the warlock army was at the camp waiting to defend and use the small hill as an advantage point.


    Mack was not stupid, nor Raz was. They were not aiming to suicide themselves or stop the mage army with only 40 warlocks.


    Their goal was way beyond that.


    "Prepare for contact!"


    Mack raised his hand and touched his index finger.


    ~sh~


    Hundreds of acolytes in front of Mack went blind.


    And in the next second, sounds of swords shing with staffs and bodies falling to the ground permeated everyone''s ears.


    Mack sword hacked an acolyte in two halves and another one came in his ce trusting his staff in Mack direction, but before he could touch Mack, a dagger was shot in that acolyte''s left eye.


    Warlocks were raised as warriors with every single one in this group having countless battles on their belts, and their senses were as sharp as the daggers they carried.


    Mack looked to his right side while impaling another acolyte and saw a mageing to help those acolytes.


    "Right side Raz!"


    And in the next second, that mage stopped running and fell to his knees with his head looking at his own back.


    Mack''s gaze changed to the front, and a fireball wasing from the sky. They really didn''t care for the acolytes.


    ~boom~


    That fireball exploded mid air.


    The heat assaulting everyone close.


    Mack kicked the impaled acolyte still stuck at his de, making three more stumble and fall, and thrust his sword at another one on his left.


    Battle was a chaotic ce.


    One slip and your head could fall.


    Mack gave a quick sprint and hacked an acolyte''s head.


    But the cut was not clean, and that acolyte kept walking and stumbling on his ownrades with his half head on the ground.


    ~stumble~


    Someone pushed that acolyte and he fell, now finally dead.


    Mack moved back three steps, and two warlocks each at one side of Mack passed by him.


    Each one killing another acolyte.


    Mack threw his dagger to the front, and another one was dead.


    A quick sprint again and another one to maim.


    Mack rolled back and recovered his dagger, but that dagger could not rest on his belt today because another acolyte was about to stop breathing this day.


    ~swish~


    Mack threw his dagger and stood up, blocking a staff with his left hand.


    That acolyte tried to retrieve his staff, but a kick came to his side.


    ~stumble~


    An acolyte went flying.


    Mack, still with that acolyte staff in his left hand, gave a little jump and thew ahead.


    Another one dead.


    "Hold the tip!"


    Screamed Mack with all his lungs.


    And two warlocks behind him came to the front.


    Mack took a breath and looked behind, only to see Raz full of smiles.


    ''What a freak''


    Mack''s gaze went to the front, and another mage was there waiting for his prom.


    "Lets have a dance!"


    Said Mack aloud, already moving his sword for another round.

 Chapter 52 - 52. To The Mouth Of Death

    Mack jumped to the front head first while shing an acolyte.


    With the impetus, he rolled on the ground and torn apart another acolyte leg.


    While still rolling, Mack activated his shbang runespell.


    Mack stood up and a bright light shed for a second on the battlefield again, as if a giant was using a kodak camera to record this beautiful battle.


    Every acolyte in front of Mack went blind, and the warlocks didn''t dy, heads begun to fall like drops announcing an iing rain.


    Mack raised his sword high and half a secondter pointed to that mage.


    He didn''t forget his prom dance.


    "Make him dance for me!" .


    And not even a secondter, two warlocks run while shing their swords.


    Mack looked around and saw that no warlock died until now.


    The n was working.


    The mages are going to go insane today.


    Mack blocked an acolyte with his left hand and sidestepped to evade another one.


    His sword went up and two heads went down.


    Mack''s gaze went to that mage. Now on a full y. Like a monkey on a tipsy day.


    Mack pulled his sword back and flexed his right arm all the way.


    That mage only saw a swording his way and before he could even pray, his body was rolling on the ins.


    Mack slowly walked to that mage and put his hand on the handle of the sword, still lunged at the mage right eye.


    "Sorry toete for the dance."


    Said Mack, cing his right foot on the mage''s mouth and pushing the sword out of his skull.


    Mack clicked his middle finger and the blood mist around him stopped.


    The two warlocks didn''t stop, and the killing continued. The more they killed, the more they advanced the tip of the formation.


    Behind Mack, over forty wereing.


    Those two were just the sharp point of the knife. The bests at closebat. And Mack, a freak.


    ~swish~


    The de was pushed out of that mage skull and Mack blocked an acolyte staff with his left hand.


    Barely the de left a warm body to once again feel the urge for another one.


    Mack''s sword didn''t have a scabbard, his scabbard was the dead bodies of mages and acolytes.


    Only the best of the best for his sword.


    Mack kicked the acolyte leg, making him lose bnce and in the next second maimed his right side with three blunt strikes of his sword.


    Only pure and brutal force, no fancy movements.


    The acolyte passed out without air in his lungs and Mack kicked him in the groins.


    There is nothing so bad that can''t go worst.


    The acolyte opened his eyes almost bulging them out of his sockets and a de came to appease his pain.


    Mack had others to y.


    The battle was an unending carnage. The more they advanced the more acolytes and mages came.


    But they didn''t stop.


    They kept advancing in the middle of the mage army.


    Many knew they entered but only a few knew they were still there. Most thought of them as good as dead. The battle was huge and the mage''s army was the most numerous. It was impossible to track what was happening on all the fronts.


    The warlocks took advantage of this chaos to kill their way toward their goal.


    But less than half an hourter, they had already lost more than ten warriors.


    They kept advancing and losing warriors, but another half hourter, they finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Or, in other words, they finally didn''t see any mages or acolytesing in front of them.


    They finally crossed the mage''s army.


    With only 12 people in total, they barely had any formation now. Even so, it was still better than what Mack thought. He believed they would not even be able to cross the mage army.


    Behind them, the mages and acolytes still pursued them. Is not like they would leave them alone just because they crossed the entire army and were running in the opposite direction. On the contrary, anyone that went behind their backs would receive full attention. Because now was easy to spot them. They were not surrounded by hundreds or thousands of mages and acolytes anymore.


    They were in the open.


    And thousands have spotted them.


    "Keep running! Protect Raz at all costs until we reach our goal!"


    Screamed Mack to the few warriors with him.


    Every single one of them knew this was ast struggle in a lost battle. A chance, a hope. And because of that, no one of them cared if they lost their lives. If they just stayed at the camps instead, sooner orter they would be dead anyway.


    If they had to use their lives to buy a chance for the warlocks to survive, they would dly threw themself to the mouth of death.


    They kept running without stopping. Using thest drops of stamina on their bodies.


    Fireballs rained on their backs and Raz did his best to not let one fall on them. But even with Raz, it was a monumental struggle to avoid all of them.


    Dozens of fireballs came for their backs from all directions.


    It was impossible for Raz to keep all at bay.


    "Tight the formation! everyone around Raz! No more than 10 steps away from him!"


    This way, Raz only had to care about the attacksing right at them.


    Mack kept running at the front of all of them. But now his goal was not to kill but to change directions and kept looking back to avoid most of the fireballsing for them.


    After about 20 minutes of openly running on the fields, most of the attacks stopped and now only one group of mages was pursuing them.


    But was not a small group.


    Mack quickly looked back and saw almost a hundred of mages running in their direction. Not acolytes, Mages!


    One hundred mages.


    If those mages catch them. They would be good as dead.


    That was what those mages thought, at least.


    "Stop! Lets clear our back."


    Screamed Mack, turning his back and pressing his middle finger.

 Chapter 53 - 53. A Booklet

    A strong wind moved around Mack as if he was the eye of a storm, while a bloody mist came from his body like wisps of lost souls surrounding their reaper.


    With a sword in hand and a cape fluttering behind his back, Mack came to the back of the warlock group waiting for the mages pursuing them.


    "Hold!"


    Screamed Mack, to make his allies stay still. The time was not ripe yet.


    About one kilometer in front of them, the group of almost a hundred mages stopped and started to chant spells.


    "Get ready!"


    Screamed Mack, flexing his legs.


    It was time to show the horror of true warlocks. .


    Mack looked at Raz by his side and gave a nod.


    Raz raised his hand, and pointed his finger.


    But he did not point his finger in the mage''s direction.


    He pointed his hand to Mack.


    ~zummmmm~


    Suddenly the whirlwind that surrounded Mack increased by ten times. And with that, the pressure over his body and all around him increased too.


    "ARGHHHH!"


    Blood poured out of his pores and orifices even more, and small drops of blood could be seen floating all around Mack.


    Mack screamed in pain, but on the next second he was already kicking the ground and disappearing from everyone''s sight.


    Where he was, only a cloud of dust could be seen now.


    Raz looked back to the stunned warlocks and shake his head.


    They were too rooted in the warlock way. He too was one of them, until he saw this freak called Mack progress more quickly than any warlock ever.


    Raz looked back to where the mages were chanting their spells, and he saw something he would never forget.


    A blinding sh of light and than.....


    Nothing.


    All the mages disappeared from the face of Earth and Mack appeared where the mages were.


    And in the next second.


    ~boommmm~


    A monstruous sound wave assaulted all the warlocks and cleaned all the ground in a hundred meters around Mack.


    But what stunned Raz was not that.


    It was the ground below Mack. It had sunken dozens of centimeters.


    Even Raz could not do something like that. Sunk the ground dozens of centimeters? Impossible!


    But the proof was in front of him.


    That freak! Killed a hundred mages in a blink of an eye as if it was a child ying with ants.


    Raz saw Mack fall to his knees and ran for him but when he approached the area Mack was already unconscious.


    Lyng on his own body, still on his knees, with his sword lunged at the red ground in front of him.


    A warrior that never surrenders. That was what Raz saw. Even unconscious he would not bend.


    Raz promised himself to never forget this scene for the rest of his life.


    s, he didn''t know he was a light construct. Otherwise, he would probably kill himself. Pride was a dangerous emotion.


    Raz grabbed Mack and his sword and looked around the ce onest time.


    One hundred mages had died for a single warlock today in this ce. And the proof was right below Raz feet.


    Bits and pieces of broken bodies and staffs were all around, mixed with dirt from the ttened ground.


    Raz gazed in the direction of the mage army, now too far in the sight to be seen, and guessed someone woulde to check on all the noise and light here.


    They needed to hurry and leave this ce quickly.


    Raz raised Mack and threw him on his shoulder, and after a few orders to the rest of the warlocks, they continued to run in the same direction as before.


    A few hourster....


    Mack woke up and unconsciously tried to stand up. Pain assaulted his temple, and he felt dizzy, almost fainting. His body was too weak to even stand up, and he let his body lie down once again.


    "I guess we made it"


    Said Mack, looking to his right side.


    Raz gave a curt nod.


    "I''m useless to any battle for a few more hours. Did you guys scout the area?"


    Raz again gave a quick nod with his head.


    "Did you choose the target?"


    And once again, another nod came from Raz.


    "Good. Now, give me any food you may have. I''m starving and I need to eat something to recover faster."


    Raz looked to one of the warlocks, and that warlock thew a bag close to where Mack was.


    Mack looked at it and saw was a mage bag.


    "I guess you guys found another group?"


    Raz again gave a brief nod with his head.


    Mack looked around, and all warlocks seemed to be there. Bu now the number was less than before.


    Only 7 in total.


    They have lost a few more once again.


    Mack grabbed the bag by his side.


    It was the first time he came in contact with mage stuff. Because during battle, most acolytes and mages only carried their staffs and nothing more.


    The bag itself was not fancy at all. It was only a simple bag with some words inscribed on it. Mack guessed those words were for identification purpose.


    Opening the bag, Mack saw some kind of dried meat and water.


    And a booklet.


    Mack''s eyes sparkled seeing the booklet.


    Maybe his luck had a turn for good and he could learn some more runes or any kind of spell that he could modify for his own use. Anything at all, and Mack would be happy.


    Mack grabbed the booklet and turned it. Looking at the cover, he saw letters he could not identify again.


    His trantion equipment only worked over voice or sound. He could only read what warlocks wrote because they used runes, the same kind Mack learned from his father.


    "Is that the primarynguage of mages?"


    Asked Mack, turning his head toward Raz.


    Raz again gave a simple nod with his head.


    "Hmmm"


    Mack opened the booklet and flipped the pages, but only saw more and more of the same letters.


    The small book didn''t have any single rune over his pages.


    ''Maybe is some kind of diary or story''


    ~sigh~


    "The same bad luck as always."


    Said Mack, closing the book. This chapter of his life was not a good one.

 Chapter 54 - 54. Rob A Bank?

    Mack put the booklet to the side and dug on the food.


    He didn''t even pay attention to the taste, texture, or smell. He was starving.


    Every time Mack over used his middle finger runespell, he felt as if he could eat an entire crate of food.


    Essence helped his body to be more strong and resistent and somehow Mack knew he would not starve to death in dozens of days without food, but it seemed in extreme cases Essence could not fully rece normal food nor a good night of sleep.


    ''Not with this Essence saturation in the environment, at least''


    Though Mack, remembering the second gate, in there he only eat because he was used to it.


    After finishing the food, Mack rested again on the ground and used the mage bag as a pillow.


    A littlefort from time to time would kill no one..


    "How long did I sleep?"


    Asked Mack, looking at Raz.


    Raz moved his hand and raised 3 fingers.


    "Three hours..... And I''m still not recovered to even walk. I lost too much blood this time."


    Raz shook his head. Thought for a moment and drew two runes on the ground.


    "Three Days?!"


    Raz gave a quick nod and pointed to the sun raising on the west.


    "Fuck! Three days? How?"


    Raz looked at Mack and drew a few runes on the ground.


    # We even suspected you had suffered some kind of permanent damage and would not wake up anymore #


    Mack could understand them. Three days is a long time in a battle.


    ''The battle!''


    "And the battle?!"


    Hearing the question, Raz mood wentpletely sour and his eyes showed the answer Mack didn''t want to hear nor Raz wanted to say.


    ''They lost. Are all of them dead? And the mage army?''


    Mack had many doubts. This was not the initial n at all.


    Seeing Mack''s facial expressions of doubt, disbelief and shock, Raz started to draw a few more runes on the ground.


    # We are thest ones. They killed everyone else. There is no more warlock army #


    "And what about the mage''s army?"


    # They are still here. 100 miles at west. They are collecting all the bodies and searching for anyone that escaped #


    "100 miles at west?"


    Mack looked at where the sun was raising. And tried to figure out where he was now.


    "Shit! We are between them and their ships?"


    Raz''s expression darkened, and he gave a quick nod with his head.


    ''That was the n. But not without a warlock army! Fuck. With no army, we will be found sooner orter in here.''


    ~sigh~


    "You guys can leave me behind if you want. I will not be able to walk or fight any time soon. And this ce is too dangerous. They will move the entire army back at any day."


    Raz looked Mack in the eyes for a long time and lowered his gaze.


    Mack thoughts went cold. It seemed Raz, too, was a practical person like him. They are going to leave him behind.


    But then.


    Raz fingers moved on the ground.


    # We are thest ones of our kind. There is no such thing as leaving someone behind #


    ''A sentimental prick''


    ~sigh~


    "I will remember that."


    A few hourster....


    Eight Warlocks could be seen behind a huge rock on the grass ins.


    Mack already recovered his mobility and was able to walk normally but could not fight yet. Not without dying, at least.


    The eight of them were not resting there, they were scouting something far in the sight.


    "This is the one?"


    Asked Mack, looking at a huge mage tower a few miles in front of them. The tower had about 10 floors and had a cylindrical form.


    Raz, by the side of Mack, gave a quick nod.


    "Did you guys monitor it? There are mages inside?"


    Raz raised his hand and made a 2 and then a 0 with his fingers.


    "Twenty mages...How many acolytes?"


    Raz raised his hand and made a 0 with his hand.


    "Twenty mages and not a single acolyte...."


    Mack thought about it for a long time. If they were right, this is the tower they needed 3 days ago.


    But now? Was worth it to even try?


    "The info about the war... are you guys sure? You get the info from that group you encountered while I was unconscious, right? Are you a hundred percent sure?"


    Raz looked at his warlocksrades and drew a few runes on the ground.


    # We captured three and tortured them. That''s why we we lost a few in thest battle. To capture them. And the three gave the same kind of answer #


    "I see.... In this case...."


    "....What you guys think? I can''t fight yet. And we can''t damage the tower. We would only depend on you Raz."


    Raz looked at one of the other warlocks, and that warlock threw another mage bag.


    Raz opened the bag and showed the contents to Mack.


    "What a smart ass. This will save us a lot of effort"


    Said Mack, grabbing a mage robe.


    ''This definitively would not work in normal war time because of patrols and security and etc. But now? With the warlock army gone, they for sure will believe anyone using a robe this far from the battlefield is a mage.''


    Mack looked at the robe more closely and it seemed very luxurious. As if made with silk from Earth, full of decorative engravings on its borders.


    "Ok, lets get dressed then. We have a bank to rob today."


    The warlocks stopped grabbing the robes and looked back to Mack without understanding.


    "I mean.... a mage tower. We have a mage tower to rob today!"


    Said Mack, already removing his warlock clothes.


    Today, they will need to do a little roley as mages to enter that dammed tower.


    "Once we approach there, let me do the talking. I have a trantor in this mask."


    Said Mack, pointing to his mask.


    Raz gave a nod, but then looked at Mack''s back.


    Mack saw the odd gaze and didn''t understand.


    "What? Is there something wrong?"


    Raz pointed to Mack back with his hand.


    "Ohhh the cape! Right!"


    Said Mack, focusing on his ''phantom limb'' called Argonian Cape, and turning it off.


    Sometimes he even forgets he has a cape.

 Chapter 55 - 55. A Tower To Call Mine

    Mack put the mages clothes and was ready to go, but then he remembered something.


    ''I can''t fucking hear them!''


    "Shit! Shit! Shit!"


    Raz, by the side, didn''t know what was happening and was about to ask when Mack suddenly removed his mask and threw to him.


    Raz quickly understood what was happening.


    Mack was deaf. At least for everyone else at this gate.


    ''Is this going to work, Arcane?''


    [In all these years in this vital industry, this is the first time this happened to me]


    ''Oh, man! Now you are mimicking those cartoons I saw on Earth. I created a monster!'' .


    [...]


    Raz put the Mask and walked forward. He knew he would need to do the talking.


    Mack, for instance, felt naked without the mask. He was already used to it.


    Approaching the tower range they suddenly felt an extra pressure. Essence.


    ''Did they discover us?''


    Mack was ready to run if things turned sour. He could not fight. Not today.


    And as quickly as the pressure came, it also vanished. It was just an automatic response from the tower.


    ''That was close''


    Thought Mack, before continuing to walk to the tower with the other warlocks.


    Approaching the tower, Mack saw a device close to the door that seemed to be formunication.


    ''Nowes the hard part''


    But then he hears some noises, and the door suddenly opened.


    Mack looked at Raz but he too didn''t understand what was happening and shook his arms.


    ''That easy?''


    A mage came out of the door.


    Looked at the group for a few seconds and screamed something that Mack could not hear.


    Raz gave a nod and ordered to everyone to quicklye inside.


    Mack was lost for words.


    ''Did they never get tricked like this before? What''s wrong with these people? In Earth, if you look to the wrong side you get robed.''


    [Warlocks don''t have a use for mage towers. In battle, they usually leave them alone or destroy them]


    ''Makes sense''


    Mack and the warlocks entered the small door one by one and the mage that opened it waited by outside, quickly closing it after entering too.


    Mack looked inside the tower and it was so in that he felt like a child discovering that Santa was not real.


    The first floor looked like a lounge with some kind of beds and other stuff for daily use and a few mages were ying some odd kind of cards at a table while others were just resting or eating.


    ''I was expecting way more. Where is the magical stuff from movies?''


    [This is a battlefield mage tower. It''s as simple asmon outposts from Earth ifpared to castles]


    ~sigh~


    ''I hope it will not be a wasted trip''


    Thought Mack, looking around while Raz talked with the mage.


    He could not hear anything, but that mage seemed very preupied with something.


    The mage said something to Raz and started to walk to some door by the side, and pressed a button.


    ''An elevator? What a modern tower they have. Now that is something unexpected.''


    Mack image of a mage tower was like medieval towers from earth with long staircases and candles by the sides.


    But this one looked like amon building from Earth.


    Simple and functional.


    Mack entered the elevator with them and stayed at the back.


    Raz kept talking with the mage, who knows about what.


    To tell the true Mack was impressed that Raz could behave himself and didn''t kill anyone until now.


    Mack heard a noise, and the elevator stopped.


    The doors opened and Mack finally saw what he came for.


    The control room of the tower.


    Runes were everywhere mixed with machines and some kind of ss screens that reyed the outside.


    ''Jack pot!''


    Said Mack, stepping foot inside the room.


    Raz was now talking with someone that looked like the one in charge of the tower.


    And he also seemed to hear every word Raz said. with very concerned eyes.


    Mack was getting very very curious now.


    ''What they keep talking about? To have these ugly faces.....''


    But the goal was more important.


    Mack looked at Raz and gave him a nod. It was time to end the y. They already essed the control room.


    Raz pointed to one of the sses that reyed the outside and asked something.


    The two mages turned their head to look.


    Even Mack turned to look.


    And in the next second, the head of the two mages fell on the floor.


    Raz didn''t even blink while killing them with his daggers.


    Mack jaw fell.


    ''Fuck! I needed that one alive!''


    Raz cleaned his ''devoid of blood'' daggers and put them on his wrists again.


    Mack kept starring at him. Like a dad that caught a son doing something bad.


    Raz scratched his head but didn''t say anything.


    ~sigh~


    ''Nevermind. What is done, is done.''


    Thought Mack, pointing to the mask in Raz''s face.


    He was really feeling naked without it.


    Raz removed the mask and gave to Mack.


    After putting the mask, Mack looked around, and all warlocks were still there.


    "What are you guys waiting for?!! Do you want a coffee before going to kill the rest of them?!!"


    Mack didn''t even know if coffee was amon thing for them. But the warlocks seemed to figure the meaning and quickly left the control room thru the elevator.


    Mack looked back to Raz. Still there.


    "What? Was not you so eager to kill mages? You can kill them all now."


    Said Mack, pointing to the elevator door.


    Raz murmured something with his head down, but still moved to the door.


    "Onlyeback with all mages dead!"


    Raz raised his head like craving to retort, but in the end just closed the elevator door.


    Raz knew he should not have killed that mage. But his blood was boiling with rage after he discovered the warlock army was defeated.


    This n of them was a long shot, but he knew that was better than just throwing his live at the battlefield like everyone else.


    "Now its me and you."


    Said Mack, looking at the control board of the tower.


    He finally had a tower to call ''his''.

 Chapter 56 - 56. A History Lesson

    After two hours looking at the runes and other symbols and buttons on the control panel, Mack finally had a basic grasp of how it worked.


    But something still felt odd to Mack. He didn''t find the power source of everything.


    It seemed that was not here, as the runes were mixed with tech and other symbols it made difficult to Mack to locate it, but he was sure this floor didn''t have a ce like the cubes had.


    ''Where is it?''


    Then Mack remembered all the other floors they passed without stopping.


    ''Dont tell me?''


    Mack run for the elevator, and as he was going to press the button to call the elevator, it made a noise and opened.


    It was Raz. .


    "You guys are finally back! Did you take all the trash out?"


    Raz gave a simple nod and was about to leave the elevator when Mack suddenly entered it.


    Everyone looked at him, not understanding.


    Did he want to personally see the bodies?


    But Mack pressed a button that was rted to the floor below, not the main hall.


    The door closed and and Raz quickly patted on Mack shoulder like asking for him to turn and exin what he was going to do.


    "You guys will see soon enough."


    ~tin~


    The familiar elevator noise and the door opened.


    And in front of them a small room with a ss window, like the ones from an operation room in hospital movies.


    Mack approached the ss window, and everyone came along, following him.


    On the other side of the ss, Mack saw something he never saw before.


    A crystal.


    Like a diamond made of milky white color in the center of the room.


    Below it a runes and symbols that epassed the entire floor.


    The crystal itself was not big, it was the size of a baby fist. But even so, Mack was still chocked.


    ''Is this like the mana crystals from games?''


    "So small, I was expecting way more."


    Raz and everyone around looked at Mack at the same time.


    Did this guy went insane? A crystal that size is already rare.


    And as if to correct Mack''s assumptions, the Arcane voice came.


    [Essence Crystals are as rare as dragons on your. Did you ever saw a dragon before?]


    ''No''


    [Neither those warlocks saw an Essence Crystal like this before]


    ''But is not the same in all towers?''


    [No. This tower is a bit special. You can tell it because it has 10 floors instead of the regr 5 from other towers]


    ''So. The other towers don''t have a crystal inside?''


    [No. Only this kind of tower has. And they are few on the entire battlefield]


    ''Why is that?''


    [That. You need to figure yourself]


    ''tsc.... always making unnecessary suspense''


    Mack looked at the runic circle on the ground and it had mixed symbols from othernguages in it. Just like the control room.


    Mages seemed to mix runes with other things, and Mack was not clear why they did that.


    ''Arcane. Can you exin to me that?''


    [This is more of a history lesson than anything else. Runes are known to be the more powerful way to influence Essence apart from Will itself. But as your home that has hundreds ofnguages, the magemunity has thousands and thousands ofnguages. And some very influential civilizations were born and progressed without the knowledge of runes. Onlyter they discovered it existed, normally whening in contact with other dimensions ors. But they already had a powerful and solid knowledge to create arrays using their own ways. Thousands yearster it ended up influencing the entire magemunity. The same way Latin died in you and several othernguages were born in its ce.]


    ''So you are telling me that runes are like Latin for those peoples. And they, lets say, use English, that has a few words that came from Latin. Or that derived from Latin words?''


    [Correct]


    ''But why? If runes are more powerful.''


    ~pat~


    Mack''s thoughts were interrupted. An annoying warlock was iming for attention.


    Mack looked to the side and Raz had a face like, ''What to do now? Are you well?''


    "Im thinking. Just a moment."


    Said Mack, realizing it was odd to stay still doing nothing while he talked with the Arcane thru thoughts.


    ''Please Exin. This is more important to me.''


    [Ok. Let me give you a better example. Lets say you want to create a rune circuit that transforms something red to blue. But you don''t know the rune for blue. But someone already created a mage array with this functionally in anothernguage or with other symbols. What would you do? Spend years in research for that rune or just use that already working mage circuit?]


    ''I see. And with this exnation I think I understand better the rtion runes have with Essence too. Runes are not like anguage that some old civilization used. They are more like a representation of will itself. That''s why they need to ''research'' one if it didn''t ''exist'' yet. Is that correct?''


    [Indeed. You guessed right. And this realization normally takes a mage decades toe by. One thing is being told that and another is understanding it by yourself]


    ''Thanks. That rified a lot in my mind.''


    Mack''s gaze refocused on the Essence Crystal and a smile bloomed on his face.


    It seemed his n will be way more easily done than he expected.


    ''How much Essence this crystal holds? I mean.... there is a kind of measurement for that?''


    [Essence Crystals are the core of very particrs. Think of it as if your, instead of having low Essence density it had several times more. What would happen to its core? It would change and evolve to adapt to the essence density like u did. To amodate more and more and as the Aeons passed, it would form a crystal at its very center. This crystal.]


    ''They destroyed a to retrieve this? How rich was my ancestor exactly? To put this here as a ything? And what is wrong with those mages to let this so unguarded?''


    [Not exactly. This one is a white Essence Crystal. Meaning, it is a manufactured one. Natural formed Essence Crystals are transparent in color, just like diamonds or ss]


    ''I see. That''s exin why they have it here. They can create this thing in ab or something?''


    [Factories. They have a constant supply and need for them. Powerful mages often have one in their staffs or other kind of essories]


    ''I see. That exins why the mages here are so weak, their staffs are in wood or metal.''


    [Correct. There were budget limitations for what your ancestor could ''recreate'' here, after all]


    ''And how many Essence that thing can hold?''

 Chapter 57 - 57. Essence Crystals

    Mack was very curious to know how much essence that little crystal could hold.


    And also curious to know how mages measured that.


    Because Essence density is not exactly output or capacity, is more abstract as it can epass both kinds of measures, but for something like a crystal that was a tool, a measurement for the expected result when used was better than a measurement that epassed all, like density.


    [There are several ways and terms used to measure Essence Crystals]


    ''Just give me the more precise or the most used, and I bet they are different.''


    [Correct assumption, the most precise method was devised by an ancient civilization now extinct. They called this method as Lux Units. They used a simple light rune circuit and measured how many photons an Essence crystal could emit when activated during a given time and they measured the total time emitting the same amount as its capacity]


    ''I see they really thought thru to be a very scientific method of measurement. But how they measured the capacity? It''s not like they will wait for the crystal to run out of juice.'' .


    [That is the exact reason for this measurement to not be very popr. Because it''s not very practical. They indeed only had the capacity in lux units when the crystal was fully used]


    Mack was speechless. Why create a system like that?


    [Currently, this measurement system is mostly used inboratory tests. When the precision of the results must be extremely urate]


    ''And the most popr?''


    [It can be tranted as EC. It''s a measure specific to Essence Crystals]


    ''And how is this measured?''


    [The capacity is measured using the size of the crystal and the whiteness of them]


    [The bigger and whiter, the better. Essence crystals became dark rock colored when empty and milk white when full. The same apply for not manufactured Essence crystals they are translucent when full and dark opaque when empty]


    ''I see.... that''s indeed vague, as I never used one I can''t know what to expect of them in all the transitions and sizes even if someone said to me that it had a capacity of 2EC I would not know what that means in a practical way. But for someone used to them it''s ok I guess.''


    [Indeed]


    ''Why they don''t just weight them? The more Essence Density, bigger the weight, no?''


    [It''s amon misunderstanding. Essence Crystals don''t have a weight. This is still a mystery to the scientificmunity. Some say that its Essence is sopressed that it creates its own gravitational field, while others say that its entirely made of essence and because of that, it does not have matter to affect. Only when used they turn to rock and have a normal weight of rock, some believe it''s a byproduct of the process]


    ''Huh? interesting.... entirely made of Essence....''


    Mack looked at that small white crystal in front of him and pondered on how many unsolved mysteries still exist out there.


    Even after millenniums they are yet to be solved. More and more, Mack felt an urge to go and explore all the universes.


    ''And how many ECs has this crystal?''


    [ording to my data, it has 100 ECs]


    ''Only that? Is that a lot?''


    [Yes. As far as I can tell. Mages have standardized several factory sizes for Essence crystals. And this in front of you is the third mostmon type. The mostmon one is the size of rice and is equal to 1 EC]


    ''And what about the output?''


    [They don''t use a measure for that, it''smon knowledge that an Essence Crystal has a maximum output of 1/100 per hour of their capacity in average.]


    ''So if they want to construct more powerful spells, they need bigger crystals or more crystals''


    [Correct]


    Mack gazed to the side and saw a small red button close to the door.


    Mages mixed tech and spells in such a way that seemed so natural that Mack still could not believe. He still had that old image of mages in dark castles doing rituals, killing goats as sacrifices and dancing in the rain or doing arrays for everything, even to light up a room.


    Mack pressed the button, and the entire array around the crystal dimmed its light.


    The next second, Mack pushed the door by the side of the button and entered.


    Walking inside the room Mack''s eyes passed over the several runes and symbols and tried to catch a glimpse of its functions.


    He would need to spend several hours to manage to figure what this array did and how.


    But he didn''t have that many time. Because at any day, the mage army would pass by this area when going back to their space ships.


    Time waits for no man.


    Mack grabbed the crystal, and it indeed felt that had no weight at all. Looked like he was holding a plume. He could feel the smoothness of the crystal and also his pointed and sharp edges.


    Just like a polished diamond would feel to the touch. But instead of a transparent and ss like appearance, it was white.


    "Ok let''s go to the others floors. If I''m right they have more of this on each floor."


    Said Mack, smiling at Raz.


    Raz felt a chill to his spine with such smile. It was not of someone that was happy with joy. More like someone who was preparing a blood bath.


    Mack left the room and went to the elevator with the other warlocks.


    This goose tower had more eggs to give.


    After half an hour they went to all floors and just as Mack suspected, every single one of them had a Crystal, except for the first andst one. Finding in total 8 Crystal.


    But the moment they removed thest one, the elevators and all the other functions of the tower stopped working.


    After an improvised ''staircase'' made of rubbles and debris of the broken wall of the elevator, they finally reached outside the tower.


    Mack wished to spend more time learning and practicing runes using the tower runes, but time was pressing.


    And with the discovery of the crystals, their n had a significant new rote of action.


    "Raz, in wich direction is the other tower like this one?"

 Chapter 58 - 58. Hope

    On the next day, by the time the rooster crow.


    Seven figures appeared on the horizon line with the sun behind them.


    It was Raz and the other warlocks.


    Noticing theming, Mack stopped studying the rune circuits he engraved in his mind, he was trying to replicate a few small ones that he saw at the mage tower.


    Raz approached Mack and threw his mask back to him while also putting his bag by the side.


    While putting on his mask, Mack gave a quick look at the warlocks, and didn''t see any injury.


    It seemed everything went smoothly again.


    "Did you get info about another one?"


    Asked Mack after putting the Mask.


    Raz gave a quick nod.


    "How far is it?"


    Raz raised 1 finger, then closed his hand and pointed to the south.


    "Ten miles south? Its not far."


    Raz shook his head.


    "A hundred miles?"


    Raz gave a quick nod.


    "Shit. is too far. We don''t have time to go there."


    Raz gave a quick nod. He knew too that they didn''t have many time to spare.


    Mack took the bag and looked inside. It had now 24 crystals there. This was their third time robbing a tower.


    Mack''s gaze went back to Raz.


    "And what about the mage army? Any news?"


    Raz shook his head.


    "Ok that leave us with a few days if they depart anytime from now."


    Mack looked at west and wondered why they were still there. The war was over. Probably there were a few warlocks that run and hid, but for an army of that size they should have searched the entire area in not more than a day.


    Mack could not guess the reason of why they were still there.


    "Lets hope that whatever is dying them keep pestering them until we finish the next part of the n."


    Mack threw the bag onto his back and started walking.


    "Come! lets find a more secluded ce. We can''t do the next part in the open."


    The green ins stretched by miles and miles, but from time to time, smallkes and tree lines appeared. They just needed to find a ce like that. One that would avoid any curious passer-by.


    "Oh by the way, I forgot to ask, why the mages at the first tower seemed so concerned when you talked with them?"


    Raz''s gaze went up, like trying to remember something, then talked something.


    For a brief moment, he forgot Mack could not hear.


    Raz raised his hand and pointed his finger to the front.


    His finger was pointing to Mack.


    "About me? How is that possible? Did I be famous?"


    Raz took his sword and drew two runes on the ground.


    # 100 mages #


    "100 mages? So, they somehow know we eliminated that group of mages?"


    Raz gave a nod and quickly drew a few more runes.


    # Not us. You. #


    "Yeah, I killed them alone. But if you didn''t use that Essence trick or art or whatever, I would not be able to power up. And also, we lost a few men while I was unconscious. If you guys didn''t protect me after that, I would be food for worms now. Or worst."


    Said Mack in a serious tone, those guys didn''t value all what they have done until now.


    Raz scratched the back of his head like someone that wanted to argue, but at the same time felt proud of his actions. In the end, he said nothing.


    "Ok. Listen up. We are a team, and there is nothing like me doing all alone or receiving all the praises for what we do. And also, I will need to count on you guys again in the next part. I will need you guys to protect me again because I will be extremely vulnerable."


    Mack looked at all the warlocks in the eyes. They were only seven now, eight in total, including Mack.


    "We do all we can, always. The rest is up to fate. This way, even if some random meteorite falls upon our heads, we can rest with a peaceful mind knowing we did all we could."


    Everyone looked at Mack and gave a nod.


    Unknown to them, he already had be their leader.


    Even Raz started treating Mack like that. Not because of Mack''s strength but because of his odd methods and quick actions. Mack didn''t dy too much ins his actions and was always moving. Always going somewhere or doing something.


    A man of action that thought out of the box could bring more change than an army of thousands.


    And Mack.


    Mack was a crazy bastard. But one with a good head.


    Mack knew when to retreat, and when to risk his neck. He knew when to go crazy and when to run. He had very few principles that he followed, but those few, were rock solid in his heart and mind.


    For Mack, there was not a life worth living if he didn''t live it ording to your own beliefs.


    And one of those was to never leave a friend behind.


    Those light constructs that Mack initially though were just pre programmed NPCs were as real as himself. They showed emotions, rage, pride, lust, and even greed. They reacted to everything around them like humans would do.


    He wished he could bring them along when leaving this gate of the tower. But he knew, deep down, he knew they were bound to this giant array above this entire battlefield.


    As all of that passed through his mind, Mack could not avoid feeling a bit depressed.


    Some things he was still too weak to change.


    ~sigh~


    "Lets go! We can''t stop now."


    Said Mack, turning his back and walking.


    If he dyed any second more, he would eventually let his depressed face be seen.


    And those guys already lost everything.


    Mack could not let them lose hope.


    Hope is all they have.

 Chapter 59 - 59. Blood Moon

    A few hourster.


    Surrounded by small trees, a naked man stood in the middle of a rune circuit made of blood.


    Around the circle, seven men kept quietly looking at the one inside the circle and patient waiting.


    The strong blood odor permeated the air with his metallic stink.


    While the trees around them moved with the wind in the dark night and the leaves made an unpleasant sound as if anticipating something bad.


    Only the moon shined above theirs heads.


    The naked man, had a body that looked sculpted from a artist and the moon light reflected the ck luster of the tattoos all over his body.


    The man pressed his left thumb against the runic circle..


    One secondter, the runic circle shined in blood red color. The light of it only made the night even more eerie, because in that light, the smile of that man appeared.


    ''Its working''


    Thought Mack, seeing the rune circuit was perfectly working.


    He raised his head and looked at Raz and gave a nod.


    Raz felt it was all too unnatural for him. He was not used to using runic circuits, but still, moved as nned and put one of the Essence crystal in its due ce above the circuit on the ground and moved back to his former ce.


    Essence left the crystal and went inside the smaller circuit, making it stronger, and in the inner part of the circuit in a 2 meter radius, Essence started to congregate.


    Mack felt the pressure increasing at each second, but was still far from what he wanted.


    He gave another look at Raz and raised 3 fingers.


    Raz, just like before, went to the runic circuit and put three more crystals there.


    Now Mack could feel pressure that made him use his muscles at the maximum.


    Mack raised one more finger and Raz did as asked.


    One more Essence crystal to the runic circle.


    Now it was truly demanding for Mack to stand up.


    ''Good. They are way more powerful than I thought''


    Mack initially thought he would need to use all crystals from the start to be able to feel a threatening pressure.


    s, he was wrong. But this only made him happier.


    Mack started to chant the old familiar chanting he created himself based on the book inscriptions. And the already eerie atmosphere only intensified.


    Breath, chant, breath.


    The wind carried his voice and the few animals around left the ce.


    No sane animal would approach this ce tonight.


    Because tonight, the moon shined in red.


    Mack raised his hand, made a signal with his finger for one more Essence Crystal.


    But his closed eyes dint opened.


    And his chanting never stopped.


    A fight against his own will was happening now.


    His muscles were already sore.


    His brain kept saying to leave the circle and stop the pain.


    His mind was against him.


    The first battle was not against the Essence pressure. But against himself. Against his monkey brain that kept asking for tranquil days and food instead of pain and suffering.


    A strong will can change worlds and forge them to his own ord. But the battle is always there. Fighting against himself all the time.


    Mack''s right hand raised, but this time, he did not ask for more crystals. But stabbed his own chest, the dagger in his hand cut the skin and blood started to pour out of it.


    The metallic stink intensified, but Mack didn''t stopped chanting. Let alone scream because of pain.


    He was used to pain. So used that he now almost felt pleasure out of it.


    The human brain was a tricky ''machine''.


    ~sh~


    Another cut and blood gushed from Mack''s leg.


    He now was doing the same he did on the second trial of the tower.


    Using high Essence density to change his own body.


    He tried doing the same with his nameless middle finger runespell, but it didn''t work. Because he himself was the ''source'' of Essence.


    He originally thought of doing this inside the mage towers, and was not sure if it would work, but with the discovery of Essence Crystals, his n went on a little deviation.


    And now, seeing how much power each Essence crystal could use, Mack was sure.


    Today he is going to bleed until his body evolved again, or he would die trying.


    ~sh~


    Another deep cut was made and blood flowed from his body.


    Below Mack feet the red ground was soaked in his blood already.


    Each time a cut healed, Mack made another one.


    ~sh~


    It was time to speed up the process.


    Mack raised two fingers with his left hand.


    He could not lose time. He need to be able to use all those Essence Crystals at the same time or he would not be able to achieve the regenerative speed needed for his blood to produce new blood cells on the frequency needed for them to evolve to a point they could support more Essence Density.


    His marrow cells needed to evolve.


    And for that he needed an insane regenerative speed, and to be almost without blood on his body.


    That was what Mack believed.


    And that was his goal.


    Raz saw the two fingers and put two more Essence crystals.


    The array shined even more with the flow of essence and bathed the surrounding trees in his blood red light.


    ~thump~


    Mack fell to his knees.


    The pressure was too much for his already sore muscles.


    But he was not angry.


    He smiled.


    A crazy smile full of pain and blood.


    His own blood.


    Mack put the dagger over his own neck.


    Time to go all in.


    He didn''t have time to lose.


    Is do or die.


    "Put all of them!"


    Screamed Mack, before the cold metal on his neck became warm with his own blood.


    Blood poured out of his own neck like a broken dam.


    The warlocks around quickly put all the crystals and waited around the runic circuit.


    Mack fell to the ground, unconscious, with blood pouring out of his neck.


    They knew it was risky, and they knew that if Mack died, their fates were doomed, too.


    Their only hope was for this crazy manying on that blood pool at the center of the runic circuit to be able to live.


    But they didn''t knew something very important.


    This was not the first time that Mack knocked on hell''s door.


    And the devil seemed to not wee him.

 Chapter 60 - 60. The Count Down Begins

    At a rounded interval of seven years, the human bodypletely renewed itself.


    New cells upied the ce of the dead ones, carrying a bit of information from the previous cells.


    To this date, Earth science didn''t even know how cells moved inside human body. They knew the cells had something akin to small legs and arms, but what directed them? How they knew where to go? The researchers had several spections but none proven theory until this date.


    If one person said that he was his own body instead of his mind or ego, then one could assume the person itself lived for only seven years and in his ce, a new one would be born.


    Some cells, like skin, had a short life, while others lived as long as seven years.


    But, it was all that took. Seven years and a new body would rece the old one.


    Essence changed that..


    With enough Essence density, the regenerative ability of the body was increased to inhuman levels and elerated the process several times.


    Mages knew that, and it was amon practice for them to use ''healing rooms'' over saturated with Essence to help the body heal faster. Even if it was just a bit more that they could support, it would help them.


    Mages had their gates closed, and Essence could not enter their bodies freely.


    What would happen if they submitted themself to an Essence saturation 100x more than they were used? Simple. Their gates would explode. Not be broken like Mack. Explode. And when several gates exploded together, the person would be ashes if they were lucky. Otherwise, they would be a pile of broken body parts.


    That''s what happened in thest battle with the hundred mages that Mack went on rampage.


    Light constructs were not living things, but they followed the same rules. They were created to mimic the body of humans, mages, warlocks or animals.


    The magemunity chose the quicker way and more safe to strength themself.


    It was proven, it was efficient, and it was safe.


    Mages were not the only ones in the dimensions that used Essence and were able to use will to some extent.


    Several kinds of different species and races, humanoids or not, had their own ways to manipte Essence.


    Mages were just part of it. A big part. But was only one.


    Mack, unknown to himself, practiced in almost the same way a very old and ancient civilization did. A civilization known to extinct in this current era.


    They called themself ''cultivators'' at their glory.


    Because they cultivated the body.


    To be stronger, to be faster, and to be the most powerful of all.


    But Mack was not a cultivator.


    Mack chose to use runes, and he loved the feeling to discover more and more runes. And also the feeling of creation involved in runic circuits.


    But he also knew that his freak body and blood would also be a key to his survival.


    Until yesterday, Mack had three choices, or in other words, three paths he could choose.


    He could wait until his will was strong enough to manipte freely the Essence in his own body with only his will. But that means he could not strengthen his body anymore. He would need to wait a long time until he could improve a little.


    He could also follow the path of runes. And focuspletely on learning runes and create several powerful circuits to use along with the Essence crystals he found. But this path would have made him reliant on external tools all the time. What if he runs out of crystals? What if his weapons were stolen or destroyed or lost? And also, the biggest problem of all. He was a newbie to runes, with barely any knowledge.


    And the third path, the one he chose, was to strengthen his body to the maximum he could and use runes carved on his body to output powerful runespells. This path was only possible because Mack was a warlock. And his blood was the rarest and most expensive material to create multiyered rune circuits.


    Mack knew this path of his was unique and full of problems ahead. But if someday he could not strengthen his body anymore to be a giant essence battery, then he could train his will and be back to the original warlock way.


    The third was the best path for him, but was also the most demanding.


    No sane man would choose to be tortured this way, be strengthening the body or to test new runic circuits carved on his own flesh.


    But Mack was anything but normal.


    Because right now this same man wasying naked in a pool of his own blood.


    Raz looked up to the sky, and the sun was up already at his maximum.


    It was midday already.


    Over twelve hours had passed and Mack was still there, unmoving.


    Raz wished to go there and check, but he knew he would die if he did.


    The pressure there was too big for Raz to even breathe.


    And Mack made them promise to not destroy the rune circuit nor remove the crystals until he was dead or the crystals run out of Essence.


    But the crystals would still run for more than 90 hours if no one removed them.


    Raz hoped that Mack could survive this, and that the mage army stood still where they were.


    If the army came back, there was no way that they would not find them.


    Raz''s gaze went to west.


    Better be prepared for the worst.


    Raz called two warlocks and started talking with them.


    After a few minutes the two warlocks gave small nods with their heads and started to run.


    They were running to the west.


    Raz thought that was better to have someone monitoring, if the army came.


    This way they would not get caught by surprise, at least.


    Seeing the two warlocks disappearing amongst the trees, Raz''s gaze went back to Mack.


    Now their hope was all on him.


    There was only two possible oues.


    Or he died, or he seeded.

 Chapter 61 - 61. Sixteen Hours Left

    Three dayster.


    A man came running from the west. Stumbling on his own legs and barely avoiding the trees and rocks on his path.


    The man was a warlock. He was running for hours already.


    Raz, seeing that figure approaching, knew what it means.


    The mage army was moving.


    Raz wondered why only one came. But thinking again, he knew the answer, they probably were found by scouts and one stayed for the other to leave. .


    They lost another warlock.


    Raz''s face darkened and went to help that man that barely could breathe, his lungs were almost popping out of his chest because of running.


    The others warlocks around came too, and that warlock started to tell his story.


    Between fatigue and barely any time to breathe, the man told them what they already expected to hear.


    One day from now, and the mage army will be here. But scouts would probablye earlier.


    Raz, hearing what the man said, made a quick count with his head. The crystals would run for a hundred hours. Three days and a half had already passed.


    Raz looked at the still unconscious Mack.


    He had around 16 hours of crystal Essence left, and the mage army would reach here in 24hrs at maximum.


    The problem was the scouts.


    If only one or two appeared it would be fine, they could quickly eliminate them. But if was a squad, it would take longer and a battle would ensue, and Raz knew that if a battle ensued, the others would notice and would flock like bees to where they are.


    Raz wondered if he should stop the runic circuit and take Mack and leave.


    But he also knew it would be all for naught. Theirst hope was for Mack to reach a breakthrough.


    Raz gave another look to the unconscious Mack, and started talking with the warlocks.


    They were going to create a perimeter of one mile around where Mack was. Roughly at the edges of the small forest they were.


    Only Raz would stay with Mack. Hisst line of defense.


    Seeing those warlocks going, Raz''s heart became heavy. He knew they would note back.


    They would buy any possible time for Mack.


    Theirst hope.


    Raz looked at Mack, still unmoving, white as a corpse. What if he died?


    Raz shook his head. Better hope Mack was still alive, otherwise there was no meaning for him to still struggle. Mages have won the battle and Raz knew about the other battles ongoing on the.


    In his mind they were still there, fighting the invading army, in his home.


    And Raz knew the status of the other battles. All lost.


    This was thest one.


    And Raz only wished he could save someone.


    His initial n was to save his disciple and make him escape the.


    But after seeing Mack, his mind changed.


    That deaf warlock was progressing faster than any know warlock to this date.


    Not only that. His odd methods plus his ruthless would make of him the perfect warlock. If he could survive and pass his methods to his descendants. Raz was sure the warlock race would never face extinction again.


    Raz passed his eyes over Mack''s body. He could see the broken arms and legs and the sunken torso caused by the pressure of the runic circle. The air in there seemed so dense that the own figure of Mack distorted from time to time. It was like looking in a mirror of water.


    Raz removed his gaze from Mack and started to check his daggers and sword.


    He needed to make sure he would be ready for the next days.


    Raz went to a trunk by the side and seated, facing west, then took a small dark rock from his pocket and started to pass over the de of the sword.


    The smooth, calm and continuous metallic sound of a de being sharpened permeated the woods around.


    Behind Raz, inside the runic circle, in a pressure caused by essence density so strong that would make any human from Earth to be dust,y Mack.


    Almost sunken on the red ground, Mack''s body stood still and unmoving, but right now, unknown to Mack or Raz, the tip of Mack''s right little finger moved.


    Just a slight movement that no one saw or will ever remember.


    Life was just like that.


    The most priceless moments would always be a fleeting instant that no one pay attention to.

 Chapter 62 - 62. Ten Hours Left

    Mack opened his eyes as his conscious came back.


    A high pitch tinnitus assaulted his ears while pain came from all parts of his body.


    So much pain he could barely breathe.


    Mack recited the mantra in his head.


    And after one minute, the high-pitched noise stopped.


    Mack mustered all his will and strength and turned his own head on the bloody ground.


    His head turned to west, from where he was hearing battle noises.


    Then Mack saw..


    Raz fighting several mages. Alone.


    Mack tried to stand up, but his broken body and the pressure of Essence didn''t let him.


    He didn''t move a single inch.


    ''For how long I was unconscious?''


    [For 90 hours already]


    Said the familiar voice of the Arcane Legacy in his head.


    Mack kept looking at the fight in front of him and wondered where the other warlocks went.


    ''Did they die? Only Raz is alive?''


    [Unfortunately, it seems to be the case]


    ''Why the hell I was unconscious for so many hours? Last time was way faster. Did the Essence density was not enough? It was all for nothing?''


    [Depends on what you believe is nothing]


    Mack, incapable of moving, could only keep looking at the fight while talked with the Arcane.


    This time it took way more hours than thest one for him to evolve his blood marrow cells.


    And he was still there, inside the circle, with broken body parts and barely able to breathe.


    ''Spit it out. If I''m out for 90 hours, I don''t have that much time to lose.''


    [Direct as always. Then let me tell you the good news first]


    [You evolved your body constitution to level 3]


    ''And the bad news?''


    [The Essence Density of the rune circuit was several more times stronger than you anticipated and that''s why you can''t move yet. You can be considered luck to still be alive]


    ''I see. Thanks''


    [I''m not finished yet]


    ''What? there is more?''


    [All bad luckes with an opportunity. A human once said that. And because the Essence density was too strong, your body triggered another evolution. Currently, your marrow cells are already adapting to this new density and that''s why you could regain consciousness]


    ''I am evolving twice?''


    [Correct. In a few more hours your constitution will be upgraded to level 4]


    ''How many hours?''


    [It''s hard to say. As the human body is full of ws. But around 10 hours]


    ''The same limit of the rune circuit?''


    [Correct]


    ''Will it stop before?''


    [As I said. Is hard to predict, consider 10 hours a rounded estimation. It can be 9 or 11 hours for the process to finish]


    ''Shit''


    Mack looked at the battle in front of him. Raz seemed to be fighting them for not a long time.


    ''Hang in there brother. I will leave this jail in ten hours. Then we will make them pay for all they have done.''


    Mack himself sometimes forgot that he was in a tower and that Raz was a light construct. Even with all the oddities, everything seemed to real.


    Mack closed his eyes again and started to chant again in his mind all the phases from the book he memorized.


    It always helped him focus. And he knew it would indirectly affect his body in a positive way.


    That was all he could do for now.


    THREE HOURS LATER


    ~boom~


    Mack heard a deafening sound and opened his eyes.


    In front of him, 2 meters only, Mack saw Raz. His clothes were charred and his body had darkened in a few ces while smoke rose from the ground around him and a few grass burned.


    He had blocked an attacking for Mack with his own body.


    Raz looked behind to see if Mack was fine, and their eyes met.


    In the gaze of Mack, Raz could see guilt and pain. And inside Raz''s eyes, Mack could see joy.


    Raz smiled. His life would not be for nothing. Because now he saw that Mack was alive.


    It was only a glimpse of hope but was enough for Raz.


    Enough for him to bet his life for it.


    Raz turned his head back to the fight. He was holding back all the time to not attract more mages with the battle noises. But now that those mages used fireballs, they sealed their own fate.


    Raz raised his hand, and all mages stopped moving. Essence locked them in ce.


    Raz didn''t dy and snapped his fingers.


    In the next second, only broken body parts could be seen where the mages once stood.


    Raz fell to his knees.


    The damage he took to hold all those fireballs earlier was too much for his body.


    His sword lunged on the ground as he tried to stay standing.


    Mack''s heart arched seeing all this.


    Mack could not understand why they pushed so far for him. Him. A stranger.


    From thousands to forty warlocks.


    From forty to seven.


    And now.


    Only Raz.


    The truest warlock.


    Mack didn''t considered himself a warlock, he didn''t follow his traditions, didn''t have that charming arrogant pride that seemed to be engraved in their blood. Mack was weak and felt that was all too undeserving for him.


    He was a fake.


    That''s what Mack thought from himself after seeing all of them fight and live and die for him.


    Undeserving.


    Raz raised one knee and stood with one foot on the ground while still using the sword as support.


    ''Thank god he is still ok''


    Thought Mack, seeing Raz raising again.


    But in the next second.


    Mages came from the woods. Not only one or two, dozens of them.


    Mack could only pray that Raz still had strength to fight them.


    But even so, med himself for all the suffering he made Raz pass.


    Mack knew, that for Raz, the warlocks that came with him were more than soldiers. And losing all of them to save a stranger must have been the most difficult decision he made in his entire life.


    ''Hang in there, brother. I''ming''


    Thought Mack, starting to chanting the eerie mantra in his mind.


    Now with open eyes.

 Chapter 63 - 63. One Hour Left

    ''Arcane, How is the progression?''


    [Marrow cellspletely reced. I estimate 60 minutes until the entire body cells arepletely reced]


    ''Keep me informed at each 10 minutes''


    [As you wish]


    But Mack could already feel in his bones that a change was urring in his body, literally.


    His healing was improving as new cells reced the old ones.


    The most crucial part was for his body to evolve the marrow cells. The rest of his body cells would be reced eventually, if given time.


    But Mack also knew that if he waited for this to happen outside the runic circle, it could take days or years for that to happen.


    Because of this, Mack needed to stay every single minute possible inside the runic circle..


    It was not like he had an option either. His bones were still broken, and he was so weak that he could barely lift a finger.


    His body had yet to adapt to this new Essence density.


    Mack started to chant the mantra again in his mind.


    And just like that, time flowed.


    [50 minutes remaining]


    Mack stopped chanting and tried to firm a hand on the ground. He was trying to sit.


    ~crack~


    His right arm bone broke even more, and a tip came outside of his skin, and blood poured out of it.


    Mack could not care less. It was old blood. If he could he would bleed himself out to make things faster, but he barely could sit, he didn''t have any strength left on him for anything else.


    Mack entered the position of the nameless breathing technique.


    But his broken arms and rib cage didn''t help.


    He would need to improvise today, only mimicking the breathing, without the correct hand positions.


    Mack even suspected that the hand positions were only there as a guide for newbies, as what mattered was the breathing pattern and muscle contractions on the sr plexus.


    Mack finally could sit.


    But the scene looked anything like a movie.


    Broken bones, blood pouring out of wounds and around him a runic circle that if looked from afar, looked like someone was inside water or a very dense air atmosphere.


    His arms hanging at the side of his body like a doll used by a puppeteer.


    But if one looked at mack eyes, they would see how wrong they were.


    This man had not eyes of someone that was suffering countless tortures at the same time.


    He was furious.


    Because in front of him, Raz was fighting alone, dozens and dozens of mages that keeping in an unending tide.


    Raz had not a single rest until now. He was fighting for hours without stopping.


    Mack knew that eventually Raz would run out of stamina. He could only hope that he could hang in there for 50 minutes.


    As Mack himself could do nothing now unless try to use the mantra and the breathing to speed up the process.


    [40 minutes]


    Said the Arcane in Mack''s mind.


    ''Will the Essence crystals run out before?''


    [Hard to estimate. Right now, both are ending at the same minute in my calctions]


    ''I''m counting on you. Inform me of any change.''


    Said Mack in his mind before refocusing on his mantra and breathing.


    [As always, master]


    But Mack heard something odd this time.


    The word master.


    It was the first time the Arcane Legacy used it.


    But Mack had no time to lose thinking about this.


    He had to focus on healing faster.


    And right now the only thing he could do was to use those meditations techniques from the book.


    After a few minutes of using both, the breathing and the mantra, the odd feeling of using them at the same time came again, like in previous times. As if both were part of something major but were missing a piece.


    Mack stopped.


    He looked at Raz fighting and how beautiful his movements were, even being simple and direct. It was like a dance.


    ''A dance''


    Mack suddenly thought of something crazy.


    ''Everything can influence Essence, right? Even a single thought can influence it at some degree.''


    [Correct, even normal humans in a ce with scarce Essence, just like when they miraculously heal from some terminal disease after praying for a god.]


    Mack thought over and over and he would risk. He had nothing to lose. It was not like the mantra and the breathing were having visible effects either.


    Mack was doing because it was all he could do.


    Mack pulled his broken legs close to him and used his right elbow as a support on his right leg to try to stand up.


    ~stumble~


    He fell.


    His right arm broke even more.


    [30 mimutes]


    ''I should probably just stay still and wait. But I can''t bear it. What if only one minute is what separates the line between Raz being alive or dead''


    ''I can''t''


    Mack thought over and over and mustered all his will to stand up again.


    Just like a butterflying out of his cocoon. Mack was broking his old shell to have a new one.


    ~break~


    Mack broke his left arm in another ce, but this time was able to stand on one knee.


    The pressure caused by Essence was too heavy. Any slight movement could break a bone.


    Mack used both broken arms over his right leg again. Broken bones protruded from all ces over his body.


    Right now, Mack looked like a victim of a car ident, but he was still trying to stand up.


    One could only imagine the will someone must have to still try.


    Mack felt so much pain right now that even was hard to breathe. His mind keeps asking him to stay still and go sleep.


    But he mustered all his willpower to stand up.


    ~break~


    Another rib was broken.


    But Mack stood up.


    In two feet.


    Broken bones all over his body and blood pouring out of it unending.


    Mack raised his head and looked straight ahead.


    The fight was still going and more and more mages came. Raz killed ten and twenty came. It was an unending swarm of mages.


    ''The army must be close for them to be able to send so many mages''


    Mack closed his eyes.


    He had the music. The mantra.


    He had the rhythmic. The breathing.


    The only part missing was the movements.


    ''If I fail. Im doomed''


    There was no looking back now. Mack could not count on his luck as he knew he had an extremely bad luck. If he made a bet, he would bet a hundred times that the runic circuit would stop before his body healed.


    If that happened, Mack would be as good as a punching bag for the mages.


    [It seems you are right. The Estimation for the circuit stopping is lower than your healing now]


    ''How much?''


    [5 minutes difference. Impossible to calcte outside the runic circuit. It could be hours or days if you are outside.]


    ''Its settled than''


    "Its do or die."


    Said Mack aloud, already dragging his broken leg over the dirty red ground.


    And in the next second, the eerie mantra permeated the surrounding woods.


    Everyone stopped fighting, something inside them was stirred by that voice. Something deep inside them


    They looked at the origin of the voice and saw a man inside a runic circle with Essence pressure that could kill any of them.


    The man was standing up, chanting that eerie mantra like song with a body full of broken bones that came out of his skin.


    Completely naked and with blood covering most of his body.

 Chapter 64 - 64. Dancing With The Devil

    For a moment, no one cared for the fight anymore. They just wanted to know why they felt so moved by that.


    It was like something inside them was being pulled to there.


    Even Raz felt like that.


    As Mack dragged his right foot over the red ground doing a circle to his back, he flexed a bit his left leg.


    Mack stopped thinking about what to do when he closed his eyes and only did what his body asked. Like someonepletely absorbed in a music.


    But what Mack was doing was not a dance. It looked like more like a martial art form. .


    Someway the mages felt threatened by that and regained their focus on the battle.


    All of that happened in a few seconds while Mack chanted the eerie mantra.


    The mages, not knowing what was happening, focused their attacks on Mack.


    Spells rained over the area and Raz used all he could to defend Mack and kill all the mages he saw at the same time.


    The scene looked anything but a normal fight.


    That''s what themander of the mage army thought when looking through a device in his hand, miles away from the battle.


    Themander looked at his two disciples by the side and, using his staff, pointed in a slightly different direction from the one the army was currently heading to.


    They would move the entire army to that battle. Those two warlocks were too dangerous to keep sending small units.


    Mack, not knowing anything of that, and not even paying attention to the battle in front of him, kept doing the movements that felt right to do.


    But something was odd.


    He felt like something was missing.


    A very important part.


    ''The connection''


    Thought Mack, remembering a crucial part about his own body.


    Mack stopped, opened his eyes, and saw the battle that unfolded in front of him.


    Raz was giving his all to stop the attacks aimed at the runic circle.


    ''Truly a hero from a lost time.''


    For Mack, this man was a bastard, but a good one. One he could call ''brother''.


    "Hang in there! One minute! Thats all I need!"


    Screamed Mack, using all the air in his lungs.


    Raz quickly looked behind and gave a nod. If needed, he would die for this single minute.


    Seeing the resolution in Raz, Mack closed his eyes again.


    But this time, Mack didn''t directly chant the eerie mantra.


    Instead, In his mind, he was quickly correcting the mistakes he did in the first try. While also doing quickly calctions.


    And the biggest mistake he did was that he forget about how worked his freak body.


    But he got the enlightenment he needed. Mack guessed that this was what warlocks did to create their Essence Maniption Arts.


    Mack lowered his body and grabbed his dagger on the ground.


    Using his left hand, Mack quickly drew runes on his right hand, one after the other, without hesitation.


    He was going to create his first Essence Maniption Art.


    Mack guessed that somehow the phases, the breathing and the movements of warlocks all had meaning. Maybe that was the reason he could not hear warlocks here. Their words carried power. Maybe his ancestor wished that Mack learned bit by bit as he progressed in the tower.


    Mack lost count of how many runes he drew already since he entered this floor of the tower. And all those runes kepting in Mack''s mind, one after another, but also the phases from the book.


    And in particr, a very special word.


    The word ''Law'', that Mack initially thought to be amon word, used in daily life by warlocks.


    But remembering something that the Arcane once said when just entering the tower made Mack be assured. She said that he already had all he needed, but the only thing Mack had by the time was the knowledge from reading the book.


    Mack quickly finished drawing the runes, and as usual, put his thumb over the runes to activate it for the first time and make it perpetual, and just like the other runes he carved before, this one too was a multyered rune, but instead of using only a few circuits, this time, Mack used all already previous carved circuits topose this new unique circuit.


    ''I will call it Domain Runespell''


    Thought Mack, opening his arms full to both sides.


    Mack loved some drama. Only the gods knew how this man loved dramatic entrances.


    Mack moved both hands to the front and touched his two palms in front of him. Like someone praying to a god.


    But the only god present now was him. As he himself became the ruler of his own domain.


    Blood gushed from all his body, creating wisps around him. It looked like he was burning alive, but instead of fire, it was blood.


    Mack skin crackled all over his body while even more blood poured out of it.


    And then a red sh of light came from his hands, and suddenly, all around him as far as the eye could see, had be slightly red.


    Mack took a step forward. There was no pressure from the runic circuit on the ground anymore. The runic circuit had stopped and the Essence Crystals had been drained out by him.


    Everything seemed to stop. The mages, the birds and trees.


    There was no whirlwind, there was no wind at all. Everything seemed to have stopped, waiting for Mack tomand.


    "So this is the feeling to be connected with Essence."


    Said Mack aloud, taking another step, while he raised his right hand to the side.


    And like hearing his master''s thoughts, a sword came to Mack''s right hand.


    He took another step, and he waspletely healed. But still as white as a ghost could be.


    Another step, and all the mages around vanished in the air, only leaving their staffs and clothes still hanging in the air. In their ces, something akin to a human figure made of slight red air could be seen.


    It was not mage''s blood. It was Essence slightly infused with Mack''s blood.


    All the essence in a few kilometers had be infused with Mack''s blood, and he now owned all the free Essence around him in that bloody red area. And mages, being Light constructs, werepletely made of Essence.


    It was Mack''s first Essence Maniption Art. His kind of art, at least.


    Words had power, movements had power and nothing could be more powerful than putting his own blood as a medium for that power. Mack only reced words and movements with runes.


    Mack knew everything in the book was connected. But it not the way he initially thought.


    Each word from each phase had his own meaning. Chanting them all together like Mack usually did may have helped in general but was not meant to be used like that.


    His breathing technique was also not meant to be used like that.


    One breath, one word, one movement, one thought.


    That was all it takes for an Essence Art to be created. Simple and powerful.


    Mack used his blood as medium instead of a breath, the shbang rune as movement, thew rune from the book as thought and word at the same time, and created his first Essence Maniption Art.


    Mack raised his left arm and opened his now fully healed palm.


    "Come to me."


    And all the bloody red infused Essence all around the area listened and came to Mack.


    Like an eclipse that never happened, all the essence in hundred of meters went to Mack''s body.


    And not a single drop of blood could be seen on the ground or air or trees anymore.


    The paleness of Mack vanished, as all the Essence owned by him along with blood cells from his body also came back. And with that, his domain vanished from existence without him doing nothing.


    Everything looked just like before, except for the mages.


    Now in their ces, staffs and robes and all kinds of essories were dropping to the ground one after the other.


    Raz, like waking up from a dream, looked behind.


    Mack was there,pletely healed, and smiling.


    Naked, with only a sword in hand.


    "Lets go brother! We have an army to defeat today."

 Chapter 65 - 65. One Against An Army

    From the top of a small hill, Mack, now with clothes, observed the unending tide of magesing his way.


    The entire mage army,posed of hundreds of thousands of mages against two warlocks.


    Raz, by the side of Mack, was still tired of thest battle. He had been fighting for almost an entire day already.


    There is no such thing as unending energy. Every living being was bound to his body''s limits.


    Mack had decided, in this fight, he would go alone. Raz had already done enough for him.


    "You will wait here. This time is my turn to fight, rest, and recuperate.. If timees that I need help, I will call for it."


    Raz looked to the side, trying to find words, but he knew he was in hisst breaths.


    In the end, Raz only gave a small nod. He saw what Mack could do.


    ''Now let''s see what this level 4 body can do''


    Thought Mack to himself, he was eager to see how much stronger and faster he got after two evolutions.


    Mack took a step back and flexed his legs.


    "You better stay a bit far brother."


    Said Mack, looking to Raz.


    Raz, not understanding what Mack was talking about, only looked confused but still moved a few steps back.


    "More way more"


    Say Mack again.


    Raz moved a few more meters and looked at Mack. Wondering what this guy nned to do.


    Mack wanted to see how his new body would perform without any buff or whatever from any runespell and because of that he didn''t active his middle finger runespell yet.


    He was going to test his raw body strength and speed first.


    Mack flexed even more his legs, like someone preparing for a jump.


    He could feel his own muscles stretching, and it seemed to contain hundreds of times more power than before.


    Mack took a breath.


    And jumped.


    ~boom~


    Dust rose from where Mack was, and Raz was sent stumbling on the ground by the shock-wave.


    Raz raised from the ground and shook the dust. He looked to the ground and small crater was formed, not big, the size of three meters at most, but was still shocking because Raz didn''t saw Mack activate any of his weird runespells, and he knew Mack didn''t followed the traditional warlock path.


    Raz put his hand over his eyes to avoid the sunlight and looked to the front but could not see Mack. He thought the guy was aiming to the mage army.


    Raz raised his head and looked at the sky.


    And there he saw. Mack flying like a bird straight to the sun.


    Miles away from the ground already.


    Looking to the sky, Raz saw a bright sh of red light that quickly vanished. And then that little dot called Mack quickly changed from going up to going down, but was not going down like someone falling. But more like a meteoring at full speed to the ground.


    Raz could not believe that. How did he change direction in midair? Was that because of the sh of red light?


    Then Raz saw the typical ''red'' form that Mack used in battles. Blood red like fire came from that little dot, leaving a red trail in the sky.


    Everyone from the mage army saw that, but the dot was so small that they thought was a single fireball. And they could not care less about one fireball. It was not a threat at all for them.


    Raz kept looking at that red dot in the sky and his trail.


    Raz changed his gaze to the army in front of him to estimate the location of the impact.


    Right in the middle of the mage army.


    When Raz confirmed the location, he didn''t even have time to ponder over it, because in the next moment, Mack hit the ground at full speed.


    A gigantic cloud of dust rose in the middle of the mage army.


    And then the shock-wave came.


    Raz could see with his eyes the shock-waveing, just like a tide in the sea.


    He threw himself to the ground and protected his head.


    ~boom~


    Raz ears bled from the sound and debris of rocks came along hitting all over his body.


    When the shock-wave passed, Raz raised from the middle of the debris, shook the dust, and looked in the army''s direction.


    But what he saw, he would never expect.


    A crater of miles, right by the middle of the mage army.


    And in the middle of that crater he saw Mack, blood red wispsing from his body like if he was burning alive, a sword in his right hand, and his cape fluttering behind him.


    A demon in ck and red.


    Half of the mage army vanished with that single ''attack'' from Mack. All the ones still alive were still trying to raise themself from the ground or trying to patch their broken bones. Some even screamed for help while others just went unconscious.


    But every single one of the still alive mages be deaf.


    Even Raz, that was miles away from the impact, was now deaf.


    And because of it, no one could hear the sinisterugh that came from that crater.


    Mack was happy.


    And his happiness could only mean suffering to all mages.

 Chapter 66 - 66. Blood And Fire

    After a few minutes of walking, Mack came out of the crater. At his border, a few mages saw Mack appear, but instead of attack him, they ran.


    And boy, they ran fast.


    "Did I became too OP?"


    Asked Mack to himself, seeing that he would not need to keep using his ''bloody form'', he turned off his middle finger runespell. .


    "That reminds me that I still need to choose a name for this runespell"


    Not a single mage that was still alive close to the crater came to fight Mack. All of them ran for their lives.


    ~sigh~


    "Hey Arcane, don''t tell I will need to chase all of them to the end of Earth. That would take years."


    [You won''t. Because the true trial on this floor is about to start]


    Mack was about to ask ''what true trial?'' but in front of him came his answers.


    A mage, a single one, using a golden robe full of jewelry, appeared dozens of meters in front of Mack.


    Differently from the others, this mage was not running away, instead, he seemed pissed off.


    Mack raised his sword and put it to rest on his right shoulder. It had be a habit of him already.


    Mack was not sure how strong this mage was, but seeing his golden robe and his demeanor plus the warning he got from the Arcane, Mack knew it would not be an easy fight.


    The mage walked a few steps and pointed his finger to Mack while talking about something that Mack could not hear.


    "I bet he is cursing me. Where are the manners these days? People go around pointing fingers and cursing. What have I done to him?"


    Said Mack aloud, doing an innocent face.


    The mage seemed to somehow understand what Mack said and be even more furious, he pointed his staff to Mack and started chanting.


    Mack didn''t dy and ran for it, shing his sword towards the mage head.


    ~ng~


    The mage blocked with his staff and both went back one step with the recoil of the hit.


    Mack and the mage felt surprised at the same time. They didn''t expect to have a draw in close battle.


    The mage instantly cast a fireball, and Mack jumped to the side to avoid it.


    The fireball passed close to Mack''s body and hit the ground, but the shock-wave made Mack stumble in the air and fall to the ground, rolling.


    ~ng~


    The mage deflected the dagger Mack threw while in the air.


    Both were strong and neither of them were letting space for the other to take a breath from the very beginning.


    Real fights were like that. What did matters was the dead body of the enemy, not some fancy movements or random righteous phrases in the middle of the battle.


    Mack stood up, and another fireball came for him.


    This time Mack didn''t evade.


    But activated his middle finger runespell.


    The fireball hit Mack, but was not what the mage expected to see.


    Bright yellow mes consumed everything around Mack but he himself was intact and jumped to the front, shing his sword against the mage head again.


    The mage defended with his staff, but this time he could not hold up the force behind Mack strike and was send stumbling a few steps.


    Mack hit the mage again.


    But this time, a magic shield appeared in front of the mage.


    This mage shield differed from what Mack saw until now and it really had the format of a traditional shield, but transparent.


    Mack''s sword hit the shield three times in a row but was not able to damage the shield.


    The mage raised his left hand and pointed a small silver object to Mack.


    Mack thew himself to the side and a beam of light passed close to Mack grazing his left shoulder.


    Blood poured even more from Mack''s body, now with a hole the size of two fingers in his shoulder de.


    Mack didn''t expect this battle to be this hard.


    Neither the mage expected to be cornered by a warlock. He never saw a warlock with those red wisps like fire, but he guessed it should be one of those warlock arts.


    Mack''s left arm went limp, with a hole the size of shotgun shot. He would not be able to move his arm to fight.


    But he still could move his fingers.


    ~sh~


    A bright white light shined on the battlefield and the mage and Mack went blind.


    Mack jumped to the sky and deactivated his middle finger spell.


    He needed to heal his shoulder, and fast.


    The mage hid himself behind the shield, but seeing that no attack came, he quickly took a potion from his backpack and drank all of it.


    A healing potion.


    Two minutester his vision came back, but he didn''t see the warlock in front of him.


    He looked around and saw another mage pointing to the sky.


    Shit. It was what he thought, remembering how that warlock came from the sky in the first time.


    He looked up but didn''t see anything, then turned his head to that mage that pointed up, but that mage only shook his shoulders.


    He vanished? How? But no answer came, as Mack himself was already miles away.


    ~tuk~


    Mack fell from the sky right beside Raz, still with a hole in his shoulder.


    "Come, lets go. I still can''t win against that mage. Not today."


    Said Mack, already walking to the other side of the hill.


    Raz could only follow, as he himself saw the fight. That mage was leagues above Raz''s ying field.


    He could not me Mack for retreating. It was better to live and fight another day.


    Nevertheless, Raz was shocked by the progress of Mack. To be able to fight themander of the mage army, an Arch-Mage, to a draw.


    What would Mack be able to pull if given time? Raz was more than curious to see the future ahead. Because he knew Mack would not let things end like that.


    Raz stopped thinking of the future and speed up the pace.

 Chapter 67 - 67. Lingering Will

    A few hourster,


    Mack walked into a smallke and bathed himself to clean all the sweat and blood.


    But one thing kept bugging him.


    The hole in his shoulder was not healing. By Mack''s estimation, even when having a level two constitution, he should be able to heal that.


    If was not by his battlesuit covering the hole and stop the bleeding, he would be white as ghost already. He doubted he would die because of that, nevertheless, his left arm was useless by the time being.


    Mack suspected of one thing. Will. That mage had several different artefacts in him and none of them looked like it came from a factory. .


    ''Do they leave a will when creating those objects?''


    [Yes. Your assumption is correct. If a tool is created by powerful enough mage, they can impart a will to the tool on the creation process. Just like your blood always carries your will]


    Hearing that, Mack begun to remove his battlesuit and took a dagger from his back.


    Blood poured out of the left shoulder as the battlesuit didn''t hold anymore the bleeding.


    Mack pressed the dagger against the hole and started to cut his own flesh.


    The pain was so much that Mack wished to just leave it there.


    The shoulder was one of the ces used by professional torturers for this single reason. It had a lot of nerves, the more nerves a ce had, the more pain signals would be sent to the brain.


    Mack kept pushing the dagger and cutting his own flesh, expanding the hole while removing bits and pieces of his own flesh and bones.


    Raz, by the side, saw all of that, but guessed that Mack had his reasons for that.


    A few minutester Mack cleaned the dagger and thew water on his shoulder to clean the wound. Now almost fitting a baby fist into it.


    The huge amount of blood made theke all around Mack turn slightly red, but his goal was aplished.


    Not a minuteter, the wound started to close at a speed that could be seen by the naked eye.


    ''Thank god I''m paranoid, if I kept fighting that guy with this shoulder I would probably be a corpse now.''


    Mack stayed inside theke. He would wait until the wound was fully healed. He didn''t know if he left any piece of flesh that was ''infected'' by the will of that attack.


    The smallke was ideal for that because Mack would not leave any visible trail behind. Once the blood mixed with the water no one would notice that Mack stayed there.


    But they needed to keep moving. Mack could not risk a fight with that mage right now.


    He needed to figure a n or something to deal with him.


    The two major problems that Mack saw when fighting that mage were the magic shield and that shinning object he used forst. Mack was not able to see exactly what it was but it seemed some kind of small pendant or a small gun.


    Either way, he was shocked by that mage physical strength too. But he guessed it was because the robe he used, as the mage itself didn''t seem to move faster nor tried to pursuit Mack.


    ''It''s probably some kind of buff spell like in the games''


    After waiting for a few more minutes, and feeling that the shoulder seemed fine now and was properly healing, Mack left the smallke.


    Seeing Raz waiting for him, Mack remembered what seemed to be the motive of this gate. To be taught by this specific warlock. But everything went side ways because of Mack''s freak body.


    Mack remembered the way that Raz fought dozens of warlocks depending only on his swords and fighting skills, and remembered the clumsy way he fought that mage.


    He was still a rookie, even after all those days.


    Mack approached Raz, looked him in the eyes for five long seconds.


    And kneeled on the ground.


    "Please ept me as your disciple. Again."


    Raz looked at this familiar scene and remembered the early days of the battle. So much things have happened in only a few months.


    Raz was about to talk, but remembered that Mack could not hear him.


    He moved his left hand and patted a single time in Mack''s right shoulder.


    Mack looked up, and Raz gave a nod.


    It was time to pass all his knowledge to this odd warlock. Didn''t matter anymore if he Mack have a bizarre body or would be able or not to use what he learned.


    Raz needed to teach him.


    Because he was thest warlock.

 Chapter 68 - 68. Three Years Later

    As the sun was setting in the west red clouds started to appear, as if to denouce the carnificine that happened below them.


    The witness of this massacre mourned for the lives lost as its drops fell to clean the corpses and appease the fire.


    A drop of water fell on Mack nose as he loked to the west.


    His gaze, was fixed at something of collosal proportions that raised itself from the ground.


    The shaking of the earth was the prelude for the prize for his hard work.


    Mack could see the shape of a giant door raising from the ground.


    Mack hair, longer than it used to be, moved with the air flow produced by the door, while his beard almost touching his chest shaked right and left.


    And behind him, a scorchednd still burning in fire could be seen, and the fuel to the fire was the broken pieces of bodies..


    Mage bodies.


    Thousands and thousands of them.


    Raz, admist the unmoving warlock army kept looking at this scene and could not believe that a single warlock did all this.


    The entire warlock army could not believe either, and a mix of pride, joy, surprise and fear was stamped on their faces. Because, that single man, was stronger than all of them, together.


    Mack turned his head back and looked to the warlock army, more specifically to where Raz was. It had been three years since Raz started training Mack. The only problem was that Raz would forget everything when the gate reseted itself after a hundred days.


    The memories seemed to sh at Mack head as he looked at Raz.


    So many memories.


    The first time they meet, the first time that Mack lost to the Archmage, his time learning runes, practicing the warlock way of fight and the Essence Arts.


    Mack learned a lot in these three years, and he needed, his base knowledge when entering the tower was the worst among all of those that already entered the tower.


    If was not his determination....


    Mack didn''t even want to think about it. A lone life was hard to keep. Painfully hard.


    Mack shook the depressive thoughts and looked at the face of his only friend in this inhuman tower. Raz.


    This reset, Mack didnt approched Raz. He had already said too many goodbyes and also reached a bottleneck in what he could learn and improve in this gate. This reset, Mack only killed mages.


    And he became extremely good at it.


    "See you in the next life my friend".


    Was the only thing that came from his mouth when touching the giant door.


    It was time to move foward.


    But he would remember Raz for life. Even if was only a memory fragment of what the true Raz once was, Mack would not forget him. Neither the promise he made to Raz.


    ~swish~


    The giant door disappeared taking Mack along to a new trial of the Hel''s floor.


    "Arcane, quick scan."


    [No abnormal behaviors, Essence density of enviroment in normal levels too]


    Mack looked around, and found the familiar que inscribed with runes. This gate objective.


    Walking the driednd to approach the que he saw something unexpected.


    A small bird.


    But this bird was made of a blueish tint like a painting of a bird that came to life.


    The bird itself was not close to Mack, it was a few meters above him in the sky, but still, Mack was able to spot the differences with a nce.


    Mack moved his gaze from the bird and approched the que.


    Reading the que runes Mack face contorted and became heavy.


    Not because he thought this was gonna be a hard test. But because it was another annoying charade.


    "They say to respect your ancestors. But this god damed fucker!!! Its his luck he is dead. Otherwise i would kick his ass until he became a corpse."


    Three years in the tower didn''t change Mack personality, as he was always a lone wolf. But the absence of human contact and touch and even a small talk made him go crazy not one but several times during this three years.


    Humans are social beings after all.


    You can train your body and mind to extremes but one year without contact with other humans and a man could go crazy.


    Mack loneless seemed to not let him have peace of mind as several thoughts crossed his mind at same time.


    He shook his head and focused on the trial ahead.


    He needed to follow that blue bird in the sky.


    That was all the que said.


    "Damed ancestor!"


    Yelled Mack, looking at the bird, hundred of meters above him.


    His right hand raised, and Mack touched the base of his forearm, where a new rune was carved.


    His hand emited a pale red light and the blue bird started to burn in red mes.


    A blue ball envolted in dark red mes fell from the sky but was not able to touch the ground. In only three seconds the entire bird was consumed by the red fire.


    "I''m tired of games"


    Said Mack, removing his gaze from where the bird once stood, and walking foward.


    He could not care about his ancestor ns.


    He had his own agenda now.


    Mack walked foward on the driednd seeming to think of something else while walking when a small city appeared on the horizon.


    Mack took a hard step, and moved as fast as a bullet.


    One minuteter, he stood in front of the city gates.


    "Hey you! Are you a outsider?"


    Said a man pointing his sword to Mack.


    But one secondter a strong gust of wind came knocking on the man. The man was caught unprepared and rolled on the ground back to where he came.


    It was the wind produced by Mack while running.


    Mack walked forward, and gave his hand to the man. Like someone trying to help other to raise.


    The man scoffed but still took Mack hand.


    Not even a blink of timeter the man started to burn in red mes, just like the bird a few minutes ago.


    The screams echoed hard on the city but Mack didnt move.


    Several people came to see what happened but none approched the burning man.


    Some of them took their weapons and started to feel inpatient like waiting for some signal to go and kill that strange man.


    The burning man dropped to the ground, and as if that was what they were waiting for, some started to chant while others started to run in Mack direction with their wepons in hand.

 Chapter 69 - 69. The 5th Gate

    Mack, seeing his objective of attracting a lot of ''people'' was aplished, raised his two hands and touched both palms together as if he was prayng.


    A red sh of light came from him, and everything stopped moving.


    Mack put his right hand over his sword handle by the belt and started walking inside the city.


    No one stopped him. .


    It was not like they could anyway.


    While walking, Mack gave a look to the faces of those men and womens. And they seemed a mix of warriors and mages andmon people.


    ''Maybe thats how a small city looks like outside Earth.''


    Mack saw this and with a nce understood what his ancestor was aiming in this gate.


    For him to understand the ins and outs of power structure in a mage city.


    ~sigh~


    Mack could not believe the naivety of his ancestor.


    The only power sctructe in the world was power itself. The more you had, the more you can demand from others.


    For Mack, power had no face, could be money, could be strength, could be influence. But Mack knew, once you have one, you have all.


    There was no need for him to try to mix and learn how mages interacted or their own rules etc.


    He only needed to be powerfull.


    And the rest was for him to take, or destroy.


    Thought Mack while snapping his finger.


    And like magic, all people around him vanished in thin air.


    They were all light constructs. And Mack was tired of fake people.


    ''Come to me''


    Thought Mack, and all the red Essence around the town came back to him while the pendants and armors and clothes fell to the ground because Mack was deactivating his Domain Runespell.


    Mack waited a few seconds and as expected there was no powerfull mages here like the Archmage from the previous gate.


    Mack took a few steps and entered the now deserted small town.


    He only removed the light constructs while all the rest he left intact.


    After walking a few meters inside the town, Mack saw a restaurant and moved to it.


    Finally he would be able to eat something different from those warlock white burritos.


    Entering the restaurant, Mack looked around and seated in a table, the still warm and untouched food of someone else was there.


    ''Lucky finally''


    Thought Mack, already grabbing some metal sticks by the side of the te and devouring the food.


    [If you keep this behavior you will learn nothing about mages]


    ''Please, do not spoil my food time''


    [Your ancestor devised this gate to train you while also testing you. You can''t keep going like this]


    ''Petty tricks and charades. I''m tired of it.''


    The Arcane saw all that Mack went thru since they first met. But it also knew the importance of the tests.


    The problem was that Mack was tired of this tower and tired of tests. He just wanted to leave. And anything associated with a test would make him enter a state of pure and uncouncious rage.


    He now hated in the same weight the tower as he hated the mages.


    And Mack never in his life hated something so much as the mages.


    That was pure hatred. No choices or second thoughts. He hated mages to the bones. And now, Mack was feeling the same about this tower.


    For him, this was like a giant prison. It was not anymore about tests or gaining strength or knowledge. It was just a well borated kind of torture.


    And Mack was here for more than three years already.


    He wanted to go back to Earth and eat and drink and feel the warm of a real sunlight touching his skin.


    Rage started to consume him when remebering everything he was deprived of, his blood started to boil under his skin, and like a curse that never came alone, the memories of his father came to him, and the hatred for mages once again resurfaced over his heavy heart.


    The metal sticks in his right hand broke under the pressure of the grip but the rage inside Mack did not cease to grow.


    Rage for all that was taken from him.


    Rage for not being able to have a normal life neither enjoy the true love from a girl, rage for so many pain in a single life, not only physical pain, but pain for knowing his father was going to die and not being able to do anything, powerless, weak, coward.


    Mack face distorted under the rage, his once green eyes were bulging with veins as if at any moment his eyes would explode.


    His neck became red while his face became pale. Rage consumed every cell of his body, his arms became harder, and his lungs stopped breathing.


    His right arm dropped to the table breaking it in several pieces.


    Mack unconsciously raised from the metal chair and kicked the rest of the table, but that action did not stopped his rage, it only made it worst.


    Mack put his hands in his face on an attempt to calm himself, but his mind seemed to not listen, and like a ghost haunting him, all his regrets stabbed his heart, one after another.


    And this man had many regrets, always tryng to shove them under a carpet made of sarcastic humor.


    But today something triggered him.


    All his emotions flooded inside him and he was not able to stop it anymore.


    Essence started to congregate around Mack and as if it was a child listening to his father it started to destroy all around Mack, because inside Mack mind there was only hatred and an intense desire to destroy everything.


    Even himself.


    Mack was unconciouslymanding the Essence around him, it was like he was connected to all essence in this gate, the problem was that Mack was out of his normal mind.


    Rage consumed him, while all the building he was inside started to shake.


    The windows had long gone been broken and the doors kept being mmed open or close making a sound akin to a gun shooting when striking the metal walls of the restaurant.


    The remnants of the chairs spinned in the air around Mack like he was the eye of a storm.

 Chapter 70 - [Bonus ]70. The Gate Of Regrets

    As the seconds passed nothing seemed to calm down.


    The metal walls started to shake in and out as if the building was like the inside of a whale.


    Mack, with his two hand covering his face was unable to see it, but even if was, his mental state would not allow him to.


    Because when engrossed in a feeling humans could became blind to all around them.


    And Mack was puting out all his umted rage. All that rage that was kept being hidden under his facade of a strong and untouchable man.


    Mack was indeed strong, but even the strongest man would have soft spots, had regrets, had rage, fear and love.


    Thats the cruelty of mankind, every single human could achieve enormous aplishments, but in the process of doing it they would have to sacrifice a part of them. They would have to die..


    And today was Mack day to die.


    To be able to continue forward, he would need to let his old self die.


    "NOOO!"


    Screamed Mack, remembering someone stabbing his father, he avoided that memory like he avoided himself from connecting with others.


    Essence exploded in a strong momentum all around Mack as he screamed.


    The building he was inside shook and a wall by his side bended and was ripped of the building flyng miles away.


    ~ to live you must die ~


    Said a voice inside Mack head, and for a glimpse of time Mack was able to regain consciousness, but was only a glimpse.


    "NEVER! I WILL NEVER LET THEM DIE!"


    Screamed Mack remembering of his father and the few friends he had in life. He would prefer to truly die than let those memories and their sacrifice be forgotten.


    A man, is his own memories, is his own regrets, is his own passions.


    That was what make them stronger.


    That was what make them move foward. That was what make them never stop.


    ~ stop struggling and embrace my calling ~


    "NEVER"


    Screamed Mack admist tears that rolled from his closed eyes, closed so tight that seemed as if Mack would lose himself if he opened them.


    Opening his eyes he would ept the true of this cruel world but also lose his himself.


    And lose his hopes.


    Hia.life seemed to sh before his eyes as every single moment that he already lived was reyed in his mind.


    Shame, awkward, joy, tears, rage, lust...


    His face now was a reflect of his memories as they reyed in his own mind.


    Mack was trapped.


    Trapped in a cage inside his own mind, a cage made of hia worst memories.


    ~thump~


    His body fell to the floor while the Essence stop the destruction around him


    His battle now was not one that could be won with punchs.


    His battle was against his own self.


    He needed to face his most deep regrets in life.


    Hours passed by and no sign of life wasing from Mack.


    The cold breeze of the night entered the restaurant bringing along the stars im the sky.


    Outside the restaurant the darkness of the night engulfed the city, but there was no one toment the ending of the day as the single aoul alive now was struggling in his own mind to keep living.


    But just like a nightmare that could notst forever, Mack opened his eyes.


    His mind started to feel less sore and he started to feel better, it was like he was waking up from a bad dream.


    But now he understood.


    He could not have self pity for the rest of his life. Shit happens all the time, he needed to enjoy the good moments and move forward when luck abandoned him.


    But he would never forget the ones important to him. Neither the sacrifice they made for him to just be able to breathe.


    It was part of him.


    But he would never again feel self pity. He would never again me other for his misfortune.


    But his revenge was another matter itself. As the pain he suffered was part of him, his revenge was too.


    Mack opened his eyes and looked around to the destroyed building and figured what happened.


    "If at least I could do this while concious, would be no need for runespells"


    Mack stood up and moved his gaze to the outside and saw a small child running somewhere.


    It was Mack, his young self.


    The kid was pursuing a blue bird.


    Not one secondter both vanished in thin air like an illusion.


    Mack kept looking to that ce for a few more seconds, as if it entranced by a dejavu, or a memory that he could barely remember.


    A few secondster where the kid vanished a gate started to appear, almost the same way as before the gate came from the ground in the middle of the square of the city.


    [Congrattions on passing the Gate of Regrets. Albeit not in the correct way, you still passed]


    Mack regained his focus and looked around, the food he was eating was nowhere to be found.


    ~sigh~


    "No gifts from granpa this time?"


    [No]


    "Lets go than"

 Chapter 71 - 71. The 6th Gate

    Already used to the way the teleportation worked, Mack removed his hand from the giant door and looked around.


    As expected another que was a few steps of him.


    But the odd part was the terrain, this time, was snow.


    Mack had the battlesuit below his clothes so he didnt feel the low temperature to be straining, but the cold wind was still able to cut his skin when passing by his face.


    Mack lowered the hood to protect his eyes and moved to the que.


    #You may think that you are unique and special, but you are only a snowke in the winter, and the sun can melt them all#


    #be the sun#


    Mack moved his gaze from the que and looked around, as far as he could see there was only snow.


    "Indeed.. Unique as a snowke, but as them, I am just one in the middle of so many"


    ''be the sun''


    Mack thoughts run wild thinking of what his ancestor wished for him to aplish in this gate.


    ''I bet this entire gate is just a long stretch of snow''


    [You guessed right, you will only find snow here, nothing else]


    ''What is the temperature now?''


    [ Its -89.2ˇăC (-128.6ˇăF) ]


    ''Damm cold. It feels like my soul is leaving my body when I breathe in here.''


    [It will only get worst. This gate is designed to test your will but also your body resistance and your creativity]


    ''Do I receive any tips? Or there is a time limit or something?''


    [The next gate is straight ahead. But even for your maximum speed it would take weeks to get there]


    ''I see. So I need to be the sun itself. otherwise i would not survive in this climate until i get there''


    Mack thought about the charade, but it seemed pretty clear to him. He needed to devise a way to emit enought heat to get there.


    But thinking again, none of the gates until now were simple. All of them had some hidden agenda.


    In thest gate Mack lost his mind and went rampage but he knew he would not do something like that in normal times. He guessed that thest gate had some kind of neurotoxin somewhere that made him lost thest straw on his mind.


    ~sigh~


    Mack puffed the heavy air that seemed to burn his lungs, looked to the sky but didn''t saw a sun.


    But thanks to his innate warlock ability to see in the dark he could see some white clouds and the snow falling.


    As far as the eye could see there was only snow, nothing else.


    His clothes had some resistance to cold and heat, but if he trusted what the Arcane said it would be a matter of time until he became a popsicle.


    Right now the wind cuting his almost non exposed skin and the difficulty to breathe was what concerned him more.


    Mack had almost his entire body covered with only the part close to the eyes exposed, and yeat, he wished to not open his eyes anymore. The mask purified the air but did not changed the temperature.


    Thinking of all this, Mack started to walk.


    It was better to keep moving, no matter what.


    A few milester, Mack noticed that the terrain was not t. It seemed to be slowly bing uphill. Not only that, but Mack felt as if more snow was falling.


    The next day, Mack stoped and melt some water using one of his runespells and drank. Looking behind the direction he came, Mack was sure now. He was indeed climbing a long mountain made of a snow.


    With no sense of time because there was no sun nor day/night shifts Mack had to estimate the time spend. And that in the long run would br cumbersome, he would be anxious and stressed because time was the only thing a human dont have.


    If someone would ask Mack what the precious thing for him, it would be time.


    Time can fix everything. And time can make everything possible.


    And humans had a very short time to live.


    Mack stopped thinking of useless problems and focused on what he could do.


    A new runespell, to track time. Just like a watch would do.


    In those three years in the 4th gate, Mack didn''t stop practing runes a single day.


    It had be his routine, he would spend a few hours by morning every single day.


    To tell the true, for Mack it was fun. He indeed liked the way runes worked and all the process in devising and researching runespells.


    Mack took his cold freezing dagger and a few minuester he had a new runespell in his body.


    But instead of tracking the time using seconds Mack made a different approach.


    He would track time using heart beats.


    It was a odd method. But mack once heard about a theory that exined how the average lifespan of humans and other animals could be measured in heart beats instead of years. It was a very ''unorthodox'' thinking but made sense to Mack, because if time was rtive and the body reacted differently to different situations just like being in a rocoaster could feel lile a eternity and sleepeing could feel like a few minutes, than Mack believed that he could also measure time using his own body ''sense of time''.


    And just as expected, once he activated the runespell, Mack noticed something he had not paid attention in a long time.


    His heart.


    It was not beating as he expected. Mack counted in his head to be sure he didn''t messed the runespell.


    ''5''


    His heart took 5 seconds to beat one time.


    "How is that even possible?"


    Mack knew for sure that in average the heart beat rate for humans was between 60 bpms and 100 bpms while resting.


    ''But one each 5 seconds? this is as if i have a 12bpm. Is this because of the cold?''


    Mack pondered for a second but dismissed the idea. He was not hibernating. He was walking and moving and thinking and did a runespell.


    ''Dont tell me.....Arcane, is it what im thinking?''


    [Correct, no know intelligent beings live forever. Mages and alike live for so many years because their bodies evolved and became more ''perfect'' and in that sense the organs work less and get longer lifespans. Just like your heart that is working less now.]


    ''Is that due to Essence maniption?I mean.. in the mages case not mine''


    [Part because of that and part because of high advanced medicine. Your home is a desert whenpared to a single in the mage alliance, they have nts and minerals that can do miracles in the eyes of Earthlings]

 Chapter 72 - 72. Heartless

    Mack pondered a bit over the realization of that.


    "In my case it must be because my body evolved. If my heart beat ony 12 times a minute, than this means i could easily live for like 200 years?"


    [Its hard to tell, because you became a hybrid specie, but my estimations show that you will for sure outlive any Earthling to this date]


    "I see..."


    Mack stopped pondering about his long life ahead. There was no need to think so much ahead when he was not sure if he was able to live for another year. The trials tested everything he had.


    Mack also noticed the tests focused a lot in emotions, like thest one about his regrets. .


    "Thinking of emotions....."


    Mack remembered how he outburst when in rage in thest gate and the effects of that and an idea came to mind.


    "Emotions usually change the beat of the heart.... maybe...."


    Mack touched his two palms and activated his domain runespell.


    And just likr magic thr anow stoped falling and atood there floating in the air.


    Mack closed his eyes and could feel all the essence that permeated eveything around him.


    In this case, only snow.


    Still with closed eyes he raised his hands as if he was an orchestra conductor, and the snow all around him listened to hismand.


    All around Mack, snow raised and in a mile diameter they stacked and formed a dome covering Mack in a few dozens meters.


    Mack opened his eyes, and saw his new iglu, but seeing ''the ground'' hisplexion changed and he kicked the ground with the back of his foot as if stomping some ant. One secondter the t surface of a mirror like floor could be seen.


    Mack walked a few steps and as he expected it was not slippy. Essence can change everything.


    "Now this freezing wind will not bother me in the task ahead."


    Said Mack, removing all his clothes and exposing his fully naked body covered in very thin tattos that looked like scars but not at the same way. Because those thin lines had a very feeble red glow on them.


    His arms were full of tattos and some lines extended to his legs and torso.


    The head was devoid of any tattos because Mack didn''t trust himself too much when carving runes in his body.


    Mack changed almost every circuits he had on his body over the three years. And now, all of them had a core at his chest. That was were he moved thepression runes.


    Mack took a a dagger from his clothes and started drawing another rune over his chest.


    Mack had a very boring problem when using runespells, he needed to activate them manually.


    But a few seconds ago, he had an amazing idea.


    Why not sync his runespells to his heart beat?


    The more intense a fight get, or anxious or frustrated or enraged, the more his heart will beat.


    Mack moved the dagger over his body leaving a trail of blood and connected the rune that counted his heartbeats with the core runespell at the center of his chest that connected to all other runespells.


    ''Now, how do i activate them? or should I activate only that one?''


    Mack had two problems, he needed to manually activate all runespell he wanted to use and he had a fixed interval of around one second. It may seem good in words but the more intense a fight get and thr more high level the skills of his enemies thr more limited he bes.


    That was the major problem fighting that Archmage.


    ''One activation per beat means if things get intense i can maybe do a double activation at same time if i sync the one in my finger with the new one here''


    Mack pondered over thr matter but which runespell to activate was the problem.


    ''Its not like I can activate the fire one at each beat''


    "Imagine me walking in a street on Earth and burning everything around me at each step i take hahhahahah"


    [That would be fun to see]


    "When did you be so heartless?]


    [I learned from the best]


    "Not me for sure. Mine is beating very hard]


    [...]


    "Lets see.... Maybe the scan runespell?"


    [Sounds like a good idea]


    "Yeap that it. That will help me to always monitor my surroundings and in an intense fight i will be able to pinpoint all enemy positions without even looking at them or moving"


    With a clear view ahead Mack proceed in carving his own skin again.


    Mack had plenty of space in his body to carve hundred more runes, he connected his entire body but his legs for example didnt had any runes yeat apart from the single lines that came from the core.


    Mack did this to be able to further evolve his arsenal of runespells.


    With the connected runes now Mack had to test if everything would work.


    He looked to his left pulse where a analog counter showed two seven big dots and 2 smaller ones together. It was the only way for him to create something akin to a watch with a disy. It was the best of his abilitys with runes. Anything moreplex and he had no idea how to go forward.


    "72"


    Mack waited a few seconds and it changed to 73. At the same time the rune at his chest blinked and he felt something akin to a itch all over his body. He was used to it already it was the way the scan runespell worked.


    Less than a secondter Mack recieved the feedback.


    Nothing.


    Just as he expected, after all, he was alone here.


    Mack created this runespell similiar to how his vision could see in the dark and how his domain runespell worked.


    He emited a weak pulse of Essence that wished to rule all essence around him. If some of it was owned. It would bounce back. Simr to a sonar.


    "Well. it seems its working. Now the hard part is to connect that other one. But how? What if the domain is active when it trigger? What if i have a bad dream and suddely wakeup with an entire city burnt to ashes?"


    [Its indeed dangerous. Especially if you have the domain runespell active. It would drain you out, fail to activate, and you will be more weak than a snowman, one sh and your head would roll]


    Mack knew that more than enough, his second fight against that Archmage made him knew the limitations of his domain runespell.

 Chapter 73 - 73. The Limitations

    The domain runespell seemed god like but had a major problem. Essence left Mack body so he was able to control all ownerless Essence around him. But with that, he could not activate any of his own runespells, it was like his essenxe left his body along with almost hakf his blood to ''rule'' everything around.


    But with that he bes week physically and he cant activate any runespells. He can activate them, but they will fail the activation or if suceed ot would drain him of hisst bits of Essence and the result would be some that would be akin to a wishper in a party.


    "Its a tough decision"


    [Leave it forter. The scan being a passive runespell that auto trigger itself at each heartbeat is already a huge progress]


    "Indeed, someday i will find a better way for this."


    But than he remembered the trial of this gate.


    To be the sun itself..


    ''but here my heartbeat would never go up to extremes.... unless..... if i run?''


    Mack pondered over the matter, his helfire runespell was strong but he was not sure if he was in the right direction to solve this trial.


    "Maybe I''m being too literal..."


    Mack looked to all the snow around him.


    ''The bane of snow is heat. But why the analogy with sun? That bastard never said empty words.''


    Mack looked up as if imagining where the sun should be but his vision was stopped by the ceiling of his iglu. Than he imagined himself up high in the sky and looking below.


    "No way. He wish for me to melt all this snow? Thats fucking impossible!!!"


    Mack hit his head while lowering his head, than he saw he was still naked.


    ~sigh~


    A few hourster, and already with clothes, Mack continued his eternal walk over the snow.


    His trail of footsteps disappearing in the sight behind him in the white.


    All sides that Mack looked he saw only white.


    Not a single patch of grass, not even a small tree or a branch or even a rock.


    Snow everywhere.


    From time to time the scan runespell activated and with that the empty feedback came to him.


    Mack looked behind him. Not to see if someone would appear, but to see if his trail of footsteps behind him was in a straight line.


    With no way to differentiate right from left, that trail was his only guide that he was walking always foward and not in circles.


    ''to be the sun''


    He murmured in his head, asking himself again and again for a better solution and unconciously avoiding the true. Because if that was what his ancestor wished, Mack had no way to do it.


    He was not that strong yeat.


    At least was what he thought.


    [If you want to keep going further, you need to push yourself to your limits]


    "Easy to say. Hard to do it."


    [The harder the task. The greater the reward]


    "Sorry. Meritocracy don''t work with me. I came from a world were some people were born above others. Is this his merit? Nop."


    [...]


    "Anyways, Is not like i don''t want to try. Is just that I''m not that powerfull. It''s a waste of time trying. And i have no clue of what to do to increase my strength here"


    [...]


    "All i see is snow, and more snow and more snow."


    Said Mack pointing to his sides like a touristic guide would do. But of course, mocking his own state.


    ~sigh~


    [You still didn''t notice right?]


    "Notice what?"


    [You are talking]


    "Of course I am, I have a mouth"


    Said Mack raising his two arms, as if it could not be more obvious.


    [Could you when you entered here?]


    Mack abruptly stopped walking.


    The realization that came with that single phase shocked Mack.


    "Im adapting to the cold!"


    [No. No. You just have a mouth.]


    "tsc"


    Clicked his tongue Mack. He had no answer for that one. That Arcane had be more and more like him.


    [Rude?]


    "I never said that. Neither I thought. Stop putting words in my mouth"


    [More beautiful definitely not]


    "Of course not. you don''t have a body"


    [Who said that?]


    "You have?"


    [Maybe. Maybe not.]


    Mack could not believe the shameless of this Arcane. Distorting facts just to not lose an argument.


    "Anyway. If i can adapt to the cold than this was not a wasted trip"


    [Its not like you have a choice]


    "Thanks for reminding me that im a prisoner here"


    [No need for thanks]


    ~sigh~


    Mack wished he could put this Arcane on the mute sometimes. But, it was also his only pany''.


    "If am adapting will i be able to not feel xold anymore? or is like the cold don''t harm me?"


    Said Mack already uncovering his right arm to be able to touch the snow on the ground with his own hands.


    "Yeap I can feel the cold same as always. But it don''t hurt anymore like a cold burn as before."


    [Think twice]


    "What?"


    [...]


    "Oh you are forbidden to tell..... the rules...."


    [Think again. Whats inside of everything]


    "Its not my body evolving? but my will?"


    [Finally]


    "Now that you said. I mean. I said. It does make sense. Just like i can see in the dark" is natural for me to always think that i dont want to feel cold."


    [Bit when you touched the snow you coukd feel it right?]


    "Yes. I see.... its like when i wished to feel the snow. i could feel it. Am i affecting the snow or my body? It must be my body."


    [Indeed is your body. But what would happen if you could strength your will to counter the cold like this in a hundred folds?Even if only affected your own body]


    "I see... I would be imune to any kind of cold."


    [Correct]


    "Just like that archmage and all other light constructs used fire spells I bet that are some that use ice spells]

 Chapter 74 - 74. Three Months Later

    Three months had already passed since Mack entered the 6th gate and today he finally reached the end of the ''road''.


    Because in front of him a giant portal waited for him.


    All around Mack seemed as if made of white opaque ss, the temperature was so low that all seemed to be frozen.


    [Contrattions]


    "Yeah yeah but i didn''t do anything actually"


    [Its expected, your will is solid. This and the next trial ahead are only to eliminate those that didnt reach this point, while also giving them a chance to do]


    "The next one will be like this?"


    [Yes]


    "I see. Thanks for the warning"


    Said Mack, retracting his hand that almost touched the portal..


    [Im d my future master is clever to undertand the clues]


    "Stop with that future master thing. Im no master, except for my death."


    [Wise words for a chitchat]


    ~tsc~


    Mack clicked his tongue and looked around, there was nothing much to see, but he was not actually searching for anything.


    It was his way to decide what to do. The mind sometimes needed some visual feedbacks to be able to formte a n better.


    "If the next gates are like this I may not survive without water. I bet the next one is about fire."


    Mack body could easily go days without food or water now, but he could not keep this forever. He was already more than 2 months without food, as his backpack now only contained some Essence Crystals and other tools.


    He thought about what else could be but water and rock didn''t made sense for a trial, if it was the same line as this one then fire made much more sense.


    [Unfortunately i cant help you as the rules forbidden me. But oddly, I can tell you the gate name. This is called ''Gate of Duality'' and the next one have the same name as this. This is the maximum I can do.]


    "You girl. twisting the rules to help me? Did you fear so much about me?"


    [Without me, you would be a corpse already]


    "A very handsome corpse at least"


    [...]


    "What?"


    [You are lucky that you can''t see your face on a mirror. When you get out of here people may confuse you with Santa]


    Mack put his hand over his long beard and stretched it a bit.


    ~sigh~


    It was indeed abnormally long. He was not sure when he stopped caring about his beard or his hair, maybe it was because no one saw him, only dealing with light constructs didn''t gave a ''real'' feeling of interacting with people.


    "Anyway. Thanks for the heads up."


    [Just remember to treat me well in the future. And stop thinking if im hot]


    Mack was speechless, He knew the Arcane could read hia thoughts, but saying this aloud? He never imagined it.


    "I wish I could. But its get harder and harder as times passes. You know, i don''t have a woman in more than 3 years. Im almost a virgin again."


    [...]


    "Anyway, let me focus or I will be here for eternity chit chating with you"


    Mack pondered a bit and hit his two palms together.


    His domain runespell was active. And the ss like ground snapped and a cube of ice came from it.


    The ss like cube kept floating in front of Mack as aif gravity didn''t exist.


    More and more Mack was inproving his skills in using the domain runespell.


    Two months ago Mack would not be able to give such a clear form to his will while using the runespell.


    But now, a cube was in front of him, floating alone in the air.


    Mack aproched the ice cube and started to draw runes over it.


    One after the other he drew several runes.


    The thing about his domain runespell that he learned way toote, or better, took time for him to realize the consequences, was that his blood was infused in almost everything around him.


    The consequences of that, was that he could engrave perpetual runes in everything around him with just but a thought.


    Mack knew it, but he was not good enought to do that, yeat. The runes looked like gibberish wrote by doctors in a patient recipe.


    So, he carved them manually for now.


    "Its done. I think that would be ok."


    And with that thought his domain runespell retracted, and the cube fell to the ground.


    Mack already expected for that and approched the cube touching it with his thumb.


    The runes over the cube shed and Mack put one of his remainings Essenxe Crystals over the ice cube.


    The ice cube shaked a bit and started to transform itself in a ball of ice.


    Mack opened his backpack and put the ice cube inside.


    "Ok. that should be enought for 3 more months. I hope"


    [Very clever of you carving a domain runespel as if it was istion rune on the ice cube to prolong his utility, this way heat would not be able toe close to it for a long time]


    "Yeap, at least until that Essence crystal runs out of juice, but im not gonna use any of the two that remains just to conserve water. Its not worth it."


    [I agree with you. Essence Crystals may bemon thing for mages. But for you, or anyone in Earth they are as rare as the moon]


    "Indeed, and I still don''t what the future reserves for me. I usually n way ahead. But since I touched that book all my ns were in vain."


    Mack thought about his future but no matter what he thought, none of his future actions seemed feasible.


    ~sigh~


    "Lets go to the beach"


    Said Mack touching the giant door that would lead him to the next trial.

 Chapter 75 - 75. The 7th Gate

    Mack turned his head and as usual a small que was there giving instructions.


    # If the cold is not for you, may the fire burn in your heart #


    "Weird, I was expecting something like ''be the iceberg'' or something"


    Said Mack, using a grave voice for the words as if imitating someone in a mocking tone.


    [...]


    "It seems you can''t help me on this one."


    [indeed]


    Mack looked around and saw the red ground, a very familiar red ground but with gray sand covering parts of it. .


    Mack lowered his body and lightly touched the gray sand and put on his mouth.


    The sulfur taste was easy to spot.


    Mack raised hia head and looked to the horizon.


    He could see nothing different for miles and miles.


    All ahead of him was the same scenery. Just like the trial before, not even a a tree could be seen.


    "So, its a volcano. That will be my second."


    The memories of when he went up the volcano at atacama desert resurfaced his head.


    It seemed like it was memories from another life, the odd feeling that the passing of time gave to his memories only served to reinforce how much he changed since then.


    His personality became more calm but his actions more decisive.


    He now thought much more before doing something. But when he decided. he acted as if had no tomorrow. Even in the small things.


    That''s what he thought of himself at least. But in true, Mack always nned his actions very carefully even before meeting the book.


    "Ok, lets go and have a barbecure of Mack today."


    Said Mack aloud as if to reafirm his own will that he needed to keep going foward.


    The heat was not so intense as he expected when entering the gate, but he knew it was just a matter of time before his lungs feel like burning with the dry and hot air.


    Mack walked the aridnd and each day he drank a few mouthful of water from the ice ball in his backpack.


    After walking for what seemed like ten days Mack stopped. He felt something odd today.


    There was a feeling buging him for a few hours, as if something was watching him, but was not quite that, it was a calling.


    Mack closed his eyes and waited for the feedback from his passive scan.


    "Nothing. What is happening?"


    Mack kept having this weird feeling as if something was close to him or following him, but his scan showed nothing all the time.


    Mack looked around, even knowing that there was not a single soul in miles.


    The drynd now had a few magma pools from time to time and smoke raised from them.


    The rest was covered in gray ashes.


    He looked behing and his footsteps seemed to go in a straight line but they disappeared after a few miles.


    "Nothing unusual, expect this creep feeling that something is close to me."


    ~sigh~


    "Maybe is some side effect of so many time in istion"


    Said Mack removing his gaze from the trail of footsteps and walking foward.


    Mack kept walking, taking short pauses to rest and drink water from time to time, and this continued until his path was blocked.


    After twenty-five days since he entered this gate, Mack already had no more water, and today, the trial get a bit harder. In front of him, all the magma pools seemed to connect to each other, forming a magmake.


    Mack could not see the end of theke and the path ahead seemed to always go down instead of up.


    Mack thought he would climb a volcano, but it seemed that when he entered the gate he was already at the mouth of the volcano.


    Always going down a bit.


    And today he seems to have reached where the magma was.


    because in front of him was all in magma nothing else.


    "This thing is fucking huge, whats the size of this thing?"


    [I cant say, unfortunally]


    "No problem, I was just curious"


    Mack looked to the sea of magma and the feeling of something calling for him only intensified.


    This feeling has been annoying him for days already. Sometimes he seemed to be observed and sometimes to be called.


    He knew his clothes only made thru the snow because of his will, but would they survive this magma sea? He was not sure.


    Mack stepped on the magma and smoke came from his feets.


    Pain came from his toes as they melted and Mack rolled back to where he came.


    But not a single scream of pain came from his mouth.


    "That hurts, geez."


    His ckened right foot seemed made of wood in front of the magma.


    Mack, seated by the side of the magmake, pondered in what to do.


    The first gate of duality seemed more gradual then this one, here he didnt feel much heat until now, calmly advancing.


    "Should I fly over this? But for how long? What if the sulfuric air made me go unconscious?"


    The more Mack thought, more it seemed he would to need to walk on fire.


    He could fly, but it seemed if he did it he would not benift from this gate, at least was what his guts told him.


    Mack waited for his body to regenerate hos toes and removed all his clothes puting them on his backpack. Than he retracted his Argonian cape, that thing could not be damaged but it felt odd to be naked and using a cape. What kind of man would do that?


    Naked again and with a sea of magma in front of him, Mack put his backpack in the ground by his side and walked straitgh to the sea of magma.


    Bubles of sulfur came to surface all the time, giving this ce the feeling and the smell of hell itself.


    Mack knew he needed to adapt to this, all mages used fire spells everytime. This was his chance to be almost unbeatable by mages.


    Mack took a step and his naked feeta touched the burning magma.


    Smoke raised from his fingers but he didn''t stoped.


    Walking on fire, he kept going foward.

 Chapter 76 - 76. Walking On Fire

    Mack kept walking over the magma, the palm of his feet already burned so much that the smell of rosted pork even stopped.


    Walking a few meters Mack noticed the ''magmake'' started to go deeper as he walked.


    When the magma covered his feet he stopped walking and stood still.


    He needed to give himself time to adapt.


    Cold sweat dripped from his body and made crisping sounds when touching the magma.


    If a person looked at this, they would think that Mack was insane, and apart from that, that he had no pain receptors in his body.


    But Mack felt pain, he just didn''t let any pain rule over him, rule over his actions.


    Mack would only show that he felt pain when he wanted to..


    That''s how strong Mack will hade to be over the years in the tower.


    Every single thing he made since touching the book demanded him a stronger will.


    Mack looked to the horizon seeing only bulbingva and felt that it was one of the craziest moments in his life.


    "That must be one of the best scenery I ever saw"


    For a moment he thought everything he learned in the tower, and indeed he needed to feel a little grateful for all.


    "Heck, i can even fly. Well... its not flying but ... it''s almost the same."


    Time flyed but Mack stood there over the thinyer ofva, thinking of several subjects one after another.


    Talking to himself, talking to no one and even talking with the Arcane.


    That was the daily routine of solitude of Mack.


    One that almost made him go crazy over the years.


    For some people is easy to endure physical pain if they know they will receive something worth itter. But the kind of psychological pain that Mack had to endure was something no one should experience in life.


    Mack looked below to his feet and indeed they seemed a little better then before.


    His passive healing plus his will adapting to the new environment was finally starting to overtake the effects caused by the extreme heat of theva under his feet.


    A few hourster and still in the same ce, Mack finally took a step foward.


    And another one.


    Walking on fire, going further and further.


    Theva touched his skin but no more crisping noises came.


    As Mack walked thevake got deeper until it reaches his knees.


    Mack raised his leg a bit and noticed the hair over his leg didn''t burn.


    ~sigh~


    Mack was delighted, he was worried that he may be bald if someva sshed over his head.


    "Maybe it''s because even my hair has my DNA"


    Thinking of that and seeing that theva could not harm him anymore Mack had a crazy idea.


    "Well, its been ages sincest time i swum"


    Saying that, Mack jumped head first in the sea ofva.


    The strength of his body made effortless for him to swim in theva, as if it was just normal water.


    If a mage ever saw that they would probably puke of envy, because for them to be able do the same they would need a very powerful spell to protect their bodies.


    Diving deeper in theva Mack again felt the strange urge of something calling for him and observing him.


    The strange feeling made Mack stop and return to the surface of theva.


    When his head went out of theva the feeling disappeared.


    ''Something is fishy in this waters''


    Mack dived again in theva and the feeling returned.


    The more deep he dived the more the weird feeling intensified.


    Mack made his mind, he would go as deep as he could and discover what made him felt so odd.


    But when reaching the bottom he discovered that he was too much at the edge of the sea ofva.


    He would need to go deeper and deeper.


    Mack came back to surface and took a deep breath.


    The sulfuric smell still burned his lungs but had enought air for him to live.


    Mack then looked to the horizon and already could not see where he came from. But he knew where he came because he could see a small trail made by his swim over thevake.


    He would need to keep his back to the same side or he may lose himself in there. Just like he did before.


    Thinking of that Mack went swimming to the center of theke.


    A few hourster Mack stopped and thought was enought. He had no way to find the middle of theke just by guessing. But one thing made all clear for him. A small ind apperead to him, and above that ind a huge portal.


    That was the end of the trial.


    But Mack didn''t felt satisfied, he needed to know what was the thing that kept bugging him since he entered this gate.


    Mack dove in thevake and went straight to the bottom, and again the moment he went down, the creepy feeling came again.


    This time the feeling was way more intense fhan before.


    Now Mack could almost feel as if it was someone calling for him, but in his mind.


    The deeper he went the stronger the feeling got but also the heat.


    Mack started to feel ufortable because of that, not matter what it was it seemed to be at the core region of thevake.


    After a few hours of diving Mack seemed to have reached the bottom of thevake and thr thing calling for him was just a few meters in front of him, he could now pinpoint the exact location.


    But he could not see it due to theva.


    Mack touched his two palms and activated his domain runespell.


    He was being cautions he didn''t knew what it was.


    With a few thoughts of Mack theva all around him started to leave and a dome of 1 mile around Mack was formed withoutva inside.


    As theva left the area Mack could finally see what it was that kept annoyng him for days, it was round ck with a tinge of red and the size of a thumb.


    "Whats that? A amber?"


    Said Mack approaching the thing, while at the same time reading the info that came from his retina.


    [Fire Amber, Rare, A parasitism lifeform that is born only in extreme heat environments]

 Chapter 77 - 77. The Fire Amber

    Mack was expecting anything but that.


    He looked at the thing once more and it was simr to a normal rock found in any ce.


    But was the onoy thing in there that did not moved a inch when he used his domain runespell.


    Meaning, that hing had a will of his own.


    Just to be sure, Mack waited for the feedback of his scan.


    ~thump~


    But nothing showed on his scan.


    "Weird"


    Owned Essence would react to Mack scan, but this thing didn''t moved a inch when using his domain runespell but also didn''t appear on his scan..


    One thing contradicted the other, while in Mack eyes a row of message saying this thing was a parasite kept him away from touching it and solve this mystery.


    "What I do now?"


    But when sayng his doubts aloud Mack remebered the que at the entrance and what was writen there.


    ''Let the fire burn in your heart''


    Mack remebered the odd phrase. Normally when using this kind of methaphore people would say something like '' let the fire in your heart burn'' not the opposite.


    Mack pondered and kept an eye on the fire amber.


    "I guess i will have another parasite in my body...."


    Said Mack remebering the Argonian cape was the same.


    He had no reason to do it, he could just store it and research but Mack knew this thing was there for a reason, his ancestor was not one of puting things just for decoration.


    And remebering the phrases in the que Mack was sure of the reason. It was for him to take.


    Mack approched the fire amber and touched with his right hand, at the same time a burning sensation spread to all his body, but not a burning as if made by fire but one as if Mack got a fever, an insanely high fever.


    Feeling the burn, Mack retracted his hand but was already toote, the thing had already infected his body.


    The temperature of his body was rapidly increasing and Mack felt as if he was inside avake.


    He was indeed.


    ~cough~


    Mack cough for the first time since entering the tower.


    ~cough~


    Mack put his hand over his mouth as a natural reaction to the coughs.


    But when looking at his right hand there was blood in it.


    He was coughing blood.


    "Fuck"


    When he was starting to regret his actions something snapped on his mind.


    It wasplete different from the Argonian Cape. Because the the cape was a mix of tech and biological life.


    This thing in the other hand was a parasite and only that.


    Mack could not believe what he was feeling right now.


    It seemed as if he was connected somehow to all thevake.


    Mack could not believe what he was feeling, this was like if his own body was not his anymore and instead he was just using it and now he could use in the same way thevake.


    "What the fuck happened?"


    Mack needed to test.


    He looked up and deactivated his runespell.


    Theva, not having any more restrictions started to fall over again and ocuppy the empty space, but before it could touch Mack, he raised his right hand.


    And everything stopped falling.


    Mack looked below himself and a pr of more solidva came under his foots and raised him while all theva around him opened space for him to pass.


    A few minutester Mack was above thevake again.


    Mack snapped his finger and the fire in the entireke dimmed as if someone had lowered the temperature of a gas oven.


    Mack raised his hand like a maestro and the fire in thevake burned to its maximum again, but this time, much more than before.


    He then closed his eyes to feel this connection better, it seemed he could do much much more with it.


    As he kept his eyes closed a strange illusion appeared in his mind, just like a dream or a memory that had faded away.


    A ck fire.


    Burning worlds and consuming all the Essence in them.


    A fire that did not produced heat, nor light and had no shadow.


    A fire that only aim was to consume everything.


    As these images shed in Mack head a ck tattoo appeared on the back of his body, it was a ck serpent eating his own tail but the mouth instead of a tongue had a fireing out.


    The tattoo seemed alive as it lightly moved by itself as if breathing and finding a good spot to rest.


    It had been aeons since it had a owner. It was craving for something to eat.


    That was what Mack felt when he opened his eyes.


    "Such an old creature and rare."


    Mack raised his right hand again and looked to his own palm.


    And after a few seconds a ck me the size of a finger appeared there.


    Mack closed his hand and opened again and the there was no more ck me.


    "So much power, my ancestor was indeed someone that could not be measured in words"


    Mack was still astonished by the discoveries that came with just touching a single ck rock.


    If his anceator had so much power why did he not took revenge by himself?


    ''Maybe the enemies are way more powerfull from what I thought initially''


    [Congrattions on being epted by the Void me]


    "cepted?"


    [Correct. If you failed you would be food for her now. The tattoo at your back is the sign that it will acknowledge you as his master for your entire life]


    ''I see...''


    Mack was still confused by the sudden revtions, and had many questions, but knew the Arcane would only reveal information if he used the correct words to ask.


    But the biggest shock for Mack was the fact that he could control fire around him without using his domain runespell.


    And that ck fire.....


    It seemed so weak nowpared to his ''dream'' he just had.


    Many questions popped in Mack head.


    But he would let them forter.


    He needed to leave this gate.


    Time waited for no man.

 Chapter 78 - 78. The 8th Gate

    Mack took his clothes at the entrance and flyed back to the gate.


    He was not in a hurry, he fell that he already aplished everything in this gate, with that, he had no reasons to stay in this kind of enviroment anymore.


    That and the fact he wished to leave the tower as soon as possible made him feel like he was running from something, maybe he was.


    The questions that popped in Mack head, one after another made him fear for the worst. Made him fear that he would need to get way stronger to be able to live once he left the tower.


    But a life was a luxury for Mack, he already forget what that was, what he really feared was that he was not strong enough to get his revenge.


    That realization came with the void me.


    If that thing was so powerfull, and his ancestor owned it, and yet was not able to take care of things, what he could do?


    His ancestor seemed to have everything needed for that, wealth, power, and a mind capable of plotting for hundred of years ahead..


    "If that cunning bastard was not able to get his revenge, it means, mages are way more powerful than I expected. It seems the real trials only started."


    Said Mack to himself as if to confirm his own thoughts while touching the giant gate that stood above the small ind in the center of thevake.


    After being transported Mack looked behind and saw the terrain of the new trial.


    Oddly, it was as if he was inside an old castle. Mack looked to his sides to confirm and it was the same, walls made of veryrge stones just like the floor.


    The ce he was in seemed like a room of a castle with only one door to leave.


    The usual que was also there.


    Mack approched it and saw the familiar runes over the que.


    # Win against yourself and you will lose to no one, but there can be only one #


    Mack read the text and be puzzled th4st line seemed to imply way more than he expected.


    "There can be only one."


    Said Mack, as if to engrave in his mind that line while unsheting his sword from his belt and walking to the door he had to enter.


    Passing the door, Mack saw a small corridor and a blinding white light at the end of it.


    The white light was so strong that was impossible for Mack to see what wad behind.


    With no choice he walked ahead and corssed that white film like light.


    Recovering his eyesight Mack saw an stadium, simr to the coliseum from Rome, but there was no open sky, instead, a dome made of stone bricks covered the entire stadium.


    Mack looked to his right side and saw another man standing there just like him.


    But to his shock, that man was identical to himself.


    "A light construct?"


    Mack looked to his left and another man popped from nowhere. Again, identical to Mack.


    Mack remembered how he entered and looked behind, but there was no door behimd him, only a wall made of rock bricks.


    No sure if he should act immediately, he waited, light constructs were no problem for him after all.


    While Mack atood there more and more ''Macks'' appeared in the stadium.


    ~sigh~


    Mack let go a sigh, test like those were nothing to him. Light constructs were made of Essence after all, and his domain runespell could kill them like bugs.


    Mack raised his two hand and extended them.


    But when he was about to activate his domain runespel a voice echoed in the entire atadium


    ~ Dear heir of mine ~


    "Whats this? The ancestor?"


    Asked to himself Mack


    [Correct, this gate has an announcement recorded by your ancestor. Listen carefully]


    "Interesting"


    ~ this gate took me almost a century to finish, and can be said to be very special ~


    Mack heard that but could not find anything of so big importance. Just a bunch of light constructs with the same appearence of him.


    ~ this gate is a point of singrity ~


    "huh?"


    ~ in other words it connects all parallel dimension where you exist and have reached this same gate in your own parallel world, no matter the time ~


    "Shit."


    Said Mack, having a bad premonition thinking about the next words of his ancestor.


    ~ and there can be only one of you ~


    Mack looked around again, there was dozen of him. But what made Mack anxious was not the numbers, but the realization that came with his ancestor announcement.


    All of those ''Macks'' were real.


    In flesh and bones, just like him.


    Mack counted them all. And there was exaclty 12 including himself.


    Mack didn''t knew if to be proud or if to fear for his own life.


    Those eleven ''Macks'' were as ruthless as him or even more.


    After all, to reach this point in the tower, there was no shortcuts. Mack himself almost went insane and forgot the number of times he wished to be dead.


    To reach this point of the tower one needed to be as fearless and insane as him.


    In his entire life Mack never feared a enemy.


    Expect for now.


    Because he knew himself better than anyone.


    He was a psycho.

 Chapter 79 - 79. The Bane Of Warlocks

    Mack looked to the others and all seemed to behave the same way, suspicious and with caution.


    Looking to the more close to him, Mack noticed a few peculiarities, a different hari cut and ....


    He didn''t had the sword made by his ancestor but another one, amon sword.


    Remebering how special the sword was Mack quickly looked to the others and found only one with the same sword.


    Both of them seemed to realize the same thing as they eyes meet.


    They would be the worst adversaries to each other. .


    Mack kept looking to the other warlocks to see anything that may be out of ordinary but they were almost the same.


    No one of them had moved since entering and the creeping silence in the stadium made the atmosphere tense by the second.


    It was but a matter of time until one of them made a move.


    But none wished to be the first.


    Mack knew this, because those were his own thoughts. The first to act would be a easy target for the others while also acting as a distraction for other tounch surprise attacks.


    In any possible way, it was a bad move to attack first.


    But then, Mack remebered something odd in them.


    And just like that, Mack vanished.


    He activated his Argonian cape.


    Following Mack move six of them also vanished, including the one with the sword.


    It seemed that in all possible scenarios of the unlimeted parallels worlds, Mack existence by itself was a rare urrence, and to have reached this point with his ancestor bing what he was and having all that toys was even more rare.


    The other ''Macks'' that didnt had the Argonian cape didn''t knew what to do and atarted to feel inpatient, thinking they would be be sneak attacked.


    But the ones with the argonian cape knew the cape limitations and just stood there, while slowly moving away from their original position.


    If they were to be attacked they would deactivate the cape and defend.


    But those without the cape were freaking out not knowing what to do.


    Mack saw this and thought about the only problem.


    The essence.


    What if any of them activated a domain runespell like the one he had?


    ''What would happen?''


    Warlocks didn''t owned essence.


    A domain runespell could be said to be the bane of warlocks.


    ''Shit, my instincts are always right''


    Thought Mack remebering that he stopped the activation of his domain earlier.


    And for Mack despair.


    ~swoosh~


    A wave of red Essence passed by him.


    He was done.

 Chapter 80 - 80. Death Sentence

    Mack knew too well how the domain runespell worked.


    The domain by itself didn''t cause any damaged only made all free Essence to be owned by the one that activated. If the caster wanted to do damage, he would need to use his will and manipte that essence to cause damage.


    But the domain runespell had a huge problem. If the caster was not quick or was not inplete harmony with the essence to attack or defend then he would be extremely vulnerable, because the body itself bes as fragile as a pile of paper.


    ~ssh~


    One ''Mack'' close to him exploded, and blood sshed all the way to where Mack was. The broken pieces of his body fell around in a circle.


    The head of the men rolled to where Mack was, almost touching it. Mack looked at it and could still see the surprise in the now devoid of life eyes. .


    Mack hoped the caster was a newbie, but s, the caster seemed to be extremely familiar with the domain runespell and acted swiftly, killing one of them right at start.


    While Mack was thinking how to act, one of them threw a dagger at the caster that quickly rolled on the ground, avoiding losing his life.


    But another dagger was waiting for him and lunged itself at the right leg of the caster.


    Furious, the caster ordered the Essence to burn all around him.


    ''that''s my chance''


    Thought Mack, remembering what he gained at the previous gate.


    The void me.


    Mack had resistance to fire, but that only applied if he could control the essence in his body, what right now he could not.


    Two guys burned in the fire, but no screams came from them.


    Mack didn''t act rashly, he only made the fire not touch him and kept hidden under the effect of his argonian cape.


    Even his scan runespell stopped working and he was only able to keep track of the battle with his eyes.


    All the dead, until now seemed to be people that didn''t have the argonian cape.


    Even the caster of the domain didn''t have the argonian cape.


    Despair seemed to blind their eyes, or the caster actually could not pinpoint the position of the hidden ones.


    ''Maybe that''s why he used fire, to make use out from hiding or attack us all at the same time''


    Mack was in an extremely passive situation, and he hated that, but if he acted now, he would be a corpse, just like those two unlucky bastards burning to ashes.


    But when Mack least expected, a sword cut the caster in two halves, even though, no screams came from it.


    They were indeed all like him, ruthless to the bone.


    The caster was dead and behind him a man came from nowhere, already preparing to activate his own domain runespell.


    Mack didn''t dy and quickly turned off his cape and threw a dagger at the man.


    The man stopped and ducked to avoid the dagger.


    Mack was not aiming for the kill, just to dy the man and not let him activate the domain runespell.


    The man was about to activate his domain runespell again, but now another dagger came from another ce and hit his left hand.


    That ''Mack'' was done for.


    He would not be able to use any runespell for at least a few minutes.


    Mack, seeing this, activated his own domain runespell.


    But at the same time, three other guys activated their own domain runespells.


    A vortex of chaotic essence formed, as if the three domains were fighting to rule.


    Taking the chance, three more domains were activated.


    Only the poor guy with broken bones in his hand seemed to not be able to do anything.


    And like in any moment of life, his fate was sealed because of that. One careless movement was all that took for a life to be reaped in a fight.


    ~ssh~


    Mack would not give chances to luck and blew away the head of that man.


    But at the center of the arena was where the true fight was happening.


    There, the domain of the six remaining ''Mack''s were fighting for control, one trying to push the other back and at each second that passed the slightly red Essence was bing more and more chaotic.


    The essence, at times, could be seen with the naked eye because of the reddish glow it had.


    Turning and twisting and pushing and retracting.


    Mack never saw something like that before, maybe because of so much blood involved in the process or maybe because it was warlock blood, or even both.


    Mack, for the first time, could see how his will really influenced the Essence and how it behaved because of that.


    It was like someone that could see his right hand for the first time in life.


    Unknown to himself, Mack was bewildered in that process for a moment.


    It was one of those moments in life that each second that passed seemed to slow down, almost as if it was slow motion.


    Mack twisted his hand and the Essence twisted.


    All seemed like a dance of his own, so natural and so beautiful.


    He looked slightly to the right, and the Essence concentrated more there.


    Pushing and defending the other domain runespells.


    Mack felt entranced by that feeling. It was the second time he truly felt connected with essence in his life, but his time, he felt a deep and strong connection.


    One of a ruler.


    One, as if essence was not a tool but was his arm, was himself.


    Himself.


    Mack too was made of essence. Every cell of his body had essence inside.


    ''Why try to rule the world when I barely can rule myself?''


    And like a hammer hitting a ss pane, that phrase shattered all Mack true''s one after the other.


    "Hahahahahhahahahha"


    Laughed Mack maniacally.


    The others were caught unprepared for that and looked confused why that guy just suddenly started tough in the middle of a fight.


    They were all versions of each other but all of them had simr backgrounds, not exactly equal, because that was the principle of parallel universes, if was identical, it would be only one.


    As if to answer their doubts and to mock himself even more, Mack didn''t stop and started to talk to himself.


    "Thee years and it''s like I never learned nothing! Three years! Three useless years!"


    The others could not believe. Did he spend three years in the tower?


    No one asked, but their faces showed their concerns, expect for one guy, the other ''Mack'' with a ck sword. His eyes instead became serious.


    Mack lowered his gaze and looked at all of them.


    "Sorry guys, I will have to kill you all today, but I promise, I will make them pay in your ce."


    With that said, Mack raised his hand and a white crystal could be seen amidst his fingers.


    A crystal covered in Mack''s blood.


    "If you don''t want Essence so much I will dly take it all"


    ~zoommm~

 Chapter 81 - 81. Bug Killer Spray

    The variation of the ''gravity runespell'' that Mack devised was activated using the crystal as a power source.


    All the blood infused essence struggled to leave Mack''s area of domain as if that area was hell itself.


    But they could not resist one bit. Mack had already activated it and the trap was set even before they could realize what Mack was aiming for.


    They were too slow, and all that took was just but a thought from Mack and almost all the essence in the stadium came to Mack.


    They were trying to push it? He would let them do it dly and take all of that essence for him.


    Their blood was his own blood.


    Will against will, none could beat him.


    Except for one guy, the other one with a ck sword.


    That ''Mack'' quickly deactivated his domain runespell and did the same as Mack, using the gap in the fight to activate his gravity runespell engraved in his own body.


    But he was a heartbeat slower than Mack, and that sealed his fate.


    Essence moved to the inside of Mack''s body and in the blink of an eye the entire stadium was like a desert.


    Mack could do that because he had both runespell active, the gravity field and the domain runespell, instead of only having the gravity runespell on.


    While one ruled over the essence remaining and blocking the stadium and any attempt of control, the other sucked all the rest of essence to Mack''s body.


    And it was a lot of essence in a single ce.


    The concentration of essence in that ce was 11x what was inside Mack''s body normally.


    And that was because those 11 freaks were like Mack.


    Twelve crazy guys.


    Essence rushed to Mack''s body and his skin cracked and deform and heal all at the same time.


    Once they all realized what Mack was aiming for, it was toote. But they still tried to fight back.


    Daggers came flying to Mack, but they met an invisible wall.


    ~shin~


    It was the barrier from the archmage that Mack defeated. Glimmering in full light now that the daggers activated it.


    They could do nothing to change their fates.


    Seeing the barrier, even the ''Mack'' with a ck sword felt helpless.


    Realizing the situation they were in, one of them screamed with all the air in his lungs:


    "The mages will destroy my world! I am the only hope for them!!!!"


    Seeing their helpless faces, Mack could not avoid thinking how different they were, and asked back:


    "Is your world, let''s say, like mine? With cellphones and bug killer sprays?"


    They seemed confused why ask that, but they all nodded to Mack, except for the guy with the ck sword.


    "What about this world is worth saving if they would risk extinction to swat a fly?"


    None responded, because the true spoke louder when was thest thing they would hear.


    ~thump~


    The same second their heads fell to the ground.


    Except for one.


    The guy with another ck sword.


    "Why did you spare me?"


    Asked the guy, not sure why he was left alive.


    "I did not. You will die. But I will give you a glimpse of what I will be."


    "Why?"


    Asked the other Mack with the ck sword.


    "Because you are the closest thing to me, maybe the difference between you and me was just one more cigarette. You could be in my spot now. Would not you like to see what''s next? I would if I was on your shoes."


    The other Mack took his sword and threw to the front.


    "Use it well"


    And in the next second lunged a dagger in his own heart.


    It was a slow death to them, there was no need for this suffering, but was enough to watch what he could have be.


    His gravity runespell ended with no more essence in his body and he bend over his own knees with blood flowing out of his body.


    Watching and feeling the rest bit of the essence inside his body go to his own but better self.


    "Exactly what I would have done."


    Said Mack now with his body almost feeling like he was a bottle that was about to explode of so many essence inside.


    In the next second, Mack closed his eyes and the domain runespell retracted, taking with it the blood of all the dead ones together.


    The domain retracted but did not stop working as usual. Instead, his scope be Mack''s own body. With only one goal, his domain acted as his mastermanded.


    "Evolve"


    Mack cells started to die and reborn and adapt and change, all to contain more and more essence.


    His rule was absolute.


    And the blood of all the dead ones acted as a fuel to keep Mack living during this process.


    Mack was slowly feeling the changes in his own body.


    The skin felt as if was of a young kid; the bones became harder, all was bing more efficient and more tuned with essence.


    ~cough~


    Mack coughed a ck ball of tar and ck blood left his pores as if he was made of ink.


    The domain runespell retracted more and more, doing pressure from the outside while his own body listened to themands of his essence to evolve.


    To reach new heights.


    Seeing all this, the other Mack gave a smile and closed his eyes forever. He didn''t need to see the result. He knew what a beast he was and this guy in front of him was even more of a freak.


    Eleven crazy bastards and one monster.


    That was hisst thought.


    Mack was aware that the guy died and finally could let his guard down and focuspletely on the task ahead.


    But not without using that guy''s blood.


    A gust of wind came out from Mack and in the next second, blood flowed from the dead Mack until only a dried corpse could be seen.


    Mack had no remorses of his actions.


    But he would pursue their goals.


    His own goal.


    To be the strongest man alive.


    Or die trying.

 Chapter 82 - 82. New Heights

    When thest ''Mack'' died, a door made of light appeared at the center of the stadium, but Mack was in no hurry to enter.


    With his eyes closed, Mack focusedpletely on the changes happening in his body.


    This time was different from the others. Mack was not only making his body able to contain more essence using the mix of runespells but also actively telling his body where to be better.


    His muscles already were harder than steel because of essence, but now they were like this in the natural form, even if Mack had no essence in his body he would still be a monster.


    But the thing Mack noticed more was the fine tune with Essence.


    It seemed at each evolution he became more and more familiar with it, as if a baby learning how to use his own arms.


    Mack noticed his hearing bing better, his teeth bing sharper and the hair over his body disappearing, with only his beard and long hair in his head remaining. .


    A few hourster, the process finally ended and Mack could literally feel in his bones the changes that came with the new evolution.


    But one thing bugged Mack.


    His eyes.


    He didn''t need to look at himself to see the changes in his own body, essence could do that for him, and his eyes had be more sharper and incisive like one of a predator, but the color of his eyes changed, from green to opaque red, it was subtle but yet noticeable.


    Essence had this kind of power, to chance things to make it more tuned to it


    That red eyes were a problem for him in the future. It could easily make him stand out.


    But that would be a good help for Mack in the next tests he would do today.


    Mack mustered his will using the domain runespell and focused on his eyes, picturing the image of his own green eyes.


    But nothing happened.


    Then Mack thought about the pigment in his eyes changing.


    But nothing happened again.


    "It seems will be way harder than I thought"


    But that for Mack was only the start.


    The ''epiphany'' he had during the fight was yet to be fully tested.


    Mack deactivated the gravity runespell but kept active the domain runespell.


    "Maybe the color of the eyes is too much to begin"


    Mack pulled from his memories all times he had used the domain runespell until now and how it was easy for him to blow a head or move something using only his will.


    ''What am I missing?''


    Mack had to test again.


    He expanded his domain runespell a bit and tried to levitate like as if he was flying.


    Still with eyes closed, Mack paid full attention to how the essence behaved and he could see that small and strong gusts of wind the size of a rice grain pushed him up.


    Mack threw a dagger to the front and used his will to make ite back to him and paid full attention to the details.


    ''Again the wind''


    Mack thought about every time he used his will in the domain and he could not believe how dumb he was.


    "It seems I still have a lot to learn. Every time until now I was only controlling the air."


    Mack pondered over the matter and still didn''t understand the principles behind.


    "Why the air?"


    It was then that Mack remembered the spells that the mages used.


    Most of them used fireballs, and the natural fuel for fire was air.


    The ones that used earth only made earth walls or stctites that came from the ground.


    "So, it seems they only use the natural properties of the things in an enhanced way"


    But Mack still could not understand one thing. If he could control air easily with his domain runespell, why mages didn''t use air as their main spells?


    "Right! It''s their bodies. They don''t have the gates opened. Air is free and can be fast and strong or still, but the tendency is to stop. If they used air spells, their output would be very limited, but fire use air and the target as a fuel, its tendency is to burn until it has fuel, they only need to maintain a small spark until it reaches the target, theoretically"


    Then Mack thought about the other spells he saw until now and how they behaved until he made his mind.


    All spells used the naturalws of things but twisted it a little. Rocks could not appear from nowhere in the air as the same applied to what Mack was trying to do with his body now.


    He needed to use the naturalws of the body. The naturalws of the cells.


    "Maybe that''s why I could evolve in the first ce. I always thought of my cells adapting to essence by dying and generating new ones at my marrows"


    Now Mack understood why changing the color of his eyes was not working. For that, Mack would need to kill these cells and produce new ones that behaved differently.


    ~sigh~


    "I guess I will need to get used to having red eyes for a while"


    Mack was too inexperienced to be able to change the behavior of cells to this deep level of changing the colors of his eyes, adapt to essence seemed hard on paper but in true was extremely easy because was a force method that essence alone could impart its new rules over the cells.


    "I guess I''m too green to do what I want, to be able to freely control my body using essence and boost only parts of it like warlocks do. It seems more easy on paper than doing"


    With that, Mack deactivated his domain, the tests for today were finished.


    He would need to spend a lot of time to achieve what he thought.


    It was time to finish this gate and enter thest gate of the tower.


    Mack grabbed the other ck sword and put on his belt.


    One sword on each side.


    "I guess I will need to learn to dual welding now"


    With that said, Mack took a look at the bodies of the other ''Macks''


    ~sigh~


    And entered the door of light.

 Chapter 83 - 83. The Last Warlock

    Mack crossed the light door, and at the same moment he could see what was beyond.


    An old man using a dark robe.


    "Finally someone, after thousands of years."


    Mack walked a few steps and stopped, not sure if it was an enemy, an illusion or even a light construct.


    "It seems you are a very cautions person, even growing so strong."


    Said the old man without moving an inch from his original spot.


    Mack kept looking at him without moving, but his right hand was already on his sword.


    At this distance, the sword was more effective than any spell.. That was one of the things that Mack learned in all those years in the tower.


    "You can feel at ease. I saw all your progress during those years you spend in the tower. I''m not your enemy."


    Said the man, pointing to a mirror by the side that showed Mack right now.


    "How can I be sure? All gates until now put me in a deathbed"


    Asked Mack, but without moving.


    "The true is, I''m your ancestor."


    Said the old man.


    "My ancestor is dead, the Arcane itself said to me."


    The old man''s face changed.


    "The Arcane? hahahaha. Right!"


    The old man felt like someone who had not heard a good pun in years.


    [I am the Arcane, boy]


    Said the Arcane in a masculine voice now.


    Mack almost tripped back when hearing the Arcane with the same voice as the old man had.


    How could he be so stupid?


    "You are not stupid. I prepared this for thousands of years and waited thousands more for someone who could pass all my trials. You are just too green to foresee any of this. After all, you have barely reached your 30 years now."


    Indeed, Mack was too young to be put at the same level as those monsters that lived for thousands of years.


    He knew that. Even so, the revtions that came one after another made Mack not believe anything anymore.


    "But I swear I heard the Arcane refer to you as her master when I was half sleeping"


    Said Mack, still not believing that his onlypany until now was a lie.


    "Would you trust it if I not let something slip by? You distrust even your own shadow kid. I never saw someone as cautious as you enter the tower before."


    Unconsciously, Mack took a step back.


    ~sigh~


    "Kid, to tell the true. I am your enemy. I wished to end this quickly without saying anything, but I think I had grown too old now, or maybe is theck of talk. Who knows?"


    Mack took his sword out and took another step back. His mind was nk.


    He still could not distinguish head from tails about this situation, but his instincts were in full panic now.


    It was as if Mack could feel the sharpness and cold of a de in his neck. Death was about to strike him down any second.


    "The true, kid, is that all the trial were just to create a new vessel for me. A new body, your body."


    Said the old man, raising his right hand and pointing to Mack.


    But at that moment Mack could glimpse a tattoo identical as his owns in the right hand of his ancestor.


    As if a light struck him woken, he moved his sword and shed with all his force.


    The old man took a step back but was unprepared for what happened.


    ~thump~


    Mack''s left hand fell to the ground.


    Both of his hands had simr tattoos that he did when discovering the book. Mack cut his own left hand out, but he had more eight tattoos in his body.


    "HaHaHaHaHa very clever! Indeed, someone worth of reaching here. HaHaHa!"


    Laughed the old man as if he was caught unprepared for the first time in his life. But once the surprise faded out, his tone became even more serious than before and his face retorted with rage.


    "But you and I know that this will not stop your fate, but only dy it."


    Mack knew it was a gamble, but he did what his instincts said, and Mack instincts were always spot on.


    Unknown to Mack, he just saved his life now. Because his ancestor was about to activate all the tattoos on Mack''s body.


    His ancestor looked at Mack''s left arm, blood flowing like a river, and with a pondering tone expressed what was in his mind.


    "You indeed are a freak. I never expected someone to even evolve the body to level three, yet, you reached level five. That took me over three hundred of years at my time. Look at the color of your blood. Deep red, almost turning to ck."


    Mack didn''t know what that means but knew it was supposed to be a good thing.


    "And your eyes, already red."


    Said the old men looking straight at Mack''s eyes. As if admiring a product or the prospects that he would have with such a good body.


    Blood kept flowing from Mack''s left hand, but now the flow was much less. His body was healing like a freak that Mack was.


    Noticing the difference, his ancestor looked at Mack''s left hand and pondered for a second.


    "In about six hours you will have a new hand, then we can continue."


    With that said, the old man vanished into thin air.


    Even knowing that nothing was solved, Mack, for some reason, fell as if a mountain had left his shoulders.


    But in the next second.


    Chains made of light formed around Mack''s body and locked all of his arms, neck, and torso.


    [Just a precaution, we don''t want you to hurt yourself, right?]


    Said an old masculine voice in Mack''s head.


    Mack struggled to get free, but nothing happened.


    The chains seemed to be made of light, just like the light constructs from previous gates, but way harder.


    Minutes passed by as if they were hours, while the silent chamber echoed Mack''s struggles to get free.


    But nothing worked.


    He had all his runespells inactive, and to activate one, he would need to touch his hands, but he had no more left hand, and was chained.


    ~sigh~


    Mack head fell to the front as if he had gave up.


    His head covered in sweat made his hair feel like Mack just came from an intense training. But there was no pleasant feeling of achieving something.


    He could not get free.


    ''Even if I could, what can I do?''


    Mack knew better than anyone about his situation.


    He was at the mercy of his ancestor, and that man didn''t seem to be one who had any mercy.


    [Just give up kid. You can''t avoid your fate]

 Chapter 84 - 84. Back To Earth

    Time ticked as the drops of blood fell to the ground.


    Mack, withplete dark clothes and two dark red swords by his belt, was chained in the middle of a dark chamber.


    His foots didn''t touched the ground, and the contrast between the chains and the dark room made the silhouette of Mack appear as enigmatic as the moon in the sky, one side full of darkness and the other bright as the day.


    His head was down as if tired or unconscious, and sweat rolled down from his neck to his hair mocking the owner about his own fate, as if to anounce that a head should roll today.


    Drops of blood mixed with sweat on the floor forming a pool below Mack feet, while the pungent smell seemed to permeate every corner of the small chamber.


    But Mack was healing.


    Healing too fast.


    Normally someone would be happy about healing, but not Mack.. Because by the end of this what awaited for him was his death.


    His doom.


    There was nothing that could change this invariable end.


    "Is that so?"


    Asked him back to the voice in his head.


    [What could you possibly do it?]


    "HaHaHaHaHaHa"


    [Kid, don''t even think you are smart now just because you have grown a few muscles in the tower. The brain has no muscles]


    "You watched me all those years, but seem to not know me."


    [...]


    Mack, still with his head down, stood silent as if reflecting upon the choice of every single word he would say.


    "Within the chaos of life I find myself, with nothing, thus nothing to abide."


    "Life and death, thus, I cast aside."


    "I may not be the master of my life but my death is mine to decide."


    [hm.... nice poem.... So you n to kill yourself?]


    "You know me, maybe better than I know myself. Tell me. Give me one reason that holds me here."


    [...]


    Without an answer from his ancestor, the creeping silence in his mind and the thoughts about his unfortunate and bleak life until now made Mack ponder if someday things would change, or if he would always feel as if it was all in vain as always.


    A bleak life.


    Why he felt like that?


    [You desperately wishing to die and me desperately craving to live. Yet, you would kill yourself before letting me win]


    "HaHaHaHa"


    "Indeed. What a dead lock"


    [You and your dad jokes as always]


    "I had the best teacher. My father."


    Thinking about his father again, and how that old man loved to tell bad jokes, made him nostalgic.


    His father was the only thing that kept Mack living a sane life.


    But now.


    ~sigh~


    "Just end me already"


    Said Mack in a saded voice.


    The hair covered his eyes so no one ever saw that drop of tear that rolled from his eyes.


    "I''m tired."


    Said Mack again to reaffirm his will.


    "I will not kill myself. You can go ahead, maybe it''s all fate for us to meet here. Because I have nothing that matter anymore. A perfect vessel for you, ha."


    [...]


    "I just can''t anymore. I''m tired! And sick of being tired."


    Said Mack, amidst tears that came from his solitude and the longing he felt for his father.


    His rage was gone.


    Only sadness remained.


    He could never see that man again.


    His father.


    The only person who Mack loved in his entire life.


    He was gone.


    And today, Mack only wished for the pain to stop.


    He didn''t care anymore.


    He stopped pretending that he was fine or strong.


    "Just do it already!"


    Screamed Mack with a trembling voice while the tears rolled over his mouth.


    "Kill me!"


    [Kid, You do change of opinion rather quickly, don''t you?]


    But the true was, Mack was consumed by all the straining years on the tower.


    The more he pushed, the more he felt mentally exhausted, and nothing seemed to improve.


    "Just do it. I don''t care anymore. I''m fucking tired of this life, and no matter how many days pass, things will not be different."


    [Why do you think so?]


    "The memories will never fade"


    [If you really think like that, why are you still breathing?]


    "I... I .... promised him"


    [What? you promised to breathe? That''s kind ofme. Be specific kid. What did you promise to your father?]


    "Shut up, old man! Why do you care? You want my body. Take it!"


    [I shall do it as you wish]


    As the voice of the old man faded, Mack heard an acute sound and his vision blurred.


    Not a secondter, darkness came to embrace Mack.


    In front of Mack, the image of his ancestor appeared again, as if he was always there.


    The old man looked at Mack''s body, and seemed to ponder, while his right hand stroked his own beard.


    "At least the rage is gone. Now only the sadness remains. Tirgur, contact me with the central"


    As the old man finished speaking, a translucent image of a man appeared in front of him, but with a blurred face.


    "How has been your stay at your old turf, Hack?"


    Asked the blurred image.


    "Not good, not good. This behind you is myst descendent and thest candidate from this tower too."


    Said the old man in a preupied tone.


    "Why? I remember that KX3 had at least billions of humans on thest report."


    "Indeed, the problem is the Essence levels, is too weak to produce a decent candidate, and all my descendants seem to be pursued by the mage alliance. They should had been the rulers of the, yet, they have been hunted down" said the old man.


    "I see. Send me the full report. We still can use artificial insemination in mass. That way, you will have enough candidates to justify the tower. The Essence level is another issue..... Let me check if any star close to you will die..." said the blurred image.


    "I already checked and there is none. It will take a few Aeons for the next. And also.... this one kid here.... we have a problem with the emotional levels...." said the old man, pondering over the next words.


    "What kind of problem? Didn''t he reach the end of the first level?" asked the blurred image.


    "He did.... But the protocol about a few emotions was a failure. I could not remove the purple spectrum" said the old man.


    "Sadness?"


    "Correct, but I may have a solution for that. I found the root case, and it seems to be his deceased father."


    "Was not the 5th trial supposed to fix that?" asked the man with a blurry face.


    "He went rampage and destroyed the scenario and even the blue bird itself" said the old man, a bit embarrassed, not sure why.


    "What a pain in the ass must have been this guy. And how do you n to fix it?"


    "I will erase his memory about this day and send him to his home. I will make it seem as if the moment he left the 8th trial he was sent back."


    "You know the rules. They can''t reenter the tower..... oh no... don''t tell me..."


    "Yes. I n to guide him to another tower." said the old man.


    "Hack! For god''s sake my friend, you already dedicated too much. Is it worth it? There are thousands of other candidates in other towers. Is it because he is thest of your lineage?"


    "Not that. You know, I don''t really care for it anymore. It''s because of the 8th gate."


    "How many of him?"


    "Twelve with him."


    "Holy fucking mother lord! Twelve? Why I did not receive a report about this? Twelve.... If he had Twelve and killed them all... "


    "He didn''t. He killed only five, only the strongest of them. But you know what that means...."


    "Another monster!!!" said the man with a blurry face.


    "Also, he reached level five in the 8th trial. I didn''t send the report because he barely took a few hours in there." said the old man.


    "So promising..... Are you sure you will be able to get rid of the purple spectrum? And also.... reach another tower? Which one do you n on sending him?" asked the blurred man, almost wanting to go himself there to make sure everything worked as he expected.


    "What? You think I am not up to the task? Old friend, this is just a kid. If a say the right words, he would jump on fire.... to tell the true... when he reached the 9th gate, he was consumed by rage, I had to y a piece on him to get rid of the red spectrum...."


    "It''s not that, Hack, I just got a little excited about his prospects.... let''s see... I will authorize the extraction and the lockdown of the Tower for 4 Aeons. Thats when Essence would return to your home. You can go, I will take care of the paperwork for you." said the man with blurry face.


    "Thank you, my friend."


    By the time the old man said his thanks, the translucent image vanished.


    "Now, to the fun part" said the old man, remembering how fun it was to pretend to be ''An Arcane''.


    "Whats even an arcane?.... geez where did I take that name from? I must have read too much light novels from Earth."


    And with that, he vanished again, but this time, Mack vanished with him.

 Chapter 85 - 85. Failed?

    Mack opened his eyes and, still a bit dizzy, tried to stand up.


    But something was odd.


    "The hell I am?"


    He looked at the white walls around him and to several hospital machines and recognized the ce.


    "A hospital?"


    But even if was a hospital, something was odd about that ce that Mack could not pinpoint.


    Mack raised himself from the bed and stood up.


    He passed his hand over one machine.


    Dust..


    There was dust everywhere.


    "Is this the same hospital that I was before entering the tower?"


    Asked himself Mack, not sure about why he was there.


    [Correct. You had been sent back to Earth. To the same ce you were before entering the tower]


    "Fuck! did you send me here old man?"


    [Oh shit. I forgot to erase your memory. Ah Nevermind.]


    "Erase my? ....The heck? Just kill me already... why erase my memory?"


    Mack saw something moving in the corner of his eyes and there it was.


    An old man eating ramen.


    "You know... I really don''t want to kill you. But I will if you bother me while I''m eating." said Hack.


    Mack stood there watching the old men eat ramen, not sure what was happening.


    Was not he supposed to be dead already?


    ''The fuck is going on? And why I''m on Earth?''


    "You know I can read your thoughts, right?" said Hack


    "So answer me. What the heck is going on?"


    [You failed] said Hack, using the mind link.


    "Failed?"


    [Yes, you failed the 9th gate. But we opened an exception for you. You will be able to try again in the future]


    "Why would I? I don''t care about that tower"


    [You will not ask me how you failed?]


    "I don''t care either. Why you keep talking in my mind when you have a mouth and you are so close to me? It''s annoying."


    [Because I''m eating, it''s practical]


    Said Hack, pointing his finger at the ramen.


    "So....you are not going to kill me?"


    [No]


    "Fine then. I''m leaving, you can enjoy your food"


    Said Mack, leaving the room.


    "How much time will take for him toe back?"


    Said to himself Hack, already putting the finished ramen to the side and crossing his legs, as if a grandfather patiently waiting for a kid to stop his dramas.


    Less than a minuteter, Mack was back.


    "There is no one in this town. What you did?"


    [Me?]


    "Yes, you bastard! Where are the people!"


    [What do you think?]


    Said Hack, already vanishing from his ce, only the cup o ramen remained there as proof that he was once there.


    Mack stood there, looking at a wall now, a bit lost for words and confused to what was happening.


    But one thing he knew.


    It seemed this old man would not leave him in peace.


    ~sigh~


    "What exactly is happening? First you want to kill me, now you don''t want, and bring me to Earth. AND why there is no one else on this ind?!"


    [Who knows? Maybe a ghost ship passed by. It happens. Go figure it yourself. I will take a nap]


    "What ghost ship? Are you joking with me?"


    Mack was losing his cool with the old man.


    Not a secondter, he could swear he heard a snore from the ce where his ancestor vanished.


    Mack walked out of the hospital building and looked around, but still could not see a single person.


    The streets looked like those abandoned mining cities when the mines run out of gold.


    Everything was still there, covered with dust and grass or other herbs growing on them.


    Mack closed his eyes and waited for his scan.


    One secondter, the scan came, and he saw several dots in his scan, but all of them were animals.


    "Whats wrong with this ce?"


    Mack knew this ind like the back of his hand. It was not densely popted, but had a lot of people in. They lived from tourism and fishing. There was no reason to leave the ind in such a hurry.


    Mack looked around to search for any oddities. It was then that he saw a dried pool of blood by the side of the road.


    If was a normal day, anyone would think it was an animal hit by a car.


    But in this desert city? Mack doubted.


    Mack walked to the ce, and saw that the blood was dried for at least a dozen of days, and was already being covered with dust from the air.


    "Probably something rted to all those people disappearing"


    Mack didn''t care if an entire city disappeared, or thousands of people died, but that changed when the ce was this ind.


    This ce is where Mack grew as a kid. There were still some natives that remembered Mack by name. How could he not care?


    He was not devoid ofpassion, or a ruthless bastard that cared only for himself.


    He just minded his own business, and this ind was one of them.


    Touching the dried blood with his hand, Mack remembered one runespell he learned during his tests. It was not a battle type, so Mack didn''t engrave on his body.


    It was a tracking runespell.


    Mack could create a scan simr to his own, but instead of pinpointing all the owned essence, he would pinpoint a specific Essence signature.


    Mack did this in one of his attempts to understand better how Essence worked.


    As the runespell was useless to him during the trials, he even forgot about it, but now seemed a good chance to put it to use.


    "Let''s see if I can remember"


    Said Mack, drawing a few runes on the ground with his own blood right in the middle of the empty street.


    After a few minutes, aplex rune circuit could be seen on the ground.


    Mack scrapped the dried blood and put on a specific part of the circuit.


    After making sure everything was correct, Mack approached and touched with his finger.


    The circuit was activated but suddenly stopped working.


    Mack looked at the circuit again and again and could not see anything wrong with it.


    "The heck?"

 Chapter 86 - 86. Blood Trail

    Mack pondered for a few seconds why the rune circuit was not working, and quickly came with a usible answer.


    "Right, I''m on Earth. The Essence here is lower."


    Said Mack, already drawing a new circuit that not used the essence from the environment but from an essence crystal.


    Finishing the drawing, Mack took an essence crystal from his backpack and put over the rune circuit and pressed his thumb.


    For Mack, the good thing about essence crystals is that they could be used multiple times if the essence used was low, because he had only a few of them remaining.


    The runespell activated, and Mack saw a small line of blood trembling intensely in the circuit.


    It was the direction he had to follow, and by the frequency it was trembling, Mack knew it was close. .


    Mack deactivated the runespell, put the essence crystal in his backpack, and walked in the direction the rune circuit told.


    Mack kept walking but saw nothing odd until he came right in front of the town hall building. A three floors building made all with ss panes and very modern for a small city.


    Mack entered the building and instantly saw to where the rune circuit was pointing him to.


    Hundreds of corpses pilling up one above the other.


    Childrens, a lot of them, all dead and rotting.


    The putrid smell assaulted Mack''s nose, making him wanting to puke his own guts out, but Mack walked forward.


    Because a few steps from him, he saw a what looked to be the mayor of the city, on the floor.


    Mack approached and looked at the mayor''s right hand, and beneath it read a few lines of dried blood


    # smith #


    Mack read the blood trail and knew what it mean, the residents probably were all called to the town hall and brutally executed, and the mayor tried to point to the culprit if by chance someone came to investigate, but they would not. Mack knew that not a single soul would step on this ind, otherwise they would have chosen a less shy way of killing them.


    It was not the first time that Mack saw this same name.


    "John Smith"


    It was the one that killed his father.


    Mack knew for sure that he had more people behind him. But he was the one that kept appearing every time that Mack showed his face somewhere.


    The worst part was that they killed everyone involved with Mack.


    No matter what Mack did, whatever he went, a pile of bodies was left behind. The me? all on Mack''s shoulders.


    That was one of the reasons why Mack avoided people until now.


    Except for Kirakira.


    This was always his turf.


    But not anymore.


    [What are you going to do, kid?]


    Asked his ancestor, freaking Mack out of his rage stupor he was in.


    "What do you think? Kill them all"


    Said Mack, already jumping to the sky, crossing several floors of the building in a blink of an eye.


    The ss panes of the building he was in broke all at the same time, as if a bomb had exploded in the building.


    But Mack didn''t have a scratch on him.


    Reaching almost a hundred meters above the building, Mack activated his domain.


    Essence quickly created a ''transparent wall'' behind Mack and he flexed his legs again, jumping horizontally to the clear sky ahead.


    His destination? The capital of Kirakira.


    Mack could levitate all the way there using his air control, but was too slow for him.


    Jumping using his domain runespell was more effective and was also the first way that Mack learned how to ''fly''.


    Behind him, followed his ancestor, like a ghost that no one could see. His speed was not lower than Mack, but differently from Mack, his flight didn''t make any noise or disturbance.


    ''kids, always full of drama''


    Thought Hack, but then remembering what he read from Mack''s mind, he too thought he would do the same in his ce.


    It was the killer of his father.


    ''Lets hope this way the kid will find closure, otherwise, things will take too much time.''


    Thought Hack, remembering they had to be quick or they would lose the window.


    ''...And the next window will be only in almost two hundred years... The kid will be an old man by then....''


    Two hourster, Mack finally reached the other city, but he controlled his speed to not freak out the entire city whening close to it


    ~tap~


    ~tap~


    Mack lightlynded on the top of a building.


    He came to this city only a few times in his life, and all the times, Mack avoided any camera or thing that could leave a trail about him.


    Even his voice, Mack avoided talking in any circumstances. One time, he even pretended to be a mute when he had to talk with a local to get some food.


    But this time, Mack would do the exact opposite of that.


    He first had to attract those people here.


    He would leave one very noticeable trail about his presence here.


    He would get himself jailed.


    ''There is no way for them to note here.''


    Thought Mack. For him, the n was very simple and straightforward.


    There was nothing that could go wrong.


    Mack kept running or avoiding cops all his life. He knew everything that someone could possibly know to be unnoticeable.


    "And here I''m now. Wishing to go to the jail"


    Mack looked below the building he was and saw a dark alley with a few homeless guys sleeping.


    Mack jumped from the building and kicked both his boots together.


    The boots started to work, and Mack slowly fell to the ground.


    ~tap~


    ~tap~


    Even the homeless guy a few steps from where Macknded didn''t wake up.


    Walking by the streets, Mack finally could feel some kind of freedom. Maybe because he was back at Earth and didn''t need to run or hide.


    But many people kept ring at Mack, no matter where he went, people kept giving odd res at Mack as if he was an alien or some clown.


    One guy even pointed his hand at him and started murmuring something under his breath while shaking his head.


    Mack almost chose that guy for a beating.


    "Why they keep ring at me?"


    [Maybe because you are using a cape, or maybe it''s because of the two swords?]


    Mack pped his own face.


    "I was so eager toe that I even forgot about changing clothes! such a morron!"


    [I think.... it''s definitely because of the red eyes. Yes.]


    "Shut up, old man!"


    Screamed Mack in the middle of the street, and with that a lot of people passing by quickly turned ways to avoid him.


    [hahhahahha Now you scared them even more]


    Before Mack could even blink, he saw someone holding a smartphone and taking pictures of him.


    ''Do they think I''m doing some kind of cosy?''


    Asked himself Mack, seeing more people by the corner of his eyes doing the same while he walked by.


    [What is cosy kid?]


    ''It''s when you use a costume of some hero from animes or movies''


    [Oh, like Halloween?]


    ''How do you know about that, old man?''


    Thought Mack, while posing for a picture that someone was taking.


    [Are not you going to kill or rob someone to go to the jail? What are you doing?]


    "Nah, I just found a better way to do that, hahhahahah"


    Laughed Mack, thinking that society was really doomed if some aliens popped in like him in the middle of streets.


    Mack grabbed his two swords and made a cross in the air and soon enough a dozen of people were taking pictures of him.


    Mack stopped by the side, thinking that this should be enough to attract those mages to the city and was about to find a ce to sit and just wait when someone threw a few coins to his feet.


    Mack looked below, but before he could even raise his head, more coins came.


    "Thinking again..... It''s been a long, long time without a burger."


    And with that, the strongest men on Earth became a beggar.


    [Second strongest]

 Chapter 87 - [Bonus ] 87. A Small Talk After Lunch

    After one hour of taking pictures and walking by, Mack finally had a few bucks for a burger.


    He could easily just grab one without people even seeing or steal a bank or someone passing by, heck, Mack could easily kill the entire city for a burger if needed, but why would he reap lives if he could just stand there and wait for a few coins.


    "Easy money ever!"


    Said Mack, counting the coins he had.


    "Must be enough for one burger."


    After one more hour, and satisfied by gouging himself in cheese, bacon and still drinking a Coke, Mack was out of things to do.


    He was bored.


    He could keep walking the streets or see the news to keep himself updated on what was happening on Earth right now, but Mack felt that all of those things were meaningless to him now. .


    ~sigh~


    "I''m bored to death, and those guys will take time toe here."


    [You finally saw what you had at the tower was way more important than all those mortals have, don''t you?]


    "You are correct old man, indeed. Now that I had a free day were I don''t need to watch my neck, I feel empty. As if I liked those moments of life and death."


    Said Mack, drinking his coke while watching the people walk on the street busy and running to get somewhere, all in a rush.


    [That''s the same for all of us, Warlocks. We are born and raised to rage wars.]


    War, for Mack, that was a distant word. His only experience was in the tower and was a fake one.


    "You mean you and I, don''t you? There is no one left."


    [While we still have one of us alive, that''s what matters, I will tell you a secret that you will only understand in the future. The less of us alive, the better.]


    Mack pondered over the answer but could not figure heads or tails of it. Maybe rted to the 8th trial? He was not sure.


    "Is that one of your charades?"


    [There are no charades kid, it is simple as that, but you are too green to understand]


    ''Again with this ''too green''''


    Thought Mack, but asked what was bugging him.


    "If you say, but what about the 3th gate? the Arcane, YOU, said that all that resigned would be send to a to live a peaceful life...."


    [It was a lie. There is no peaceful life for us, no matter where we go. I just send them to meet their maker.]


    "I imagined, It was too easy. Don''t you regret of killing so many of your own descendents?"


    Mack didn''t know if he could be so ruthless as his ancestor.


    [Descendants is a word too binding and beautiful to use. My own kids died aeons ago. In my ce, would you care if some random stranger by your side died? Just because your DNA is simr?]


    "Yeap, I undertand."


    [Of course you do, you killed yourself from other dimensions, most people who encounter the same issue as you just copse of a mental breakdown, they can''t face that somewhere else exist another him with the girl of his dreams or the past he wished to have, or the father alive....]


    His father....


    "Father.... Indeed, for a moment I thought about this, if existed, it was not my father, mine was already dead"


    Lamented Mack, reality could not be changed. His father was dead.


    [That is the ruthless and rational thinking that you created in the tower. Practical and ruthless to the bone]


    Ruthless..... Mack doubted he changed that much. He was always a madman.


    "Since we are talking about the tower, I imagine you have a reason for it and is not to steal my body"


    Hack seemed to ponder in what he could say as he kept silent for longer than usual. Mack knew the topic was a sensible one.


    [The purpose of the tower is to prepare you, for what? Is too soon to talk, it would affect the way you see things]


    "Do I have a choice?"


    [HaHaHa Of course you have kid, there is always a choice in life. You could just kill yourself, or live a mundane life like you are doing now, have kids, be the king of some country or the ruler of Earth and die after a long life, but tell me, is that what you want?]


    Ruler or Earth....


    "It''s not, but I also don''t want to be sent back to the tower. I had my share of it."


    [You will never go back there. Unfortunately. That was the tower of chaos and after you left it has been closed, and no one will ever enter that tower again. You will go to another one. If you want to leave this forsaken.]


    "I see....."


    [Kid, If what bothers you is the loneliness, you can felt assured, the next tower is crowded with people and is way more easy than the tower of chaos]


    "Why is that?"


    [Too many reasons to talk about.... You will understand when timees]


    "Always the drama and charades..... If you want me to go, you will need to tell me more."


    [HaHaHa Kid, I know you better than yourself. If you don''t go, you will regret for life, and you know that]


    "dammed old man and your mind reading...."


    [Hahahaha you are too green kid, too green]


    "At least I still have leaves. What about your bald head?"


    [Don''t spout nonsense, I''m not bald]


    "HaHaHa now it seems I touched a delicate topic."


    [Kid, if you say anything I will kill you]


    "So BOLD of you!!!! HaHaHa Indeed a bold man."


    ~plop~


    Mack''s body fell to the ground and half of his face was badly swollen.


    But he was still breathing.


    Badly, but breathing.


    "Kids those days don''t even respect their ancestors."


    Said Hack, grabbing the unconscious body of Mack and disappearing again.


    The people around barely had the time to understand what was happening, and the two were gone.


    Some looked confused, but a few seconds, and they continued their life, walking to some meeting or going to buy things, a mundane life, that Mack didn''t feel the urge to live anymore.


    A simple life.

 Chapter 88 - 88. Two Swords

    After a few hours Mack opened his eyes and a headache came to salute him.


    "Ahhh my head"


    Putting his hands on his face, he felt the pain increase a bit.


    "Hey old man, did you hit me?"


    [That is for you to learn how to properly respect your ancestors]


    ~sigh~


    Mack could not bother himself arguing with him. That old man was crazy.


    [Are you done crying?]


    "Yeah Yeah"


    Said Mack, looking around to see where he was. .


    The ce seemed a penthouse in one of those fancy hotels that Mack saw on tv dramas when young.


    Looking to his right, Mack even saw a pool made of ss that spanned a few meters.


    [Lets go, I have something to teach you]


    "You? Why?"


    [Because I''m bored, and seeing you with two swords and not having a clue how to use them makes me want to cry every single moment]


    "So, you are going to teach me how to use two swords? And why the heck you keep talking on my head, I can see you right in front of me!"


    [Do you know how many years has been since I don''t talk thosenguages from Earth? And they changed a lot! Using the mental link is easier for me]


    "Ok then, but why help me with two swords?"


    [Think of this as my personalpensation for the punch]


    Said Hack spouting the first thing that came to his mind, but the true was, seeing a warlock with two swords gave him agony at each second, warlocks never used two swords, simply because it was not effective, using daggers and a sword was proved to be more easy and practical along the years.


    "So, where we going to train? this ce seems small."


    [Here, if you destroy anything, I will stop teaching you. If you can''t control your own body, why try to control a sword? Let alone two]


    "Makes sense, I ...."


    [Enough of talking, two swords.... god have mercy of this poor soul, lets see...]


    Said Hack, trying to remember the only fight style that worked with swords of same size.


    [The most effective way to use two swords is what they call the harassing fight style, you need to focus in keep the enemy always busy defending and not let them counter attack, because while holding a sword with only one hand you will not be able to defend properly, so is better to ignore defensepletely and focus on attacking]


    "Ok, keep attacking and ignore defense."


    [But warlocks can use their Essence Maniption Arts along with that, and you can''t. You need to touch your hands to activate what you call runespells, thus stopping the attack with swords.]


    "Yes, that was a problem for me even with one sword, with two will be even more troublesome to coordinate this during a fight"


    [Kid, you seem to not understand, if you fight someone the same level of you or higher, by the time you try to do it, you will see your own head flying]


    "So.... I need to stop using runespells in fights?"


    Mack pondered what to do and could not find an easy way out.


    [You need to choose, at each fight, if you will start with swords or runespells, or you need to have them as passive skills like you did with the scan]


    "Right..... If I have the time before the fight start I can activate the domain, or the shbang, and then engage with swords, but not the opposite. Or I will need to create space to be able to activate them."


    [Yes, that would be the most effective for you]


    "Thanks for the heads up"


    [Before we go to the sword style itself, you need to remember that you still are a dagger user, use them to finish off less strong enemies, or to create space for you at the start of a fight]


    "Yes, I will remember that."


    Most of those things seemed simple, but Mack would only realise them when fighting other opponents at the same level, and that could cost his life.


    [Now, grab your two swords and try to hit this statue here, but don''t hit it. Just close to it, I will exin why,ter.]


    Mack grabbed one sword, and then the other almost fell from his hand. It was too troublesome to remove them from the belt with one hand.


    [Geez, you can''t even take them out properly]


    Mack looked at his ancestor but said nothing, because indeed, the situation seemedical for someone that already knew how to use a sword.


    ~sigh~


    [Here, take it]


    Said Hack, throwing two metal objects to Mack.


    Mack almost let the swords fall again, but catch it.


    "What is this?"


    [Attach to your belt, they are simr to maic clips. Once the sword is put in contact it will hold it there. To release, press your thumb on that small button]


    Mack put one on each side of his belt and them put the swords in contact as the old man said.


    [Try to release them]


    Mack moved his two hands at the same time and pressed his thumbs over the button while holding the handle of the sword.


    All seemed very natural now and not cumbersome as before and the moment Mack touched the buttons he was already striking the statue in front of him.


    [Much better]


    "Thanks again. I would never think of something like this."


    [That''s natural. You never had to use two swords. Let alone two of the same size. Now try to hit the statue a few times the way you think is better.]


    Mack shed from the right and then from the left and then shed both at the same time, and repeated the same a few times.


    Every time stopping the sword a few inches from the statue.


    [Now, do you see howme it is?]


    "Indeed, I''m open to attacks all time, and if I try to defend, I can''t do it properly, and the attacks don''t have my full strength. The only advantage is the frequency of the attacks. Not the speed but the frequency."


    [Very good. It seems you have a brain. All what you said is correct. Now let me teach you how to properly use two swords]

 Chapter 89 - 89. A Pee Potty

    The old man kept silent as if thinking or remembering about something until Mack could not hold anymore and asked.


    "What now, old man?"


    [Stop pestering me, I''m trying to remember the basic movements. It''s not like I would need that information again and engraved it into my soul]


    Mack waited a few minutes again, but nothing of his ancestor.


    "cough cough"


    [Geez, ok ok, let''s see.... Start by correctly using the swords, you will need to hold them both in reverse grip]


    "Both? But that way my strikes will be even weaker.".


    [This is not about the power but harassing. Hit the same ce a thousand times with a stick and it will copse]


    "hummm.... I''m not sure about that"


    [It''s just an example for god sake, once you have them both in your hands using reverse grip try to hit the statue again]


    Mack slightly threw the two swords up and grabbed them again, but this time, the des pointed to his back instead of the front.


    Reverse grip was akin to suicide in a battle. It was beautiful in movies but didn''t work in real life. Mack knew that and was waiting to see what his ancestor was nning for him.


    [Just try to strike the statue]


    Mack moved the right arm and shed the de and them again with his left, and repeated a few times.


    "Its really odd, my movements are shorter,pared to normal, I need to get half the distance closer to hit because I don''t have a leverage."


    [You are correct, that''s the main issue with reverse grip.... Now try this.... While you sh with your right arm, twist more your body as if to slingshot the tip of the sword]


    Mack did as his ancestor asked but almost fell to the ground because he lost the center of gravity of his body.


    But the strike was more stronger than before.


    "I lost all the bnce now"


    [Yes. To regain bnce, you had to give your back to your enemy. Did you notice it?]


    "Yes, and it''s a fatal mistake"


    [Normally yes, but not for this style, when you give your back strike with your left sword to hit the sr plexus in a bottom to up strike, as if you want to impale your enemy]


    Mack shed with his right and then tried to impale with his left, then he noticed that his body had half turned again and now his left side was been show to the statue, almost making aplete turn.


    Noticing that, Mack could not avoid asking.


    "Is this fighting style about hitting the enemy where he dosn''t expect and keeps turning around and around?"


    [Yes. It''s an assassin fighting style. Most assassins rarely fight as their aim is to kill their target without being noticed, but once it fails, they use two daggers as a means of defense. And you know, the best defence is to attack]


    "So this style is for two daggers instead of swords?"


    Mack wondered where this style came from and how his ancestor was able to learn, but kept himself silent, he knew this old man had already lived a life full of danger and adventures.


    [Yes. But is the most suitable and correct for your case, other dual welding styles have different weapons or different sizes of weapons]


    "Ok, it indeed makes sense. Whats next?"


    [Next? HaHaHa kid, first you need to master this simple moment. This style is not about dragging the fight or see who is stronger, is about flooding the enemy with several attacks and one of them needs to kill your target or you will be dead. Because you have no defense.]


    Mack knew his ancestor was correct, only practice makes perfect, and he was barely able to hold the swords a few minutes ago.


    ~sigh~


    "Lets go to the boring part then"


    Said Mack, already entering in position to attack the statue again.


    Hours passed and Mack continued to do the same movements until his ancestor started to give tips.


    [Flex more your legs]


    And Mack did as he told.


    [Twist more your body, you are hitting like a girl]


    Just like that, another hour passed by.


    Mack could feel he was improving, but the odd thing was that he was not used to spin so much, so from time to time he had to take breaks to not throw up his own guts.


    [Felling better?]


    "Yes, I''m getting used to it already"


    Said Mack, but the true was that he almost could feel the burger he ate a few hours agoing back to haunt him.


    [Good, because nowe the hard part]


    Mack''s eyes grew with anticipation, because he was sick of doing the same thing.


    [You already noticed that reverse grip has a lower center of gravity and you need to get closer to you enemy. Now try to get even closer and even lower, as you need to keep twisting your body to give momentum to the sword]


    "That doesn''t sound too hard"


    [Who said it was? The hard part of reverse grip is the fake movements and fake shes, but you are too green for that]


    ''Too green again''


    Thought Mack, but in the end, did as his ancestor instructed.


    He knew how smart this old man was. Time proved it. Only smart people can live for thousands of years in a world where your head can roll at any moment.


    [Stop thinking useless stuff and focus on the training or I will melt one of those swords and make a potty for you to use because of how many times I will kick your ass for making me lose my time training you]


    Mack froze in ce, and for the first time, feared his destiny. Not because of hardships, but because this old man was too specific with his words.


    "Ok Ok"


    And just like that, minutes turned to hours, and hours became days, until Mack finally get used to two swords in reverse grip.


    And today was the day for him to test it.

 Chapter 90 - 90. Scarface

    After three days of training, Mack had to stop. He had some ''friends'' to meet.


    "Thanks for helping me with the two swords, but now I need to take care of some personal things. You know what, they must be in the city already."


    Said Mack, already preparing himself to leave.


    [What helping? I was just bored. Now go, and take care of your personal stuff]


    Said the old man, using the mind link and vanishing from the ce the same way he always did.


    Mack put his two swords in and walked to the balcony. There he could see almost the entire city..


    ''The old man is really extravagant, so many ces and he took the most high of them, it still bugs me how he did it..... did he just got in?''


    Mack wondered if this was an invasion or if the old man owned this ce, as he seemed too much ''at home'' in here.


    "Where should I go? I need to attract them to me."


    Mack thought of several ces, but the one that stuck in his mind was the airport, because they would get alerted for sure.


    Thinking of this, Mack jumped to the sky.


    It was time for a sweet revenge, the old way.


    A few minutester, Macknded by the parking lot of the airport and no one saw him or no one seemed to pay attention to a man falling from the sky.


    With the same clothes as always, Mack walked to the checking area.


    He had no flying tickets, and could not bother to buy one.


    Mack walked amidst the people carrying luggages or eating and once he saw the boarding area he stopped. He would let the recording cameras do the work for him. Mack only needed to show his face, because he knew that airports already had facial recognition linked with the police database.


    Mack sat by a seat close to the boarding area and waited.


    "Look mom, a guy with swords, he is so strong!"


    Said a kid to his mom.


    "Dont point to strangers Jane!"


    Said the mom, looking to where the kid was pointing, but once she saw Mack''s eyes, she unconsciously started to walk faster and lowered her head.


    The scene repeated itself a few times, not exactly as thetter, but everyone that came close to Mack ended up avoiding him and his gaze.


    Not even five minutester, four airport cops with guns in hand came in the direction of Mack.


    "It finally begun"


    Said Mack to himself but didn''t move a muscle, because those people were not the ones he wished to meet today. They were only cops doing their jobs.


    The cops came almost running to where Mack was and surrounded him.


    The other people around, noticing themotion, started to leave the ce in a hurry, but they still kept in distance enough to watch what would happen. The curiosity of humans can only lose to their urge to make money, and some started to film the entire scene.


    "Arthur McKenzie, you are under arrest! Drop your weapons slowly andy on the floor!"


    Screamed one of the cops to Mack.


    Mack didn''t even bulge a muscle and kept quiet and unmoving as before, but from the corner of his eye, he could finally see what he was waiting for.


    John Smith hade.


    A few meters to his right, Mack could see a tall man with ck sunsses and a ck suiting in his direction. Mack could never confuse with someone else, because by the right side of that man''s face a scar from the eye to the mouth could be seen.


    Mack averted his gaze to the cops in front of him again, and they were starting to get agitated, if the man in front of them didn''t coborate they had orders to open fire, but they knew that if they killed the man, they would probably respond for crimes. That was the life of a cop. Following thew and applying the samew could cost their necks, be it by some random robber firing at them or be it by being prosecuted by following orders.


    Mack saw the drops of sweat leaving the neck of the cop in charge and wondered if that guy had a family.


    Maybe he had a father? Or a wife? Or even a child.


    "Sorry, but I don''t have time to y with you guys."


    Mack raised from his seat.


    The cops fired their guns.


    Bullets hit Mack all over his body.


    But not a scratch could be seen on him.


    Mack looked to his right, straight in to the eyes of his target, and the man with ck sses stopped walking.


    The man removed his sses as if he could not believe what happened.


    Mack took a step in his direction, and the man took one step back.


    The cops looking at Mack walking fine with not even blood on his clothes were at lost of words.


    Mack heard their hearts pumping fast and the slight sound of a gun about to fire and touched his two palms, and the cops fired their guns again.


    "So annoying"


    A slight red sh was seen by everyone in the airport, and the domain runespell was active.


    Everything stopped moving, but this time was not because they were light constructs made of Essence but because Mack blocked their movements using his control of air and all things that didn''t had imprinted essence, like clothes, etc.


    All things only listened to Mackmand now.


    The world seemed to have stopped, but what shocked everyone was the bullets not moving in the air.


    Mack slowly walked in the direction of the man with the scar and could see in his eyes the desperation that he always felt when running for his life.


    Mack was finally having some sweet revenge.


    Dozens of people around the scene that thought was going to be a good show see someone getting arrested, now were cursing their curiosity, the scene was so bizarre that they didn''t even knew if they show cry of despair or just close their eyes and wait for their death.


    They knew that they have stumbled on something they should not have seen.

 Chapter 91 - 91. A Normal Day

    Mack kept slowly walking as if was anothermon day, but for the rest of the people, it was their nightmare.


    A few steps from Jonh, Mack stopped walking, and could see three other guys using the same kind of clothes as Jonh, after all, in an airport, not many people walked ''in a pack'' using ck suits.


    Mack snapped his finger and the three guys drop dead with their necks looking to their backs.


    With the trash taken care, Mack''s gaze went back to the guy with a scar on his face, the killer of his father.


    Mack dreamed so much about this day that he could not even decide what to do. All seemed way too surreal for him now.


    Mack kept looking at his father''s killer without saying a single word as memories of that day came to his mind.


    It was a normal day. .


    They were fishing in a small river in Colombia, the thing his father loved to do more.


    Mack could still remember his father whistling inside the boat while waiting for the fishes to bite the bait.


    Mack suddenly had an urge to do the same as his father did that day and started whistling.


    For the people at the airport, things were only getting creepier. The absence of any kind of noise was already hard for them, and now this creep guy, with two swords, started whistling.


    Mack''s gaze changed as the memories came back to him, and his eyes portrayed the pain, despair and rage that he felt that day.


    But the whistling didn''t stop.


    The same whistling that haunted Mack for years would now be the nightmares of his enemies.


    Mack approached the man with the scar and asked in his ear.


    "Do you remember this day?"


    The man could not talk, he barely could breathe.


    But Mack was not expecting an answer.


    "That kid on the boat was me, and the man you killed was my father"


    Mack stopped talking at the man''s ears and moved his face just a few inches of the man''s face and looked into his eyes.


    "Tell me, how should I kill you?"


    But no answer came from the man, as his lips could not move, but his eyes revealed what he felt as his pupils contracted and dted several times a second, showing the absolute despair.


    "I see that you fear death. But you should not fear it, because by the time I''m done with you, you will want death at every second of the rest of your miserable life"


    Said Mack, looking straight into the man''s eyes.


    "Death is your only hope. Death is your only relief."


    With that said, Mack started to whistle again and slowly made the man remove himself from each and every piece of clothes.


    Like a doll being controlled by a puppeteer, Mackmanded and essence listened to him.


    Fully naked and slightly trembling, the man stood there.


    A puppet waiting for the nextmand.


    Sweat could be seen over his entire body as his heart beat faster than usual, as if he was doing a marathon.


    Mack was not in a hurry and took his time.


    One thing at a time.


    He had to enjoy this moment. It was not a simple revenge for Mack, because this man in front of him, this useless man, was the reason for the disgrace that Mack''s life turned to be.


    Mack looked at one of the guns of the cops and controlling the essence in the air moved it and made it fire to the man left ear.


    Blood gushed from the man''s ear but he did not move an inch, because Mack didn''t let him.


    "Without sound is a bit boring, don''t you guys think?"


    Said Mack looking to everyone around as if he was the master of some kind of creep show.


    And Mack released from his control the man''s vocal cords and mouth.


    He could now speak.


    "Aghhhhhhhh! My ear! My ear!"


    But only scream of pain came from him.


    Mack looked at the gun still smoking hot and using his air control, moved it to the man''s ass.


    A sizzling sound was heard, and the screams of the man echoed in the silent airport.


    "Calm down, calm down. This is just forey"


    But the man only screamed


    "Please! Please! Stop! I do everything you want!"


    Screamed the man while agonizing with the pain at the same time.


    "But you already are"


    Said Mack, snapping his finger.


    A snap sound could be heard, and the man''s index finger was broken.


    "AghA Please! Please!"


    Screamed the man, unable to do anything but scream.


    "OK, let''s y a game. I will break all your fingers. If you can resist and don''t scream, then I will let you go. I swear by my father''s grave. Deal?"


    Asked Mack to the man.


    "Deal, Deal. Yes"


    "Good!"


    ~snap~


    All the fingers were broken at the same time.


    "Agrhhhhhh"


    ~tsc~


    "It seems you are not strong enough"


    Said Mack, mocking the man''s naivety.


    And the man started crying amidst his pain screams. He knew it was too good to be true.


    Seeing the man had epted his fate, Mack didn''t hesitate anymore and took all his own daggers out.


    The daggers flew around Mack as if urging to cut something and Mack let them fulfill their wish.


    Mack raised his hand, and started moving as if he was the master of a symphony, while the daggers passed close to the scar faced man, each second more close, turning anding back as if they were eagles aiming for a prey.


    ~swish~


    One of the daggers shed the man''s remaining ear.


    ~swish~


    While the other made a slight sh at his left hand.


    Every time, just enough to cut the skin and leave a small red mark.


    But the man''s screams never stopped.


    "Arghhhhh"


    One after another, more cuts were made, until the man''s eyes went white. He could not support any more pain.


    More than a thousand cuts were made over his skin and the man passed out.


    But Mack was not in a hurry, he had all time of the world.


    He was having fun.

 Chapter 92 - 92. Hunting Dog

    Seeing the guy pass out, Mack extended his hand to the right, and a chair came for him.


    Mack grabbed the chair and seated.


    He had all the time in the world.


    Meanwhile, outside the range of the domain runespell, a crowd of hundreds of people surrounded the area, while cops tried to keep everything safe and ordered until the military came to control the situation.


    All flights of the airport got canceled and to turn things more crazy, a red glow surrounded the airport in the format of a dome.


    People tried to get close to see what was happening and some unlucky ones actually tried to touch the glow, only to get stuck there, unable to leave.


    Mack knew that more and more people were getting anxious outside, but he could not care less about them.


    A few minutester, the scar faced man opened his eyes, and just like someone that can''t believe his own reality, he screamed in panic again..


    "No! No! It''s just a dream. I''m dreaming."


    But seeing Mack''s eyes, his hopes were shattered again.


    "Pleeeeeeasee nooooooo, I beeg noooooo pleaseeee noooo"


    Mack raised himself from the chair and put his finger on the man''s mouth.


    "shhhiiiii!"


    "I know you are only a hunting dog. So.... Give me the name of the people behind you and I will think"


    Said Mack, removing his finger of the man''s mouth to let him speak.


    "I... I... They will kill me...."


    Seeing the hesitation of the man, Mack put one of his daggers close to the man remaining ear, now full of thin cuts, and said.


    "I already told you, but you seem to have a problem with listening. What I''m about to do with you will be at least a hundred times worse than just dying."


    And Mack shed out the remaining ear of the man.


    The ear fell to the floor, making a sound akin to meat being thrown on a table and Mack put his tongue on the dagger and licked the blood.


    "Arghhhhhhhhhhh please stoppppp I will telll I will telll Arghhhh"


    Mack put the dagger in the man''s right eye, just touching the tip of the dagger.


    "You see, I starting to enjoy scooping out things out of you. I dont know if I want to hear anymore"


    But the man could not hear anything that Mack said anymore, he could only see his mouth moving and a buzzing sound in his ears.


    "Pleeeease! please! they are the Zealots, Is an old paramilitary group. They have influence on almost any government that matters in the world."


    Mack moved his dagger a bit around the man''s right eye and said.


    "You see, there is only one way to be sure you are telling the true."


    Mack pressed the dagger to the side of the man''s eye and made a little pressure, and the eye came out. The eye, hanging on the man''s face, still connected by the nerves and blood, looked to the floor, and the man could see his own shoes now.


    The man panicked, but it seemed that he felt not much of pain.


    "Hummmm. You look more charming now."


    Said Mack, with a hand below his shin, as if admiring a painting.


    "Pleeeeease! Please! I told the true. I swear! Pleaseeeee spare me"


    Screamed the man, seeing no hope for the end of his suffering.


    "What you guys think? Doesn''t he look better now?"


    Said Mack, looking around as if asking to the people still froze in ce by his control of essence.


    Mack slightly moved his hand up and down, and like puppets, all people around moved their heads up and down, too.


    "See. They agree too."


    Said Mack, looking back to the scar faced man.


    "Just kill me, please, I beg, stop. pleaseeeeee".


    And tears of despair mixed with blood could be seen on the man''s face.


    "I already told you, Death is your only hope from now on. And is too sweat of a gift for you."


    Said Mack, already scooping the remaining eye from the man.


    The man could not even scream anymore of so much despair. It seemed he was already hallucinating in his own mind and only rumblings came from his mouth.


    Human mind was a very powerful thing. In front of absolute despair and fear of death, the mind could shut itself down to ''try to protect'' his body.


    Seeing this, Mack felt a little heartbroken, because his favorite had broken.


    But he could still y with it.


    "If you don''t have a use for your tongue anymore, then, let me take it out"


    Said Mack, grabbing the man''s tongue by the tip and shing his dagger at the base.


    The strong pain seemed to wake up the man from his own mind, the tongue was a very sensitive ce of the body, one of the most sensitive spots.


    "ghhrhhhrrr ssssssshhhhhttttttttttttttppppppp"


    The man screamed again but barely could say a word now. Almost choking himself with his own blood.


    "Ohhh I see you came back, good, because we are about to enter the fun part now"


    Said Mack, passing his dagger slowly over the man''s forehead.


    "ssssssshhhhhttttttttttttttppppppp pppppppplllllleeeeaaassseeeeee"


    Mack slightly shed his dagger over the man''s forehead and a small and thin red line of blood appeared, Mack then used the tip of his dagger and put inside the small line and started to push the dagger inside from left to right.


    Mack slowly put his fingers inside the thin line and pushed the skin to the top of the man''s head and his entire scalp came out.


    The screamsing from the man''s mouth echoed in the airport, but Mack seemed to be absorbed in the feeling of scalping someone alive.


    He needed to get it right.


    Seeing the skin of the top of the maning out, Mack felt proud and happy, and started to whistle again.


    Mack moved his dagger to the right arm of the man and started doing the same, but no more screams came from the scar faced man, only inaudible grunts.


    But the whistling of Mack never stopped, echoing in the deadly silent airport.

 Chapter 93 - 93. Zealots

    Mack removed a few drops of sweat from his own face and dropped his own body over the chair behind him.


    He was tired.


    Not physically, but mentally. He had to focus too much on what he was doing.


    Still seated, Mack searched for something in his pockets until he found on the right pocket.


    A pack of cigarettes and a lighter.


    Mack lit one and put on his mouth, slowly dragging the smoke while he appreciated the view in front of him.


    A bloody man without a single centimeter of skin over his body, no ears, no eyes, no tongue and with all fingers broken..


    The smoke came out of Mack''s mouth as he kept looking at the still alive man in front of him.


    Only the gods would know what Mack was thinking know.


    But if someone paid attention to his eyes, they would see two long lines of tearsing from Mack''s eyes.


    A silent cry, not for the man in front of him, not for joy, not for pain, a simple cry, a cry to release all those feelings of frustration, cowardice, and fear that made him run for all his life till this day, incapable of getting revenge for his father.


    After a few seconds in that same position without moving, Mack raised his bloody right hand and took a long drag of smoke and, using his middle finger, threw the cigarette to the front.


    The cigarette fell on the floor a few centimeters away from the scar faced man and the fire on the tip of the cigarette started to slowly increase in size bit by bit.


    Not a secondter, the fire spread over the floor and moved to the man''s feet as if it was a snake with his own will and burned even stronger, involving the man''s leg and then moving to the rest of the body, until the man''s body could not be seen anymore, only mes.


    Amidst the mes, someone could even tell that the man said he was sorry, but no one would ever believe, because the man had no more tongue.


    Hearing the crackling sound simr to a bonfire, Mack looked up as if trying to find something and said to himself.


    ''Its done father, now you can rest in peace.''


    After a few minutes, and with the manpletely burned to ashes, Mack raised from the chair and slowly walked to the front of the airport.


    There thousands of people surrounded the building, curious to know what that anomaly in the airport was, and in front of them, Mack saw hundreds of heavily armed soldiers.


    The dissonant figure of Mack quickly got the attention of everyone and dozens of reporters started filming and transmitting live what was happening in that airport to several other news channels.


    "Hear me well, Zealots, or should I call you all for what you truly are? Mages."


    Said Mack aloud, seeing he grabbed the attention of everyone.


    "I will stay here for three days. If you don''te, I will find you."


    Said Mack, raising his bloody right hand in the air.


    "And destroy you all."


    Mack closed his right hand, and the entire airport behind him became an enormous pile of debris.


    Seeing this, the soldiers pointed their guns at Mack, but before they could act, Mack jumped to the sky and vanished from everyone''s sight.


    That day, all over the world, only one subject appeared on the news, while all kinds of media reyed the same footage of the airport being destroyed as if was a giant beer can.


    [You are really going to wait for them, kid? It''s not a smart move]


    Said Hack, using the mind link while Mack flew back to the penthouse.


    ~tap~


    ~tap~


    Macknded and looked at the bald head of the man that was supposed to be doing this cleaning ages ago and said with a solemn voice.


    "Of course, my intent is not to be effective or fast, but to show that no matter what they do, they have no hope of winning."


    Mack took a few steps and looked to the north from where he came.


    "I want them to feel that not a single ce on Earth is safe for them, just like I felt back then."


    [Did you not get your revenge for your father''s death already?]


    Asked the old man, not understanding why Mack would keep dying things if he could easily go and find them.


    Mack''s gaze changed back to the old man, but Mack didn''t say anything and walked past him.


    Once both were back to back, Mack finally said what was on his mind.


    "This is not about my father now. This is for me."


    Said Mack, resuming his steps.


    After taking a bath and cleaning his own clothes, Mack felt refreshed and practiced his sword movements again.


    The old man, as usual, kept watching him and giving tips from time to time.


    Twopletely different people with only two things inmon, their blood, and their passion for swords.


    As Mack practiced, the old man suddenly felt nostalgic about his younger days.


    The memories were so many that he himself almost forgot of some.


    Thousands of years of life, that sometimes felt too much.


    That was a life of someone that was almost immortal.


    [Kid, I have something to ask you]


    Seeing the weird tone of the old man, Mack stopped the movement he was doing and looked back.


    [I... No, its just, just for the time being, I want you to use only swords during fights, you need to practice more and develop this style, this was originally for daggers and you will need to adapt him as you see the failures]


    Mack felt something was odd, but seeing the old man changing subject so quickly, he thought the old man had his reasons.


    [If it''s only that, I think is a good idea]


    Said Mack, but the feeling that something was odd still kept bugging him.

 Chapter 94 - 94. Affinity

    Minutes passed and turned to hours, and Mack kept practicing his sword style.


    He had to further evolve the movements that his ancestor taught him, and improve, but was hard to achieve anything without actually fighting with someone else. Because of that, Mack only kept doing the movements until they be natural for him. He had to create muscle memory.


    Muscle memory was important in any kind of martial arts, and in professional fights it normally was the deciding factor that separated the winners from the losers, and the only way to create muscle memory was to practice, thus the saying practice makes perfect.


    As he kept practicing, Mack noticed his movements had be more fluid, as if had already done that in the past but had forgotten about it and was remembering now.


    Mack wondered if it was because of essence. Maybe essence made things easier for some unknown reason.


    [This is not the essence, it''s your genes. We are a fighting race that used swords for an uncountable number of aeons.. It already bes part of what we are, the same way that humans have recorded in their genes to avoid eating ck things because they are usually poisoned or contaminated]


    Hearing the old man saying that, Mack stopped the training. He had to take a break; he had being training without stopping for hours already, that''s why his mind lost focus just now and irrelevant thoughts popped into his mind.


    "The same work with mages? I mean, the spells and etc"


    [Yes and No, Mages have a different power structure, but that would be true for the ones born in a mage family, this is what they call as family heritage, some of those families have their own spells, created and passed down for generations, with each generation improving them bit by bit, and some of those families have something simr to what we have, but they call it affinity]


    "Affinity?"


    [Yes, do you remember when the void me chose you? One of the reasons was because of your fire affinity is high, the same is true for mages. Some have an extraordinarily high affinity with one or more elements of nature]


    "I see, so my fire affinity is high?"


    [Yes, but not high enough to be considered something special, just high, mages that have extraordinarily high affinity with fire for example, they usually are born in a fire, when a baby is born there is this effect in nature, they call it the cry of essence, because is the moment where the child has no gates, and the essence listen to his will, and it usually ends in a disaster]


    "You are saying that those babies burn down their own houses when they are born? Thats crazy."


    Said Mack, thinking of how troublesome would be for those families every time someone had a child.


    [Yes, and this is how they can quickly identify someone born with exceptionally high affinity with one or more elements, with the cry of essence]


    "I see..."


    Said Mack, thinking that affinity was a good thing to have. Maybe he would be able to improve his domain control if he had more affinity with other things.


    [You don''t need to worry too much about that, you have an affinity with two very good elements, fire, and air, that''s why you can easily control almost everything when you activate your domain runespell, and air and fire are two elements thatplement each other, as time passes and your knowledge deepen, you will be able to mix them together to create more powerful attacks]


    "Indeed, fire and airplement each other very well. Is there a way to increase the affinity after you are born?"


    Asked Mack, wondering if he would be able to increase his own affinity with the elements.


    [There are several ways of doing this, but the mostmon ones are to put your body on extreme environments just like you did on the tower, or using serums, some serums have the ability to change part of your genes and increase the affinity with one element, but they are one of the most expensive drugs in all the worlds, and only the filthy rich families with thousands of years of heritage are able to afford something like that]


    "And what those serums are made of? I mean, if is something like a nt, would not those families control the supply for that?"


    [HaHaHa funny that you asked that, because one of the ingredients for those serums is your very own blood, Warlock blood. HaHaHa]


    Hearing what the old man said and remembering the battle of the 4th gate that Mack participated, things finally clicked in his head. It was obvious to him now why mages would kill every single warlock they found. Those serums could easily change someone''s affinity.


    In other words, change someone''s life.


    Mack always felt that creating tools or using their blood as some kind of ''ink'' was not that important to justify a war like that, but the serums, that was worth it.


    But another thing bugged Mack, and it was his previous question.


    "Does that mean... they have ''farms'' of warlocks?"


    [You are indeed a smart kid. Yes, they have breedingbs for warlocks, but those warlocks are not what you would consider ''human''. They are clones grown in tubes with not even a brain in their skull, only machines growing them, in the past, they tried to creates as breeding camps, but every time a few warlocks would eventually get too powerful for them to control, so they use thosebs now, and as you can guess, they are very expensive and few]


    "Dont you feel disgust? You are a warlock, after all."


    Said Mack, wondering why this old man let this happen.


    [Kid, you are too green, too green. Do you think that I am invincible or something?]


    "So, you do care about that."


    [What do you think of me? I am a warlock, after all, but I''m just one, and old]


    "Not anymore."


    Said Mack, pointing his index finger to his own chest.

 Chapter 95 - 95. The Calm Before The Storm

    Time passed, and another day came.


    Mack woke up and took a bath, then ate some fruits.


    He could easily ignore all those things, and pass days without sleep or eating, let alone taking a bath. But Mack enjoyed doing those small things.


    He enjoyed the taste of the food, the freshness that came after a bath and, above all, he loved having dreams during his sleep.


    Mack knew he could avoid those ''routine'' tasks if needed, but if he could, he would keep his days as usual. After all, he was raised as a normal human from Earth, and habits are hard to die.


    Mack routine had be a little different from before, because now he would train his sword style for hours a day.


    Usually he liked to study runes by the morning and practice sword forms by afternoon, but since he came back to Earth, he had nothing to study.. Because of that, Mack focusedpletely on his sword style now.


    After a few hours of practice, Mack stopped to drink some water and to eat another fruit.


    Walking to the kitchen of the penthouse by the corner of the eye while passing a room, Mack saw the old man using a device that looked simr to a smartphone but alsopletely different, it was fully made of something akin to ss, but was smooth dark and no light was reflected from it.


    Mack''s curiosity was picked and could not avoid asking.


    "Hey old man, what is this thing in your hand? It''s a smartphone?"


    The old man touched the device a few times, and it vanished in his hand.


    [Yes, simr, don''t you know it''s rude to peek?]


    Said Hack, turning to where Mack was.


    "I seriously doubt that I will be able to do that. You have too many tricks"


    [What do you want?]


    Asked Hack, with an annoyed tone


    "Nothing, I was just passing by and saw that thing in your hand and got curious, that''s all"


    [Kid, don''t you have other things to care? If I don''t see any improvement by the end of the day I will give you a beating, I swear]


    "Ok, Ok, leaving."


    Said Mack, already leaving the room, but by the corner of his eyes he could see the old man taking the device out again.


    Mack went to the kitchen, and Hack started to press some buttons on the device.


    Hack looked back and to the device again.


    (Unknown: ''Hack, you said that he killed everyone in the airport, but I don''t see that as a problem'')


    (Me: ''Why do you think so?'')


    (Unknown: ''Didn''t you said he got rid of the purple spectrum? This is good news, '')


    (Unknown: ''The airport incident, I think, is normal because of the way he was raised, alone, with no one to rte but his father. Also, how many people did we kill when young? I lost the count before I turned 15 years.'')


    (Me: ''Alright, I will stop wondering about that'')


    (Unknown: ''Did you already choose the tower you will send him? I need to inform the Master of the tower about his arrival.'')


    (Me: ''Yes, but is not one of ours.'')


    (Unknown: ''What?!'')


    (Unknown: ''What?'')


    (Unknown: ''What?'')


    Seeing the reaction of his old friend Hack could not contain himself and started chuckling aloud.


    By the exact same moment, Mack passed by,ing from the kitchen.


    ''Is this old man dating someone thru the phone? Who would want that bald head?''


    Thought Mack, but kept walking to not get in the bad terms of the old man.


    Once Mack passed and went to the other room, Hack pped his own face in shame and frustration.


    He hated to be able to hear Mack''s thoughts all the time.


    Hack shook the murderous thoughts he just had out of his mind and focused on the conversation again.


    (Unknown: ''What?'')


    (Unknown: ''What?'')


    (Unknown: ''What?'')


    (Me: ''I will send him to a mage tower, to the tower of the Fenryr Family'')


    (Unknown: ''Why?'')


    (Me: ''The Fenryr''s left the mage association ten years ago'')


    (Unknown: ''I know this, but why send him to a mage tower? What''s wrong with your head? They will spot him as a Warlock the first moment he uses his Essence Arts'')


    Suddenly, the old man startedughing aloud again, but this time was a creepingugh.


    (Me: ''He can''t use Essence Arts, he deviated from the path I designed the tower for.'')


    (Unknown: ''How? AND WHY DID YOU SAID THIS TO ME BEFORE?!'')


    (Me: ''Geez, stop yelling, i didn''t say because I thought he would eventually be back to the way it was supposed to be, but that freak kept evolving and finding ways to use essence, he even devised a way that he calls runespells'')


    (Unknown: ''Runespells? What is that?'')


    (Me: ''He carved runes on his own body, and using an ovepping matrix, with a timer, he activates them, using the essence inside his body as a power source'')


    (Unknown: ''What a genius! If that is the case, then he can pass as a mage. He just need to keep a low profile.'')


    (Unknown: ''You chose a mage tower because of the runes? Right, the Fenryr family has an old heritage about runes.'')


    (Me: ''Yes, the only part the concern me more is he keeping a low profile. That guy can''t keep his head down anymore. He would probably die before bending to someone, and you know how those old families are, full of good for nothing young masters.'')


    (Unknown: ''Humm. Indeed. We need to find someone to sponsor him, even if only in name. Let me take care of that. I will call you back once I have this arranged.'')


    (Me: ''I''m counting on you my friend, without someone to back him up there, he will notst a day.'')


    Saying that, Hack close tapped a few times again on the device, and it vanished again.


    ''The easy part is done, now I need to contact Azeroth, I hope he also agrees with this, otherwise..... it would all be for a naught, dammed War Council, I bet those morons will find an excuse to not approve this n''

 Chapter 96 - 96. Two Daggers And A Black Skull

    Mack kept practicing and easily lost track of time doing the sword style movements.


    Righ sh, back thrust, up sh, kick, dual sh, and so on. Until Hack cam to see his progress.


    [You are still too rigid kid, you need to be more fluid, more flexible, this style is not about hitting hard]


    Hearing Hack, Mack stopped and removed the swat from his forehead.


    "I know, but is hard for me. The only thing I know about swords came from Raz, And was a very straightforward style"


    Hearing the name, Hack''s eyes grew as if remembering something lost in memories


    [Raz]


    "Was he really your mentor or was a thing only at the gate? Another lie....."


    [He was indeed my master, Raz was a good warlock, but he was very orthodox, you need to understand something kid, there are thousands of way of doing the same thing, some are easy to learn and easy to give results, that''s why they teach it first]


    Hack put his hand over his long beard as if trying to remember something as his eyes looked to the right side.


    [You see..... This assassin dagger style, they taught it to kids with age of 6, the kids grew practicing it every day along with other things, and by the age of 15, they had a ritual, they would put the entire group on an arena and only thest survivor would pass the test]


    "The warlocks did this? You never told me where this style came from"


    [No, warlocks never had an assassin group as far as I know. This came from a conquered civilization by the mages. It''s a long story.... the point is... they practice it for years to be considered good at it]


    "I see, I can''t expect results so soon..."


    [Worse than that, you are using two swords, what means you will need to adapt the style, hummm... let me think.... ]


    Said Hack, caressing his own long beard.


    [Yes, I think you should receive proper assassination training from now on. This will help you understand the mindset of a assasin, and improve your skills in general]


    "Assasination skills?"


    [Yes, here, take this book]


    Said Hack, flipping his hand and a book appeared over his palm.


    Mack took the book and looked at the cover of it. Two daggers crossed behind a ck skull.


    "What is this?"


    [It''s a book that contains several assassination technics, some at mortal level, as we call them, but others go up to be very high skilled skills involving maniption of elements or spell activation, you will also find some very very specific runes on this book, and I know you love learning runes]


    "Indeed... "


    Said Mack flipping a few pages of the book and seeing the first technique on the book...


    "How to walk?"


    Mack looked puzzled but immediately saw what the technique was about.


    Mack flipped a few more pages, and a realization hit him in the face, as if he was dumb before reading that.


    "As you usually says, I''m too green, too green."


    Said Mack siting in the sofa and reading how he should properly walk to avoid being noticed by others, among others aspects of ''feet movement'' that applied to how he should move his feet during a fight, running, and using the steps to intimidate, or to pass the image of a weakling.


    The book exined all aspects of how someone could take advantage of his feet movements, be it in a practical way or in a psychological way.


    And that was only the first chapter of the book.


    "Just like teaching babies, you first need to teach them how to walk. "


    Said Mack in a self mocking tone, while reading the pages.


    Seeing Mack''s curiosity was piqued, Hack left the room and went to his office.


    ''Less one part of the n to worry, I hope his test is not too much cumbersome.''


    Thought Hack, opening the ck device again and pressing a few times.


    (Me: ''I will teach him assassination skills, schedule his test for the next batch.'')


    (Azeroth: ''The next batch is in three Savenas. You are sure he will be ready?'')


    (Me: ''So close? Ok, at least he has the best teacher he can afford.'')


    (Azeroth: ''If he doesn''t pass, I will cancel your n, and we will send him to one of our towers as it should be from the start. Also, your authorization as Master of the Tower of Chaos was revoked. You should never had brought him back to his home, this is against the protocols.'')


    ''Well.... I was already expecting for that. They always follow the protocol, such morrons. But a tower closed for three aeons is not worth being a master of it. I should take it as a vacation.''


    (Me: ''He will pass'')


    (Azeroth: ''You better be sure of it.'')


    Reading thest line, Hack wondered if they had something more drastic undergoing.


    ''Azeroth is a bastard, but one that follows the protocols. What they are cooking now?''


    Thought Hack, tapping a few times on the ck device, and it vanished again.


    ''Three Savenas.... I will need to get serious.''


    Thinking of that, Hack took another device from gods know where and adjusted something on it,ter making the device disappear again.


    Hack went to the main room where Mack usually trained and seeing him reading the book just kept there. The kid probably didn''t even notice he left for a few minutes.


    "I''m quickly passing the pages to get an overview and I see the dagger style here is a bit different from the one you taught me. Is not from the same ''assassin group'' or something?"


    [Indeed, this is the basic version of the same style. The one I taught you doesn''t have a ''recorded'' version anymore. We can say that you will be the only official user of it.]


    "Why is that?"


    [Because.... well... everyone of that civilization is dead. They revolted against the mage alliance several aeons ago and got wiped out in the end. Not a single child was left alive. They were used as example to the others trying to do the same.]

 Chapter 97 - 97. Three Aeons

    The third day hade, and the mages didn''t appear just like Mack expected.


    But the city of Honiara had be a ghost town.


    Looking from the penthouse, Mack didn''t see a single soul walking on streets. It had be so empty that Mack could even hear the sound of waves crashing on the beach close to the building, a feat impossible a few days ago.


    Honiara was the capital of Solomon Inds and thergest city too. For it to be empty, one can only imagine how high things escted from the first moment Mack appeared on the airport.


    [What you are going to do now kid?]


    "Is it not obvious? Find the most influential person on Earth and get those mages names, then, kill one by one"


    [Geez, sit down kid, we need to talk]


    Said Hack, using his mind link while appearing in the main room of the penthouse..


    "What now? Donte nag me again about how much time I will lose by doing this."


    [You didn''t want answers? That''s the moment,e sit]


    Said Hack, pointing to the couch in front of the one he was sitting.


    Seeing the serious expression of the old man, Mack walked and took a sit by the couch, but didnt say anything. Waiting to see where things will go. The old man never had a ''moment of openness''. If he wanted to talk, Mack was sure that he was aiming for something.


    [As you can guess by all the information I gave until now, the Mage Association is an enormous ''empire'' of sorts]


    "humm"


    [....and as you can guess too, I''m not part of it. I belong to an organization that acts in the shadows to destroy this same Mage Alliance]


    "Its pretty obvious. But what is the name of it?"


    [By the moment, I can''t tell you, but you will know soon]


    "When?"


    [Once you pass the test that I scheduled for you. It''s a test that every single member of my organization has to do. Once you pass it you will be able to learn more things, for now... what I can tell you...]


    "..."


    Hearing that, Mack didn''t say anything, but the dislike expression on his face could fully express his thoughts.


    [What?]


    "Old man, who told you that I want to join this shady organization of yours? If there is a thing that I hate more than mages, is being ackey of someone."


    Hearing what Mack said, Hack knew it would not be as easy as he thought to convince him. He imagined that Mack would do anything to join an organization, that the focus was to destroy the Mage Association.


    Hack thought for a moment. If he didn''t use the correct arguments now, it was all for nothing.


    [First hear me out...]


    "No, hear me you, old man, I keep asking for answers about the tower, about you, about those mages that you let run rampant and you keep avoiding everything, now you want to brush things off and ask me to join some shady business? Go get yourself a new face old man, this one is already hard as a wood door."


    Said Mack, already raising from the couch to leave. He had mages to kill.


    [You are an experiment subject of the Project Doom, a guinea pig.]


    But what he heard made him stop, but he didn''t turn back, as if pondering to continue or to stay.


    Mack took a step forward.


    [My name is Hack, and if you have a single drop of love for your world, you will not kill those mages]


    Mack stopped again, and without turning back...


    "Why? Give me a fucking good reason."


    [The moment you kill them, a team of really powerful mages will be sent here, I didn''t kill them, because... the Mage Association thinks that I''m dead, but they are careful and those acolytes here on Earth were sent here to monitor me not to kill warlocks, this is just a facade and way to make me move, if they know that I''m alive for sure, you can say goodbye to Earth]


    Mack pondered over what he heard and turned back.


    "Easy said than proved... Why are you so important to them?"


    [Because in all history, not a single Warlock got so powerful as me, the story that the sword on your hands was got by me from the inside of the headquarters of the Mage Association, is true. This is just an example]


    Mack looked Hack in the eyes as if scrutinizing every bit of information in his head to see ws or to see if the old man was indeed saying the true, but that old man was way experienced than him, he looked the same no matter what he said.


    "If you are so strong, why did you not ended the Mage Association for once?"


    [Kid, you don''t understand, the Mage Association, have under their control, billions ofs. BILLIONS! What is a headquarter for them? ]


    Mack face suddenly became stagnant and his pupils moved left and right, the realization that the mages had billions ofs under they control was a shock for him, not because of the number itself, but because he would not be able to kill every single one of them.


    Mack initially thoughts were that they should have a thousands, but he would live a lot, he had the time to do it, but a billion?


    But then... Mack suddenly remembered of the void me.


    "What about the void me? I saw a memory fragment of you using it, and burning an entire with it."


    Once Mack said that, another question came to his mind.


    ''Why he left the void me on that floor?''


    And with that question, a realization even bigger.


    [You realized, don''t you? Yes, not everything that ''the arcane'' said was a lie. I''m truly dying]


    Mack''s gaze changed and kept looking at Hack as if not sure of what to say.


    [Don''t need to be sorry, I lived for so many aeons that I even can''t remember how much I lived anymore. I .... how do I say, I used the doom project, the tower, to choose an heir, and this heir is you]


    [Why do you think that even with you failing, I brought you back to Earth? And you still have the void me and the swords.]


    Mack kept looking at the old man, unsure of what to say, he didn''t felt he was special or something, but he also knew he was thest warlock of his, but also, the old man could always have some children and just pass down.


    Mack''s thoughts kept running wild, but he chose to not say anything. He was close to the Arcane, but that was a lie, and the old man in front of him was almost aplete stranger to him.


    [Yes, I could make a bunch of children and pass my things down, but you don''t know the pain of seeing your sons die, I had sons a long time ago, and all of them died, all of them, do you understand that, kid? Can you imagine it?]


    "I can''t"


    Said Mack, remembering of his father, but he knew the pain of seeing a son die would be thousand times worst.


    [If you think that this is all a lie, go ahead and kill those acolytes, and see your be destroyed]


    "I believe in you old man"


    Said Mack, siting on the couch.


    He knew that this old man would not bring up his sons into the conversation for nothing.


    Hack took a moment to ponder if was the right time to tell the kid the rest about warlocks and what he will need to do in theing future.


    ''He is not ready for that. I should do it myself and leave it at the tower.''


    [Also, remember, once I die, you need to go up the tower of chaos and climb it again. The tower will be closed for 3 aeons and nobody wille there. You have 3 aeons from now to prepare for that. But you must climb it!]


    "Ok, I get it. You prepared the tower for an heir and all you put the good stuff is there. But why not just take out and just pass it to me?"


    [Its not that simple kid, but remember to go up the tower in 3 aeons. The tattoos are still working and will continue to work. They are the key to the tower, literally. You only need a portal to go there on the first floor again. The coordinates are in the tattoos of your right hand]


    Mack extended his hand and looked at the tattoo, reading the runes, he saw a pattern around one of them, ten numbers close to each other, forming a circle around the rune.


    "Ok I got"


    [Since I already spilled the secrets, there is no more need to keep holding things back. Now let''s talk about my n]

 Chapter 98 - 98. Perks Of Light Affinity

    After a few hours,


    [So, what do you think?]


    "HaHaHa You are a crazy old man, but I like it."


    Mack then thought about something.


    "But these acolytes here on Earth? They saw my face, they can easily identify me as a warlock."


    [I already took care of that, try to find any news with you on it]


    Mack looked at a tv by the side and grabbed the remote control and turned it on.


    As soon as the tv was on Mack saw news about him. But his face waspletely dark. Not even the eyes could be seen..


    Mack clicked the remote and changed channels again, and again and again.


    His face was always dark.


    "So.... you put a spell on me at that moment? What is this? Or how you did this?"


    [Hahahaha, you are too green kid, too green, can''t you manipte fire and wind? Guess....]


    "Light?"


    ~thurumm~


    A lightning bolt fell on the pool close to the door.


    [I guess this answer your questions]


    "Now I wished I had an affinity with light, too. Damm it, it''s so awesome!"


    Said Mack, pping his own leg in frustration.


    "Since this is taken care, we can conclude our stay at Earth? I will miss the food tho.... "


    [What food? You only eat fruits all the time. If I didn''t see you eat a hamburger on the first day, I would think you are vegan]


    Remembering the first day, Mack suddenly thought of something....


    "And the cameras that took photos with me? I remember some guys say they liked my red eyes"


    [Same thing, they could see you but no camera could record it, it''s a kind of essence art very useful in undercover operations, because you don''t want people to suspect you but no recordings are left of you too]


    "Interesting....im indeed too green, so many things to learn... when do we start?"


    [As soon as we leave this cursed, Essence here is too low]


    "Lets go then"


    Said Mack, grabbing his backpack by the side. His things never went out of his view, a habit he created in the tower.


    Hack stood up, took a step forward, and patted Mack on his shoulder.


    ~thurum~


    In the next moment, Mack''s eyes went white.


    A secondter, his vision returned, and he saw himself in front of a huge pyramid. The night sky full of stars made the scenery look as even more magical. It was the first time of Mack seeing a pyramid so close, and he bet he would never forget that image.


    "Where we are? Was this some kind of teleportation?"


    [It''s one of the perks of light affinity. I just made us move extremely fast. We are at what you call now Egypt]


    Said Hack, pointing to the pyramid in front of him.


    "An old man that moves fast, that''s a new one for me."


    [Stop with the jokes. We need to activate the array below the pyramid to get out of here]


    Saying that, the old man took a step and started to walk in the direction of the pyramid.


    Mack looked at the huge pyramid and could not believe this was indeed made by aliens. If the people that loved creating conspiracy theories were here now, they would go crazy over this.


    After a few minutes of walking, Mack could not hold back and asked,


    "Can''t you just do that lighting trick and move us close to the pyramid?"


    [Kid, why do you think I''m walking if I could do that?]


    "So? We can fly too...."


    [We can''t, we need a steady walking to there. This pyramid has an array to prevent any kind of Essence use. Why do you think this pyramid is in a desert? It was not a desert to start, all the essence around here is still as the water of an iceke. Do you know any animals or nts that can live in apletely frozenke?]


    "Its done this way to not ''mess'' things up during the activation of the teleportation array?"


    [Very smart, correct. How do you came to that conclusion?]


    "Because of the Argonian cape, it''s the same principle. I can''t move too much while in active mode."


    Said Mack, pointing to his back.


    Hack kept walking as he remembered when he acquired the Argonian cape and the girl thatter be his first and only wife.


    [You know kid, this cape was very important to me. Take good care of it, or I will haunt you when I die]


    Said Hack, still not changing his gaze or expression, and looking at the pyramid in the front.


    Mack noticed the weird tone in Hack ''voice'', and could imagine why it was important.


    "Dont worry old man, I''m not easy to be killed."


    Said Mack, because the cape would belong to him until he died, but then remembering the old man was going to die in ten years, Mack had a question he wished to know but was not sure if he should ask.


    But he didn''t needed, Hack could see his thoughts as clear as the pyramid in front of them.


    [You want to know how I''m sure of my death, right?]


    Mack heard the voice in his head but didn''t say anything aloud, only nodded while they still walked.


    [First, there is not such thing as eternal life, all things perish, some just take way way longer than others. Second, when you reach the control of Essence that I have, you will be able to spot all the minute details in your body, thus, you will be able to see when you are going to die of ''old age'']


    Said Hack, unfazed as always when talking about his own death, for a man that lived so much as him, death was nothing but a day when he could rest in peace.


    After a few more minutes ofplete silence, they finally reached the pyramid, and Mack could faintly see some patterns that looked like a variation of runes engrave on the entrance. It was simr but yet different.

 Chapter 99 - 99. Leaving Earth

    "Are those simr to runes?"


    Asked Mack, incapable of controlling his curiosity.


    [It''s anguage that derived from it, yes. But is far weakerpared to runes]


    Mack could not avoid but touching the engravings at entrance, and seeing the pass of time on it, it had stayed that way for thousands of years.


    [Lets go kid, don''t y with those things, they are useless]


    "Yes Yes"


    Said Mack, hurrying his steps to follow the old man.


    When ites to runes, Mack would look like a child with new toys, even if they were just a variation of it. He could not control himself, it was something that always picked Mack curiosity.


    [We need to hurry and activate this while is still night].


    "Why that?"


    [Because this is an old array, and I need to be able to see the stars and do the calctions to be able to input the correct numbers, also, Earth is not in sync with any modern ''navigation'' metrics, this is just a forsaken]


    "Is it because of the Essence?"


    [Yes and no, this is a too far away in this dimension. It''s like being thest house of the most far away neighbourhood in the most isted city of Antartica, if they still call it this way]


    "Yes, it is. If it is this isted, why did they put a tower here?"


    Said Mack, walking behind the old man down the tunnels of the Pyramid.


    [Exactly because of that, they choose remote ces to be ''out'' of the eyes of the Mage Association]


    "Makes sense, if was not for youing to Earth, they would never send acolytes here too."


    [Yes, but Earth was not the initial target of them here. It was Mars, but those fuckers destroyed their own. Not even a brick was left behind, such a crazy civilization.]


    "What?!!! There was life at Mars?"


    Screamed Mack, unable to control his own curiosity again.


    [Yes, but that was more than a hundred aeons ago, Humans didn''t even exist on Earth back then]


    "What is this ''aeons'' you keep talking? It confuses me every time. Is this equivalent to a thousand years from Earth?"


    [No, Ifpared to Earth it would be, around a hundred thousands years]


    "That long? So the tower will be closed for three hundred thousand years? How many time did you lived old man? Now I''m scared that you even saw the Earth be formed or something."


    [HaHaHaHa, Indeed, this sr system of yours is just a babypared to me]


    Mack could not believe what this old man was saying. How could someone live for so many years?


    "That old? I don''t believe."


    [What? Do you expect less of the most powerful warlock to ever exist?]


    "Its... its... its just too much!"


    Mack could still not believe the old man. It was too much time for someone to be alive.


    [Kid, what if I told you that are beings out there that saw this entire dimension be born, and they are still alive and kicking?]


    "Humans? Like you and me?"


    [I never said they were humans. There are too many species out there, humanoids, is just one type of them]


    "And me thinking I''m old by reaching my 30s"


    Lamented himself Mack, on Earth, thirty years old was something akin to a ''old man'' already in some ces.


    [HaHaHaHa you are too green kid, too green]


    "I''m starting to believe you."


    Said Mack, mocking himself for his ignorance about everything outside Earth.


    [We finally here]


    Said Hack, signaling with his head to the floor of the spacious chamber they were.


    Mack looked at it but could not see anything there that was remotely simr to an array.


    Then, as if to prove that Mack was wrong, Hack looked up to his right side and Mack saw a hole that went up all the way to outside of the pyramid.


    Hack did the same on his left side and drew a few runes on the floor.


    Mack recognized those some of those runes but others he never saw before, then, like his right hand tatoo, a row of numbers were written around all the runes.


    [Put your cape in sleep mode kid, it will interfere with the array]


    Said Hack, pointing to Mack''s back.


    Mack did as he told and the Argonian cape vanished.


    [Also, from now on, only use the cape in covert operations, only when needed, you need to stop showing all your cards all the time, where we are going, people would kill you just for a few bucks for selling the cape, and no one would bat an eye]


    "What about the swords? Dont they will try to steal too?"


    [Those swords.... only one person apart from me knows they exist, and it''s the actual Head of the Mage Association. For others, this sword is just a bunch of ck iron put together with no value at all]


    "I see. I guess I''m not stepping foot there for a while, note taken"


    [HaHaHaHa, if you step foot there, geez, you are as dead as those people from Mars, kid, there are too much things you don''t know, until you are confident of doing something don''t even try to, there are too many types of spell and species out there]


    Said Hack, already putting a white crystal in a small hole in the floor.


    Mack, seeing this, suddenly thought of something.


    "Is this a multiyered matrix?"


    [Correct. Those runes connect them to pass the coordinates for the transportation matrix that is at the very bottom of this pyramid. While the crystal supply the energy for it, its only missing the activation]


    "Should I do something? Like hold hands with you? or something?"


    [HaHaHaHa, holding hands, you are indeed funny kid. No, just stay still. This is a transportation chamber. Everything inside here will be transported]


    Said Hack, writing thest rune on the floor and kicking it with his foot.


    A small spark was made, and a sh of light made Mack go blind again.

 Chapter 100 - 100. A Hundred Days To Prepare

    Vision returned to Mack''s eyes as he glimpsed what was around him, but to Mack surprise looking to his right side, he found something he was not expecting.


    "Yo old man, I think we bring extra luggage,"


    Said Mack, pointing to the same sarcophagus that was with them in the room before activating the transportation array.


    [Those guys, they always thought we were gods, if they knew.....]


    Mack looked to the old man and the old man looked back to Mack as if both were reaching an agreement, then they started walking, leaving the sarcophagus behind.


    For Mack, the ce they were transported to was nothing different, a bunch of woods, just like any ce on earth, just that the nts were a bit different, while walking Mack paid attention to them for a while but a few minutes and he was already bored..


    "Where we are old man?"


    [This is called Centaurus Three, we are here just to train you, its a remote but here the Essence in the environment is way better than Earth, also, it has a small poption of centaurs, thus, the name]


    "Is this in the same gxy? or dimension?"


    [Not the same gxy, no, but yes, it is in the same dimension. To cross dimensions is way harder. Do you remember the 8th gate?]


    "Yes, the others ''Me'' came from parallel dimensions, right?"


    [Correct, to do that takes a lot of resources, that gate was a kind of limbo, where parallel dimensions connected thus making it easier, it was not exactly sending you to a dimension, to send someone to another dimension is very very costly, a civilization could easily go bankrupt doing this.]


    "To just send one guy?"


    [Yes, now, enough of chit chat, we are almost there.]


    Said the old man, pointing to a small city that could be seen when crossing a tree line.


    The city itself was not big, and had a small brick wall around it, even some tall buildings could be seen behind the wall, some looked very ancient while others looked more modern and Earth like, Mack guessed the city already existed for a long time.


    [Remember this well, this is awless ce,w doesn''t exist here.]


    "Got it"


    Said Mack, putting his right hand over the sword by his right side.


    [Also, I will not protect you. This is also part of your training now. You need to defend yourself here in this city for a 100 days. I wille to you by night when you get yourself a house or a room. I have a few things I need to take care]


    Said the old man, vanishing from the spot.


    "AND HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?? I HAVE NO MONEY!"


    Screamed Mack, furious that this old man didn''t even give him some local money.


    And a few meters in front of Mack, a few centaurs already looked annoyed by his screaming.


    ~sigh~


    ''I hate this old man''s tests. Just train me, dammit.''


    Walking to the city gate Mack noticed that not everyone around was a centaur, some were humans, or humanoids at least, and others were like a horse that could walk in two legs, that was the most weird thing that mack saw, he even remembered a cartoon he saw when child that had a talking horse.


    Whening close to the gate, Mack saw a few centaurs before him entering and giving a tiny essence crystal to the one that looked like a guard. The essence crystal was so small that looked like rice grain.


    ''So I will have to pay to enter.''


    Mack still had 2 essence crystals, but they were the size of a baby fist, he didn''t had those tiny ones, if he had to show the ones he had, Mack guessed that trouble woulde for him the very moment he stepped foot inside the city.


    Seeing it was time for him to pay to enter the city Mack had to decide what to do.


    ''I guess I have no other option.''


    Thought Mack, retrieving one of his two remaining essence crystals and extending his hand to the guard.


    "Can you exchange for me?"


    Said Mack, and the trantor on his mask quickly tranted it into anguage that he was not familiar with.


    Thenguage used was the same that the mask captured people talking before. The Mask itself had no way to ''know'' whichnguages the other party talked. It only identified thenguage talked around Mack and tranted to it.


    The guard, hearing the robotic voice talking Hakarush and seeing the man holding a huge essence crystal, almost fell to his knees in fear of death.


    He was just a guard, but he could easily recognize when someone important was in front of him, and to ''obligate'' those kinds of people to pay? That usually means death by beheading.


    The guard moved his lips but then remembered what the other guy in front of him asked, ''to exchange''.


    ''Right, maybe he was not trying to pay but only wants pocket money.''


    Thought the guard


    The guard looked at the crystal and quickly saw how much it was worth, and retrieved a bag from one of his pockets and extended to Mack.


    The bag was full to the brim with tiny essence crystals.


    Mack looked to the size of that bag, and wondered how that was able to fit in a pocket. The bag was at least twice the size of the crystal he was holding.


    ''I guess they have big pockets here.''


    Mack grabbed the bag and put on his backpack and was about to leave when he heard somethinging from the guard''s mouth,


    "Thank you for your generosity my lord."


    Said the guard, half bowing to Mack.


    Mack quickly understood why. Higher essence crystal were harder to find, so people rarely exchanged them with lower crystal, only the opposite, and the ratio was always unfair for the buyers.


    Mack gave a small nod and turned his back, walking in direction of the city, but before he could even cross the city gate Mack heard a ''metallic noise'', a very familiar one of a de being unsheathed.


    ''Fuck, I knew, they want to rob me.''


    Thought Mack, already turning his head and removing his de.

 Chapter 101 - 101. Robbed

    "Who wants to rob me?"


    Said Mack, turning, but what he saw made him speechless.


    The guard from earlier now had his decapitated head on the floor, and two guys were running toward the forests.


    ''Dafuck? Did they just rob the guard?''


    The few people around, still caught unprepared for the situation, took their weapons out too, but before they could understand what was happening, it was all already done and the guys were escaping.


    Everyone looked at each other as if not sure to put the weapon down, Mack then seeing everyone was somehow waiting for him to take action first, put his sword back, and everyone else did the same.


    Then more guards came and started chasing the robbers, while two stayed, one to take the body and other to receive the fee from the people entering the city.


    For the other guards, it was just another normal day. They already knew the perks of being a guard at the gate, and also the risks. After all, who could tell if the people who entered were a hundred or a hundred and two.. It was a ''allowed practice'' at the city gate to take a few essence crystals when doing guard there, but also, no one would try to protect you if you got killed by a robber. But pursue them? That also had its perks and its risks.


    Seeing the situation was calming down Mack started walking again to enter the city, but even so, he still had a bad taste in his mouth. He could not get rid of the feeling that it was him that got robbed instead of the guard.


    ''Well, at least I have pocket money now. Let''s see what kind of things the aliens have to sell.''


    Thought Mack, looking around the main street of the city, crowded with merchants and people walking around buying and selling all kinds of things.


    Mack approached one stall and looked to the things there, mostly some kinds of fruits, the stall was right there in the side of the street, it was not a ''proper business'' like the ones that had a store, but more like some people that had things to sell and just shifted their own small carts so buyers could see what was inside.


    Mack had asked the arcane to remove mon grade things'' from the chip in his eyes to put Earth music, so he had no way to know what was that, but he knew it was no poisoned at least.


    "How much for one?"


    Asked Mack to the guy selling the fruit.


    "10 for one crystal"


    Said the man, pointing to a small paper by the front of the cart, but Mack could not read things in othernguages.


    Mack looked at the fruits again, wondering if he should buy or not. It has been a day already since he ate something.


    The fruits were simr to some apples from Earth, but had a white color.


    Mack grabbed his backpack, and without taking the bag of money out of it, took a handful of crystals out of it. Then, as if trying to not grab much attention said,


    "Oh right, its on my pocket"


    And put his hand inside his side pocket, leaving all the crystals there and taking only one of them.


    "Here, take it".


    Said Mack, giving only one crystal to the merchant.


    No one suspected what Mack did, but also, Mack didn''t knew if he was being too careful or not, but remembering what happened at the gate, he was sure that was not a good idea taking out so many crystal out for everyone to see.


    Mack put the fruits on his backpack and started biting one of them right there.


    ~crisp~


    But the thing was hard as wood and had a taste akin to lemon.


    "HaHaHaHa"


    The merchant, seeing Mack biting the fruit, started tough aloud.


    A few people close heard theugh and looked at it.


    "Geez, what a dumb ass, didn''t he know Acapuras can''t be eaten without boiling?"


    Said an old man, passing by.


    The merchant stoppedughing and, as if trying to control himself, asked,


    "Sir, are you new here? Those fruits need to be boiled before eating, or it will cause diarrhea".


    ~spit~


    "Dammit"


    Cursed Mack, already spitting the bits of the fruit in his mouth.


    ~spit~


    But one piece that Mack spit hit the foot of a horseman passing by his side.


    ''Shit''


    Thought Mack, if people risked to kill for a crystal, what about a spit?


    "YOU!"


    Screamed the horseman furiously, but looking at Mack red eyes and his two swords, kept walking and did nothing.


    ''I guess people around here fear a lot what they don''t know.''


    Thought Mack, seeing the man hesitation even being furious.


    But Mack was bored.


    "YOU WHAT?"


    Said Mack aloud, and the people around all stopped what they were doing.


    A fight was going to happen, and if there was something they loved was to see a fight, there was nothing better to cure their boredom than a fight. And fights in this city were fully allowed. The guards only cared for people who robbed stores or destroyed any public building.


    The horseman suddenly felt a chill in his spine, but his ''honor'' spoke louder. He was in the right there, the man spit on his foot, if someone was to be pissed was him.


    The horseman turned his head, but before he could even say anything.


    ~p~


    Mack pped the horseman''s head with all the force he could muster in his body. He was not sure how strong those people with horsehead were.


    A fountain of blood gushed to the skies and everyone around felt as if just rained for a single second.


    The horseman''s head exploded with Mack p.


    ''Shit''


    Thought Mack, seeing those people with horse''s head were way weaker than him.


    Everyone thought they would have a fight to see, but before it even started, it already ended.


    Seeing the fight was over, everyone started taking care of their own things again and the usual noise of a merchant street came back.


    But three horsemen stood there, still unable to move, and rage could be seen in their eyes while looking at Mack.


    Those three horseman just lost their father, and they would die to get their revenge.

 Chapter 102 - 102. The Four Horseman

    Mack took a step to keep walking around the street, but as soon as he stepped forward he saw the three kids with horse''s head ring at him with those big horse''s eyes. Mack could easily see rage in their eyes, and a realization came to him.


    He had killed their father.


    The kids seemed to ept that they could not take revenge as they just stood there unmoving.


    Mack resumed his walk and passed by them, and without even looking at them, he said,


    "My name is Mack,e for your revenge when you think you are strong enough, I will be waiting."


    The three kids clenched their fists but in the end went to get their father''s body,ter the same day they met an older brother, and together they swore to take revenge, and created what several yearster would be know as The Four Horseman, a bandit group that caused terror in the entire.


    But Mack would never know any of this, and how his actions caused this swirl of events that in the end would end up changing the entire fate of this.


    What he knew for true was that horseman people were weaker than him, so he was way more rxed while walking the streets, because apart from some humans and some centaurs, the majority of the people around were those horseman people..


    ''A where the main intelligent species came from some kind of horse. Who would believe if I told this on Earth?''


    Thought Mack, pondering what kind of species he would find out on others.


    For a brief moment, Mack just wished to travel to all the possible worlds, to see with his own eyes all that existed out there, just exploring, travelling, knowing the cuisines, the woman, and maybe learn different runes.


    "sigh"


    Mack sighted aloud as if waking up from his dreams, he was indeed free, but not as much as he hoped, this ''organization'' of the old man would consume a lot of time from him, and for the sake of his own goals, he had tomit to the old man n.


    Mack stopped thinking of an easy life and his focus changed to the side, there he saw a horsewoman with slim yet beautiful body using a skirt, the curves were akin to the hottest woman on earth, and the boobs, what was even that, Mack wondered if that even fitted in his hand....


    ''But that horsehead.....''


    Thought Mack, dispersing the thoughts of ''tasting'' the local cuisine, and entering a store by the other side of the road.


    Mack could not read the signboard of the store, but the ''herbal'' design made him remember of those Chinese stores that sold all kinds of pills and nts, picking Mack curiosity.


    Entering the store, a strong aroma assaulted him, but a good one, the smell of all kinds of nts mixed, creating a natural perfume to the store.


    Mack saw three horsewoman''s looking around in the store as if examining the nts and a human girl paying for something.


    Mack looked around a bit, but because he could not read what was on the smallbels he got bored in just a few seconds, none of the nts that Mack saw gave a prompt in his eyes, meaning they were all ofmon grade.


    The human girl finished paying and quickly went to leave the store, passing by where Mack.


    Mack gave a nce to the girl face and she was indeed beautiful, but not something extraordinary, just good enough to not be considered ugly.


    The girl noticed this strange man looking at her and looked back, but once seeing Mack red eyes, she lowered her head and averted the gaze.


    Mack looked down to see the girl''s body more ''urately'', but when doing so, his gaze passed by the nt the girl was holding.


    [Dondon,mon grade, long time consumption of the roots can cause death]


    Once the message popped on Mack retina, the girl already had passed by him.


    Mack looked behind,


    ''What a nice ass tho, that is definitely worth a drama or two''


    Thought Mack, looking at the girl leaving the store.


    Once the girl left, Mack walked to the owner of the store, a horseman, and asked,


    "Is that girl a regr customer here?"


    Asked Mack, but still pondering if he should really get himself in a mess just for a nice ass.


    ''But what an ass, damn!''


    Seeing Mack red eyes and the ''unique'' clothes he used, the owner of the store pondered if the man was important or not, but still chose the safer, better not get on the wrong side of someone important, he thought.


    "Yes sir, she is. Shees every day to buy Dondon for her ill sister. You see, her sister suffer of a rare disease and Dondon is the only thing capable of cating the symptoms.... sigh .... some people are just born with bad luck..."


    Said the horseman, as if sympathizing with the customer.


    "Indeed, I can rte to those people. My luck was always the worst."


    Saying that, Mack wondered if he should ask or not the owner about the Dondon. Things didn''t seem so simple as he thought.


    "By the way.... Is she consuming the roots? Dondon can cause death in the long term, no?"


    Said Mack, as if testing if the owner of the girl knew about that.


    "What? Yes, she consumes the root, but death? What you mean by this? I''m a herbologist and no one ever died by consuming Dondon roots."


    Said the horseman, doubting Mack words.


    "Any of them consumed for a long time? Maybe you should try using it for a few years and see what happens...."


    Said Mack, half mocking, half threatening the herbologist.


    ''What kind of joke is this? Saw no one die? Did he even learned anything before selling those things?''


    Thought Mack, but instead of saying this aloud, preferred to bait the man, and said,


    "Look, I know for a fact that this causes death. My uncle died because of this. He had ... what the name of the disease again...."


    "Bloodrage?"


    Asked the horseman

 Chapter 103 - 103. The Private Garden

    "Yes Yes, Bloodrage. If was not by an expert visiting our house several monthster and seeing the garden full of Dondon, we would have thought that he died of natural causes."


    Said Mack, clicking his tongue and doing a mncholic face, as if half ming himself, and half missing his nonexistent uncle.


    Hearing what Mack said, the horseman panicked a little, but then remembered that the girl was still alive, there was still a way of reversing it, if the girl died because of Dondon, his reputation would be ruined and he would never be able to sell anything in this city anymore, heck, he may even be killed by someone.


    "Look man, I know what you thinking, I will keep my mouth shut about this, I don''t want to see someone being hanged just because of this. But since I''m here, what are the more expensive nts you sell here?"


    Asked Mack with a devilish smile on his face.


    The horseman quickly understood what Mack was saying and nodded a few times as the stress left his body. His reputation would not be ruined, not today, at least.


    "Come, Come, I will show you the private garden, the rare nts can''t stay here on the shelves, and of course, you can take what you want, free of charge.."


    Mack followed the horseman, and soon they entered a small garden, full of flowers and other kind of nts, with almost not a single spot empty.


    "I can say for sure that this is the best private garden in the city."


    Said the horseman, feeling proud of his hard work. This garden was his life project and any kind of nt in here was worth more than all the shelves in the front store.


    Mack looked around, and as the man said, several messages popped in his retina, all of the nts here were of at least umon grade, Mack even spotted two rare grade flowers.


    Walking and checking the nts, Mack gaze focused on the two rare flowers.


    [Brausy, rare grade, makes a man capable of raising his sword again]


    ''What kind of rarity is this? Ohhhh that sword....''


    Seeing Mack''s gaze fixed on the Brausy flower, the herbalist thoughts run wild to a ce that Mack was not aiming at.


    "cof"


    Mack''s gaze went to the other flower and something he didn''t expect appeared.


    [Masura, rare grade, cleanses the body of impurities while making essence runs more fluid]


    "Oh, that is a good one. How should someone consume the Masura?"


    Asked Mack aloud, still looking at other nts.


    "You can drink it as a tea, one petal for each cup. But only once a day, it has a powerful effect."


    Hearing what the man said, Mack wondered how many petals he should use. After all, he had a freak body.


    Mack looked at how many Masuras the garden had and took half of them and put on his backpack.


    Pain could be seen on the horseman''s face, but he still didn''t say anything. He bit his tongue and swallowed his pride. At least Mack had left half of them.


    Mack kept strolling around the garden to see all the nts, but nothing popped up as rare anymore, only of umon grades, and a fewmon grades with very suspicious ways of use.


    That, until Mack''s gaze focused at a yellow flower by the corner of the garden, just one, alone.


    [me Bird Flower, Rare , used to in the process of making me affinity serums]


    Mack saw that flower and wondered what a flower like that was doing in a garden like this. All nts until now were akin to ''medicine for mortals'' and only a few had any effect on Essence itself.


    "Hey horsehead, do you know how to craft serums?"


    Said Mack, pointing his finger at the me bird flower.


    Mack suspected that this herbalist knew how to craft them. Since that flower was there, it was very unlikely for someone to have a flower like that, being a herbalist.


    The horseman hesitated to answer for a bit, but then he gave a long sigh and said,


    "Yes, I used to craft them, but that was a long time ago. Today, most of the material to create them is extremely hard to find, and if you find someone selling, the price is absurd. Turning impossible to profit by selling the serums. "


    Mack knew exactly what kind of ''materials'' the man was talking about, warlock blood. That now was in hands of only the extremely powerful families of the Mage alliance.


    Mack thought for a while in how to proceed. He had to be careful and use the correct words.


    "Ohhhh, I never saw a single serum in my life, are them hard to make?"


    Asked Mack, curious to know more about the procedures for making them. If it was easy, maybe he could gather the rest of the materials and do it himself.


    "Hahahahah, Hard? They are insanely hard. Just imagine, a drug that makes your body more tuned with essence, making you able to control fire, water, wind, etc. This is a miraculous drug, of course it''s extremely hard to make them."


    Mack hopes were almost shattered hearing the man''s words. He was hoping to be able to create serums himself, but if was this hard for someone that knew how to make them, imagine for a newbie like him.


    But an idea suddenly popped into Mack''s head.


    He had the most rare material, and the horsehead had the knowledge, if he somehow could make it seem like he just stumbled upon this, he could make it work.... Or he could just kill the guy in the end.


    "Its seems is our luck day, because a few days ago, I stumbled on a rich guy, well... you know the rest... we had a sort of disagreement.... "


    Said Mack, finding the correct words to say.


    "And what I have to do with that?"


    Asked the horseman, feeling annoyed by this story already.


    "Well, In one of his boxes, he had a sk with a very umon type of blood, if you know what I mean..."


    Said Mack, as if saying that to test the horseman''s knowledge, and just as he expected....


    "Warlock Blood?!!!"

 Chapter 104 - 104. May I Open For You?

    Hearing the horseman say ''warlock blood'', Mack''s humor turned for better. He may not be able to craft them, but now he had someone who could.


    "Yes, warlock blood"


    Said Mack, slightly nodding his head, but still not looking at the guy. His gaze kept wandering around the garden, as if what he was saying was just a casual matter.


    "Do you know how much that is worth? It''s priceless!".


    Said the man with a horse head.


    "I know, but I also know that I can''t just go around saying ''I have warlock blood to sell'', My head would be rolling on mud if I did that, but if you can craft serums we can split it 50/50, what do you thing horse head?"


    Asked Mack, but still not looking at the man.


    "Sounds good, but I need to first gather all materials for that. There are a lot of other things that need to be used and I don''t have all of them here. Let''s do this way. Come here tomorrow. I will have everything ready."


    Said the horseman, a bit eager to craft the thing that he was proud of.


    "Ok, I will be here tomorrow....."


    Mack took a slight pause and looked back to the horseman and continued,


    ".....but remember, if you somehow you try to plot against me, your head is the one that will roll in the mud tomorrow."


    Said Mack, looking into the horsemen''s eyes


    The horseman, seeing Mack''s red eyes looking at him as if seeing his soul, unconsciously took a step back and gulped.


    "No tricks, not tricks, I promise. Half is already a lot for the job".


    Said the horseman, shaking his hands, while his dry mouth kept asking him to gulp.


    "Good"


    Said Mack, already walking back the way they came, and leaving the private garden. He still had to find a ce to sleep today and the sky was already darkening.


    Walking the streets, Mack found only a few ces that worked as a ''hotel'', he could not read the ques hanged around, but all of them had this beer symbol, as if it was amon thing to be a pup and a hotel at the same time.


    That, until Mack saw a jarring building, it looked like one from Earth, full of ss windows and a modern look in general, really different from the other ces around. But it still had the ''beer'' symbol close to some unrecognizable words.


    ''This is more look like what I want''


    Thought Mack. Just thinking of sleeping in some of those other ces with people screaming all the night on the first floor made him want to kill all of them. Those ces were all made of some kind of wood, it was obvious that the sound would be a problem all the night.


    ''Maybe that''s why they drink, to be able to sleep like a dead horse.''


    Mack walked inside the fancy hotel and saw someone waiting at the entrance for him. The ce seemed desert, not a single person apart from the receptionist could be seen.


    The girl approached Mack before he could even say anything and half bowed.


    "Wee to Four Seasons. How long will be your stay, Sir?"


    Asked the girl, raising her head, and Mack could see clearly how charming the girl was when she came more closely, an amiable smile. All that was important for a job like that.


    ''This girl went directly to the point. I like here already.''


    Thought Mack, he hated people that talked too much nonsense.


    "A hundred days."


    Said Mack, already waiting to know how much that would cost him.


    "Please follow me, Sir. I will walk you to your room."


    Said the girl, already prompting the lead for Mack to follow her.


    For Mack''s surprise, the girl didn''t give any price, nor asked for an advance payment. What if he was a beggar? Then realization came, he was not on Earth, this ce was a bit more savagepared to Earth, Mack guessed that if someone could not pay, they would probably kill the guy or worst. Maybe sell as a ve?


    ''Yes, probably sell as ve.''


    Thought Mack, they would not lose money, no matter what. He didn''t see anyone that looked like ves, nor a ce that sell them, but given the reality of this, Mack didn''t doubt that ve market was a thing.


    Mack stopped thinking useless stuffs and focused on what the girl was saying, they have already reached the room.


    "This is your keycard. We don''t have daily cleaning to respect the guest privacy, but you can request to me or any other receptionist you find in the lobby, and the room will be cleaned. As your stay is very long we also rmend that you requestundry service. Apart from that, any special request you have you can contact me or any other receptionist. We will make everything to please or guests"


    Said the girl, giving a bit of emphasis to the words ''please or guests''.


    Hearing what the girl said, Mack suddenly had a urge to do something very pleasing with her.


    But in the end, he controlled himself, but the curiosity in him was stronger...


    "Everything?"


    Asked Mack, just to be sure.


    "Everything."


    Said the girl, lowering her head and unbuttoning a single button on her blouse.


    Even a door could now understand the meaning of her words.


    Mack now looked at the girl with fresh eyes, and paid more attention to the curves of her body.


    The girl was very charming, and the thing that caught Mack''s eyes was the girl''s lips and hands, very delicate.


    The girl raised her head, and turning his back to Mack, asked with a small voice while putting the keycard on the door.


    "May I open for you?"


    Mack, now, not dazed in his own thoughts, paid attention to the girl''s back, and the girl had a perfect waist, with an ass that looked like two mountain peaks, waiting to be explored.


    "Please, open for me."


    Said Mack, softly touching the girl''s waist.

 Chapter 105 - 105. (R-18) - The Girl With Soft Fingers

    The girl noticed Mack touching her waist and turned the lock of the door, entering the room, two steps, and her skirt shake a bit, showing more of her white legs.


    The light in the room went on automatically, but the girl quickly touched a button by the wall and it went off again.


    Mack entered inside the room and with his right foot, pushed the door closed, while already dropping his backpack by the side.


    The girl, seeing Mack drop his backpack, slowly lowered her body and grabbed the backpack to put somewhere more adequate, but when rising again her body, Mack grabbed her waist and pulled the girl close to him.


    The backpack fell again to his previous ce, and the now empty hands of the girl, moved to Mack arms, and softly went up as if slowly recognizing the terrain.


    The girl could feel the strong muscles of Mack arms and Mack could feel her gently touch.


    The girl lowered her head and it instantly touched Mack chest, seeing the girl, fake or not, shyness, Mack left hand went to the girl hair and touched it a bit as caressing the girl long and smooth hair.


    "How many times did you do this?".


    Asked Mack. He knew he was not the first ''guest'' at this hotel.


    "It''s my first time, I started this week."


    Said the girl, with nowpletely red cheeks.


    Mack softly raised her chin, and looked her in the eyes, Mack saw liers all his life, but none could fake this well.


    ''Fake or not....''


    Thought Mack, kissing the girl''s lips.


    The soft, and hot lips of the girl kissed back and her tongue move to Mack''s mouth, both feeling that the other really wanted that.


    Mack would believe her, only this time.


    With no hesitation, Mack moved his own lips to the girl ears while the girl started to lower her hands and slowly remove Mack''s belt.


    The belt fell to the floor, along with the swords, making a cling noise when touching the floor.


    The girl moved her hands down and started caressing Mack''s remaining sword through the clothes.


    Mack touched his own right arm, and something akin to zippers appeared everywhere around his body.


    The girl notice it, and felt surprise, and awe at the same time, but her hands never stopped caressing Mack body, while Mack kissed her neck, her lips and his hands wandered all over the girl''s body, finding hard to believe such soft skin even existed.


    Suddenly, the girl made her resolution, and opened one of the zippers, and putting her right hand inside touched what she was looking for, hard and full of veins, the sword almost could not fit her hand, the girl gulped as her mind wandered and her hand started to move fowarad and back from it, forward and back,


    Mack heart pumped hard as the adrenaline rushed all over his body, and grabbed the girl buttons, ripping them to shreds, the girl bare chest could now be seen in the shades of the small light in the room. Mack didnt hesitate for a second as his hand touched the soft mountains in the girl''s bare chest, suddenly Mack grabbed it hard, and the girl let escape a soft moan, he hands were full already and now she felt hot all over her body, the gulping veins over the sword made her salivate as her lowered her head licked it, and a bit more, and then put all inside her mouth.


    Mack raised his own head while hearing the noise of the girl made down below his sword, he grabbed her head with two hands and pulled hard close to him.


    The girl gulped but didn''tin, and her left hand now free, went down below her own skirt, she could not resist anymore, and amidst the pulling hands and the big sword in her mouth let out a moan of pleasure, he body was so hot that she wished to just let this man end her right now, but she controlled herself and put two fingers inside her second mouth, it was so wet that she didn''t even felt anything, she could not resist anymore, her head moved forward and back with more intensity as her fingers entered and left below her skirt, but she wanted more, she wanted harder, and as her body went hotter she raised herself, and pushed Mack to fall over the bed just behind them.


    Mack fell to the bed, and could see the wet fingers and her mouth still salivating, her hair all messed up, made him want to just to grab her by the hair and end his own suffering, the girl was way hotter than Mack even imagined, but for Mack luck, the girl had other ns.


    The girl looking at that muscr body and that big raised sword full of veins fell the urge to ride on that big horse. She lowered her hand and removed her panty, but left the skirt, then, like a leopard stalking her prey, the girl went on four over the bed and slowly came over Mack body, her hands caressing every part of the man''s body until her eyes met with each other, Mack grabbed the mountains that appeared above his face and the girl grabbed the sword, touching again that giant thing the girl could not resist anymore and wanted too feel that inside her making her full, and just as she wished she did, and slowly put everything inside her.


    Mack heard a single moan, and the girl started to go up and down over him, as if riding a horse, she grabbed her own mountains and while shoving the thing between her legs, she started to lick her own two mountains.


    Another single moan came from her mouth as Mack grabbed her waist and one of the mountains and pulled hard.


    Outside the room, a bald old man passed by the room and hearing the noises could not stop envying those youngsters while he walked back to find another room for himself.


    The night would be long for Mack.

 Chapter 106 - 106. First Training Day

    In the next day,


    Mack woke up, still feeling a bit dizzy, opened his eyes and stood up. Walked to the bathroom of the room, took a shower and cleaned himself, and when leaving the bathroom, he saw an old man waiting for him.


    "Geez, you scared the shit out of me."


    Said Mack, caught unprepared for that bald head.


    [Stop joking, today is the first day of your training, get dressed and we will leave]


    "Ok Ok"


    Said Mack, already grabbing his clothes by the side of the bed.


    The girl had left a long time ago.


    Seeing Mack dressed, with his backpack, and the two swords, the old opened the door..


    "By the way.... How did you get in?"


    Asked Mack, not sure how this old man entered his locked room.


    He was sure he locked the door after the girl left.


    [You still ask those kinds of questions? Kid, you need to stop thinking like a mortal from Earth. There is nothing impossible in this ''new world'', Essence makes even miraclese true]


    Said the old man, leaving the room.


    Mack stood there thinking for a second and then followed Hack.


    But taking the elevator, instead of pressing the lobby button, the old man pressed the second floor button.


    Mack wondered what this old man was doing. Did he forget which one was the correct floor?


    Mack was about to touch the lobby button, but Hack''s voice came.


    [We are not going to leave the hotel for now]


    Mack retracted his hand and waited to see what the old man was nning.


    ~ting~


    The elevator stopped, and the doors opened, and Mack could peek through it that the entire floor was a huge training facility.


    "What if I had chosen one of those poor inns made of woods?"


    [Kid, do you really believe that a ce like this would be empty all day? And the receptionist would do any kind of request you had just because you were a client?]


    "Well, it''s strange indeed, but what those have to do with my question?"


    Asked Mack, not sure why the old man said that.


    [Kid, do you really believe that I''m so poor that I would rent a ce to sleep? On a like this? One of the things I had to ''do'' yesterday.... Was to buy this very same hotel]


    Said the old man walking forward.


    [By the time you came, I was already the new owner and had them informed about your arrival... You are too predictable. Of course you would choose a ce that is like a hotel from Earth...]


    "So that''s how you entered my room!!! It has nothing to do with Essence!"


    Seeing he was caught in his lies, the old man quickly tried to change subject, but Mack remembered the girl ask ''how many days he would stay''.....


    "You yed a piece on me! Whats wrong with you old man? Do you enjoy tricking people so much?"


    Said Mack, First the Arcane, the lies, and now this, now Mack understood why the girl never asked for an advance payment....


    ''I feel so stupid..... dammed old man!''


    Hearing what Mack said, the old gave a few coughs amidst a smile and continued...


    [....But I didn''t buy this ce to fancy you. I did because of this...]


    Said the old man, pointing to the machines that could be seen everywhere.


    Mack followed the old man''s hand and could see several ''puppets'' and all kinds of machines that he didn''t know what they were used for.


    [This is the only ce on this that has a training facility for Essence Users, instead of one for mages]


    "Essence Users?"


    Asked Mack, he never heard this ''term'' from the old man before.


    [You will know in time, but remember what I told you. There are several ways to advance on essence maniption. The mage path is only one of many]


    Hearing what the old man said, Mack''s gaze shifted to the puppets, and then to a few smaller rooms by the side of the floor.


    "What are those rooms for?"


    [Testing rooms, they are used when someone wants to practice a new ability or spell that may cause too much damage, or to practice something that others can''t see...]


    "I see. This ability thing is what Essence Users do?"


    [Yes, but enough of chit chat, lets start the training for once. This will be your daily routine from now on in the mornings. In the afternoon I will teach you, and you will be free to do whatever you like at nights, simple right?]


    "I thought it was going to be a hellish training or something... it''s indeed simple."


    Said Mack, feeling that this was way toomon for a ''training''ing from the old man.


    [That''s because your body is already well developed, and you have a solid ''foundation'' already. What you are missing is practice and we are going to hone the skills you already have and bring them to a new level with my experience]


    "I dont know, I feel like I could improve way more than just hone my skills, for example, with serums..."


    Said Mack, preparing the terrain to say what he was going to do today.


    [And do you think I don''t know about the deal you made with the herbologist? Kid, No matter where I am I can read everything that goes on your mind.... Did you already forgot that?]


    "So.... What do you think?"


    Asked Mack, because he too feared that things could backfire, warlock blood was a sensitive topic.


    [If things go well, you should keep doing it. If things go wrong, well, we will have to kill everyone in this town. I will not risk the n for a few serums]


    "I will keep that in mind"


    Said Mack, seeing the old man too had the same line of thoughts.


    With that said, the old moved to a puppet and pressed a button behind the puppet''s head. Mack followed him and saw the puppet eyes shine, and two small 0 showed on some kind of disy inside the puppets'' eyes.


    [Alright, this is a measure puppet for physical damage, hit him with the strongest punch or kick you have, just avoid the eyes and the back of the head, it''s the only parts that can break]


    "Alright..."


    Said Mack,ing close to hit the puppet.

 Chapter 107 - 107. Morning Training

    Mack punched the puppet in his face, but the puppet didn''t even move an inch. An almost instantly Mack saw a number on the puppet eyes.


    #54#


    [As expected, you are in the 50s range of raw power]


    "Is it good or bad?"


    [Neither, it''sme, it will be lessme when you can do more than a 100 points and good when you can do at leat 500 points]


    "I think I can do way more if I activate my middle finger runespell"


    [The goal here is not just to do points of damage, is for you to be able to control your strength better, you are like one of those guys from Earth movies that have a machine gun, but when they fire they hit everywhere but the target, this is what is happening with your body right now, you are dispersing all the energy]


    "I see... and how do I improve that?"


    [Do the same with your sword first. Hit with just one sword].


    Mack grabbed one of his swords with both hands, and hit the puppet at the top of his head, a simple but very powerful hit]


    #451#


    [See? You used a simple sword technique and the same body produced 450 of damage points]


    "Thats natural. The sword can output almost all my strength as a lever, that''s why people use swords to start"


    [And you truly believe that you can''t do this with only your own muscles and body? Alright... let me show you... Try to copy my movements...]


    Said the old man,ing in front of the puppet.


    Mack saw him staying with his left side been show to the puppet, then the old man slightly shifted his left foot and right foot in direction of the puppet andter the left foot slightly raised taking a step forward as the old man twisted his body and gave a punch at the puppet, but a few millimeters before touching the puppet the old man''s fist stopped.


    The right foot of the old man never moved and now his body was half inclined in the direction of the puppet.


    [See? I used two kinds of technique here, centripetal force from my body twisting from the right foot to the right hand, plus the movement of the own arm, andter I used all my body as leverage to bring that force to hit the opponent at the same moment my fist touched it]


    Said the old man, still keeping the same position so Mack could see it properly.


    "I see... Why did you raise your left foot tho?"


    [Good question, that is to not disperse the energy. If I didn''t raise it from the ground, it would act as a counterpart to the energy produced from my right foot. Now try that.]


    Said the old man,ing to the side for Mack to try it himself.


    Mack came to the front of the puppet and stood looking at it from his left side just as the old man did, with his left side been show to the puppet. Mack twisted his foots raised the left one and punched the puppet.


    #82#


    [You missed the correct moment to raise your left foot, and you also missed the right moment to hit the puppet, a lot of energy got dispersed because of those two points, also, you twisted your body way too much, and instead of using the energy produced by this movement, you ended up using part of it to twist your body more than what was needed]


    "It''s seems so simple when looking at you doing it"


    [And this... is just two very simple techniques... I will teach you way harder things than that]


    Mack nodded and tried to punch the puppet again. This time, he paid more attention to his left foot. He was not sure how that timing to hit the puppet worked, so he ignored that part for now.


    #97#


    [Good, you already improved, your left foot came out of the ground almost at the correct moment, keep practicing this punch all this morning, things will feel more natural the more you practice, some things only will make sense when you feel them, like the correct moment that your fist should hit the puppet]


    "Yes, I have no clue about that. How many times should I do this morning?"


    [Don''t stop until your punch hit 500 damage points]


    Said the old man, taking a chair to sit down and watch Mack practice.


    "All that? This will be hard. I barely hit 97 in thest one"


    Said Mack, scratching the back of his head, this training would be boring as hell.


    [What are you waiting for? Start! We only have one hundred days to prepare you.]


    "Ok, Ok,"


    Said Mack, getting into position to give a punch again.


    ~punch~


    The sound of Mack fist hitting the puppet came and the old man closed his eyes to meditate. Or maybe he was sleeping. No one would never know.


    Minutes turned into hours and the sound of the puppet being hit never stopped.


    The old man opened his eyes and looked outside the window by his side. Night had arrived already, and the lights of the city illuminated the streets.


    The old man looked to Mack, he was still practing, and saw that his chest was now naked without his battlesuit andpletely covered in sweat.


    ~punch~


    Mack hit the puppet again, and the number showed in the puppets'' eyes was now 754.


    ''I indeed chose the right guy to be my heir. Not only talented, but he loves what he does.''


    Thought the old man seeing that Mack was now in some kind of trance, not even seeing what number the puppet showed, only paying attention to the minute details that his own body produced, so he could improve and improve and improve.


    ~punch~


    Another hit at the puppet, and sweat flew from Mack''s body together with the punch, hitting the puppet at the same time.


    ''766, a little more and I will be able to teach him that technique.''


    Thought the old man


    ~punch~


    ''He is ready''

 Chapter 108 - 108. Dripping Blood

    The old man felt that Mack improved a lot already, but seeing he was still focused and absorbed in the training, he resolved to wait and see.


    ~punch~


    Mack gave another punch, and the eyes in the puppet showed 801 points of damage.


    Mack body was level five already, so he could easily get to the 500 points range if he used any kind of technique, but to reach 801 points, that required a lot of refinement.


    ''I don''t think this kid will improve much more now.''


    Thought Hack, because he knew the limits of a level five body,


    ~punch~


    Just as Hack expected, the eyes on the puppet now showed 800, instead of 801. Mack reached his limit.


    Hack stood up from the chair and took slow steps in direction of Mack, at each step, Mack gave another punch at the puppet.. But no progress was made anymore.


    A few steps from Mack, Hack grabbed the two swords on the ground, and threw to Mack,


    [Now do the same with the swords].


    Said Hack, at the same moment that Mack grabbed the swords.


    Mack gave a small nod, as if understanding what the old man wanted, and quickly got in the position for dual welding, with a reverse grip.


    Holding the two swords, Mack put his left foot slightly to the front, lowered his chest, and slightly inclined the two sword handles to the front, making the tips of the swords raise a bit behind him.


    [Now Start]


    Said the old man, as if to confirm to Mack that what he was doing was correct.


    Mack''s right foot moved to the front, but before the foot could touch the ground his right de was already hitting the puppet


    ~ssh~


    The recoil of the sword strike made the de hit Mack''s own right arm, and he stopped.


    [That''s why I never said to you to train with a target until now]


    Said the old man, pointing to the blood that fell on the ground.


    Mack knew the old man had his reasons for that and waited for him to say, while the blood dripped on the ground.


    [The major problem with reverse grip is not the weak attacks, nor is the shorter distance that you need to keep from your enemy, but is the recoil from the strikes]


    "And why only now?"


    [Because now you are ready to learn, now you can control your body properly, the best way is if you learn by yourself, but we don''t have this luxury. Time is the only thing that we don''t have right now]


    Said the old man, pointing to Mack swords as if asking for one. He wanted to show Mack how to do.


    But to the old man''s surprise, Mack never threw a sword to him.


    "Let me try first. I think I know where you want to go"


    Said Mack, entering in position of dual welding again.


    Mack closed his eyes. He knew the puppet would not move, and he knew exactly where the puppet was. He had hit the same spot thousands of times today already.


    He wanted to pay more attention to his own body. To the energy that was produced by it, and how his body moved.


    Mack moved his right foot to the front, but this time, he put the right foot slightly more to his left, as if walking over an invisible line, with his two feet one in front of the other, the foot touched the ground, and the sword hit the puppet at the same time.


    Energy got dissipated, but the sword still came to bite on his master arm, but before the sword could hit his arm, Mack let go of the handle and quickly turned his own hand grabbing the sword on normal grip, the recoil moved to his arm, and Mack twisted his body to the right using part of the recoil energy to make it twist faster.


    ~sh~


    His left sword hit the puppet, and Mack let go of the sword in his left but kept the hand touching it, at the same time, he lowered his elbow a bit and the sword tip passed rent to Mack neck, making aplete turn around Mack left hand, he grabbed the handle again, and the right sword came shing from Mack back in a full arc hitting the top of the head of the puppet.


    ~crack~


    And the left sword impaled the puppet''s left eye.


    Suddenly, Mack heard the sound of two ps. The old man was pping his hands.


    [Congrattions! On destroying the puppet! We only have three of them! What''s wrong with your head? Could not you hit the nose? Or the forehead? Dammit kid]


    "Sorry, I got too much absorbed in the feeling"


    [I can see, but the puppet can''t see no more, poor puppet, he is here to help you]


    Said the old man as ifmenting the death of a friend.


    Mack brows furrowed,


    [What you did was good, but was still full of ws everywhere, you need to use more the recoil energy, reverse grip is all about hit the enemy all the time, and you left a lot of space for you to die a thousand times in those 3 strikes]


    "Yes, I know, it was terrible, but was the first time I did something like this. Was this what you wanted to teach me?"


    Asked Mack to see if his conjecture was right. First, the old man taught to use those techniques. It was natural that he wanted him to apply them with swords.


    [Simr, but not exactly like this, as I said before, you need to develop your own style with reverse grip, lets see where this goes before...]


    Mack kept waiting for the old man to finish his words, but then...


    [What are you waiting for? Practice makes perfect! Go!]


    ''Geez, what''s wrong with this old man''s head?''


    Thought Mack while shaking his head, but already taking position for a new round of training with the single eyed puppet.


    Time passed, but neither Mack nor the old man seemed to care. They could pass days without sleep or eating and still be fine, let alone a single night.


    The old man looked outside the window and saw the sun peeking behind the mountains far away.


    [Now, try to do the same movements while you move around the puppet. Think of this as if you wanted to guide and encircle the enemy. No one likes an enemy that keeps moving around you, not giving them chance to make their own pace]


    Said Hack without moving his gaze from the sun on the horizon.


    Something was troubling Hack, and Mack could notice, even beenpletely focused on the training.


    Mack''s gaze quickly shifted to the old man while walking around the puppet before starting the new training exercise.


    ''One day had passed, only 99 to go''


    Thought Mack. He didn''t know how the test to enter the organization would be, but he could guess it would be bloody.


    And they had only 99 days to prepare.


    ~sh~


    Mack shed the puppet torso and rolled on the ground, giving another sh at the puppet leg while rolling.


    He was adapting all that he learned with Raz to this new style of fighting with the reverse grip. Some things just didn''t fit, but others fitted like a glove to this style.


    Mack stood up and a vertical sh hit the torso of the puppet, while Mack turned his body and a new strike was lunged at the sr plexus of the puppet.


    Mack, with his back to the puppet, one sword high in the sky and other hitting the puppet, thew himself to the front and while rolling on the ground thew his two swords at the puppet, one at the head and other at the sr plexus again.


    The swords hit the puppet at the same moment that Mack stood up, touching his two palms together.


    A red sh of light engulfed the entire training room and the domain runespell was activated.


    Barely half a second had passed and the two swords came back, flying to Mack''s hands.


    Mack jumped to the front, grabbed the swords, and shed both at the puppet''s neck at the same time.


    The noise of an egg shell cracking was heard from the puppet neck, and one secondter the puppet head fell to the ground.


    Mack put his two swords back at his waist bell and the domain runespell was turned off.


    "I hope they have a strong neck"


    Said Mack, turning his body to look at his ancestor. Maybe this old man could feel a bit more reassured seeing Mack moves using the domain runespell.


    "They do."


    Said the old man, using his own vocal cords after a while. The grave and old voice seemed to pass on even more of information than those two small words.


    [And now we have one less puppet. This is only the first day. If you destroy another one, I will make you pay]


    Said the old man, turning his head to look at Mack.


    Mack scratched the back of his own head and a small smile could be seen, at least he made the old mane back to normal again.

 Chapter 109 - 109. Cooking Serums

    After a few more hours of training, Mack took a bath and went to meet the herbologist. He wished to know how those serums worked in his body.


    It was only the second day of Mack in this city, but he already knew it the same way any resident, not because of some special memory, but because the city was indeed very small, and along with his passive scan, Mack could ''see'' everyone around him while he walked the dark and empty streets.


    Getting close to the herbologist store, Mack waited a few seconds for his scan toe back, and as he expected, the herbologist was alone.


    Mack knocked on the door, and a horsehead peeked at a side window.


    ''I never get used to those horsehead, this thing always freaks me out, geez''


    Thought Mack to himself, but his eyes were fixed on the herbologist.


    A few secondster the door opened, and Mack took a step inside, the door closed again, and the street became empty again.


    Inside the store, the herbologist kept looking at Mack and distress could be seen in the way his hands kept rubbing against each other behind his back..


    "You should havee yesterday. What happened?"


    Asked the horsehead.


    Mack looked at the horsehead''s eyes for three long seconds, but no answer came from his mouth.


    "Lets get started, here is the blood."


    Said Mack, extending his hand that held a sk with blood inside.


    The horsehead grabbed the sk with both hands as if was the most precious thing in the world and walked in the direction of stairs that lead to the upper floor.


    Mack followed along, and when entering the upper floor, a smallb could be seen by the side along with other daily living facilities, the horsehead walked to the smallb and put the sk over a desk.


    "You will wait or you prefer toe tomorrow?"


    Asked the herbologist.


    Mack again didn''t say anything, and kept looking in to the guys eyes, he hated to respond useless questions the more, of course he would wait. Who would be so dumb to just trust a stranger with that? Thought Mack, but just kept looking at the man without saying a word.


    "~OK~"


    Said the horseman, already grabbing some liquids by the side and heating them on something akin to a microwave machine from earth.


    "Because you didn''te yesterday, I already prepared all the basic stuff that could have been prepared without harming the form"


    Said the Horseman, mixing the blood and the already heated green oil in another sk.


    After mixing them well, Mack saw the horseman grabbing a single petal from the Fire Bird Flower and putting over a torch that had blue mes.


    The reddish yellow color of the petal faded and a single drop of a red substance fell inside another sk.


    The horsehead mixed that red substance with some white powder, and a pink paste was formed.


    "This is the process to remove the impurities of the petal oil, most herbologist just neglect this, but I''m a professional."


    Said the horsehead, as if proud of his honest and correct attitude.


    Mack then saw the man grabbing something akin to a pistol from Earth, but with a long beak in it, and inserting the beak inside the paste, and when the man pulled the trigger, smoke rose from the paste as if it was boiling, but Mack could also see small and thin electric currents passing over the paste.


    After a few seconds, the former pink paste was now a red powder. It seemed as if all humidity had left the paste and formed a powder with a red color and some way crystalized, just like sugar from Earth but red in color.


    "Ok, now is the most boring part, as we dont know the purity of the warlock blood. We need to make trial and error until we get the right distribution percentage of each ingredient"


    Said the horsehead, looking at the two sks in front of him.


    Then he put a ss pane in front of him, smeared a blue powder over it and, using two pipettes one each hand, released a drop of each of the liquids over a corner of the ss.


    The horseman looked at the result, and, seeming not satisfied, did again.


    Time passed, and the horseman kept doing the same for several minutes, until he had to clean the ss pane because it was already full of trials and errors and he had no more space for a new one.


    "This blood you got seems to be of a very, very low quality. I don''t even remember doing so many trials before."


    Hearing what the horsehead said, Mack''s brows furrowed, but he didn''t say a thing. It was his blood, but one thing made Mack wondering....


    ''What if the blood ''purity'' influence how I manipte essence?''


    Mack''s thoughts ran wild for a few seconds, thinking about his ancestor and how many generations had gone by and how to ''purify'' his own blood.... but he had no clue about what to do.


    "Finally!"


    Said the horsehead, looking at one trial he just made.


    Mack looked at the drops mixing together and forming a new kind of liquid, more viscous, and more reddish in color, even with the blue powder below, as if the new mixed liquid could not be affected by the powder below.


    The horseman grabbed on sk by the side and used the same percentage distribution of the two liquids, mixing them at the same time.


    The two liquids mixed and, just like the trial, it be viscous and more red, even whenparing to Mack''s own blood.


    "Its ready?"


    Asked Mack, this single process of trial and error had taken a lot of time already. He feared the process would be even more time-consuming.


    "Just one more step, and this is where the experience shows itself."


    Said the horsehead, raising his chin a bit, while grabbing a metal box by the side and putting the sk inside.


    Mack quickly looked at the box and it had one side open, with all the other sides fully engraved with rune circuits in it.


    The horseman grabbed four tiny essence crystals from his pocket and put inside four small holes in the box.


    The rune circuits activated, and an exquisite glow could be seen inside the box, moving everywhere inside the box, but not leaving it.


    "This is a small essence furnace, as some people call it, you need to let it ''boil'' on essence for a while, the time depends on the ratios and purity and also the form, as those can be different from person to person."


    And just as the horseman said, the liquid inside the sk started to boil, and a reddish ck smoke could be seen rising from it.


    After a few minutes, the man turned off the furnace and grabbed the sk. Mack expected it to be hot, but to his surprise, the horseman grabbed with his own bare hands and put inside some kind of modern syringes made of metal.


    "Done, three serums, if the quality was not so bad we could have made more of them."


    Said the horseman, giving two serums to Mack and holding one for himself.


    "Are they very potent? How do I know they worked?"


    Asked Mack, not sure how the effect would be.


    "It depends. As you can see, the process itself is very barbaric because we don''t have the right equipment, only amateur ones. And the effect depends on the quality of the blood and the affinity of the user too. If the user already has a high affinity, more serums are needed. If lower, less serums, if none, one is enough to make a big difference already. Are you going to use them?"


    Asked the horseman, pointing to the serums on Mack''s right hand.


    "Yes, why?"


    Said Mack, still thinking if he should kill the guy or not.


    The process was not that hard, and if he killed him, he could have the equipment, too. But while thinking of this, Mack looked outside the window, and sun was almost to rise again. The process seemed simple, but took a lot of time, and time was the only thing that Mack didn''t have to spare.


    Unknown to the horseman, his life or death was decided just now.


    "Do you remember those flowers you took the other day? Well, if are going to use the serums yourself, remember to make a tea of those flowers and drink it, they will clean your body of any residual impurities of the serum, or in the long time, your body will create what we call it a ''immunity'' to the serum because of so many impurities."


    Mack looked at the horseman again, even knowing that Mack was a stranger, and knowing that Mack could easily kill him for just one serum, he still gave advice to Mack.


    ''I guess some people are just born good.''


    Thought Mack, because he will never be able to rte with people like that.

 Chapter 110 - 110. Loose Ends

    Back to his room in the hotel,ying on the bed, Mack fidgeted with the two serums in his right hand while the left arm stood behind his head.


    By his side, the naked body of a girl, the same from two days ago.


    The girl slept so cute that Mack could not muster mental strength enough to wake her, so he just let her sleep. She had worked hard today. It was a deserving sleep..


    Mack raised himself from the bed, put on his clothes, and walked outside the room.


    A few minutester, he was on the training floor again.


    The training floor had all kinds of things for people to bepletely focused on training and one of those was a small kitchen, where people could prepare a quick meal before training or take water or prepare any special kind of beverage used during trainings.


    Mack took a few flowers out of his backpack and started preparing a tea with them.


    A few minutester, the tea was ready and Mack took the serums again and pressed them over his own left arm. Mack could feel very small needles touching his skin and half a secondter, there was no more liquid inside them.


    Mack''s body suddenly became hotter, and his skin started to be more reddish, as if he was in some kind of steam room.


    After a two minutes, everything cames back to normal as if never happened and Mack started to drink the tea that now was in perfect temperature to drink.


    "bitter"


    Said Mack aloud before taking a sip of tea. He was not a big fan of tea, and the ones he liked more were the sweet ones. His father used to drink a lot of tea, but this taste, Mack didn''t inherit.


    After drinking the first cup of tea Mack could feel something inside his body moving, it was not his bowels, more like something moving to his pores, the sensation was hard to catch because almost felt like it was not there, but Mack was sure, something was moving inside his body and going to his pores.


    "Ok, let''s take another cup of tea and see what happens"


    Said Mack, preparing another one, this time with five petals of the flower.


    A few minutester, the same feeling came again, but more strong now.


    ''Maybe doing some exercises will help.''


    Thought Mack, already moving in the puppet''s direction to train more.


    In front of the puppet, Mack punched him, and then, moved to the side and gave another punch, took a step to the side and gave a round kick.


    Today, Mack thought, would be good to train his punches and kicks while moving and using the techniques the old man passed to him.


    Mack had his swords, but he could not always depend on them. It was better to be prepared for everything.


    A few hourster, the old man came, and seeing Mack punching and kicking the puppet like an amateur, could not avoid but shake his head.


    But the old man also saw that some ck liquid was all over the floor around the puppet.


    [I see that those flowers are working on you. How many petals did you consume?]


    Hearing the old man''s voice in his head, Mack stopped punching the puppet and turned around.


    "Until now, 12 petals."


    [Good, from now on, consume 20 petals each hour, until your body no more produces this ck liquid]


    "hmm"


    Said Mack, giving a small nod and turning back to keep punching the puppet.


    He knew this ck liquid was the impurities that the herbologist talked about. It was not the first time that ck stuff came out of his body, too. Even not knowing what those impurities were or how they formed, Mack knew that was better to have less, because every time those things left his body, he felt lighter, as if an invisible boulder was lifted from his shoulder.


    Seeing Mack was back to training, the old man gave tips again on what he should improve.


    And just like this, minutes turned to hours, and hours into days, while Mack followed the same routine every day.


    During daytime he would train and by night he would take the serums that the herbologist made on the previous day and leave blood for him to make new ones.


    The old man made every arrangement possible to ensure that Mack would be fully focused on training for those hundred days, and as he expected, nothing major happened in the city or in the that could cause trouble for them.


    [Rest well today, tomorrow we are leaving this, and don''t forget to deal with the pending issues]


    Said Hack, using the mind link.


    "Its already been a hundred days? Damm I feel like I still can improve a lot."


    Said Mack, giving onest sword strike at the puppet neck and turning around.


    "Where are we going?"


    Zamith, it''s a with no intelligent species, your test will be there]


    Said Hack, already vanishing from the spot as usual.


    Hearing that, Mack put his two swords back to his belt and entered the elevator. He pressed a button, and the doors closed, and at the same moment the puppet head slipped from his neck and felt to the floor.


    But no one was there to see it.


    The doors of the elevator opened and Mack left, but what was in front of him was not his room, but the lobby.


    Mack walked outside and activated his cape, bing fully invisible.


    Walking a few meters, Mack appeared at the ce he had been a lot forst days.


    ~knock knock~


    "Coming"


    Said the already familiar herbologist voiceing from inside.


    "I was not expecting you today. Thest batch is not ready yet."


    Said the herbologist opening the door, but when opening, he saw no one there, not even the guy he expected to see.


    "Weird.... Was this a prank by the kids?"


    Said the man, walking outside to see if someone was running away from the ce.


    Seeing no one, he walked inside again and closed the door but when turning around to go hisb again; he saw a very familiar face.


    "Mack?"


    Asked the herbologist, not sure what was happening.


    "You knew how this is ''deal'' was going to end from the start, didn''t you? If so, why did you keep doing the serums for me?"


    Asked Mack, already removing the hood from his head and showing his red eyes.


    "So you are going to kill me in the end, no matter what....."


    Mack kept looking at him without moving. He just wished to know why the man didn''t left the city days ago or just rated Mack or even plotted against him, he was not dumb enough to not see thising, and yet, here they are.


    ".....Do you think you are the only one running from mages? Why do you think that someone capable of doing serums is here? In this small town on a forgot?"


    Said the herbologist, clicking by the side of his neck.


    To Mack''s surprise, he saw the man''s face changing from a horse to the face of a man in his forties.


    ''Did you knew about this old man?''


    Asked Mack to the old man through his thoughts.


    [Yes. I checked on him, and he was indeed a wanted man by the mage alliance. Those masks can''t trick me. His true name is Arthonesis]


    "And why did you think I''m running from the mages?"


    Asked Mack, still not moving an inch from the ce.


    "Someone capable of bringing so much warlock blood, or he robbed a mage family, or... he is a warlock himself."


    Said the herbologist called Arthonesis.


    "I see, so you figured this out in the end..... One more reason to kill you....."


    Said Mack, already touching his two swords.


    "Look inside the box by your side...."


    Said Arthonesis, pointing to a box.


    Mack took one of his swords, and open the lid of the box using the tip of the sword, and with the corner of his eyes, saw what was inside.


    Almost fifty fire serums.


    "So you kept them.... I was already expecting it."


    Said Mack, closing the lid of the box.


    "I will do as much serums as you can drink in your life, and all that''s mine is yours for take, even my life if you want. I just want you to take revenge in my ce, the mages took all I had and I cant do anything about this... but you..... you can make that happen."


    ''What do you think, old man? You checked on him. Is he worth the trust?''


    [That is for you to decide, but remember, a man can''t only leave bodies behind, but that is for you to decide. This is your life, not mine]


    Mack kept looking at the man in front of him, while he pondered what he should do.


    "Indeed, a life is easy to take, but an ally is hard to make."

 Chapter 111 - 111. The Bloody Trial Begins

    In the next day, at the capital of Centaur Three.


    Two guards kept watching people in a queue using the teleportation array. It was the most tedious job of a guard but also the most safe, because no one would cause a ruckus there and risk damaging the array.


    "Next"


    Shouted one guard, seeing the people used the array and left the.


    Centaur Three didn''t have a two-way teleportation door,like the majority ofs, so the only way to leave the was using a teleportation array and inputting the correct coordinates for the and ce they wanted to go.


    Normal people could not easily remember coordinates, nor they knew how teleportation arrays worked. Because of that, by the side of the array, they had to put a board with the mostmon coordinates.


    If people didn''t know how to input the coordinates, then a guard would do it for the people and charge an extra fee..


    "Next"


    Shouted the guard again, and seeing that an old man and a guy in ck clothes passed by him, he raised his hand for the rest of the queue to wait.


    The other guard, a few steps behind, seeing people approaching, asked in a low voice,


    "50 crystals for each one, and an additional fee of 20 crystals if you need me to activate the array"


    "No need"


    Said the old man, using amon-tongue dialect, already extending his hand and giving a hundred crystals.


    The guard grabbed the money and waited by the side. His job was done. But because he had to wait for them to leave, he kept looking at the coordinates the old man was inputting. He had to make a report of unusual coordinates but in the end people only usedmon ces and it had be a habit of him watch peoples input their own coordinates and try to calcte the destination using before people activated. A thing he did to pass the time.


    Seeing the old man imputing the coordinates, he started to try to figure the destination as usual.


    ''ZrCy?....''


    But when he saw two runic letters in the coordinate, his eyes grew, and he looked up. The dark smile on the old man''s face was anything but a reassuring one.


    ''Shit..... Shit.... Shit...''


    The ce was outside the borders of the mage alliance.


    "RUN!!!!!!"


    Screamed the guard, using all the air in his lungs to alert the people behind, because he knew what happened when someone input those kinds of coordinates.


    They were fugitives, or criminals, wanted by the mage association.


    And if they really wanted to escape, they could not leave the coordinates behind.


    And just as the guard expected, the old man threw a cylindrical sphere pulsing with a bluish glow. The sphere didn''t even have the time to touch the ground and those two guys vanished using the teleportation matrix.


    The guard thew himself to the ground, and at the same time, the sphere touched the floor.


    A bright bluish light engulfed the entire ce, and a secondter, the explosion came.


    ~boom~


    The entire building where the transportation array stood vanished from earth in a single second.


    Neither the guards nor anyone close to the building expected such a day, because this day would mark the with a permanent scar on its history.


    A day where the mage alliance would send people to rule the, instead of letting locals rule.


    They could not allow this kind of thing happening again inside of the mage alliance territories.


    People normally only destroyed the matrix and used another one when trying to go outside from mage alliance borders. This allowed them to escape and to not leave traces behind.


    For the mage alliance, the ones who had the money to buy a bomb like that actually didn''t need to use public arrays. They could easily create their own hidden transportation arrays.


    Using something like that on a ruled by the mage alliance was akin to pping them in the face, and the mage alliance could do nothing about, because not a single clue was left behind.


    Everyone in the ce died, with not even ashes remaining.


    A few secondster, at Zamith, outside the mage alliance border, a light glow shed and two people appeared. It was Mack, and the old man.


    Mack took a step forward, and could feel the gravitational force on the was a few times stronger than the one he was used to.


    Looking around, he could see nothing but trees, it seemed they had teleported to a jungle.


    A few seconds, mack noticed a dot moving to their direction in the sky.


    The dot grew bigger and bigger until Mack could see it was some kind of machine.


    The machine stopped in the air a few meters from them andnded on the ground, while doing so, destroyed all the vegetation around.


    [Lets Go, it''s our ride to the trial ce]


    Mack noticed the machine looked like a truck, but instead of wheels had a few propellers like the ones in nes.


    Coming close to the ''truck'' a door at its back opened and a few people could be seen inside, probably people who would participate in the trial. That''s what Mack thought, at least.


    "Come inside. We arete already."


    Shouted a voice from the inside. And just as the voice asked, Mack and the old man entered the ''truck'' and took a seat for each one.


    Barely they had the time to seat and thing was already moving extremely fast, risking the sky.


    Mack looked at the people inside, but none caught his curiosity. All of them seemed to be ''humans'' or humanoids at least, and all had different clothes or hair. Mack could not pinpoint a single thing inmon between them.


    [There is no use trying to figure them out, most of them are just trying their luck here.]


    ''So people volunteer for this?''


    [Not exactly, but the organisation has his ways of recruiting from normal people too. After all, that''s how it was first born.]


    ''I see. Well, they don''t seem stronger at all, but I guess in their eyes, I''m not either''


    [They are just a small fraction of people who will participate in the trial. It''s expected that each trial has at least a thousand people taking part. That is a rule. It can''t be lower than one thousand.]


    Barely the old man finished saying his words, and the truck stopped. They havended again.


    The doors opened and people started leaving the truck, and Mack could see that outside there were already hundreds of people waiting.


    Mack left the truck but noticed that the old man stayed along with two other people.


    [This is where we depart, make sure to stay alive]


    Said the old man, using his mind link.


    Mack gave a small nod and turned his head gazing at the front.


    Hundreds of people were waiting with no clue of what was happening, but Mack noticed that some people seemed to know each other as they kept small groups of two or three, but they were few.


    Most people just stood there waiting for something, and once the truck left Mack noticed that behind him, there was a sea, but the sand below his foots were not like on earth, but more like gravel.


    ''And the odd things start to appear. finally.''


    Thought Mack, looking up at the sky.


    Seeing that a man was flying with nothing but his body in the sky.


    "ATTENTION EVERYONE!"


    Screamed the man in the sky, and seeing everyone paid attention, he proceeded.


    "The rules of this trial are simple. You are in an ind, and water is a safe ce for you. If you want to give up the trial, just go to the water."


    Then, the man waved his hand, and several dots of light shed in every participant, and Mack noticed that a small pendant appeared around his neck.


    "This token represents you. If you want to pass the trial, you need to keep it to the end. The more tokens you get, the more high ranked in the end you will be. We will choose the top 50 more ranked."


    Amotion started and the voice of people talking could be heard everywhere.


    "I did not finish yet. You have 30 minutes to decide. The ones who want to take part move to the trees and enter the ind and the ones who don''t want just wait at this beach."


    The man took a slight pause and continued,


    "The more important thing to note is, once you leave this beach, everything is allowed. I repeat...."


    Said the man, taking another pause.


    "EVERYTHING"


    Screamed the man again to make sure everyone got the message.


    "Now! Make your choice, to stay here and leave this recruitment trial, or to proceed. You have 30 minutes to decide. Once the time is up, everyone here is automatically disqualified."

 Chapter 112 - 112. One Head At Time

    Once the man finished saying his words, he stood in the air unmoving and gazing down at everyone.


    Mack looked around and saw that the beach was very small, and had two rock cliffs that cut the beach from the rest of the ind by the sides, typical of a ''desert beach'' if was not for the gravel instead of sand.


    The only way to get out of the beach was entering the forest in front of them.


    Gazing with the corner of his eyes, Mack saw two girls talking with each other as if discussing if they should risk continuing, while one girl seemed just concerned the other one was almost panicking, Mack could understand why, in a ce where no rules exist, some man would just let go their lustful desires.


    ''Those two girls are doomed if they enter.''


    Thought Mack, looking at one of the girls that had a body that was a sculpture. Some guys could even die to just have a night with her. Let alone in a ce like this.


    ''Time to move''


    Thought Mack, shaking the useless thoughts and focusing on the trial.


    Mack had nothing to decide. He already decided to take this trial days ago. A wless'' zone? For him, this was perfect.


    Mack hated to obey rules.


    For him, the only rule that mattered was his will.


    Mack walked a few steps and went to the trees. He quickly gazed behind and saw that some people wereing behind him.


    A group of people walking together.


    ''The first and thest are always the ones that got fucked in this kind of thing. But I''m not anyone.''


    Thought Mack, activating his cape and vanishing behind a tree.


    A few steps behind him, a tall man with blond hair seemed confused and said,


    "That guy just vanished! Quickly go and check behind that tree, but stay alert, he may have more tricks."


    Hearing what the blond man said, another two guys went forward to the ce that Mack disappeared.


    "There is nothing here. Maybe he went up the tree?"


    Said one of the guys, looking up to see if Mack was on the tree.


    "Geez, how could he vanish like that? This is a recruitment, no one above level 10 is allowed"


    Said the blond man, looking behind and looking at the beach where theye from. More people were already leaving the area and they should move to avoid a disadvantageous fight.


    "Lets-" But before he could finish hisst words, a de shed his neck, and before he could even fall a hand grabbed the pendant at his neck.


    The two guys at front, seeing his ''friend'' dying just like that, took out their weapons, but before they could do anything, the guy vanished again.


    They kept gazing around to see any movement, but they saw nothing, and kept waiting. They knew if they left or run they were dead.


    At same moment, another group of peopleing from the beach and following the same route saw those two guys with sword in hand and looking at them. They thought those guys killed the one on the front and were waiting for them.


    Before they could even realize what was truly happening, another guy in ck appeared in the middle of the two guys, one sword in each hand, already slicing their necks, and by the moment the heads fell, the guy in ck vanished again.


    "Enter in formation! We have an assassin with cloaking skills, maybe an ability user!"


    Screamed the leader of the group of five people, already grabbing his staff. He was a mage.


    Seeing a mage on this trial, Mack thought how ignorant those guys were about the true intentions of the organization they were trying to enter.


    ''But a mage is a mage, and only a dead mage is a good mage.''


    Thought Mack, still with his cape active and walking in the group direction.


    Hearing their leadermand, the other four people surrounded him in a circle formation. They were all ability users, and the leader was the only mage they had.


    The strongest, yet, the weakest.


    Once entering in formation, they kept waiting, but more people wereing from the beach, and they seemed to not clearly understand what was happening. Because once those peopleing saw a group waiting in formation, they didn''t advance and kept waiting.


    No one would want a fight at the first moment they left the beach. It would be a great disadvantage for themter on, because everyone would know what they were capable of.


    But Mack could not care less about this, and still with cape active, started whistling his father''s song. All mages, innocent or not, would fear this song, or die hearing it.


    The mage noticed the whistling and thought was their chance, because they could somehow pinpoint Mack''s position.


    The mage pointed his staff to the front, but before he could even activate his spell, Mack appeared again.


    To be able to cast, he had to have a clear visual, and Mack was waiting for that same clear visual.


    Mack threw a dagger, and a fireball came out of the mage staff, both at the same moment.


    The dagger hit the mage on his forehead.


    The others guys on the group saw the fireball hit Mack and thought that at least was worth losing the mage to kill an assassin.


    The mage body fell to the ground, but the whistling didn''t stop.


    mes consumed the area of ten meters in front of them and inside those mes, the four guys could see a dark shadow walking in their direction.


    Essence started to swirl around the area so much that even the people from the beach could clearly see a small whirlwind forming around those four guys.


    With the fireball explosion, everyone at the beach looked at the scene. Trees were burning and an entire area got wiped out cleanly.


    And everyone could see a man walking inside those mes, as clear as the sky above them.


    And the whistling never stopped.

 Chapter 113 - 113. Leave Your Head Behind

    Seeing the man in ck still alive and walking amidst the mes, and having lost a mage already, the four guys panicked, and panic in a battle could only result in death.


    As their thoughts went wild, thinking about what to do, Mack dashed to the front, bringing with him a gust of me behind him.


    The guy at the front shed his sword vertically, trying to stop Mack''s momentum, but for his surprise, Mack still running took arge step to the left using his right leg,pletely evading his strike, when he was about to swing his sword to the left, Mack right sword sliced his chin in two.


    Mack didn''t stop his advance at any moment and barely his right sword shed the guy at the front. He twisted his body and took a step with his left foot, showing his back to the guy behind the first man.


    The man thought was his opportunity, but the moment he raised his sword to strike, blood spurted from his mouth.


    He suddenly felt wet all over his body and looking below, he saw Mack''s left sword halfway lunged on his own chest, and blood gushing out of it.


    Mack removed his left sword, and giving a strong kick to the ground to stop the momentum of his dash, transferred all the ''force'' to his arms by spinning his body once more and opening his arms to both sides.


    The two remaining guys didn''t even had the time to react as their heads fell to the ground.


    Still with open arms to the sides, and a lowered head covered by his hood, Mack took his time as the bodies of all the four guys fell to the ground at the same time.


    The disturbing noise of fire burning behind Mack mixed with the four bodies falling to the ground, made the scene even more eerie for the spectators at the beach.


    Mack quickly twisted his pulses, and the swords got wiped of all the still dripping blood from the deads.


    He raised his halfway lowered body and put the swords on his belt.


    While doing it, all the beach was silent.


    Everyone at the beach just stood there watching Mack killing all those guys in front of them.


    Mack raised his head and his red eyes could now be seen by everyone at the beach.


    For them, things were only turning for worst, because Mack''s next words would be a knife at the heart of many.


    "My time is precious, so let''s just end this bullshit of recruitment...."


    "From now on, no one may step foot inside this jungle. If you want toe inside, leave your head behind, otherwise just stay still for half an hour."


    Said Mack in a half robotic voice, but everyone on the beach could hear clearly as a thunder.


    Barely the trial had started and almost a dozen of people already died. For the ones who doubted their own skills even a little, this was the nail in their hopes of joining this organization, and in this kind of world, everyone needed someone to back them up.


    Hearing what Mack said, a slim guy at the beach seemed to not be able to contain himself and shouted, "Bullshit! Let''s we all just kill that guy and take his pendants, then we can move with the trial! I don''t even want his pendants, you guys can take it!"


    Once the man said that, amotion started at the beach and people seemed to be discussing with each other while others just raged their indignation and frustration, shouting nonsense one after the other.


    Mack could not care less about what they thought and vanished in the spot. He had said what he wanted. If they wanted toe, so be it.


    A guy noticed Mack vanishing and screamed, "He has a cloaking item or skill, I just saw him disappear."


    "I saw it too! It''s just a shameless guy that stab behind people''s back!"


    Screamed a girl, pointing his finger to where Mack stood before disappearing.


    Once Mack disappeared, groups of people started to form, not only because of Mack, but because they knew they would need to use numbers to take advantage in this trial.


    For them, Mack was just trying to scare the weak, but if fewer people entered andrger groups formed, it would be hard to take full advantage of groups, most likely somerge groups would need to fight instead of ambushing lone people or attacking smaller groups.


    But they truly misunderstood Mack''s intention. They didn''t know, but this man was not one to talk too much. Let alone give warnings.


    With the pendants in hand, Mack moved to arge tree and went up to observe better the people at the beach, a few guys were already entering but Mack stood still. It was a small group of ten people that probably came together to the trial.


    By the side of that group, another one with twenty people were entering the forest, too. That group Mack could clearly see that was just formed because of theck of ''formation'' when moving.


    Barely five minutes passed, and it was time for another show.


    Mack deactivated his cape, pointed his right palm to the group, and pressed a rune in his right arm.


    ''So many serums, let''s see if was worth it''


    Thought Mack, activating his variation of a fireball runespell


    But different from a fireball runespell, this runespell used the ''rule'' rune along with fire runes, and the effect was totally different.


    Mack activated the runespell, but no ball of me came from Mack''s palm. Not even a slight wind, but dozens of meters below where Mack was, the screams of the twenty people''s group could be heard.


    "Hahahahahah"


    Hell had descended upon earth, and the devil justughed happily.


    "Definitely worth it"


    Said Mack to himself, seeing not even a speck of dust was left uncharred. The entire ce that those twenty people were had be a ck spot in the green forest.


    It was instantaneousbustion. Once the fire burned for a second, there was not a thing anymore to consume and it ended. It was different from a fireball, where the fire would spread once hitting the ce. This was a runespell using the rule rune, and what Mack did was just mark a ce for it to happen.


    A charred area of fifty meters and dozens of burned corpses could be seen.


    The group of ten people close to the area halted their steps and was unsure if to continue or if to go back to the beach.


    "I GAVE YOU A CHOICE! STAY OR DIE!"


    Screamed Mack, using all the air in his lungs, and all the beach fell silent again.


    This time, they were not thinking that Mack was bluffing anymore.

 Chapter 114 - 114. Juggernaut Child In A Fragile Land

    With the death of everyone in that group, the people at the beach became restless, they expected the trial to join this organization to be a hard one, but this already went to another level, this was not hard anymore, it was a pointless suicide.


    Mack''s voice echoed in the beach, and what followed was the sound of the waves crashing against the shore, no one spoke, and for the first time, the man monitoring the trial from the sky changed his gaze and looked to where Mack was, he looked at Mack with surprise, and his face could not hide his own emotions. It was his third time overseeing a trial of new recruits, and never he saw someone this strong joining.


    Most of the trials were decided in thest hours, when people finally realized that they would had to kill a lot to be able to reach the selection criteria, bribery or exchanges could only make someone gain few tokens, after all, most of people really wanted to join this organization, they were all vagrants with no one to have their backs. Only a few of them had they own groups, and those usually were the ones who would sell their tokens if they decided to leave the trial.


    High in the sky, the overseer of the trial refocused his gaze on the people at the beach, his thoughts again a mystery, and no one noticed the subtle change, because the rest of the people were focused in this freak in front of them, Mack.


    Mack truly didn''t wish for a pointless battle to happen, in his view, killing a dozen to avoid hundreds of deaths was the best oue. He didn''t care for a single of their souls, but he still had a conscious.


    Mack was about to talk again and ''warn'' people to stay at the beach when something hit him in the shoulder, the impact was so strong that he fell to the ground and rolled for a few meters.


    Not a secondter, light came to everyone''s eyes and a pping akin to a god calling his servants, echoed in the silent beach.


    It was only then, that everyone realized what happened, someone hit that guy in ck with a ''thunder'' spell.


    Smoke rose from Mack''s body, and the smell of charred meat filled the area.


    A few meters from where Mack was, amidst the group of ten people, someone suddenlyughed and said "I guess he thought he was some kind of god, well, gods don''t became barbecue so easily".


    The entire beach looked at the man who spoke, and they could clearly see he was a ability user, because the man had two small white horns usually hard to see amidst his white hair, but now, they looked like two electrified nails struck at his head. The overseer changed his gaze to Mack body again and gave it a pondering look, ''Was I wrong?''.


    But before he could retract his gaze, he heard the ''charred body'' talking again "Fuck! that hurt you know?" and another thunder struck the already charred body as soon as the words came out.


    The smell of roosted pig increased sevenfold and the man with white horns raised his voice and ordered to his own group, "Everyone, attack together!"


    His order fell in the ears of hisrades but what he was aiming was to mobilize the beach to ''group up'' against the man in ck clothes, and just as he said that, a few of the people at the beach got the ''hint'' and moved out to attack the man in ck.


    The overseer of the trial heard the shout and figured what was happing in a blink of an eye, but his gaze never left Mack''s charred body, stillying on the ground, unmoving, now even more charred than before.


    Another thunder struck Mack''s body again, and not even a secondter several fireballs and another shy ability''s hit the ce at the same time, raising a column of smoke, dust and fire for meters.


    Seeing the devastated area everyone stopped attacking with ranged spells or ability''s and waited for the smoke to disperse, they could not aim anymore, the ce had be a crater already.


    A few seconds passed, and as everyone already thought that not even a speckle would remain of the man in ck, more and more moved out of the beach and as if feeling that they ''had worked together'' some started to talk with each other, this was how human mind worked, even knowing deep in their skull that they would had to kill each other in a few hours, they still behaved as expected of a social being.


    One of the few girls approached the guy with white horns and in a attempt to socialize asked "So, you can manipte lightning or your ability only allows you to unleash thunders?"


    The guy with white horns disabled his ability and sensing the atmosphere rxed and said, "For now, only thunders, but once I fulfill a few criteria''s my ability will evolve, you are the girl that used fireballs, just now?"


    The girl understanding that the man didn''t wish to reveal more of his ability gave a small nodding and spoke, "Yes, I''m Loris, a vagrant mage, I was raised in Kaleput".


    ''Kaleput'' Once the man with white horns heard that word he looked sideways to hispanions but didn''t said anything, he put a smile in his face, and refocused his gaze in the girl, but now, with a little more respect for her, "Nice to meet you, Im..."


    But before he could said his name, Loris saw a dagger lunged at the man neck, and the man stumbling to the side and falling to the ground. All happened in a blink of an eye, but it fell as an eternity to Loris, because that happened right in front of her eyes, less than a meter of her.


    In one second the man was smiling, and in the other he was craving for his life as blood gushed from his neck and mouth, too soon, too fast, her mind went nk as she just kept there seeing the man struggling to breath while holding his own neck.


    Seeing what happened to the guy with white horns, a few of hispanions rushed to him to help him, a others kept looking around as if to search for the one who did it.


    In their minds, Mack was as dead as someone could be, that, until they heard his voiceing from the crater made by the spells.


    "You now..... cough... cough... The first thunder really hurt, the second.... made me pissed off... but the third....."


    Everyone''s gaze turned to the still bellowing ashes and mes as they heard the words, and by now, almost everyone had left the beach, less than a dozen still were there, apprehensive and doubtful about the entire situation.


    Loris gaze too turned to the area as she heard the words, and her gaze was one of a shock, she would never imagine that THAT guy was still alive, ''How.... how...'' she thought as she saw a blury figure stepping out of the smoke and saying....


    "... the third turned me on!"


    Said Mack, in tattered clothes and with red wisps of blood flowing around him as if they were vengeful souls of former enemies.

 Chapter 115 - 115. Blood On My Name

    Loris saw the the man in ck leaving the dark smog with thousand wisps like souls surrounding him, and around him a vortex sucked all the air as if to show the size of his rage, as if death itself had descended and taken the man body to avenge his foes.


    ''There is a reckoninging'', and with that thought Loris prepared herself to a fight to the death and as if it was a automatic reaction, her two hands started forming one fireball in each one.


    The scorching heat of her fireballs being created hit everyone around her and as if someone had throw a bucket of cold water, everyone came back to reality and prepared to fight.


    The young man with white horns body nowid unmoving, with lifeless and open eyes, and a pool of blood around, but no one seemed to care about that anymore.


    Seeing everyone tensed up and preparing to attack him, Mack could only think of his initial intention....


    ''It seems it was all a waste of energy, Unfortunately... Today, I will have a lot of blood on my name'', Mack was not the type of guy to care a lot, but thinking about his father ''hero'' and ''kind'' personality, he suddenly looked up, and said in his head, ''Can you see I''m sorry?'' and with that he lowered his gaze, and disappeared from the spot he once was, and not a secondter, dozens of spells hit the ce he was, raising another column of fire and smoke.


    Loris, by the corner of her eye, could see a blurry shadow moving extremely fast and screamed "He is there" and pointed her finger to the her right, where a group of five people stood beside each other.


    As soon as her scream reached everyone ears, it was already toote, the only thing everyone saw was five headless bodies still standing on their own feet''s.


    Mack had activated his variation of a ''forcefield'' spell, it was the most demanding runespell he had created in terms of physical strength and to use it he had to have a strong will and endure enormous pain every time.


    Blood flowed around him making him more pale at each second, but at each second his will over everything became more strong. Like a virus infecting everything, his thoughts became reality, and reality was his to bend as he wished.


    It was a constant struggle to resist the urge to stop the runespell, but Mack became faster, stronger, and nothing seemed to oppose his will, the air was his wings, the gravity seemed to not exist, and the earth bended at each step, making way for his ruler.


    That was the feeling to have everything at your will.


    But the pain, was sevenfold higher, his body, pale with the loss of blood, and his head light as if he was on the verge of fainting all the time.


    Blurry figures passed around his eyes and everything became reflexes and automatic responses, each strike of his sword, each step, was all automatic, he stopped thinking and let his body do what he was trained for.... Kill.


    Faint screams echoed at his ears and blurry red shadows appeared, heads rolled and spell were broken.


    But Mack seemed absorbed in his own world, as if all he heard or see was just the background noise of a drunk man.


    ''Drunk'' he suddenly thought.... as ifing to a realization.


    Loris, suddenly saw that ''devil'' stop in his tracks as if something had hit him hard, his face even covered by the mask showed the evident pain, red bloody wisps flowing in and out of his body and the swords now covered in fresh bright red blood rested in his hands.


    But the man wasughing..


    "HaHaHaHa Drunk! HaHaHa"


    Dozens of heads had fell by now, the red stains in his clothes proof of his deed.


    But he wasughing out loud. ''Is.... Is... he enjoying this?'' thought Loris, as if she finally realized what she was against to.


    "M.. M.. onster!" she cursed under her breath and threw another fireball, her eyes fixed on her target, now showed rage and indignation.


    Her fireball flew straight to Mack and let a shrill cry behind as it moved as if tearing the air around, as if the rage in Loris eyes was the fuel that fed the fireball.


    But to her surprise, Mack put his swords pointing to his back, slightly inclined his body and jumped head first against the fireball.


    As if understanding what was happening she unconsciously screamed "Fuck!" and jumped to the side rolling on the ground, but still, a sharp de tore her left hand apart leaving three fingers on the ground.


    "ArghHhH!!!" She screamed in pain as her nerves were torn apart, but she was alive, terror and fear now reced the disgust in her eyes as she dragged herself on the grass and rocky ground.


    A bloody trail was left behind as only now she realized that her leg too was severed.


    But the man seemed to not care anymore about her and was no where to be seen, as more bloody battles unfold on her ears and sound of spells and screams echoed.


    Seeing the man changed target, she put herself together, and formed something akin to a fireball but instead of throwing it she moved close to her mangled hand and using the heat cauterized the wound.


    "Ahhhhhhhrghhhh" She gritted her teeth but the pain was still too much, than, she looked at her leg, she could not believe, was she doomed to die here? today? in a trial to join a organization?


    ''What a failure I am, endure Lorin, endure!''


    She gritted her teeth again and moved the fireball to her leg wound, the cut was so clean that she could see the bones, and even the nerves, when the fireball touched the leg, the familiar smell of roasted meat came to her nose, and that was thest thing she would remember, because she fainted not a secondter.

 Chapter 116 - 116. Know Yourself

    Mack felt as if drunk while fighting, but for the first time he understood something, Essence flowed like water, like a virus it infected everything, it resonated with the will of things, and the stronger a emotion the stronger the will, if he wished to use it better he had to let himself loose.


    All thate to him because a single word .... Drunk... Because people often got stronger while drunk Mack''s mind started to race to conclusions as thoughts shed to his mind.


    He always thought that the gates at the tower had the aim to make his will stronger by shutting down his own emotions, by not letting them get over his real thoughts, but he was wrong, now he finally realized that they true goals was to make him grasp the edges, to know himself, to ept himself and his own past and problems and utilize that to his own advantage.


    ''Indeed, there is no stronger will than a emotion'' Thought Mack while shing a bearded man in half and jumping to the side to avoid a dagger.


    And as to prove his own conjectures and realizations, Mack suddenly remembered all the weird events that happened at the tower. He waking up in the middle of destroyed building after almost going insane, and the warlock light constructs hearing his warcry in the first day of the battle, when is blood was pumping so hard that he himself almost forgot how he got to the front line.


    Those two times, he was immersed in his emotions.


    Those two times, he was facing death in a way that he unconsciously knew was almost impossible to survive.


    ''The gates pushed me to my limit, so I could know them, so I could know and ept myself''


    Mack avoided a weird ability that froze the ground and came to several realizations at once, as if all that happened in the tower finally started making sense.


    He never understood why he failed thest gate, even after Hack, that old fogey, told him, it seemed way too much of a bullshit in his view, as if he was trying to avoid the subject, but now it all made sense, and why he came back to Earth, and why he could not keep advancing in the tower.


    ''The Hel floor was just the beginning, it was my basic training, to make me grasp the basic use of Essence in the correct way, using emotions as fuel, or in better words using emotions as a guide. yes a guide.''


    And just as he came to this conclusion, he stopped.


    He looked around in the battlefield and he was basically fighting against a thousand people alone, some people were taking a chance in the chaos to kill others and get tokens but those were exceptions, almost everyone was starring straight to Mack, trying to anticipate his moves, trying to stop him, trying to bind him or hurt him.


    A thousand people trying to kill him.


    He knew better than everyone that if things progressed this way he had no way to leave this trial alive, one thing was to kill thousands of light constructs, another one was to kill humans and ability users.


    At each second that passed his area of effect and his control over the Essence that surrounded him became stronger due to the runespell way of working, but at each second that passed he was closer to the death. His vision was already showing ck spots from time to time due to the lost of blood and his legs were now barely responding his own thoughts as the nerves failed to transmit the brainmands.


    He was almost only using essence to control his body.


    Like a ghost trapped in his own body, or like a human inside a war tank, he used Essence to control his body each movement. It was not natural enough and was prone to fail soon, and when that happened it will be his doom.


    That or he would just faint from blood lost, whateveres first.


    In that brief stop that barely took a few seconds, Mack made his mind, he was going to test if his conjecture was right.


    If all failed, he would just use his trump card to gain time and escape inside the jungle, hisst resort, the thing that he should not expose easily never. His domain runespell. He would use thest bits of blood and activate it and run for his life, he would probably be scolded by the old man and , he would had to leave the trial and the someway, but was better than dying.


    The domain runespell was currently the only way to expose his nature as a Warlock, because people would easily associate it with ''some kind'' of Essence Arts that the warlocks were famous for. Mages had spell simr to this, but not to that extent, and not unless someone was a really important figure in the magemunity.


    ''That old man already told me to never use it unless all witness became corpses, I must try using my emotions as guide, otherwise the entire n will go down with a stupid mistake.''


    Reaching a conclusion, Mack thought about the more simple emotion he could use now, and the one that was always present when using the current runespell...


    PAIN!


    Way too much of repressed pain. Pain that would make a man faint in the first second, pain akin to needles stabbing each and every single cell of his body from inside out, pain worst than the feeling of having the skin peeled off slowly, way too much pain for a simple man to endure.


    Mack let loose his guard, let himself feel, let himself feel the pain inside his body, inside his soul and emotions about his past came together, bundled and mixed as if one could not go out without the other....


    And he screamed because of pain for the first time in a long time.


    "ArghHhHHhH!!!!!"


    And as if to make himself believe, he screamed to let himself loose, he screamed to feel.


    He screamed with all his lungs to be able to live.


    He screamed for life.

 Chapter 117 - 117. Run To The Hills!

    The scream echoed in the battlefield as if a wraith hade to life making everyone that heard the scream feel as if thin needles pierced their ears.


    For a few seconds the entire battlefield froze, no one spoke, no one moved, stunned by the sudden scream.


    Some thought that Mack had gone insane, others that he was finally hurt, but the majority of people...


    They felt fear.


    Because they knew deep in their hearts, deep in their skulls, that the recent scream was not one made by a normal human, it was not a scream for help nor it was a scream of someone in theirst drop of hope.


    It was Inhuman, and their brain told them to run, run for their lives.


    But their bodies didn''t respond.


    Until, someone finally screamed "Ruuuuuuuuun!"


    And they could not be more right.....


    Another one from the side, came to his senses, and screamed while already running "Ahead for the hills!" and run not caring about his friends left behind him.


    They could try and leave the trial if they run to the the beach, but they still had hope, they hoped that they could avoid the rest of the battle and still pass the trial when everyone killed each other.


    Someone once said that when running from a beast, they did not need to run faster than the beast itself to survive, they only needed to run faster than the person by his side.


    And this could not be more true in this situation.


    Because once Mack opened his eyes, and lowered his gaze to look at the horizon, he was not himself anymore.


    He was a beast, cornered, full of pain, not regarding his own life anymore.


    His eyes twitched and his mouth subtly creaked open and close with the noise of his teeth raging at each other as the pain made his senses sharper and the excruciating feeling radiated to his mind.


    The protruding veins on his hands twitched as if draining the remaining blood from his body, as the grip on the swords intensified.


    But Mack was no ignorant to all that, his senses were sharper than ever, it was if pain was the only thing that mattered in his life, once gone, he would be done for.


    An addicting and excruciating feeling that made him live for another heartbeat, that kept him alive.


    Mack took a step forward, and as if the Essence could feel his pain the earth where his right foot stood creaked and let a raging sound as it opened for his king to go forward, as Mack vanished from the spot.


    "Watch out!" someone screamed, but was his head that now rolled on the bloody ground.


    Mack shed the man neck and twisting his body he threw the same sword to a man behind his own back, the man half doing a cleave with a machete was stopped in his act as the force of the sword hit his chest, Mack didn''t wait nor turned to see if his sword hit the target, and grabbing the decapitated man body in front of him he jumped to the front, using the man in front of him as meat shield, he avoided a rain of white bullets that came from a group of three peoples, one of the bullets grazed his shoulder and left a hole without blood, intensifying the pain that Mack felt, but his body didn''t stopped moving and once close to the group of people with something akin to guns from Earth he jumped to the right guy and threw his remaining sword at the man in the left.


    Mack had no more daggers nor swords with him know, he grabbed the man from the right by the neck, and with the momentum of his jump the man body came with him rolling on the ground. But his left arm moved too fast, and by the time the man could realize what was happening, Mack had already twisted his neck on the muddy ground and grabbed his pistol shooting the remaining man in the middle of the group. Those three could now shoot devils together once again, in the afterlife.


    Barely two minutes passed since Mack came from the smog but the battle was already lost.


    They could not believe someone to be this strong, someone able to put so many people running for their lives as they run to the hills, but they knew deep down in their skull, if they stayed, they would not see the sunrise again.


    But the thing they didn''t knew, was that Mack was not someone to leave behind potential threats, nor he was the kind of guy to gave his face to someone who raised a hand against him.


    Be a trial, or a game, a tower or a simple duel, once Mack stepped foot on this journey to be strong and to avenge his father, he would not leave stones unturned, he would have no more regrets.


    ~sh~


    A sword pierced the right eye of a woman in red dress and the tip of the same sword appeared behind her long red hair, as her left eye kept the stunned and terrified gaze and her mouth twitched without being able to say a word, Mack kicked the woman in the chest to remove his sword and another man behind her was send stumbling hit by the woman body that now stood atop of him.


    Barely the man regained his senses to know what happened, when he noticed his chest became hot and wet, looking up, he saw Mack resting his arm over his sword that now was half buried in the woman body atop him. He tried to move, but only then he realized the same sword was piercing his body too as a mouthful of blood came to his throat.


    Mack didn''t pay attention to the man struggle for life, and looked around, searching for his new target. The ones that stood to fight and didn''t run were all killed now...


    But he still had a lot of people to kill today.

 Chapter 118 - 118. Ash Tree

    A little below the clouds, the overseer of the trial slowly floated as if invisible wings made him go forward in the air while subtly swinging up and down from time to time.


    His eyes, looking to the horizon, now could see a river that cut thend from right to left and was surrounded by majestic purple trees with white flowers at the top, a few birds passed by him singing a beautiful melody while he descended to a small hill not far from the river.


    While descending his gaze changed from the beautiful view in the horizon to what was below him, a mountain of corpses.


    He wished that was a figurative description of what he saw, but unfortunately, it was literally a mountain of corpses, or in better words, a hill covered in corpses.


    Hundreds of bodies charred, cut in half, decapitated or with a hole in the center of their chest, head, or with missing limps or evenpletely and utterly unrecognizable meat pastes, that once were human beings.


    The scene didn''t made the overseer flinch, but only made him remember of his own past battles.


    He gave a long sigh and descended at the top of the hill, where a single man stood aloneying his back against the base of an ash tree while slowly smoking a cigarette.


    The man''s right hand was tinkering with an essence pistol as if he was already used to one, while his left hand moved to his mouth to take another drag at the cigarette.


    The man raised his gaze and saw the overseer descending and as if it was something that was not of his concern, he moved his gaze to the side to enjoy the beautiful view that surrounded them.


    The trees top and the river could be fully seen from the top of the hill where he stood.


    "Beautiful isn''t?"


    Said the man, still not moving his gaze, and puffing out the smoke from his lungs.


    The overseer too didn''t move his gaze from the man as he already knew what he was talking about, and indeed in his opinion, was a beautiful view, but his focus was on other matters now, and not sparing the time to answer what was obvious to everyone who had eyes, he asked "You really had to kill them all?"


    Hearing the question, Mack, put the pistol down, closed his eyes briefly as if remembering the events or if trying to figure a answer and said, "They had three opportunities to be alive now, and you know too..."


    Mack opened his eyes, took a drag of the cigarette and continued, "The first time, I was trying to make all of them forfeit the trial by not entering, I tried to scare them at the beach, but they still went forward."


    Mack took a pause, and remembered the second time, everyone thought he was dead by thebined assault of a dozen of people, then when he came out of the smog they could have just turned their backs and entered the beach again and leave the trial.


    "The second time, they could just have walked to the beach when they saw I was alive, but they still chose to attack me, together, almost a thousand against one. And the third time was here, the river was just a past this hill, they could have gone there, but they still chose to fight me together using the advantage of the the numbers again and again. Tell me, would you spare them?" Asked Mack back to the overseer, not actually caring for his answer, and changing his gaze back again to the tree tops to appreciate the view.


    The overseer didn''t respond the question, the dead was dead, there is no ''ifs'' when life ceased, there was no point in having a discussion about that, he was just curious about the way that Mack thought process worked, and seeing that Mack was in no mood to talk, he finished with a sentence "Congrattions on passing the trial, In half an hour a vehicle wille to take you and the other winner. The bodies will be collectedter, and the ones who forfeit were already sent to another, so, if you want to collect the spoils of the battle, you better hurry up." said him looking at the bodies everywhere.


    Mack heard what the overseer said and his expression suddenly turned serious and he asked, "Winners? Who?" as he could not remember of leaving anyone alive.


    "A mage, you cut her leg out, but she cauterized the wound and passed out. She is being treated by a healer right now as we speak"


    "I see..." Said Mack, but his thoughts were unclear on the matter as the overseer could not read this man''s facial expressions.


    Mack took a pause as if thinking and then changed the subject to the spoils as he said "I already collected what I think is worth." and put his hand on the weird pistol by his side, the other two pistols were at his back already.


    In Mack''s opinion the thing that hecked most was having range attacks, specially when he used his middle finger runespell as he did today or the domain runespell, he could not keep throwing out his daggers and his swords all the time, someday he will not be able to get them back.


    Mack had two ranged runespells for attack by now, the first one he developed that looked like a sniper shot, and the second one that looked like a fireball but with a fixed area as a target instead.


    Both were great and could cause a lot of damage, but the problem was the activation, it took too much time during a battle, he could use them to initiate a battle when his hands were free or he still had time to activate them, but once he grabbed his swords and using his dual welding fighting style, he would have to drop the swords or put them back again and then wait for the activation of the runespells that could take time to activate.


    The entire process was too cumbersome during an intense fight. But the guns he collected today could change that, they were mechanical guns just like the ones from Earth, the differencey on the runes carved in the gun and bullets, and also, the bullets had essence crystals instead of gunpowder. The time to activate them would be the time to pull the trigger, much faster than his runespells, the problem, was the damage they caused, but Mack was sure he could at least try to optimize that, he had three guns, he was nning on doing research with one and then apply his final changes to the other two. In the worst case, he would at least learn a bit more about runes.


    Just thinking about all this made his mood turn better as he fidgeted with the pistol full of runes.


    The overseer spared a nce at the pistol but thought it was as worthless as any gun, limited, and said, "Don''t dy, and be at the beach in half an hour."


    With that said, the overseer took flight and disappeared on the sky, leaving behind only a gust of wind that blew at Mack''s nose, bringing with it the smell of rusted iron of blood once again.


    "So there was a survivor...." Said Mack aloud as if thinking to himself, he could note to a conclusion if it was a bad thing or a good thing.


    "... I guess time will tell.." He said, already taking another drag at his cigarette and putting the matter at the back of his head.

 Chapter 119 - 119. The Beach, Again

    Half an hourter, Mack reached the beach and saw the same type of transportation vehicle that had brought him to the beach at the beginning of the trial.


    In front of it, waiting for him, stood a small group of people, one of them was the overseer that Mack already knew.


    Mack approached the group of people and before he could even say anything, he saw a girl among the group fainting on the spot. Her face hitting the hard rocks on the beach and blood leaving the wound recently formed by the fall.


    Mack stopped on his track without knowing what to do. ''Did she faint because of me?'', then he remembered, ''Right, I tried to kill her not even an hour ago!''. But what no one knew was that Mack already had forgotten the matter.


    He didn''t even recognize the girl. If was not for the missing limb and tattered clothes, Mack would have thought that she was someone from the vehicle crew.


    Realizing the awkward atmosphere that the scene caused, Mack gave a small cough, and said, "I think it''s better if she rests a bit more. No?"


    As if understanding the subtle meaning of Mack, a man from the side came to pick the girl, but before she could awake from the motion, the man injected a needle into her right arm, and the struggle on the girl''s face disappeared.


    "I applied a narcotic, she will sleep for a few more hours." said the man, picking the girl in his arms and carrying her to inside the vehicle.


    What passed in the girl''s head to make her faint, no one would ever know, but everyone in the vehicle crew could guess, seeing that only two passed the trial, and more important than that, was the time it took for the trial to end, barely one hour.


    With the absence of the girl, the atmosphere loosened, and the crew went to do their chores to depart.


    Mack took a few steps and started boarding the vehicle too, and seeing that, the overseer took the opportunity toe to Mack and exin a few things while they walked, "Congrattions again, one of my duties is to prepare the ones passing the trial for what''ses next, normally is a speech, but since only you passed, cough, I mean, only two of you passed, I will exin it over a cup of coffee, shall we?"


    Hearing that Mack almost froze in the spot, but then he remembered the trantor in his ears, he was so used to it, that he almost forgot that the device would trantemon words, including things like coffee or sugar or milk, for a moment the familiarity of the word, a word from his made him freeze in the spot, because since he left Earth, this was the first time he heard the name of a thing from Earth, all things he ate until know had weird aliens names.


    Seeing Mack froze on stop for a brief moment, the overseer asked, "What? You don''t like coffee? We have other kinds of beverage too."


    Mack shook his head and with a smile said, "No, coffee is fine, it''s that, has been a long time since a drank a cup of coffee... I would really appreciate, thank you."


    Seeing the smile and the reaction of Mack the overseer could not avoid saying what was on his mind, "You know, giving what you did, I thought you would be some arrogant brat, or some narcissistic man, but none of the former would ever say a ''Thanks'' because of a cup of coffee, I like you, kid."


    With that said, they reached a big room inside the vehicle that had walls on both sides. The furniture was a bit better than the vehicle that Mack used before and a few tables took ce over just a bunch of seats.


    "Come! lets seat here." said the overseer, pointing to a table, and already prompting Mack to sit on one of the chairs.


    Mack put his swords by the side and not even a minuteter came a someone from the crew bring two finely engraved cups and a few small snacks and ced on the table.


    Mack saw the man removing the lid of his own cup and taking a sip, and he imitated the same action. The familiar bitter taste of coffee mixed with the sweet of sugar came to his mouth at the same time the smell of coffee assaulted his nose.


    Mack felt at home for a brief second as warm memories came to the back of his mind.


    The warmth of the coffee seemed to remove some of his mental fatigue, and Mack finally could rx from the pent-up tension that umted because of thest battle.


    The overseer put his cup down and said, "Now that you passed the trial, there are a few things you must decide, and the most important is, the division you will join, normally it''s decided for you, unless your performance is remarkably well, what is exactly your case."


    ''So, herees, exactly as the old man said,'' Thought Mack, putting his cup down and hearing the overseer''s exnation.


    "The second thing is your reward. You can choose to receive it in essence crystals, or items, or leave it as Contribution Points to exchange for what you needter. We will not transfer any money to a bank ount of yours. That kind of thing leave trails, and as you must already know, secrecy is our maxim."


    "I see. I will think about the prizeter... What are the Divisions that are avable for me to choose?" Asked Mack.


    Although he and the old man had already decided long ago about the prize and the division he would join, he still had to y along. It was a crucial part of the n that could easily backfireter if they revealed their intentions too soon or too openly. In a organization like this, every new member was bound to be strictly monitored, even one that was already known to the war council or initiated by an influential member as the old man.


    In the old man n, even the most minute mistake could jeopardize everything, and Mack knew that better than everyone, because it was his neck that was the betting chip.


    Hearing the question, the overseer said, "The divisions avable to you are..." he took a device from his pocket and pressed a few times as if finding the information, once he read what was on the device his expression grew serious as his eyes subtly grew in surprise and he said, "As expected after this performance...."

 Chapter 120 - 120. The Divisions

    The overseer took a pause, and said, "All battle oriented divisions are avable to you. The ones I would suggest are the Assassins Division or the Army Division. There is also one notbat oriented, and that is the Research Division. It seems your way of using runes drew their attention."


    "Wich one would you suggest?" Asked Mack


    Pondering a bit, the overseer took another sip at the coffee and then said, "I think the best for you would be the Army Division, your fighting style match more the kind seen in a battlefield, and in small time you would be able to achieve merits to improve your rank in the army, my guess is that in less than a year you would already be a Lieutenant, above that, it would depend mostly on rmendation, politics and trust, as any kind of organization."


    Mack faked interest in the topic, even knowing what to choose already, but seeing that the overseer was trying to honestly advise him, he asked a question that even Hack could not respond due to a Blood Oath.


    "How could a secret organization like this have an army? I mean, I get the Assassination and Research divisions, but an army? How does that works exactly?"


    The overseer was about to open his mouth casually to answer that, but suddenly he froze. He almost forgot about the Oath, he gave a slight cough and pretended that nothing happened, and said, "Unfortunately, I can''t answer that, but what I can tell you is that our organization has differentpanies and organizations for each branch, some work on the shadows while some work openly, if someday your rank in any of the divisions increase, then you will be allowed to know all of that in details"


    Hearing that, Mack gave a small sigh. The dammed oath seemed to be a standard procedure for anyone who had a high rank.


    "I see... What about the Assassination Division? How exactly do the ranks work there? I mean, will I be able to gain merits and rank up?" Asked Mack.


    The overseer took another small sip of his coffee and started exining "Yes, the ranks in there works a bit different but is the same as any other Division, once youplete a mission, merit points and contribution points will be given to you, the amount varies ording to the difficult of the mission, merit points is basically a record of what you have done and allow you to increase your rank on the organization, while contributions points are given as an internal currency, those, can be exchanged with all we have to offer or essence crystals, once you be a official member you will be given ess to ourwork and with that, you will have a more clear view of how both works, for example, any member can exchange contributions points for money once a anonymous bank ount is open or for essence crystals, but only members with a minimum set number of merit points can order an assassination mission and pay for it using his contribution points, the same goes for buying some rather rare materials etc..."


    Mack pondered for a bit and said, "So even a foot soldier, if having enough merits, eventually will be able to order an assassination mission?"


    "Correct. That actually is a verymon motive for joining us. There are many people that are not good atbat but good at research. They join us in an attempt to solve old grunges by earning the needed amount of merits and contribution points." Said the overseer, changing his gaze to the window in passing. The transportation vehicle finally started moving, and by the window he could see the blue horizon made by the sea.


    Seeing the overseer suddenly distracted, Mack continued, "I don''t know. I don''t think I''m fit for a structure like an army. I really enjoy my freedom. Maybe I should join the assassination division? as you have seen, I don''t have problems killing people."


    The overseer changed his gaze back to Mack and gave a long pondering re at his eyes and thought ''Indeed, a monster like him, inside the army, would probably cause a havoc or kill a bunch of weaklings in the first day.'' the overseer refrained to say anything that he thought and pondered over the question for a bit longer and said, "Indeed, inside the assassination division you will have more freedom, but your fighting style..... I don''t see how that would work. But, is your choice in the end."


    Mack heard that and thought that the overseer was indeed correct. His way of fighting was brute, and two swords were extremely eye-catching. He too felt that his current fighting style didn''t match with his personality.


    ''Also, I still need to fix the issue of not being able to use my runespells effectively during battle when holding the two swords in hand.''


    Thought Mack, remembering thest battle. He always had to throw his sword or do something with them to free his hands so he could use the runespells. It was too cumbersome. The two things didn''t work well together.


    ''I like dual wielding and I think that suits me well, but I can''t use the runespells with my hands upied. I need to think what to do, but this can''t go on.''


    Seeing that the overseer was waiting for some kind of answer Mack said, "Indeed, I agree with you, I will try to improve my fighting style in the weeks toe, but I think the Assassination Division will be the more fitting to me in the long run."


    ====== Cringy Author Note ======


    I normally put myments and thoughts on the section of ''author notes'' but to make this more ''perpetual'', I wrote this time here, inside the chapter.


    As you guys know, ''writer'' is not my job, and I mostly write in my spare time, this causes me to write chapters once motivation and free timees together, and I would like to thank everyone that supports the book by paying for the chapters, giving PS or golden tickets, or even just leaving ament, this is what motivates me to keep writing. To know that there are people who truly enjoy reading my stories.


    Also, I would like to give a special thanks to @DarthFraz, because since he came aboard, every single day, without missing one (even during my breaks), he goes there and vote on the book giving his PS.


    Another special thanks to @Tender_One, please don''t go bankrupt giving me gifts.


    Another special thanks to all the ''silent readers'' who subscribed to the advanced chapters in the mobile app.


    Thank you very much!

 Chapter 121 - 121. Lorin

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    Seeing that Mack made his mind, the overseer said, "Ok, I will do the procedures needed and once we arrive at the destination, you will meet with someone from the assassins division. He will be responsible for handling you as your immediate contact inside the organization, oh, an important thing, never mention that you belong to this division to anyone, inside or outside the organization. The Assassins Division is not only responsible for assassinations but also for espionage and sabotage. Usually you should not even tell me, but as I''m an overseer for the trial, there is this exception as I need to know the personal information of everyone joining the trial and the desired divisions of everyone that passes."


    Mack took a pause, and said, "So, I''m not going to some kind of ''HQ'' right now?", he thought that he was going to meet the old man right now, along with other members of the organization and people that came together with the ones that joined the trial.


    "No, Everyone will direct leave to their designed divisions, branchs and etc, thetter being the assassination division, due to obvious reasons."


    As if understanding what Mack was thinking, the overseer took a pause and said, "You are thinking about Hack?"


    "You know him?" asked Mack a little surprised.


    "Hahahaha, of course I know him! He is an important figure inside the organization, to tell the true, I bet he will be your contact inside the organization too. So, you will probably meet him again in the end." said the overseer taking a pause an understanding the doubts that shed inside Mack''s head he said, "The people who came here to the trial with the ones trying to join were all members of the organization already, we would never let anyone jeopardize the trial, you must understand, people only know about us, when they are about to join us, ever!"


    Mack gave a small nod as if understanding, and said "How do they keep everyone shut? I mean, people are bound to talk to wifes and etc..."


    The overseer put a firm face, and said, "There is a Oath, everyone that joins will be doing one, it''s a very ancient and mystical ritual, it can be said that this same oath is the reason why this organization came to be. Without it, there was no way that we will grow to this size and still be shadows among the society."


    Just as Mack was about to nod he saw by the corner of the eye the girl from beforeing, blond and long hair, pale face, and a missing leg, it was impossible to not recognize.


    The girl stopped in her tracks when she saw Mack, and unsure if she should continue or go back, she stood there, unmoving.


    The awkward scene was quickly relieved when the overseer noticed her and said, "Come, join us for a coffee. I thought you would sleep the entire trip, but it seems fate sought for you two to meet again. HaHaHa"


    ''You.....'' Thought Mack. The scene was already awkward. There is no need to make it worst


    ''Can you be more professional? The girl clearly is almost to pass out again.''


    The girl took a step and, as if still not used with a crutch, almost went back instead of forward, pain could be seen in her face, but she made out her way and walked to join the table.


    "You must not worry about your leg or fingers. You will be able to utilize your contribution points for a biotech imnt that will grow them again in no time." Said the overseer, seeing the pained face of the girl, and at the moment his words left his mouth. Surprise and joy could be seen on the girl''s eyes.


    She prompted to say something but quickly refrained. She didn''t know if she was allowed to talk or how to proceed. She was as scared as someone could be. By one side someone who almost killed her and by the other side someone who importance could not be fathomed.


    "Is there such a thing?" Asked Mack, surprised by how advanced the alien tech was.


    "Of course, but why did you ask? I don''t see you needing one. Your body should be at level four or five already, you don''t need this." said the overseer.


    "I was just curious. My home didn''t have such a high tech. Nanobots were still in the early development," said Mack, taking a sip from his coffee.


    Seeing both talking so casually and without formalities, the girl took courage and asked, "Is this imnt expensive? I have a few savings I could use."


    The overseer shook his head and said, "You can''t use money to buy that, be it inside our organization or outside. This is high tech, that usually is only used by mortals or low level but influential people, and as it is, is used as a bargain chip. Everypany that holds this tech uses it only as a favor, except us. You can buy this by using contributions points, that, in some way or other are a kind of ''favor'' too in the end"


    "Thank you for your answer. I thought I would be like this forever. But if I may, what are those levels you talked about? And why he doesn''t need this tech? Is this some kind of secret? If is, please ignore my question." Said Lorin, subtly lowering her gaze. She could not contain her curiosity, but she knew she was stepping on eggs.


    Hearing the question, the overseer brows furrowed, then he took the device by the table and pressed it a few times, and in a more rxed tone, he said, "I see..... You are from that cursed.. That''s why you don''t know this kind of thing," then pressing on the device a few more times he suddenlyughed "HaHaHa, it seems fate really has something for you two. Lorin, the only division avable to you is the Assassins Division"

 Chapter 122 - 122. Swords

    Hearing what the overseer said, Mack could not but avoid thinking, ''This shameless geezer, didn''t he just said that I should not mention that I am from assassins division? Why is he talking out aloud now?'' but refrained from saying aloud and gave a small sigh, taking a sip of his coffee again.


    Seeing the dispirited face on Mack, the overseer looked at him and said, "Don''t need to worry about that. Your contact will exin thister and you will also receive a ''book of rules'' that will exin everythingter." Then he changed his gaze and looked at Lorin and said, "As for your previous question...."


    The overseer took a pause and said, "Your home, in the eyes of outsiders, is considered part of a radical faction that believes that mages are supreme and not only should they rule everything, but they should wipe out every other species that do not follow the mage path."


    Hearing what the overseer said, Mack''s grip on the cup suddenly straightened and the cup broke in his hands, sshing all the coffee on the table.


    With themotion, both the overseer and Lorin quickly looked at Mack, only to see him still with his gaze lowered, looking at where the cup once stood, frozen in time, as if about to take a sip, but his eyes were not of someone about to take a coffee but someone about to take a life.


    They could clearly see the rage in Mack''s eyes, and understanding what was happening somehow, the overseer looked at Lorin, and pointed his hand to Mack and said, ".... and as you can see by his reaction, this is not a good thing in various aspects...."


    Mack took a long breath, and raising his head said, "Sorry for that, I got carried away ..." then as if trying to give a usible excuse because he could never say he was a warlock, he invented an honest lie in the spot and said, "Radical mages ruled my home, and everyone against their way of ruling was decimated. My parents included. Please ignore myck of manners and continue...."


    Hearing that, the overseer pressed a few times on the device that was still in his hands, but could not avoid but feeling suspicious, ''Weird'' was the only thing he could think of, seeing that Mack''s file didn''t have the information about the he came from, nor the exact sub-species or evolutionary grade.


    Silence permeated the room, and a tense atmosphere took form, as neither Mack took the initiative to talk, nor the overseer, as both were thinking of different things that were unknown to Lorin, that stood ignorant to what was happening and could only feel guilt, because somehow, in her mind, it was like she had killed Mack''s parents.


    Awaking from his thoughts and seeing that Mack''s coffee was ruined, and the atmosphere was tense, the overseer said, "Let''s call it a day. You both must be tired and the journey will not be long. Take the time to rest." Then he changed his gaze to the girl and said, "Lorin, I already submitted your application to the Assassins Division, its not like you actually have a choice in the end. I will go to your roomter and exin in details the same things I already exined to him before."


    And with that said, the overseer stood up, gave a small bow and went out of the room, leaving Mack and Lorin alone, he was so fast as if pressed in time with something, that Mack barely had the time to give a small nod in response with his head.


    After a few seconds, Mack stood up without saying a word and left the room too, leaving behind a stunned Lorin.


    Mack left the room, and just as he thought that he didn''t know where to go, a man came to him and said "This Way, Sir" and prompted Mack to follow him.


    After a few minutes, Mack found himself in a bedroom. The furniture was simple and clean, and mostly white, the practical kind of furniture, with no extravagances and mostly functional designs.


    Mack looked at the window and could see the vast ocean outside.


    For a brief moment, he lost himself looking at the window, only to have his peace of mind interrupted by the automatic door closing behind him.


    Mack gave a long sigh and said to himself, "I guess I will never see that ocean again. " remembering about his travels on Earth and the times at the ocean. Then, after a moment, he shook the nostalgic emotions from his head and went to the bathroom inside the room.


    He was still covered in dried blood and pieces of guts from the battle, his battlesuit could clean itself in time, but was not instantaneous, and even so, Mack still preferred to take a bath to clean himself, it was just like going to a beach and still find sand in your hair in the day after. No matter what he did, he would always find some hidden blood stain in the next day.


    A few minutester, Mack walked out of the bathroom and sat by the bed of his room. He grabbed the essence pistol by the side and gave a long and probing gaze, as if thinking about what to do.


    ''This will not work. I need to think further.''


    [I told you. We should melt those swords. You are too clumsy with them.]


    Mack gave a subtle smile as he heard the familiar voice in his mind. This old man could never stop listening to Mack''s thoughts, even if he wanted to.


    ''Do you have any ideas, old man?''


    [Gauntlet knives, they will give you mobility and freedom to use runespells at the same time as you fight because your fingers will be free, but your range in a hand to handbat will further reduce, the advantages and disadvantages are crystal clear, the bonus is that the fighting style using two swords is almost the same with gauntlet knives, that, or melt only one of them and create only one gauntlet for your left hand that has more runespells than the right hand but I think thisst suggestion is just a half-baked solution, you need to decide your path in the long run]


    "Gauntlets.... " Muttered Mack, remembering a few things from Earth that were simr, until a game came to his mind, one very popr. Remembering the game and the way they fought, Mack''s mind quickly raced as he had new ideas.


    Mack looked at the side and gave a long look at the two swords that were resting by the wall.


    ''Should I?''

 Chapter 123 - 123. Warlock Metal

    Mack pondered over the matter if he should change his battle style, but still could not make a decision.


    ''What is my major weakness?'' Thought Mack, trying to follow a more logical approach to the problem.


    He remembered all that happened during the fights and concluded that his two major weaknesses currently were, "I almost can''t use ranged attacks and if that gun shot that pierced my shoulder had hit my chest all my runespells would stop working, even if it didn''t hit my heart, i would be dead in a matter of minutes without my runespells"


    Since the day that Mack had reshaped his runespells and created paths that connected to his chest were he put the essence congregation circuit, all the triggers and designs he made in both his hands now connected and went there, Mack had to cut off his own arm to discover that the runes carved on his skin would not appear on apletely new limb, after a few days of experimenting with this in the tower, he concluded that the runes carved on his body would only be permanent if a single part be it from the runespells or pathways were still intact, that''s why he chose to carve pathways in his entire body and the ''core'', the essence congregation circuit, at the center of his chest. Because if someone almost killed him, he would just need to run and recuperate and if given time, his runespells would be back again.


    That''s was one of the reasons Mack thought blood of warlocks was most mystical than it appeared. It was like it could carry information on its own. Limited, but it could.


    "Focus Mack! focus!" Said Mack aloud to stop thinking of things he already knew, and re-focus on the problem in front of him. His weakness.


    "Since my major weakness today is the essence congregation circuit at my chest, I should try to protect better that area. If that shot had hit my chest, I would be a corpse now."


    Even knowing that he was not the best at hand to handbat, Mack knew that he could protect his vitals in closebat, the problem was spells or things like that gun shot in the arm, things he could not predict or were too fast to be able to defend.


    "The second one is that I barely have a way to use ranged attacks during a fight, this I can solve using something like what the old man suggested"


    Thinking about those two problems, Mack started to draft designs in his head, as if trying to figure the best route of action.


    If he truly were to melt the swords, he better use every single drop of that metal. The only advantage of that metal was that it had the effect of ''negate'' the will of essence. In other words, spells could affect it, nor runes, nor gun shots made by essence, nothing, only brute and physical force could break it.


    It was indeed the best material for defensive gear and for attacking weapons, because it could pierce spells like a defensive barrier. And that was the major advantage that Mack currently had. He could not lose it.


    But thinking of all this, Mack suddenly thought of something that he never even questioned himself before.


    ''Old man, why is that I can carve runes in my flesh and use my blood in rune circuits, but it will not work with the swords?''


    [Took you long enough to ask this. This is because of the process used in creating the metal. They boil the blood until there is only iron with a special fire, a fire that has the properties to negate will. They call it Ether Fire, and is extremely rare. In this process, it''s as if the ''will to negate'' is imprinted on the iron]


    "Ether Fire.... so many ''magical things out there"


    [But as you know, the problem is not finding this fire, but finding enough warlock blood to create a small piece of iron as each human being has an average of 4 grams of iron in its body, and during the process of boiling some are bound to be lost, that''s why the ''warlock farms'' were created, to continually provide a small supply of warlock blood to the mage families.]


    Rethinking of this Mack suddenly came to a conclusion, and said in his mind, ''So..... There are more weapons out there forged with warlock blood, this two swords are not some mythical weapons, they are just rare.''


    [Yes, until a single warlock is alive, they will never stop forging this kind of weapon or creating elixirs, as thousands of years passed since the end of war against warlocks, the warlocks farms importance surpass any kind of wealth a mage family can have]


    Hearing that, Mack gave another look at the swords and think that he should use his advantages to the maximum. He should not be emotionally attached to them, or some day, he may lose his life to someone using the same kind of weapon.


    [You have decided?]


    Mack brows furrowed as decisive gaze formed on his eyes, and he said, "Yes".


    [Good, I will contact a cksmith I trust and will arrange for you two to meet. Those cubes would not work with the metal in the swords. It will need to be done in the old way, by hammering]


    "Thank you" Said Mack aloud, but refrained to ask more questions or prolong the talk. He still had to think in the exact details before he met with the cksmith.


    Barely Mack finished saying his thanks a he heard a bell ring by the side of the door. It seemed someone was asking for him to open the door.


    Mack suddenly remembered of the agitated overseer leaving in a hurry and thought that maybe a new problem had arrived at his doorstep.


    He grabbed his swords and walked to the door, pressing the button to open it.

 Chapter 124 - 124. Who?

    The bedroom door opened at the same time as Mack''s grip on the sword intensified, because he saw the man he didn''t want to see right now, the overseer.


    The overseer, seeing Mack''s expression, quickly gazed down and saw Mack holding his sword and immediately understood what''s on Mack''s mind.


    "Hahaha, good! good!"ughed the overseer, but Mack didn''t bulge an inch nor gave an exnation, so he continued, "Good that you are prepared, because we may need you. Someone leaked our position, and a Mage Alliance fleet hade to this. They will take time to track us, but we may need to fight our way out"


    Mack rxed his grip on the sword, and as if not understanding, quickly asked, "Was not that Oath of yours absolute?"


    The overseer shook his head and said, "Nothing in this world is absolute, but enough of chit chat. Prepare what you need, ande to the main hall. Lets hope we would not need to fight. Otherwise..."


    The overseer did not finish his phase and just started to walk out to leave time to Mack prepare himself when he heard Mack say, "I''m always ready, lets go."


    While walking by the corridor Mack asked, "This ship can fight? Does it have guns or something?"


    The overseer shook his head and said, "The guns are us!"


    Mack understood the meaning. The overseer may look like an easygoing person, but just the fact that he could walk on air showed how high his battle prowess was.


    Mack gave a small nod and didn''t say anything more.


    Silence permeated the corridor as only the steps of both could be heard. Both were already mentally prepared for a fight, and that was the difference between a regr person and someone forged by battles. Their attitude changed in a blink of an eye when their lives were on the line.


    A few momentster, arriving at the main hall, Mack saw Lorin along with other members of the organization, some were non-essential crew of the ship while others were people that Mack recognized from before, the healer, and the guy that brought him to his bedroom.


    Entering the room Mack gave a small nod to them but said nothing, their expressions were not of people worried, but they were not at ease too, anxiousness could be clearly seen on their faces, except for one person, Lorin, she was the only one that seemed on the verge of panicking, and the reason was obvious, she could not fight, not even to protect herself.


    A man approached Mack and gave him a small backpack, and said "A jetpack, do you know how to use it?"


    Seeing the confused face on Mack, the overseer took the lead and exined, "It will allow you to flight. It''s very simple to use..."


    But before he could finish the exnation, Mack said, "I don''t need, I have my ways."


    The overseer gave a pondering look to Mack and said, "Are you sure? If we fight, we will only be able to do it on the air, outside the ship, and we are in the middle of an ocean. "


    Mack just gave a small nod and gave back the backpack to the man. Mack could also see that almost everyone had the same backpacks already on their backs.


    Seeing that Mack was firm about this, the overseer said nothing more and changed his gaze back to the people in the main hall.


    "Everyone, let''s wait here. The captain will warn us of the situation in case of need, but don''t bex. We may not have a heads up from him either." Said the overseer as he looked everyone in the eyes. It was a habit he gained after countless times leading teams into battle, one that he not even was aware of.


    With that said, silence enveloped the main hall once again, as no one talked, nor moved, the atmosphere was tense, but was not a tense in the sense of dreading, but more like when a fighter get focused just seconds before entering a battle ring.


    Seconds stretched to minutes and soon, they heard the ominous voice of the captain echoing in the main hall, "Attention! Unknown shiping from north detected! Prepare to engage and protect the ship!"


    They could not lose their only method of transport, no matter what. If they lost the ship, they were as dead as the rocks at the bottom of the sea that currently surrounded them.


    Just as the voice of the captain finished echoing in the main hall, a huge door opened at the side of the ship, the wind whistled inside as the ship was not exactly stopped in the air and the altitude was high enough that they could only see the faint blue line dividing the sky from the ocean.


    Mack could see clouds above and below the ship. It seemed the pilot had chosen to at least use the clouds to gain a minor advantage.


    Once the door fully opened, the overseer screamed, "EVERYONE GO AND PROTECT THE SHIP I WILL ATTACK, EVERYONE ELSE FOCUS ON DEFENDING, NOW GO!!" and jumped before everyone else. He was already used to lead by example, and also, he was the main fighter of this battle.


    One after another, people jumped out of the ship and took off into the sky.


    Just as was Mack''s time to jump, he saw a small ck dot on the horizon, quickly growing in size.


    Mack was thest one to jump, even Lorin, panicking as she was, had already jumped.


    Mack put his swords at his belt again, gave a long sigh, and quickly pped his hand, and vanished from the spot.


    From inside the control room of the ship, the pilot was attently looking at a screen where he could see everyone leaving the ship, he was waiting to close the door and engage in evasive maneuvers to avoid any damage to the ship, but when Mack pped his hands all he could see was a blurred sh of red light, a brief and slight pang at his chest as if the air suddenly froze and his lungs could not work but just as the suddenly feeling came it also went, all looking like an illusion, and at the door, Mack also vanished, disappearing from the previous spot.

 Chapter 125 - 125. Battleship

    As soon as Lorin jumped out of the ship and her jetpack activated she saw a blurred figure past her like a bullet.


    She looked ahead to see what was, but the blurred figure she saw could not be discerned anymore, but remembering the trial''s battle, her mind could only produce a single word, ''Monster''.


    Mack flew straight past the people forming a defensive line and followed behind the overseer, from time to time producing a red sh that looked like if someone was turning off and on a giant red light bulb.


    Mack was not the type to stay still and defend, and he was always eager to have a few more mage heads under his belt, he was going to fight and try to kill all he could.


    The overseer was not oblivious to what was happening, he knew Mack was following him, and seeing the man was decided to fight, amidst the flying he raised his both hands and pointed at two directions, as soon as he lowered his arm he changed and wen to the left.


    Mack quickly understood the gesture, and went to the right, they were going to gang from both sides the mage ship iing.


    From the distance, all that Lorin saw was quickly shes of red light, and a ck dot far away growing in size.


    Her job in this battle was to survive, she would not be able to do much. She was a dual caster, something rare among the mages, but today, she was a cripple. A mage can cast with one hand, but the spell they can use are very few, she could not even produce a defense barrier because for that, she needed both hands, and she didn''t had a mage staff, because she always trusted more her ability to dual cast, a staff would only made her lose her advantage.


    Mage staff''s could have ''pre-saved'' spells on them, that highly reduced the time for casting, but still, could not surpass the speed of someone capable of dual casting.


    ''I should quickly find a way to restore my hand at least. I cant be useless like this.''


    Thinking about all of that, Lorin gave a long sigh and readied herself for the worst battle of her life. That also, could be herst one.


    But that was before she saw two more ck dots growing in size behind the first one, and she could not avoid bug letting out what''s on her mind and say aloud, " Is... Is that two more ships? Fuck!"


    No one around Lorin said anything, but their faces showed that they were not happy about the new ck dots on the horizon. Some of them looked to those two guys heading ahead of them to fight, hoping that maybe they could produce a miracle. But deep down their skulls, they knew this battle was a lost the moment the first ship appeared. The mage alliance was like a unending tide of ants. Once they found their ''food'' they would not stop until there were only bones left.


    Far ahead of them, Mack too saw a growing ck dot right ahead of him. He nced to his left and the ship they were supposed to gang upon was already clearly visible, and behind it was another ck dot. Mack gave a look to the overseer to see if he would change his mind and saw him adjusting his path and going straight ahead for the new ck dot that appeared.


    Mack understood what the overseer was thinking, if both of them fought the closer ship, the other two ships would pass them while they battled and the guys at back would not be able to hold the mage ships far from their own ship, and worst, they could be all ughtered.


    Understanding what the overseer was doing, Mack felt doubt if he should go to the far ck dot remaining, or to the mage ship closer to him, but quickly made his mind, he was going to fight the closer one, if by a miracle the overseer quickly finished his battle, he could go to the other ship ore to help Mack.


    Mack was not sure how the fight would be, he didn''t even knew how many people each mage ship had, but as the ship grew closer, he could see it was not some ''transportation'' ship like the one they had, but a battleship.


    Mack used his domain runespell again and quickly formed a foothold by holding andpressing the air. He used the ce as a foothold and quickly jumped ahead, gaining more velocity. All of that happened in a blink of an eye, and just like the previous times, all that everyone could notice was a sh of red light.


    Mack knew it was risky to use his domain runespell, but his life was on the line, and he also knew that he would never be able to fight with a clumsy jetpack.


    Flying straight ahead toward the closest battleship, Mack saw the logo on the ship, two staffs crossing each other, forming an X and around it, the outline symbol of a fireball fully painted in red. Mack didn''t ponder over the logo idea and quickly raised his left hand and pressed his finger, his runes activated and a bright but thin line formed in the sky, going in the battleship''s direction, but before it could touch it, a sphere around the ship flickered and the line dispersed, Mack''s attack didn''t pierce the translucent sphere.


    ''They have a barrier around the battleship, as expected.''


    Mack''sst attack was just a probing attack. Even if the attack reached the ship, it would probably do negligible damage because of the huge size of the ship.


    Mack was going to proceed with his n of action, to attack the barrier with his swords and enter the ship and cause a havoc inside. His n was to slow down the battleship and gain time for the overseer toe.


    Just as Mack put his fingers on the sword to grab them, he saw hundreds of white strikes of lighting to him at an astonishing speed.


    "Fuck!"


    He quickly recognized what they were, they were essence bullets, aimed at him.

 Chapter 126 - 126. Ouroboros

    In the end, no n survives contact with the enemy, and Mack quickly activated his domain runespell again, but this time, it was not a sh of red light, but the skies turned crimson, blood crimson, and it stayed like that, and the bullets that aimed for his head stopped in the air just a few palms in front of him.


    With his cape fluttering in the air, surrounded by red, and with hundreds of bullets in front of him, Mack immediately rushed forward, and the bullets opened a path for him to pass, as if subjects opening space for his ruler to walk.


    ''Twelve'' Thought Mack, looking at the battleship in front of him surrounded by crimson light. Once inside his domain, he could vividly sense the mages inside the battleship, because they were the only thing he had no rule over.


    Merely a few secondster and in front of the battleship, Mack stood there, he didn''t enter the battleship but raised both hands and put them very close to each other in front of him and in a motion as if trying to opening an invisible door he exerted strength with them, and in front of him, noises of metal cracking and bending could he heard from the battleship, Mack put more focus and put more strength on his arms and the battleship rustled and screamed and in a blink of an eye, the entire battleship was torn apart in two halves showing its insides to Mack.


    Broken pieces of metal floated in the crimson air and just as the battleship opened itself like a canned tuna, twelve human figures rushed out of it.


    With red robes and a staff in their hands, the twelve men looked at Mack as if they had seen a beast from the movies, but they didn''t dy in their action, once they saw their target, they rushed forward as fast as they could and aimed their staff at the man in front of them.


    Mack too didn''t dy and closed both hands as if smashing a piece of paper with each of them, and just as the mages approached Mack, their jetpacks stopped working and became a ball of broken metal behind their backs.


    Schock could be seen in those men''s eyes but someone that seemed the leader quickly screamed "Fire the spells!" and as his voice fell on those mages ears, the spells came out.


    Twelve balls of fire came in Mack''s direction, but to the shock of the mages, Mack seemed to not care about that, and lowered its hands.


    The balls of mes hit Mack, but instead of producing a huge shock-wave, it was like hitting a calmke, no explosion, no shock-wave, no screams.


    The twelve men, now, without a way of using their jetpacks started to fall, but the leader quickly cast a floating spell and the twelve of them stood there motionless on the air, watching the huge column of fire that was thebined attack of them, but that only made them feel restless, as that huge attack of them should be already ended, the fire dispersed and only a charred corpse should be there, but instead, the fire was still burning.


    In the middle of the hell like fire, Mack too stood motionless, but behind his back, underneath his clothes, the ouroboros tattoo blinked with light, and struggled to move as if someone suddenly had awakened from a nap.


    Mack noticed something undergoing with him and closed his eyes, as if something inside him was happening, something that he needed to pay full attention to. Something way more important than the battle against twelve already dead mages.


    In true, Mack expected those mages to be stronger, but now he finally understood how the mage alliance worked, they worked on numbers. Always sending cannon folders to win wars, while the true strong mage families stood at the back, enjoying the profits without having any cost to pay for.


    The mages didn''t know what to do as the scene was too surreal for them; they were inside a crimson sky, and the man that should be dead by now was clearly alive and instead of fighting them, the man stood there burning inside thebined attack of them, as if he was enjoying a hot bath.


    They were not paid enough for this crazy shit, and they finally realized that the man in front of them was way stronger than they imagined, as these thoughts passed on their heads, the leader ordered, "Retreat, lets group with the other ships!"


    Mack stood there inside the burning mes, with closed eyes, as images upon images shed in his mind one after the other, he saw vulcans, suns,kes ofva and in the back of his mind he felt a feeling as it was his but it was not at the same time, a feeling of craving, a feeling of hunger, all of this happened in a few seconds and just as the mage shouted for them to retreat, Mack opened his eyes, and said to himself in a low voice, "I understand, if is fire you want, I will give you..... or should I said, I will give it, to us."


    As Mack said those words, his already red blood iris changed for a moment and flickered in bright yellow as if something had awoken inside him, but Mack itself, was ignorant to that, and raised his left hand and all the mes around him stirred and started moving to his left hand, in a blink of an eye a bright yellow sphere of mes was condensed in the top of his left palm, not greater than a baby thumb in size, the sphere seemed like a small sun, burning itself as sparks came out of it.


    His fingers grabbed around the sphere of mes and Mack slowly closed his left hand, hiding inside the little sun, after a brief moment he opened his left hand again but no mes were inside anymore, they vanished as if the small sun had never existed in the first ce.


    Mack gave a look to the retreating mages, and his right hand raised.


    "Sadly for you, no one can live to tell the tale"

 Chapter 127 - 127. Pride

    With a twist of his hand, all the mages heads looked back at Mack, and horror could be seen on their faces, but life was no more, because their bodies were still in the same ce as before, frozen in the same motion, trying to escape.


    Mack looked at their crooked necks and the skin that covered the cor bones all convoluted as if the skin was just an expensive rubber that covered their fragile bodies, as Mack contemted on the frail life of the mages, he also contemted on his own, and realized that he had be very strong, not only strong but also resolute.


    There was no battle to speak of. Mack overestimated the mages that hade, and the ughter took less than the time he took to clean himself from thest real battle.


    Pushing the useless thoughts to the back of his head, Mack looked at the distance and the ck dot that was the next battleship was not a ck dot anymore and the outline of the ship could already be seen.


    He looked to his other side to search for the battleship the overseer was supposed to intercept, but found nothing.


    ''I guess the battle already ended too''


    Just as Mack thought about this he saw a sh of lighting from the corner of his eye, he looked at the source of it, but found the remaining battleship still exploding in the air, and debris flying everywhere, even from this distance, Mack could faintly see a very small dot outside of the explosion range with something glowing above it. Mack guessed it was the overseer that went to intercept the remaining battleship after ending with the other one.


    ''Is his bald head glowing?''


    Mack shook his head and deactivated his domain runespell. The ''battle'' has ended, and he was going to regroup with the others.


    Mack rushed back with his own way of flying, and while passing by the others, someone asked, "Is the battle over? Where is the overseer?" That person asking was Lorin.


    Mack didn''t stop ''flying'', and while passing said, "There was no battle" and entered the transportation vehicle not far from them.


    Seeing Mack enter, the rest of the people didn''t know what to do for a moment. They didn''t know if they should wait or enter. But while still in their indecisiveness, someone saw the overseer image far in the sighting at them at full speed, and said, "He ising!", and everyone outside looked to the same spot the man was looking.


    For Lorin, seeing the overseer, was like removing an invisible boulder of her shoulders. The pressure, the fear, the anxiousness and the stress were all removed with a single nce at the overseer figureing back.


    She gave a long sigh and could not avoid but saying aloud, "Thank god".


    Not long after, everyone boarded the transportation vehicle along with the overseer and the ship didn''t dy as the captain immediately took off, now, flying almost at ocean level to avoid most of the radars.


    No one took of their jetpacks, neither did the overseer order them to. They knew that new battles could arrive at any moment, because the situation was unclear, and they didn''t know how many mage alliance battleships were deployed on the. Those battleships were not cheap and also took time to gather them and deploy them on a remote like this, but even so, three of them, a small squad, found them, and they probably reported back before engaging.


    Time and speed were crucial before an unending tide of mages came to this.


    While the transportation vehicle rushed to their destination, inside the ship, the crew and Lorin started to talk to ease the mood, but Mack paid no attention to it. His mind was somewhere else. More precisely, he was thinking about the events that unfolded today.


    Mack remembered how he used his emotions during the trial today, and how that affected his senses, improving them, he was not sure how that worked but he decided to do more tests once he had a secure ce for it. As for the ''awakening'' of the Void me, Mack was not sure what triggered it, but he guessed it was fire, and his guess was that more fire was needed to really awaken the Void me.


    ''The images were not clear, but it seems it''s not any fire, but natural urring fire. like a volcano, or a sun.''


    Mack thought about how he should do proceed, but nothing came to his mind.


    ''Should I just bath on a volcano? It seems way too easy.....''


    Without noticing, Mack shook his head while still amidst his thoughts, but that was the opportunity for someone to fake to only know ''perceive'' Mack, and ask "So, Arthur, is it correct?"


    But no response came from Mack, as he stood still without even turning his gave to the person who spoke.


    Seeing Mack still oblivious to the talking, and now feeling a bit of shame for being ignored, the healer gave a small cough, and asked again, "Is my pronunciation of ARTHUR correct?"


    Only then, Mack realized someone was talking with him, and his gaze turned as he recalled from the back of his head what he heard and said, "Sorry, I was thinking about some things and failed to notice you were talking with me, as its very rare for people to call me Arthur."


    The healer gave a small smile and asked, "Is not this your name? How do you prefer to be called?"


    "People usually call me Mack, and yes, your pronunciation was very good" Said Mack, but the true was he had no clue, because the trantor always altered things, even his own name, in a perfect ent, only when people really used strange words or a very very unique pronunciation or dialect the trantor would try to match it to pass this on to his ears, as if only then, it considered the need to ''pass'' this additional information.


    The Healer gave a small nod as if understanding, and asked another question, "So, how did defeated that battleship?"


    Mack gaze went to the overseer as he guessed that he said he didn''t defeat all of them and said in aughing manner, "I didn''t defeat them, I ughtered them, and the same goes for him." Said Mack raising his nose in the overseer''s direction, and said, "By the time I killed everyone in the battleship at the front, the overseer already had destroyed the other two" said Mack in an attempt to change the focus from his own to the overseer.


    With that said, everyone''s gaze turned to the overseer and pride could be seen on his face behind his facade that tried to show that was something trivial.


    In this world, everyone had pride. No matter how insignificant an act could be, everyone would be grateful for having a bit of light to shine over his own achievements.


    That was the nature of social beings.

 Chapter 128 - 128. The Oath

    Time passed and after half an hour and with nothing happening, Mack finally heard the voice of the pilot. "We reached our destination. Prepare tond".


    Hearing his report on the main hall, Mack quickly gazed outside the window and saw a small ind just like any tiny ind from Earth.


    After a few minutes, the transportation vehiclended, and they exited the ship, facing a hot sun and nts akin to coconut trees but with clear shades of wood and smaller fruits, it really seemed like a paradisiacal ind in the middle of nowhere, the beach had white and clean sand and the waves shed against the shore forming small foam waves.


    Mack almost wanted to justy there and enjoy the life, after all, life was about this. To enjoy it.


    Unfortunately, they were on the run, otherwise Mack would probably disregard any concerns and justy there and bath on the hot sunlight.


    Seeing he was already way behind everyone, Mack shook his useless thoughts and followed the crew of the ship.


    After a small walk they reached a small cave that barely could fit two persons side by side, and entered, Mack guessed it was some kind of bunker, but after walking a few meters inside the cave he saw a huge room that spanned for about a few hundred meters and in the middle of it, a huge magic circle, that now Mack could recognize its workings, albeit only the idea behind, ''A teletransportation magic circle''.


    Once everyone entered the room, the overseer said, "Before we can leave this once for all, let''s proceed with the Oath"


    Mack gaze turned serious, as he hated the idea of being bound by an oath, anything that restricted his actions was something to avoid in his mind, if there was one thing that he valued above all was his freedom, ''but unfortunately, I can''t dodge this'', thought Mack while thinking about his goals and ns.


    Suddenly Mack''s gaze went to the healer, as he noticed him taking off a tiny box from his pockets, the action was not worth any concern, but the way the healer proceeded made Mack ponder, ''So the mysterious item was always with the healer? Brilliant, If I was someone going for it I would have thought the one keeping it would be the overseer'', and just as Mack made his guess, the healer said, "Everyone gather around, some of you are new to this, but in a trial there is an additional oath to be made by everyone, to ensure secrecy of identities because eventual information is bound to leak during a trial."


    As the healer said his words, the group of people gathered around him and waited for his orders, the healer opened the tiny box, and from its inside he took a small eyeball, the size of a normal human eye but fully covered in patched scars. Seeing that everyone was around him and paying attention, the healer seemed satisfied and said, "Once I finish chanting, you all must repeat the same words as mine. If you don''t repeat, the overseer will take action. You can guess the consequences."


    A few people nodded as if understanding the meaning, but Mack stood still, looking at the patched eyeball in the hands of the healer, he seemed to feel a faint connection with it, as if he had already seen it somewhere, like a d¨¦j¨¤ vu, the feeling was there, but Mack didn''t recall seeing this eye, or anything close to a ''patched eye'' before.


    After a few moments, Mack shook those feelings from his head and paid attention to the ritual. The healer was already chanting ipressible words that even the trantor didn''t know the meaning of or could not trante it.


    As the chanting went on, Mack noticed the eye subtly moving on its own, as if hade alive above the healer''s palm, the eye gazed around slowly as ifing from a long sleep, and started to look at everyone around, that, until he met Macks gaze.


    The eye froze in its spot and didn''t bother looking at the rest of the people as its gaze was locked on Mack. Even his iris now looked different, changing from its color to light red and its pupils turning vertical. All of the sudden, Mack felt a chill in his spine, ''this feeling again...''


    No one noticed the abnormal behavior of the eyeball as they thought the item was already mystical to start and their focus was on the chanting, only the overseer seemed to not understand what was happening as his gaze subtly shifted from the healer to Mack, but was so subtly done that no one noticed.


    After a few seconds of chanting the healer stopped and said in a now prehensible''nguage, "We oath to never provide any information about every single person in this room, unless the person in question, give us a clear approval to do so." And just as everyone was instructed to do, they repeated the same words aloud.


    Once the words faded, the overseer looked around and said, "With a drop of blood, I pay the tribute of this oath" as he said he put his left hand over the eyeball and the overseer came close to it and slightly pressed a knife against his thumb, a drop of blood from the healer hand fell on the eye, and the overseer repeated the same words and also gave a drop of blood from his hand. He then looked around and motioned to all of them to do the same.


    When Mack''s turn came, he felt dubious about giving his blood to the eye, but still proceeded, and seeing that nothing weird happened, he felt more at ease. He also remembered that Hack also did this and if something weird were to happen, he would probably advise Mack beforeing to the trial.


    After everyone proceed with giving their own blood, the healer covered the eye with both of his hands and said, "It''s done.. Now let''s proceed with the oath of the new members."

 Chapter 129 - 129. A Black Booklet

    After a few minutes, the same chanting was resounding inside the cave. The difference now was that Mack and Lorin were holding a ck booklet. The booklet itself was very thin, with only a few pages, but the ck cover grabbed the attention of Mack, because in its middle there was a drawing of an eye surrounded by a circle and a triangle, both made of small rune letters that Mack was unable to recognize, only one familiar rune stood out and was the most powerful rune that Mack knew so far, it was the rune of Law.


    Runes were like that, if you didn''t knew the uses it could simply pass asmon ''text'', only by knowing how to apply them in circuits would someone be able to use them, Mack was not someone naive, he guessed the organization knew its meanings or at least its uses and had a reason to put them there, it was not just a simple ''cool cover''.


    Once the chanting stopped, Mack and Lorin begun reciting what they were told to, "I , from this day onward, will follow the principles and rules in this book in my hands, only death will release me from this vow", once they said those words they dripped blood over the eye, that suck it all as if was a sponge, and they walked back.


    Hearing the vow was finished, the healer put his left hand over the eye, and said, "Wee to Horus", and then put the eye inside the small box and inside his pockets.


    "Its finally over, you now are part of Horus, we don''t do parties for new members neither we have any kind of secret handshake", said the overseer half joking while patting Mack shoulder and retrieving the booklet in his hand. He than looked at Lorin and she quickly gave her booklet too,


    The overseer put the booklets over a few boxes by his side and a secondter they started to burn in bright red colors, once the box burned, Mack could see that inside them there were more booklets, it was probably one to every single person that joined the trial.


    Mack was not sure why was one booklet for each person, but he guessed that they could not use the eye so easily, otherwise they could simply do the ritual one by one or do it at some kind of HQ instead of in the middle of nowhere.


    ''Must have some restrictions when using the eye'' Thought Mack, but didn''t ponder too much over the question and put it at the back of his head.


    A few secondster and seeing the pile of booklets was already ashes the overseer looked back and said to everyone, "Now, lets depart, first the crew and than the new members, I will hold the magic circle and be thest one to leave."


    Hearing the overseer, the crew of the ship immediately went atop the magic circle, and waited for it to be activated, the overseer went to the circle, put a few essence crystals, and changed a few runes, Mack could see they were coordinate runes, but had no idea were they would lead to.


    After a few more procedures, the overseer tapped a rune using a staff and the magic circle activated, and the ship crew disappeared from Mack view.


    "Your time old friend" Said the overseer looking at the healer.


    After the same procedure was done, the healer too vanished, and only Mack, Lorin, and the overseer stood there inside the cave.


    The overseer took a look at them and as if remembering the day he joined this organization, he said, "It must all be a little too much for you guys, but it will be worth, Horus is a very trustful organization, we are very demanding to who joins and that''s the very reason why we will never use you as cannon folder, and if you do proper contributions there is nothing that cant be acquired for you, be a revenge, or a mystical item, or techniques, anything, you just need to follow the rules and gather enough contributions."


    Mack and Lorin both gave a small nod at same time and stood silent, Mack had an idea of what Horus was, but Lorin, she was probably just thinking of riches and to have her fingers and leg healed. She was as ignorant to the whole thing as someone could be.


    "Now, its your time. The both of you, together, you are going to the same ce, I already received the info about you, and a person will be waiting for you at your destination, due to the limited number of ''winners'' this time, you guys will not be joining a branch of the assassins division, but will be directly dispatched to a were a special mission will take ce, any questions?"


    Lorin took courage and asked the thing that troubled her more, "Sir, How can I be an assassin? With arms and legs like this? Even if I was 100% healed, I''m not an assassin, I never trained for such things"


    The overseer gave her a pondering look, and than looked at Mack, and said "You will be his support", he looked back at Lorin and said, "We don''t have only assassins at that division, we have personal responsible for information gathering, infiltration, maniption, support, drug dealing, arms dealing...." the overseer took a pause and said, "Anyway, the one telling all this should be your superior not me"


    Lorin saw that Mack didn''t had any question and then asked, "Do you know who our superior will be? Can we know his name at least before we teleport?"


    The overseer gazed at Mack and than his gaze changed back to Lorin and said, "His name is Hack"


    Lorin could only nod at that information, without knowing anything about what was truly happening behind the scenes while Mack showed no expressions, as if that information was irrelevant to him.


    "Now lets teleport you guys out of this, there are still people from the mage alliance searching for us, its better to not dy anymore"

 Chapter 130 - 130. Power Comes From

    One hourter, inside the same cave, a group of mages advanced cautiously through the tunnels.


    "Captain, I see a clearing ahead." informed a soldier in a low voice.


    "Proceed."


    Hearing themand, the soldier walked forward until the entire underground room came in to view and said, "Sir, there is a giant magic circle inside the room, I dont know what it is... maybe..", the soldier lowered his body to inspect better the runes, to see if he could have an idea what the magic circle was about, but the moment the soldier was about to touch the runes to see if the circuit was used recently, he heard the captain say "Do not..."


    But it was toote, a explosion engulfed the entire cave and shook the small hill above it, copsing the entire structure.


    "Fucking asshole!"


    "What an Idiot! Idiot! Idiot!" screamed the captain outside the cave. He could not believe he had such moron as a squad leader.


    Another squad lead came by his side and said, "Captain, should we dig the tunnels?"


    The captain looked at his squad leader and said, "What for? If was a teleport circuit, its coordinates are already destroyed. There is noting to gain there. We would just be losing time."


    The soldier made an ugly face, as if just had swallowed an essence bullet, but took the courage and said, "Sir, maybe someone from that squad survived the explosion. We can try to rescue them."


    The captain looked at the squad lead in a surprised face, and said, "Right, Right, I almost forgot. There must be survivors" the captain took a pause and looked at the cave entrance fully copsed, and continued, "You will be leading the rescue, take your squad and try to find survivors, you are only allowed to leave this once you find one."


    The mix of feelings inside the squad leader could be fully seen as those words echoed in his mind, he was about to voice his objection, and question ''What if I don''t find anyone?'' But quickly understood the underlying meaning of those words.


    "Am I clear, soldier?"


    "Sir, Yes, Sir" said the squad leader aloud, almost lowering his head in desperation, but the formalities had to be kept so he straighten his back and gave a formal salute, by hitting his staff at the side of his boots.


    The captain looked in the squad leader''s eyes and turned his back, ''Another stupid moron''.


    .................


    In another, far from the trial, Mack looked at Lorin back leaving the room. He could not avoid but lowering his gaze as she ''walked'' away, but his eyes were not set on her legs, but in a more ''pleasant to look at'' part of her body.


    [Stop staring at the girl''s ass. Don''t tell me you choose her because of her ass]


    Seeing Lorin leaving the room and closing the door, Mack said, "It was because she can dual cast. The other mages at the trial didn''t look very interesting, it was her or some random mage."


    "Indeed, dual casting is very rare, I think she will fit well in the next part of the n"


    Mack gaze went back to Hack, he could barely believe the old man was using wordsing from his mouth now, but didnt show any emotion, and quickly put a finger in both of his own eyes, and with a bit of uneasiness, removed two contact lens from his eyes, and said, "These things are annoying as hell", and threw them to the side.


    Mack then took a ck booklet from the insides of his clothes and gave to Hack, "Here, the one they gave me. What we do with it?"


    "Lets burn it, it''s better not leave any clues behind," Said Hack, taking the ck booklet in his hands and at the same time the ck booklet turned into ashes.


    "How do we test if it worked?" asked Mack


    Hack threw the ashes to the side, and looking at Mack said, "Tell me some information about any of the person you killed there, it can be a skill, clothes or appearance, anything. If you are bound by it, then you will not be able to say anything"


    Mack pondered for a second and remembering the fight at the trial, he remembered the guy that couldunch thunder strikes, and said, "There was this guy, he had small horns over his head, and he could throw thunder strikes, but he had a very weak body, one of the most weak at the trial"


    Seeing that he could say the information aloud, without that person permission, because he was dead, Mack knew he was not bound by the first oath they did.


    "Its seems it worked. Did you fake your thoughts all the way? The overseer''s speciality spell is one of the most rare around," Said Hack.


    "Well, I''m used to have someone reading my thoughts for almost four years now. If I cant even do that, then I would be the stupid person in this dimension, I even thought about my way of battle and other random things to appear natural and I also disclosed the few secrets we talked about, he seems convinced that I''m a warlock, and that we have some kind of ''n'', he will probably contact you."


    Looking at Mack''s right ear and seeing the small dark jewel was still there, Hack gave a small approving nod and said, "Good, we could not predict how he would react, but at least you didn''t have to use the teleporting earing. That thing is hard to make and costed me a fortune. Keep it with you all times, and only use it as ast resort."


    Mack gave a small nod and asked, "About the swords. Have you made the deal with that cksmith you talked about?"


    "Yes, we will meet with him tomorrow. He is an old friend and owns me a few favors. You can rest assured that the deal will go smoothly, just don''t....." said Hack, half dropping the subject.


    "Dont what?" asked Mack curious


    Hack for a moment seemed very distressed but in the end said, "Just don''t look at his bald head, he is very sentimental about it"


    "Hahahahahah" Laughead Mack, releasing together all the pent-up stress from the day.


    "You.... HAHAHA... You guys... does powere with baldness? Is that the secret to be so strong? HAHAHAHA"


    A big hand came flying in Mack''s field of view, and that was thest thing Mack would remember from this day, because darkness buried his vision, and he fell to the floor unconscious.

 Chapter 131 - 131. Vengeance

    A few dayster,


    Mack opened the door of the hotel room and saw Lorin inside, talking with Hack, but once she noticed that Mack had entered, she gave a small bow to Hack and another one to Mack and walked out of the room, her walking was yet to improve, but she felt way better with her legs healed, and that could be seen on her serious but joyous expression.


    Once Lorin left the room, Mack closed the door while saying, "She seems to be recovering very fast" as a passingment, with no importance.


    "Indeed. Next time, don''t cut people''s legs off, or I will use your contributions to pay for the nano-imnt" Said Hack, but not feeling a bit of pain by using his contributions points to re-grow Lorin''s leg and fingers, for Hack she was indeed perfect for the n.


    Changing the subject, Mack asked, "So... why did you ask me toe here? You could have just said using the mind link."


    Hack looked at a silver metal box by his side, and pointing with his nose, said, "They are ready, I thought it would be a good surprise"


    Mack looked at the silver box, and indeed, surprise could be seen on his face as he said, "Already? .... but Bantay said it would take two weeks to finish..."


    "Just open!" said Hack, feeling apprehensive already. He had not opened the box and was eager to see the finished work, too.


    Mack didn''t make ceremony and quickly removed the locks of the metal box, revealing its contents, but before he could inspect in detail, a paper note caught his attention by the corner.


    Mack grabbed the note shook his head slightly and said, "I can''t read" and gave to Hack.


    "I did a few improvements based on your request. I hope you enjoy it. Also, the payment was already taken," said Hack, reading the words on the note.


    ''Right, the payment. I almost forgot about that, so he already took a small piece of iron from the swords.''


    Seeing that Hack stopped reading and put the note aside, Mack''s gaze went to the Itens inside the metal box, and there he could see a small breastte, dark red, almost indistinguishable from ck, the breastte color was the natural color of the warlock metal, but instead of slightly shiny like the swords, it was opaque.


    Grabbing the breastte, Mack felt the cold metal in his hands and he slowly passed the fingers over the scales that formed the breastte, and felt the small and minuscule thorns over each scale that were carver and said "That must have been a lot of work to do, he did as if the breastte is a huge snake"


    Mack put the hand inside the breastte and felt a softyer of something akin to leather, then he grabbed a knife a put between two scales and raised one of them, only than Mack noticed that each scale was thin as paper, Mack noticed how the scales connected to each other to form the breastte and felt that no gap existed between each other, only a direct hit that coulde from a odd angle aimed to pierce between them could pass the scales, but that, was no problem for him.


    "He did in this way to give you mobility. In old times, people used entire armors made of thousand of scales. It was one of the most impressive ways of doing armors, but took a lot of time to make them, to tell the true, I''m impressed Bantay made this so quickly." Said Hack.


    Once Hack said that, Mack nodded and said, "I will try using it", then he removed his typical warlock clothes but kept his ''shark skin like'' battle suit that covered his entire body, and said Indeed," while nodding when putting the breastte. The leather inside was good and didn''t cause difort, and once Mack put the breastte over his body, the rear of it connected by itself as if was maic.


    "Just for the breastte design and those maic buttons at my back, I can tell that Bantay is indeed very talented as a cksmith"


    But once the breastte covered around his torso, from the neck to his waist, Mack noticed something else going on, he felt the surrounding essence different but didn''t know what happened; he looked at Hack as if to ask for an exnation, but the old man kept a smile stered on his face as a child would when doing a mischief.


    "What?" asked Mack, a bit angry already but also a bit curious. He could tell that the old fogey had done something.


    To Mack''s frustration, the corners of the old man''s mouth curled up even more, but he didn''t say anything.


    "What? Tell me already!" Said Mack, shaking both arms in front of him as if not understanding what was happening and begging to know.


    "Look for yourself," said Hack, conjuring something akin to a mirror made of water from nowhere.


    Mack never saw the old man create ''a spell'' like this before, but his focus when to the image reflected on the water mirror, because there, Mack could see a red bloody ''V'' letter in the middle of the breastte.


    "The fuck? A V?" but then Mack remembered the oath he made to himself back when on the third floor of the tower. The cringe scene of him promising to be ''fear itself'' than cutting his own hand in a ''V'' for vengeance and dropping blood on the ground. "That! You remembered! Fuck! That was way to cringe! Even for me!" said Mack, pping his own face in shame.


    "The paint will fade in a few minutes, but your face! ohhhhh god! That was worthy! HAHAHAH"! Laughed Hack, almost losing bnce and falling on the ground.


    Mack sulked in shame and awkward, but didn''t say anything. He could only endure. Someday he would have his vengeance against this bald devil and his bald cksmith.


    ''Endure Mack, endure! This ''bald evil union'' will fall someday, just like the hair in their heads.''

 Chapter 132 - 132. Camelias

    Not caring anymore about the bald old manughing by his side, Mack''s gaze changed back to the box, because he knew the good part was yet toe.


    Mack removed some kind of protecting paper and saw two dark red gauntlets made of metal, and just like the breastte, those gauntlets seemed as if made of fish or snake scales, at the tip of the knuckles pointed and sharp small thorns could be seen, but the rest was devoid of any thorns unlike the breastte.


    Mack grabbed one of them and put in his right hand. They fitted perfectly and went up to his elbow, ending behind it, where another bigger thorn made the final touch.


    Mack moved his fingers and felt it was nice and very malleable, it dint obstruct his movements in any form, and checking the bottom part of the gauntlets he saw the thing that most concerned him, his fingers tips were free for him to touch, and the innovations he requested were there too, instead of using a retractable knife de, Mack had requested for the ''fingernails'' of the gauntlets to be made into small des.


    Mack opted for this, because after pondering for hours over his fight style and the warlock metal, things finally clicked for him. He understood that once he got close to his opponent, he would not actually need any high performing or any high damage output weapon, because the warlock metal would pass any kind of spell or ability. He only needed to punch or grab or puncture the enemy skull with his fists.


    Mack put the two dark red dragon like gauntlets in his hands and tested for a bit, he then thought he should practice more closebat martial arts of some, the principles behind what he learned using dual des, specially inverted dual swords fully applied to the style for how to attack an enemy with those gauntlets, but Mack thought he needed more.


    "They are perfect," said Mack aloud, going for thest item inside the box.


    A small essence bullet, but instead of runes over its tip like the ones Mack saw to this day, he saw a ck and opaque tip.


    "I bet it''s the first time someone made a bullet like this," said Mack, looking at the bullet in his hand as if appreciating his ''creation''.


    Hack, for the first time, turned serious, and looked at the ck bullet, "This small thing can probably kill anyone, no matter the body level, no matter if mage or not."


    "Indeed, unfortunately, it''s only one. Warlock metal is too precious to use it in bullets."


    Be Mack or Hack, both knew the deadly power of an essence bullet made of warlock metal, no way of fending off its speed, no way of defending, and there was not a single body that could resist it. Unless, of course, that person too had an ''armor'' made of warlock metal. But that was reserved for very few people.


    That''s why, once a person was hit by that bullet. It was dead. Simple as this.


    Mack fidgeted with the bullet for a few more seconds, then he turned his left hand and inserted the bullet in a small hole in the gauntlet made specifically for keeping the bullet.


    That bullet was reserved for someone.


    In the end, his two swords were turned in two gauntlets, a very thin breastte, and a bullet.


    Mack obviously lost range in close battles but he seemed very satisfied by it as the corners of his lips raised while his gaze suddenly looked to a ce where there was nothing, as if seemed lost in his thoughts, the scenested only a moment and Mack then shook his head and said, "Right, I will need one week, then we can start, I need to adapt myself to this new toys, so I will go now." said Mack already turning his back and walking to the door.


    Once Mack reached the door, he stopped for a brief moment, but suddenly continued to move out, and while closing the door he said, "See you in a week, and please, bring me good news, old man."


    The door closed and the figure of Mack disappeared behind the door, but Hack kept looking at the ce where Mack just left, and pondering over something, or maybe as if responding to the absent Mack, he said aloud, "One week is more than enough, more than enough."


    The moment those words left his lips, he kicked his right foot on the floor and disappeared from the spot, leaving the hotel room empty once again and the lights flickering.


    Not a minuteter a woman figure entered the same room, and seeing no one around, she walked to the metal box but seeing it was empty, a little disappointed look was stered in her face, and she looked to the side to think in what to do, but it was then, her eyes quickly shifted to a corner of the room, where she saw a small paper note.


    She walked a few steps and grabbed the note and after reading it, she could not avoid saying aloud "already taken?" and put the note inside her clothes.


    But the woman knew she could not dy and quickly left the room before anyone noticed her presence and quickly left, leaving behind the almost unnoticeable fragrant smell of camelias.


    ...


    Inside a dark room by the edges of the same city, Mack kept panting and hitting the air, fully covered in sweat, his motions were odd and unnatural, it was not like boxing from earth, nor was it like panthers or tigers fighting, instead, he used his body as a lever to produce extremely quick and powerful attacks while also quickly shifting his attack patterns, each strike leaving behind the sound of air tearing apart, almost breaking the barrier of sound.


    This was not in the level of humans anymore, and neither was Mack a simple human anymore.

 Chapter 133 - 133. Shadow Steps

    After a few hours of practicing and finally noticing that night had arrived, Mack stopped doing his exercises, turned the lights on, and grabbed a bottle of water from the table by his side.


    Once he stopped drinking the water, the fatigue hit him. ''I should take a break'', and sat on a simple mat in the center of the room.


    Physically tired and bored, Mack grabbed his backpack, and from its insides he took a book that had a skull and two daggers on the cover. It was the assassination skill book he received from the old man back on Earth. He already knew the contents of the book by head, but in his opinion was always good to study it again from time to time, be it out of boredom, or just to ''review'' the content of the book and refresh his memory.


    Flipping the pages, Mack read the topics on the book, ''How to walk'', ''How to run'', ''How to Escape'', etc etc, the book followed a very structural and methodical approach to assassination that even the best teachers on earth would not find fault on how the book was written, it started by teaching ''how to survive'', and only then moved to ''how to kill'' by using poison or venom, then it taught how to assassinate using ''clean ways'' that no one would suspect like forged idents etc, and only at the final of the book it taught how to kill by fighting.


    ''I probably should learn how to read themonnguage,'' thought Mack, reading the tranted version that Hack created for him.


    Flipping the pages, Mack stopped at a very odd page that always grabbed his attention, because that page had a spell that Mack always wanted to transform it in a rune circuit. The spell was called ''Shadow Steps'', it didn''t provide any speed nor made the user faster in any way nor it made people be shadows or even walk on shadows as the name suggested.


    ''But is very useful for me'' Thought Mack, because what the spell did was to create a dissonance effect in the essence, in a practical way, this caused an illusion effect, once someone used this spell and started running, from time to time his figure would disappear and appear as if the user became blurry.


    The true way they achieved this was by keeping an ''image'' made of essence from the user and when he moved, the dissonance effect resulted from the ''copy'' would make him as if he was ''invisible'' for a brief moment, in the eyes of someone looking,


    It was a trick made using a human brain w, because the brain tends to believe that if something is there, it will correct ''the image'' to what it knows, it''s basically a glitch in the brain, and with thebination of the dissonance effect it makes the user of the spell look like he is just blurred shadows moving, leaving a series of after images behind it, but in true, the user is ahead of those images, ''almost invisible''.


    This was helpful to Mack even more now, because with the change in his fighting style, he would need to get even more close to his targets to be able to finish them, and this spell, was perfect for it, because anyone seeing Mack move would see only his blurred ''copies'' and obviously try to attack them, it would take a few tries to someone finally understand what was happening and predict Mack movements or use another spell to cancel the ''Shadow Steps'', and by then, Mack hoped he already was at his target neck.


    The only problem was the ''Shadow Steps'' was a spell and not a rune circuit, thus, Mack would need to change how it worked because several parts used things that were not runes, but other dialects or even mage symbolism, runes was the only thing Mack cared for, he knew why they had a mixed modern system, but he didn''t care about that, he somehow felt that was a waste of time to learn anything else that was not runes.


    Mack flipped the page again and read the rest of the spell, because there, was the required materials to use this spell, ''So troublesome'', thought Mack reading that he would need powder of the skin of a ck chameleon to create the spell.


    Mack understood why they opted for it, things had they own will and could affect the surrounding essence to some degree, this use of chameleon skin powder was a way to simplify the spell and make it easier to use and less draining on the user. They used it as a catalyst, just like mages often used staffs.


    Mack grabbed a pen and a paper from inside his backpack, and started to draw runes on it while looking at the pages from the book that depicted the spell, changing his gaze back to his piece of paper and drawing new runes on it, sometimes changing some, sometimes scratching the entire circuit and starting a new one.


    Mack was trying to trante the spell to a rune circuit, and just like that, time flew by.


    A few hourster, with the rumbling of his stomach, and feeling the hunger, Mack stopped.


    "Damn it, I was too focused on this," said Mack aloud, realizing he had lost track of time and was hungry already, ''Let''s stop for today, I will continue tomorrow''.


    He put the papers aside and went to take a bath, but in the middle of his steps he stopped and as if forgetting something, he scratched his head but could not remember what he had forgotten.


    ''OH!! the lizard thing hide! I will need some....'', thought Mack, remembering that he still had that part of the spell to figure out how it worked.


    Mack''s guess was that he would need to improvise, but he would still need the ck chameleon skin powder to be able to understand its effects and try to mimic it using runes.


    Once that line of thought formed in his mind, he used the advantages of his mind link and said in his mind, ''Old man, I will need some ck chameleon skin powder. Try to find some for me, but don''t make a fuss, I''m trying to create a runesspell based on the shadow steps.''


    [I will order for you using the Horus Network.. Lorin will deliver to you tomorrow.]

 Chapter 134 - 134. Fees

    In the next day,


    Hack was siting in his desk typing something on the device in his hands when he the smell of roses assaulted his nose.


    ''I guess she will never learn,'' Thought Hack, putting the device away and then he said aloud, "You cane inside"


    The door of Hack''s studio opened, and Lorin came inside but didn''t say anything.


    "Lets start with the weekly report. What have you learned this week?" asked Hack


    Lorin moved closer to Hack, but didn''t take a seat and started to say what she learned over the week, "I know that you and Arthur made a deal with a cksmith, but I don''t know the full details, investigating him more I discovered that the cksmith name is Bantay, a famous cksmith that don''t like to use modern forging techniques and is famous for having one of the mostplete collection of rare metals, my guess is that Arthur swords were made of something that Bantay didn''t have and he reforged those two swords in the gauntlets that Arthur is using now, and the price was a piece of the same metal." After saying all, she took a long breath and waited.


    Hack didn''t immediately respond to her, but analyzed the situation and the details she missed. "You seem to be missing the most crucial point of the deal, and that is, why would Mack, please stop calling him Arthur, is annoying. Why would Mack need to make a deal with a cksmith that doesn''t use the most modern techniques, and also, if the sword metal is precious, why would he agree to a deal that was not to his advantage and would lose some of the said precious metal?"


    Lorin''s eyes immediately grew with that bit of information. What surprised her was not the information itself, but the thought process behind it, and that was exactly what Hack was trying to teach her over this two weeks since they arrived in this.


    "Thank you for your teachings, I will remember this." Said Lorin, giving a small bow.


    "We are not done yet, there is two points that you need to take care of in your observation techniques. The first one is that Mack and I noticed you behind the door, trying to listen to what we discussed. This is the most basic w. For this, I will give you two spells, and you should learn it quickly. The first one is, Wave Essence Detector. It checks the essence waves for hidden circuits or spells, because some may be hidden from the eye or just be fully invisible, but all spells and matrix, when active, they leave ''an essence wave''"


    Taking a small pause, Hack grabbed one book by the side and threw it to Lorin, it was the book that taught the Wave Essence Detector spell, then he continued "The second one, is a temporary buff of your own natural senses, it increases your eyesight, hearing, and etc... this will allow you to well... you will not need to stand just behind the door to listen private conversations." said Hack, already throwing another book to Lorin.


    "Thank you very much," Said Lorin, giving a small bow again.


    "Dont thank me, this will be paid with your contributions once you have some, and of course I will take a small fee, hehe."


    Hearing the ''fee'' word, the smile on Lorin vanished. The thing that scared her more was that Hack never told the exact amount of fees. Her biotech imnt was the same, and she knew how that thing costed. ''please please be a small fee''. But deep down she knew that she had made a deal with the devil. The smallugh that Hack gave every time after he said the doomed ''fee'' word always made her shiver in fear.


    ''It was that or be a cripple for years. It''s a small fee. Yes, it''s small. He is only joking.''


    But Hack didn''t let Lorin ponder on her financial problems for too much as he threw another item at her, and said, "This is a neutral deodorant, please throw your perfume away and never use it again, I can smell you miles away, the smell of camelia was still lingering on the room once I returned"


    Lorin''s brows furrowed, and she started to voice her objection, "But I don''t..." but she refrained from continuing,


    "What?" asked Hack


    "Nothing, Nothing, is that all, Sir?" but in her mind the only thoughts was ''But How? I don''t use a perfume!''


    Hack then pointed to an item by the desk with his nose, it was a ss bottle with ck powder inside, and said "Take this to Mack, he will need it today, after that, study the spells for the next three days ande to show your progress. Apart from that, you are free to do as you wish."


    "Ok Sir" said Lorin after grabbing the bottle and already turning her back to leave the room, but once she turned her back, Hack said "Oh! I almost forgot, themunication devices also came today".


    Lorin turned and saw the old man grabbing two small boxes from inside one of the table drawers, and put them on the table.


    "They are matched with your essence waves so there is no risk of idental leaks or theft and only you can use, and apart from a few modifications in the inside, they look identical to any othermunication device used those days," said Hack slowly pushing one in Lorin direction


    "This is mine?" she asked out of politeness even the answer been obvious.


    "Yes, take the other one to Mack, and exin the same things, also, that poor bastard dont know themon tongue, so buy him a few books about runes on your way, that freak is obsessed with runes, that''s the only way to motivate him to learn thenguage, if he dosn''t learn themon tongue he will not be able to use the device and will be you that will need to..... ''solve his daily needs'' ..... Now, go! I still have a lot to take care of." said Hack, already shaking his hands to shove Lorin away.


    "I undestand, Sir"

 Chapter 135 - 135. Compedium Spell Shop

    Walking outside the hotel where Hack''s studio was, Lorin suddenly stopped, looked up as if she was contemting the purple ish sky, but in true, she was thinking about what Hack asked. She had no idea where to find books about runes.


    ''If I had any contribution points, I could try the Horus Network''


    Lorin gave a small sigh and looked ahead to the busy streets that were crowded with all kinds of people and other humanoid races.


    The streets were clean and very organized, and all the buildings had the same height, 4 floors. Lorin thought that should be some kind of tradition on this.


    Lorin took a few steps to her right, but was still indecisive about where to find the rune books and stopped again to look around and maybe find some kind of shop around that had those kinds of things, when suddenly something hit her left feet.


    Lorin turned around, but saw nothing and looked to her feet to see what stumbled on her, and saw a head. "eek!"


    Lorin took a step back and made distance from that blue human head, not because of fear, but that was a freaking blue head rolling on the ground, right in the middle of the streets. Guards may even think that was she who killed the owner of the head.


    "Sorry mydy! I rolled too much. This is still a new head, so I''m not used to it yet"


    ''WHAT?! The head is talking?''


    Lorin looked around as if to find someone or something or to just leave the ce. That was way too weird for her.


    "Humans! Always arrogant! Humpf!" said the blue head in a clearly angered tone before rolling away to cross the street.


    Lorin, still a little shocked by the scene, stood there until the head was far away from the sight.


    "Dont mind them, they have a inferiorityplex because they can only posses a head and not a full body. What a pitiful race, tsc tsc" said a burly man walking closer to Lorin, as if trying to start a small talk.


    Lorin gave a small smile to the man, and said, "I never saw them before, and I''m on this for two weeks already"


    "Well, they are indeed hard to spot, hahaha" said the man halfughing at his own joke about the size of them. After all, they could only roll on the ground.


    Unsure how to continue the subject, Lorin started to move, but the man noticed that and asked, "You seemed a bit lost before, sorry, but I could not avoid of noticing it as I wasing from the hotel too. Do you need help?"


    Lorin thought for a moment, and said, "I''m looking for a ce that sells books about runes, my friend loves runes and I was thinking of buying a gift for him"


    The man didn''t even blink before saying, "So you are looking for a spell shop. They sell not only spells but also, they sell spell matrix, rune circuits, and all rted to that" the man stopped talking for a brief moment and looked around, "In the next block there is very famous spell shop, one of the best in the city..." he said pointing his hand to the left side, then he looked back to Lorin and continued ".... I''m free now, and I happen to know the owner. What about I give you a tour?"


    ''Spell shops? They sell spells in this?'' Thought Lorin but refrained to say something aloud,even so, she was a bit shocked because in her home, spells were controlled by the government and only with authorization and passing the government tests could someone have ess to basic spells.


    Seeing Lorin lost in her thoughts, the man said, "I swear I don''t bite, shall we?"


    Lorin shook her head slightly and with a polite smile said, "There is no need to trouble you, you already helped me a lot by giving the directions"


    The man thought for a moment and said, "Ok, as a costume of this, when someone help other person, they have to pay a tea, and the spell shop I''m talking about also happens to have a wonderful tea hehe"


    Lorin bit her lip but still said in the end, "That.... You are making up this right now, right?" but deep down, she was thinking that she barely had any money. Now she would need to pay for the tea too!


    "Hahahah, maybe, but the shop indeed has a wonderful tea." said the man, slightly putting his hand over the elbow of Lorin, and saying, "Let''s go?"


    Lorin''s mind quickly connected the dots once the man touched her elbow and gave a slight smile, but deep inside her skull, she was thinking theplete opposite of a ''smile''.


    ''What? He wants to fuck me and I have to pay him a tea for it?''


    Lorin made her mind, and said "Sure, let''s go, but I''m a bit out of cash and only have the money for the books. Even so, I don''t know how much they cost, actually. "


    ''You want to fuck me and make me pay? Dream on, I will fuck you up! And make you pay!'' thought Lorin. She knew she was hot, and never once she had to pay to go out with a man. Not even a tea!


    The man gave a slight smile and said, "No problem, I will pay for the tea. It''s my treat" but what he was truly raging in his mind was ''But you better put that ass to workter. That tea is fucking expensive!''


    With that said, both started to walk and chat about mundane topics, until they reached the ce and Lorin saw the signboard that read "Compendium Spell Shop" and asked aloud, "So, Elyon, what''s the name of the owner of the shop again?"


    The burly man scratched the back of his head and thought, ''As if I knew!!! fuck!'' but refrained from showing his lies in the open and said, "Err..... Everyone calls him Alekzi, but I think is a nickname"

 Chapter 136 - 136. Roses Are Red And Violets Are Blue...

    Later, the same day.


    Lorin stood in front a typical house with four floors and pressed a button by the side of the door and kept waiting.


    The sky was already dark and the purple moon in the sky could be fully seen. It was a warm night, and the sound of tiny insects could be heard from time to time. In that brief moment, Lorin felt at peace, ''Thank god I didn''t need to pay for anything, just the tea was all I had with me.'' Then she looked at the books inside the finely decorated but transparent bag and could not but ponder how expensive each one of them were.


    ''I could probably buy a house on my home with just these books''


    Her thoughts were interrupted when the door was opened by Mack, then she quickly said, " Hack told me to bring you those items"


    She was about to give them to Mack, but then quickly looked around, and said, "It''s better if Ie inside"


    Mack said nothing and made space for her to enter, then, closed the door again.


    Once inside, Lorin could not avoid but notice that the entire house was fully dark, with not a single speck of light, "Sorry if I interrupted your sleep, I was supposed toe earlier but things happened on the way here"


    Mack almost forgot that he could see in the dark and only now realizing that the house was pitch ck, he pped his hands twice, and the lights turned on. "No worries"


    Lorin put the bag with books over a small table along with the sk with ck powder and took themunication device than said, "This is the organization device, its somehow secure, I don''t know the details, but Hack said no one expect you can use it"


    Mack grabbed the small device that could fit inside his hand very well just like any smartphone from Earth. A screen appeared but all he could see were letters from anguage he didn''t knew.


    "The device is in Common Tongue," said Lorin, then she pointed at the books and said, "The books are also in Common Tongue"


    Mack looked at books, and for a brief moment Lorin could swear that she saw happiness in Mack''s eyes for the first time since they met.


    ''I should stop wasting time and finally learn themon tongue,'' thought Mack while looking at the books, then said, "Is that all?"


    "Yes, do you need something else from me?"


    Mack shook his head in negation, but then suddenly remembered of something, "Actually, I have one advice for you... this perfume of roses you use..... hmm... its better to stop using it, it''s a bit too strong and can easily be tracked back to you during missions, try something more nd or odorless."


    Hearing simr words once again Lorin''s body froze for an instant, ''What Perfume?!!!! I don''t use a perfume!'' she screamed in her mind, but refrained to saying anything aloud, ''Those two freaks must have super human noses! That''s it! That''s the only exnation!''


    Seeing Lorin lost in thoughts, Mack gave a small cough and said, "If that''s all, you can leave." While he gestured his hand in the direction of the door.


    "Ah, yes, sorry, I was thinking about this perfume, I really loved it, it''s a pity..." said Lorin than grabbed her things and walked to the door alongside Mack, that quickly closed the door behind her once she left the house.


    Outside of the house, still a bit stunned, Lorin lowered her head and sniffed at her own armpit. "I smell nothing!" and walked away, lost in her own thoughts.


    ...


    Inside the house by the corner of a window, and looking at the already distant figure of Lorin, "You should see her face! HAHAHAHA"ughed aloud Mack.


    ''Man! She even sniffed her own armpit!!!''


    [I told you it would be a good joke. On her they eat those roses as a kind of sd from young, everyone there smells like roses, that''s why they can''t tell!]


    ''I think we broke her,'' said in his mind Mack using the mind link, but then suddenly started tough again. The girl even sniffed her own armpit!


    [...]


    ''For real, the girl seemed to lose the life in her eyes. hahhahahahah''


    [I gave her a deodorant]


    ''You old monster!!!!, hahahahahah''


    [But she is progressing very fast, I think in about one or two weeks we can start, I also gave her a few spells so her abilities as spy can increase a bit]


    ''Thats good. I hope that I can crack the shadow steps spell in two to three days. After that I will try to learn themon tongue and train until you feel that she is up to the task''


    [No worries, I also have eyes on her 24h and she seems the type to easily make new friends, male friends, if you get it.]


    ''Thats why she only came now?''


    [Well.... cough... cough... she ''came'' a lot today, that for sure]


    Hearing that, the corners of Mack''s mouth curled up a bit, and he said, "So... she is the lewd type, uh, good to know. Good to know." and closed the small crack on the window and went back to the main room of the house.


    Looking at the books at the table Mack gave a small sigh, he would not understand anything if tried to read them now, and grabbed the sk of ck chameleon skin powder.


    Raising the sk to his eye level and inspecting the powder inside, Mack noticed that they were not fully ck, but more like glistening ck, as if depending on light, the powder would suddenly turn transparent.


    "Interesting.... but how does this influence the essence around?"


    Mack was still clueless about how the properties of things could influence essence. This was more to the level of alchemy than spells or runes. Thinking of that, Mack came with an idea.


    ''Old man, has the alchemist arrived yet?''

 Chapter 137 - 137. Hand Shake

    In the next day, inside Mack''s house.


    "Did you gather all the material needed for the serums?"


    "Yes, it was difficult to gather them, but I have all. Once I take your blood today, I will be able to create serums for the air element," said Art the alchemist, while disabling the device around his neck and showing his true face.


    Since Mack and Hack left the Centaur, this was the first time they met again.


    "Excellent. I hope the trip was not too dangerous?" asked Mack out of politeness.


    Art shook his head and said, "It was a piece of cake. The mages were more concerned with the revolts around Centaur than about searching for an old man like me."


    "Good to know." said Mack, already extending his right arm.


    Art''s gaze went to Mack arms and only now he noticed the two gauntlets, and asked, "New toys?", but knowing Mack for a bit of time already, Art did not wait for the response and took a sk and some other items and started to get blood from Mack''s arm.


    "Kind of old new toys." said Mack, not borating more in his choice of words.


    Once Art got the blood he needed, he asked, "You will be staying in this house? I can send someone to deliver the serums every day. The first batch is the one that takes more time to do, as you already know, so I will only send one in two days I think"


    "Yes, but is better if you don''te too much in contact with me, In two weeks the n will start, and I wille to you when I feel it''s safe after that, you need to focus on producing what we already talked about, that thing is very important for the n."


    "No worries. I can start as soon as I have theb ready and the samples," said Art, while putting his things away inside a bag.


    Mack pulled back his arm, raised from the sit he was, and picked up a sk with ck powder that wasying in a small closet by the side.


    He then sat again and put the sk on the table and said, "Art, see if you can help me with this," and pushed the sk in Art direction while saying "I''m trying to break a spell into a rune circuit, but the spell uses this ck chameleon skin powder as a catalyst, thus, I''m unable to know the correct runes to use as a substitute"


    Art brows furrowed while looking at the powder, and said, " I never heard of this powder before, but if what you want is to trante it to runes, then we can use an essence wave analyzer" said Art already pulling a device from the inside his bag, the device was barely a few inches in size and looked like a pencil from earth or digital thermometer.


    "Essence wave analyzer? This device can give the corresponding runes to everything?" asked Mack, a little impressed by the small thing in Art hands.


    "Hahaha, of course no, its like a normal database, once someone fully analyze something they record the wave signature, the material, and the corresponding runes in a database, what this little thing does is to check that database for the same wave signature. This work formon things and very well spread knowledge, rare materials or less used materials have a less chance that someone already analyzed it." Once he said that, he grabbed the sk and put the wave analyzer close to the powder, almost touching it.


    A slight blue light came from the tip of the device and a few secondster, the disy on the device showed a few runes.


    Mack came closer to Art to see the runes better, but he never saw those runes before, he quickly grabbed a paper and started to record the runes, but was interrupted by Art "You can keep the wave analyzer, this is not very expensive, and is mostly used to not make mistakes while collecting materials or making deals, because it also shows the name of the material here" said Art pointing to the bottom part of the disy, but Mack could not understand what was there, he didn''t know how to read the mon tongue'' yet.


    "I should probably stop procrastinating and learn how to read themon tongue," said Mack aloud thanplemented "I appreciate it. This little thing will help me a lot in my research"


    Art gave a slight smile, but deep down he could not avoid but think, ''What? how he doesn''t know how to read?'', for Art, a man strong as Mack, was bound to know how to read, since it was ''basic stuff'' needed in the world, but what Art didn''t knew was that Mack only came in contact with themon tongue less than one year ago, and during that time, in Centaur, he was focused in training and didn''t have the time for anything else.


    Seeing that Mack was still focused on the device in his hand as if he had a new toy, Art stood up and said, "Since it''s all, I will be taking my leave. I still have a lot of things to arrange in the newb, plus, I need to start producing the serums."


    Mack came out of his own thoughts and stood up too and extended his hand in Art direction, in a typical hand shake position, and said "See you soon", but once Mack realized the look on Art face and what he had done, he retracted his hand and gave a small cough, "Err.. old habits" and gave a slight bow.


    Art was lost to what was happening, and his face clearly showed that. Did Mack was asking him to give something? ''Why did he extend his hand?'' but then, seeing the small nod, he bowed back and said "no mind, no mind" but was still clueless to what just happened.


    ======= Author Note =======


    Thank you @WildUfort for gifting the book a castle!!! This shameless author dosn''t deserves it but he appreciates a lot. The bonus chapter wille today or tomorrow.


    =======================

 Chapter 138 - 138. New Name

    After an awkward silence about what had just happened, Mack walked Art out of the house and exchanged a few more words about the n, but nothing really important and once Art was out of the property he closed the door and said to himself, "Aliens and their dammed costumes, why give a bow? A hand shake is way better"


    But Mack was clueless that there was once a time in history that almost every culture had their own greetings, but all changed with the ''gue of Nitis'', the reason why now almost all civilizations have the costume to never touch other people when doing greetings. Thus, bowing to the other person as a greeting became the new norm.


    ...


    Inside Hack Studio,


    "Please sit," said Hack, signaling with his hand for Lorin to take a seat in the chair in front of his desk.


    Lorin didn''t dy and did as asked, and waited. In her opinion, after living with the duo for a few days already, neither Hack nor Mack were the type to enjoy ''small talk''.


    Hack pushed a stack of papers to Lorin and said, "This will be your new identity, Lorin Fenryr",


    Once Lorin heard the name, her eyes looked up and shock could be seen on her face, ''The Fenryr Family'', One of twelve houses of the mage alliance, the same one that recently quit the mage alliance treaty.


    Hack paid no attention to the expressions of Lorin and after a brief pause he continued, "The details and full background are exined there. You will need to memorize every single detail of it."


    Lorin skimmed the form in her hands and asked, "So, I''m a distant rtive of the Fenryr family, a bastard son of a dead business man?"


    "Correct. The motive of youing to this is that a huge meteor recently hit the city where you and your other siblings lived in, a truly pitiful and doubtless random event of nature. Only you survived because you were out of the town at the day." said Hack, closing the line of thought.


    "I see... a perfectly random event of nature, of course..." said Lorin, but her eyes kept reading the form in her hands, or at least pretending to be, because in her mind she could not but avoid of being surprised by the power that the Horus organization had.


    To just create a fake identity, they destroyed an entire city. ''What is the goal of all this?'' Thought Lorin, while also realizing that the importance of the mission she joined increased several times. ''They would not do such moves to just kill someone. They have something else as a goal. Unless...'' as Lorin thought about that, her eyes locked at the top of the form in her hands, where she read the name Fenryr. ''Fuck''


    Lorin''s gaze shifted back to Hack once again. The man was calm as ever, and he seemed to predict every move of Lorin as he was just waiting for her to ask, "Are we going to Kill the head of the Fenryr family?"


    "HaHaHa took you long enough to think about that, but again Lorin, you are thinking way too small. What is the motive and what we have to gain if we kill the head of the Fenryr family? The only one family that ever left the mage alliance treaty," said Hack, half smirking at the predictable conclusions of Lorin.


    She knew that Hack was testing her while also helping her to develop the correct mindset of a spy. After a few seconds of pondering, she said, "The mage alliance put a bounty on the Fenryr family?"


    Hack shook his head and said, "Wrong again, Lorin, you are not considering the parties involved here, and their background. Do you remember what I told you yesterday? People tend to follow habits. The same applies to organizations, because in the end, they are ruled by people too."


    Hack took a pause to let the words fall on the sponge head of Lorin, then continued, "The mage alliance dosn''t tolerate any act of rebellion. What do you think they would do if a family belonging to the twelve houses simply walked away?"


    "They would try to exterminate the entire family to serve as an example, and also, the other families would try to profit out of it and split and all the resources that belonged to the Fenryr among themself." said Lorin, taping her fingers over her own leg, clearly still thinking about the issue.


    "Correct, but the fundamental question here is..... Why have not they done it yet?" said Hack.


    Hearing that question, Lorin eye''s sparkled as if a bolt had hit her brain, as all became clear to her, "Thats what we are after? The ''reason'' of deterrent? If the Fenryr family is still in one piece and suffering no repercussion to this day, it must be because they have something that the other families fear, not only that, but they fear to the point of not moving a single finger."


    Hack gave a small nod, and tapped the table a few times as if thinking, and then said, "We know they have something, but what is still a mistery to the outside world and organizations like us, is that even if they had it, why would they leave the mage alliance? Its not like the twelve families have bad blood between them, and all shows that they would have nothing to gain by leaving the mage alliance, the thing is, they are nning something big, and is almost to start, that''s the reason they showed their cards now."


    Lorin gave a small nod as if understating, and said, "So, that''s my mission? Find those answers?"


    "Way more than that, but that is a talk for another day." said Hack, taking a pause then continued, "First, we will need to find a way for you to join the ranks of the Fenryr family. That''s what they are paying us for, and the contributions points will be huge. But don''t be ingenuous, the organization already has people inside, they just could not progress in the ranks of the family.. That''s why we are trying a new approach with you this time."

 Chapter 139 - 139. Doubts And Fears

    Hearing how important the mission was, Lorin''s lips twitched as if wanting to say something but nothing came off her mouth.


    "Speak, what troubles you?" asked Hack, a bit inpatient already.


    Loring gave a small sigh and said, "If the mission is that important, why put someone like me to infiltrate the Fenryr family? I have no experience in this. I''m sure the organization has well-trained people for that."


    Hack put a smile on his face and said, "Good. That''s a good question. I dont know if you are finally using your brain or you were just scared for your life, but it''s a good question."


    Saying that, Hack then pondered for a brief moment, as if thinking in the correct words and said, "Tell me Lorin, what do you think about Mack? I read the reports and know what happened at trial in a resumed version, and I know he cut off you leg and fingers. But I want you to ignore that, and think about it in a more cold and rational way. Tell me, what do you think about him?"


    Remembering the events that tormented her sleep every night, Lorin fell a chill down her spine, but still tried to hide it. She knew deep down that having a leg and fingers cut was a small price. Luck determined her life and death that day, and she epted that, and because of that, she had no grunges against Mack.


    "Well, he is the strongest person I know. He is cold and detached, and he doesn''t enjoy small talks, apart from that, I really dont know much about him"


    Hack looked in Lorin''s eyes and could not believe how someone could be so wrong about a people, even living a few days with it already and said, "All wrong. He is not the strongest person you know, he is not cold and detached, in fact, he is a very sentimental guy, a bit too much in my opinion, and he loves to make bad jokes, but he avoid talking with certain kinds of people," Hack took a small pause and continued, "Anyway, I asked you this, to tell you that the organization don''t think that Mack is super strong, but that he has potential, and that by itself is valuable enough to put him in this mission, but of course that doesn''t have anything to do with you, right?"


    Lorin gave a small nod as if understanding, and seeing that, Hack continued, "That''s where you get all wrong again. The organization works in what we call it ''cells'', apart from some special positions like the overseer, the huge body of the organization isposed of those cells that act independently of each other, and that''s the reason why the trial only epted fifty winners, those winners would be a few small cells or a big cell, depending on the needs of the organization at the moment and depending on how many people passed the trial."


    Hack took another pause to let Lorin absorb the information and said, "Some cells are as big as fifty people, others are small as this one, only three. But one thing that had never changed since the begin of the organization is that all cells that were formed to this date were not over 50 people, unless someone had a special job, like the pilots at the trial, the overseer, or me as a cell leader, no one that belongs to a cell would ever meet any other members of any other cell. Thats why, the moment you survived the trial, there was only one position avable to you, because the organization values Mack a lot, but not because he is strong, he is not, but because he has potential to truly be strong. Do you understand now?"


    Lorin didn''t promptly answer, but pondered over the question for a few seconds. She thought that Hack was probably testing her again. It was then, as if a lightning bolt had hit her face, she raised back her head with big eyes, and said "THAT! ... that means, I will work with you guys..... forever?"


    Hack gave a small nod, and said, "Not forever... if Mack dies.... well, how do I say that... your services will not be required anymore."


    Hearing those words, Lorin could not avoid but grab the armchair while involuntarily gulping hard. Her life was bound to the life of another man, but not in a good way.


    Hack gave a fake smile and said, "But of course, if you show how much you can be worth to the organization and they need your expertise in another mission or cell, they would promote you to a cell leader, like me. Cell leaders and army positions are the exception to this. But that, of course, will onlye in time, as the organization see that you aplish missions and evaluate you better, for now, your are what you thought of yourself, unprepared and green to the job, but neither me nor you have a saying in that, we have to work with what we have"


    Lorin didn''t know the true importance of Hack in the organization, and would never doubt his own words. Thus, she truly thought that Hack was just a ''cell leader'' as he said himself. She barely knew that the Horus existed before being invited to the trial, and all that she knew was that the organization had a lot of money and connections. She was ignorant to the towers, to the true motto of Horus, and to the actual size of it. Lorin was ignorant as any other person who just passed the trial. All that she knew was that if Mack died, she was dead, too.


    "I understand. I will give my best to aplish the mission, " said Lorin, raising from the chair and giving a small bow.


    "Good, you can leave now, go back and properly memorize your new identity, Lorin Fenryr.." Said Hack, waving his hand at Lorin for her to leave.

 Chapter 140 - 140. Beans

    Back at Mack''s house,


    Mack kept looking at the runes on the device in his hand, even being the case that he nano bots in his eyes showed the name and purpose of each rune, it was just that, without the actual rune circuit those runes were nothing, he would need to crack the precise way to use those runes inside a rune circuit so they could show its effects.


    Mack had already tried a fewmon rune circuits he thought that may apply to the situation, but they didn''t work in the end.


    "What a banger, to know the runes and not be able to use them," said Mack, throwing the device at the table and reclining his back in the chair.


    Mack put his hands behind his neck and looked up at the ceiling, thinking about what to do, but no clear ideas came to his mind. The only thing that remained was ''try and error'' and Mack hated that.


    ''Old Man, give me some tranted martial arts manual or something like that. I need to improve my hand to handbat. I always wanted to learn Krav Maga. There is something close to it that you know?''


    [You will be able to learn martial arts once you enter the tower. I don''t think you need it now, is better if you focus on the shadow steps]


    ''Indeed, but this will be hard as milking a rock. I tried a fewbinations already, but nothing came out. I''m truly lost here. The runes that appeared at the device, or they are not all of them, or the circuit needed for them to work is veryplex.''


    [What do you expect? That ck chameleon skin powder is not used on a daily basis. I''m even surprised that the wave analyzer could recognize it.]


    ''Is that so? Art, too, said he never heard of it, but I simply thought that was not his expertise. When I think about him, I think of guy who knows about nts and not animals. I think I''m being biased by my poor knowledge ofmon things,'' Said Mack, stretching his back and raising from the chair to take a cup of water.


    [You should start with themon tongue. I could put a trantor in you nanobots in your eyes back in the tower, but I think is important for you to solidify that. Languages have a deep meaning in its words when someone truly knows them instead of just tranting them]


    ~pffff~


    Hearing what the old man said, Mack almost choked while drinking water, not because he found funny, but because he finally came to a realization.


    "deep meanings! that''s it!" said Mack, turning his back and looking at the device that still showed the runes of the ck chameleon skin powder in it.


    Mack grabbed the device and looked at the format of the runes, the curves, and the lines of it. Runes could be as simple as a few strokes of a pencil orplex to the point of looking like a miniature maze.


    Mack stared at those three runes and kept ncing at each small corner of them for a long time, until, "There!" he then quickly grabbed a paper and drew another rune he knew, the rune had the same format and design at his left bottom corner, as if both runes shared something small in them. But for Mack, that was a huge discovery. It was if he had just discovered how runes truly worked for the first time.


    "How I''m so dumb to never had noticed it?"


    But Mack didn''t ponder over it for long and started to draw more runes and analyze them together. His work was just starting.


    ....


    Inside his studio, Hack, that had just finished talking with Mack, gave a faint smile and said to himself only, "Took me dozens of years to notice, I''m not sure if I spilled the beans or if you are just a genius when ites to runes." but his smilested little, as he looked at the message that had just popped in his device.


    #we need to meet#


    And the sender of the message was none other than Kios, the overseer of the trial that Mack took part.


    "Finally, the fish is taking the bait. I guess he could not hold himself anymore," said Hack, putting his hand on the device and typing a few words.


    The next phase of the n was about to begin, and he had to rush the other parts. All had to be fully prepared before they could start.


    The world was about to know what a Warlock was truly capable of doing, and the events that would unfold after that made Hack only think that he wished to live more, just to be able to see all of that.


    ~cough~


    Just as Hack was thinking about his future, the cough came back. "I guess I will not have the ten years that I predicted anymore. All the uses of essence made me speed up the process. We need to hurry, Mack. Unfortunately, I will not be able to see your growth, or see you bing the apex of this world," said aloud to himself only, as ifmenting the future he will not be able to see.


    Hack opened the drawer by his side and took a small and transparent sk that was half empty already, and took one pill. After swallowing the bitter pill, Hack felt a little better, but he knew those pills were just prolonging the inevitable.


    He had no time to lose. He had to fulfil that promise he once made to his teacher.


    The promise he made to Raz.


    To kill everyone that once took part on that bloody ughter, to avenge his race, and to show the true power of a warlock, not the prospects of one, but to make every single mage in all the gxies understand that if they met a warlock, they were to bow, or die.

 Chapter 141 - 141. Fenryr Tower

    Just like it always been, it once was again, and two weeks passed in a blink of an eye.


    Mack now stood in front of a huge gate. Dozens of people were around him, and a few more dozens were watching not too far from them, all waiting to join the Fenryr Tower.


    This gate was the admission gate of the Fenryr Tower. One of the two entrances of the tower, the one for new members.


    The thing that Mack still could not ept was the fact that they called it ''a tower''. The ''thing'' looked more like a bunker than a tower. Mack already knew about that, but still....


    ''They should call it a dungeon instead of a tower'', thought Mack, seeing the entrance to the ''tower'' leading to the underground.


    Every single mage tower had its own ''entricities'' and the Fenryr tower was the only one that instead of going up, was going down. The tower levels went deep in the ground for hundreds of floors. Only the entrance stood above the ground.


    Mack was waiting for about 10 minutes already. Everyone hated to wait in a queue, and Mack was no different. He was bored, super bored, but unfortunately, he had to be well behaved. If a fight urred at the Entrance, the tower would enter in lockdown as a safe measure, and if it was not an attack and simply some people fighting among themselves, the guards would record the entire thing and ''cklist'' everyone involved, and that, was for life. Thus, people rarely interacted with others at the entrance, most of the people just stood there alone, waiting for the procedures to start.


    ~DONG~


    Just as Mack was about to sit out of boredom, he heard the huge bell ring. It was time for the procedures to start.


    A guard came forward and instructed everyone to set up a queue, and one minuteter, another guard came to take the info.


    Time passed quickly, and Mack''s turn came. The guard didn''t even bother to look up at Mack and asked, "Name and"


    "Mack, Earth."


    After talking with Hack about it, Mack decided he was not going to hide his identity. If he wished to have some kind of leverage in the future, he had to be known. An unknown person can''t make demands without unsheathing his de, and Mack had a lot of ns for the future. He would not be able to solve everything with killing.


    He knew it was risky to say his home''s name because people may use it to ckmail him, but for him, they could destroy the. He would not move a finger to defend it. He made hisst concession when he let those mages live back on Earth, from the moment he left the, the also left him.


    The guard looked up in Mack''s eyes and asked, "Affiliations or Family?"


    "None"


    The guard made a small nod and, looking back at the device in his hand, asked another question. "ssification and level?"


    This was the trickiest question for Mack, because depending on what he said, he had to limit himself in the way he fought or the runespells he used, but Hack thought of a solution for that long ago.


    "Ability User and Rune Master, Level Five."


    Once those words were said, the guard looked up at Mack as if he was seeing a beast, it was rare for him to see a rune master and even more to see a level five joining the tower, but refrained from saying anything about that, and asked, "Which Ability?"


    "Blood Ignition," said Mack, not caring about the murmurs that he heard behind him.


    People who joined the tower were usually low level, at maximum, level three, it was extremely rare for someone of level five to join, because those people were already part of some organization or family, it was extremely hard for someone to gain level five with no support.


    "Blood Ignition is not on the list of abilities. Are you sure it''s the correct name?" asked back the guard showing a troubled face, it was rare to an ability to not be on the list, but he also knew that people usually had different names for the same abilities and also, some abilities were variant of other abilities, thus, bing a nightmare to keep an urate record of them all.


    "It''s a variant of Essence Ignition, it has a drawback of making me weak and losing blood when active," said Mack, not even blinking while lying about his true ''abilities''.


    "I see. We will record that information for future reference and put you under the Essence Ignition category until the records are updated. This is a normal procedure, so you don''t have to worry about it, it will not affect you in any way." said the guard, not removing his eyes from the device in his hand while writing all the information that Mack said.


    After a few seconds, the guard turned the device in his hand and said, "Look at the hole". Mack did as instructed and could see tinysersing out of it and mapping his face, iris, and upper body.


    The guard turned back the device, and now both Mack and the guard could see a 3D version of Mack at the top of his form in the device. It was not a holographic device, but the 3D version of Mack on the top looked very realistic and well done.


    Mack could also see that some green dots appeared at the corner of his form but the guard quickly interrupted Mack curiosity but tilting the angle of the device and saying "You are good to go. Enter the gate and wait with the others inside. The moment the procedures are done, a guard wille to exin the next part"


    Mack gave a small nod, and walked inside, but behind him he heard the whispers of two guards talking with each other.. His level five was indeed a bit eye catching for a newbie at the tower.

 Chapter 142 - 142. Rules

    After walking a bit, Mack entered a small room that had no more than ten people and took a vacant seat among the many avable, the room was silent with not even whispers or small talks happening making the atmosphere a little ufortable for most, but for Mack, already used to silence, it was just a normal day.


    Mack noticed that the room was devoid of any kind of decoration, or furniture, and that the opposite door he came also had two guards. It seemed a pattern. At each door, two guards were there.


    Once Mack took a seat, more and more people started toe inside the room, and after half an hour almost everyone from outside was here.


    Small talks started to happen, and the eerie silence was no more, until a man came from the opposite door and gave a loud cough, with that, everyone''s attention turned to the man, who started to talk in small voice, as if not caring if the others would hear him or not, "Wee to Fenryr Tower" said the man taking a pause, and than continued, "My name is Skot, I will be, what we call here, your guide. I will be responsible for answering to your doubts and to help you on the initial floors of the tower, in other words, until you reach the floor number 10 of the tower."


    The room went silent waiting for the man to finish his introduction, that until, someone said, "Oh god! We already know everything about the tower. Just let us enter already!"


    A few people nodded, but none said anything aloud.


    "Right, I know most of you have friends of family inside the tower, and themon knowledge about the tower is very well spread in our world, but this time, we have a few people from others joining, so let me finish my job and then you can go and kill yourself at the first floor, Ok?" said Skot, not turning his head to look at the man that spoke and keeping his ''authoritative'' demeanor.


    While silent looking at the people inside as if to see if someone would still spout some nonsense, a guard came to the side of Skot and gave him a device, while saying "The entries for this time, Sir".


    Skot skimmed through the screens and raised his head again, looking at the people inside the room, "I can see some of you have potential, so let me continue, otherwise, hehehe" said Skot as if a bit angry by the interruption of the man from before.


    Skot gave the device back to the guard and continued, "The initial floors are for material gathering, in other words, you guys will be ''well paid'' farmers and hunters, the material you will gather varies, and a lot of it is a bit dangerous to catch, or they are in dangerous environments, or they are dangerous by itself, I always rmend that you form teams of five people with mixed skills so you can safely pick up those materials, but that is up to you."


    While Skot was talking someone suddenly raised a hand as if he was in a school, making Skot eyes bright with the respect the man showed. Seeing the hand raised, Skot took a pause and said, "Whats your question?"


    The man raised from his seat. He seemed a bit thin for a warrior, ''maybe a mage'', thought Mack, while looking at the man that stood up. The man than gave a small cough and said "We really need to gather those resources? I mean, whats the point of it?"


    When the man said his words almost everyoneughed, even Skot, "I see you never heard about a mage tower in your life, right? What is a mage tower about? Let me tell you, is about mages doing research, and is also a ''defensive tower'', something to make hard for invaders to control the, and in both cases, resources are needed, this tower was created to be self-sufficient, as most mage towers are, in other words, most of the materials needed for research or to keep the tower going, are acquired from inside the tower itself, that''s why we let folks like you enter the tower to begin, so you can work your ass off and acquire those material in exchange of money."


    The man that asked the question lowered his head and, as if devoid of any pride, said, "I see, sorry for the stupid question." While seating again, not even thinking about asking anything again.


    Skot looked at the pained face in the man and shook his head, but said nothing about it and continued, "So... continuing.... At each floor, there will an Exchange Building, the building is full of facilities for your daily needs, and it contains the mission hall, there, is where you will take your missions to collect materials and return the acquired materials, apart from that, you are free to hunt or collect everything you find inside the floor, you can consume or use those things, but you can''t bring it outside, every time you leave the tower, you will be throughly inspected and if you don''t have a permission you be punished if caught smuggling items."


    Skot took another pause and said, "But lets say you hunted a very rare animal, and want his hide to create a glove outside the tower, because you know a man that does it and will give you a very good discount, this is a very practical example as most people do this, to be able to do this, you need to go to the exchange building and register the material in your name, a small fee will be charged, and you are free to take your spoils out of the tower, am I clear?"


    Hearing the firm tone of the guide a few people nodded out of habit, and seeing that, he continued, "Now, the most important rule of the tower, you are not allowed to fight or steal or do any kind of ''uncivilized thing'' close to the building and its facilities, or you will be banned for life,"


    Skot took a pause and said, "But outside of the perimeter of the building, and when I said ''perimeter'', you will be able to understand once you see, because there is a very obvious wall separating it, you are free to do as you wish."

 Chapter 143 - 143. Rules - Part 2

    Seeing that no one had any objection or showed a surprised face, the guide continued, "This rule exists for two reasons, one, the resources inside the tower belong to the Fenryr family, the small fee is their profit for letting you gather those resources, and the second reason is, that some resources are specially precious and in high demand, thus, those kind of resources would not be allowed to leave the tower and will be brought by the tower in full value instead of a small fee, that is the purpose of registering the materials. Everyone understood until now?"


    Just like before, a few people nodded, but Mack stood there silent observing and hearing the rules, for him those kind of rules were actually fair, since the people could enter the tower to get materials, it was expected that not everything was allowed to be taken outside.


    The guide took a sip of water from a ss cup and, with his throat refreshed, continued, "The missions. While they are optional, you can only advance on the floors once you acquires the minimum number of contribution points, its not mandatory to advance, but you can only advance once you have those contribution points, the number for each floor is 100 contribution points, and as you all can guess, the only way to acquire contribution points ispleting missions given by mission hall. Any doubt?"


    A man quickly raised his hand and asked, "Why would someone want to advance to the next floor?" and to everyone''s surprise, it was the same man from before.


    "Ah yes, Mr ...." said the guide, looking at the device while searching for something, "Mr Serpentine, the reason is that, the higher the floor is the more valuable the resources in there are, and also, less crowded with people, because not everyone has the confidence in their skills to hunt the things in there, also, the death ratio whilepleting missions increase several folds with each new floor."


    The man gulped hard and lowered his hand, it was clear to everyone that he was not the ''courageous'' kind of people.


    The guide waited for a bit to see if anyone would have any questions, it was then, that Mack, without raising his hand and with his head low and eyes closed, as if was taking a nap, asked "There is a way to avoid all those useless missions and advance to the higher floors?"


    Everyone in the hall looked at Mack at the same moment, as if they were seeing a beast of some sort. Even the guide''s expression changed and be more serious, as if all before was just him talking with a bunch of children.


    "There is one way, and that is the higher level mission of each floor, each floor has its own, and it varies, but usually it''s a very strong animal to be hunted or a material that is very hard to acquire, thus, if youplete this mission, you will have the one hundred points and can pass to the next floor, but, as your guide, I strongly advice that no one take this mission because the death ratio is, well, 99%."


    Seeing the man didn''t show any expression of fear or even doubt the guide could not avoid but skim through the device and see who that man was, and once he found his form, he understood. The man talking was a level five ability user, a rare ability even.


    "Mr Mack? is that?" asked the guide as if trying to pronounce that weird name correctly, but didn''t wait for a confirmation and said, "I see you are a level five ability user, but even for level five this is a hard mission, you must understand, there is no problem in taking a few missions to advance, it will be more safe, and allow you to have a better grasp of the fauna inside the tower."


    Mack then raised his head and slowly opened his eyes and asked, "What is the average time needed for someone to advance on the first floor?"


    The guide understood what Mack was trying to hint, anyone with half brain could quickly connect the dots, but he had to keep his face neutral and said, "That, we don''t know the exact number of days, it varies from person to person and group to group. Anyone have other questions?" said the guide, looking around, trying to change the subject.


    But it seemed that the devil has picked him this time, as he heard Mack voice once again, "So, lets say each mission takes a day and each mission has 1 point in value, it will take at least a hundred days to aplish it, that considering you take a mission every day, but, since the first floor is the most crowded with people, I bet someone can only take a mission that he feelsfortable with once a week, because the true easy and profitable ones would probably be ''monopolized'' by the strongest groups, am I wrong?"


    Seeing the pained expression on the face of the guide, Mack knew he had hit a soft spot, and he knew he was right too. But he chose to not provoke a mess and said, "That''s why, they put that single mission that is worth one hundred points, for the truly strong people that entered a floor to not ughter everyone inside out of anger, and it was a smart decision of them, believe me." said Mack lowering his gaze and seeming as if sleeping once again, but to the rest of the people it seemed a beast waiting to be provoked, waiting to have a reason to let blood gush out of their necks. A beast following rules, but one excuse was needed for it to show its fangs.


    The eerie silence that once again engulfed the room was broken with a small cough made by the guide, "Since no one has any questions, then I will continue with the exnations, including the facilities, the price of them and how that is convertible to essence stones"

 Chapter 144 - 144. Fenryr Tower - First Floor

    Half an hourter, and saying all that he was obligated to, the guide finished his exnations and said, "Now, let''s move inside. Please be polite and follow me through the door behind me, and remember, don''t make a fuss or fight close to the tower facilities or you will receive a fine, or in the worst case, banned for life."


    Following the guide, everyone entered another room, this time much bigger, and inside this room Mack could see a bunch of people already, almost like a thousand people were there, some in small groups of 3 to 5 others alone, but all had a very rxed expression, the guide raised his voice and said, "This is the elevator to the lower floor, it''s the only way to enter or exit the tower, and each floor has one, by the morning of each day the elevators of all floors go down at the same time, and by the noon they go up, all at the same time, this way no one can directly go up or down in one strike, The Fenryr Tower has one of the best security systems of all mage towers, and one of the reasons is this due to his elevators." Said the guide, feeling a bit proud of the mage tower of his own world, but continued, "Next time you enter the tower, remember to take the normal gate. The one you guys used today was for newbies."


    Barely the guide finished saying his words and the doors around the elevator started to close. Mack looked at one of them and saw a few people rushing in to not lose the time, and one minuteter the doors finished closing.


    Mack heard a strong bell like song ring, and the entire floor started to move down. He saw the walls moving up and the ceiling bing far away in his sight. Time passed and the floor never stopped going down, until Mack heard a huge ''ng'' noise, and the ''elevator'' stopped moving.


    One minuteter, the new doors around them opened and Mack saw people going inside the doors and leaving the elevator, but the guide stood there as if waiting for everyone to leave before them.


    Once the number reduced to a few dozens the guide said, "Now let''s go, you guys are now on top of the facilities building, so I strongly suggest to you to don''t make a fuss"


    Once Mack heard that, he finally understood how the tower worked, it seemed that each elevator was in the middle of the tower, and connected with the facilities building and the elevator below, creating a ''huge column'' in the middle of the tower. ''Indeed, this tower is very hard to invade. The moment someone breaks into one level, the other level can shut itself down by just moving the elevator a bit'' and just as Mack thought of that, he heard the doors closing behind him, and the elevator moving out of the reach of the doors, the entire elevator had be a huge ''vault door'', and Mack would bet that the material of the elevator was not just some kind of rock and iron like the medieval castles on Earth.


    "Here guys, is where we part ways. If you somehow have any questions in future or need help with any ''bureaucracy'', you can find me at the mission hall, or send me a message anytime. But mind that I will not always be there, so please, send a message if you want to meet," said the guide, taking a small and metallic egg from his pockets and throwing it to his front.


    The egg never hit the ground, but one centimeter close to it, it started to unfold itself and took a shape of a metallic disk with silver luster and a thin surface. The guide didn''t bother exining things and stepped on the metallic ''te'' and a few secondster was taken away by the strange vehicle.


    No one said a thing looking at that, but that until someone said, "I bet Mr Serpentine never saw one of those before?"


    The shy guy lowered his head and gave a nod, but said nothing.


    "It''s an Automag, its use maic fields to move. They only work inside the tower and other special buildings. It''s practical and doesn''t require spells to use."


    The shy guy''s eyes grew with curiosity and said, "Thank you for exining, how do we get one?" asked Mr Serpentine while walking.


    The group, unfortunately, had to walk down the stairs until they reached the ground level of the floor they were, because none of them had an Automag. ''That thing seems to be the mon way'' of transportation in the tower'' thought Mack, while also walking among the group of people.


    "You can buy one, or exchange for points in the facilities. My brother said the shops inside the tower have all kinds of stuff," responded a girl by the side.


    Only now Mack noticed the girl, but she seemed the innocent type of girl, the one that had a very protective big brother and was never allowed to go out with other guys.


    The girl seemed a bit confident and added, "What if we form small groups? We all are new and no one will ept us in their groups"


    "What about your brother?" the shy man asked.


    "He is on the third floor, and he recently epted a mission. He said he will only be able toe to meet me in a few days." said the innocent girl, but not one bit sad about that, by the contrary, she seemed a bit happy even.


    "I have a few friends waiting for me already so I will have to decline your offer." said very politely a burly man by the side.


    After a few more exchanges with the same kind of ''excuse'' only one group was formed, the innocent girl, the shy man and Mack.


    Yes, Mack.


    To everyone''s surprise, Mack epted the girl''s offer.


    Believe me, even this poor author can''t understand what was in Mack''s mind. Why would he suddenly ept to join a team when he clearly was aiming to solo the big boss of that floor and move to the next one? No one knows...


    [Don''t tell me you joined her team just because she has a big ass?]

 Chapter 145 - 145. Mission Hall

    After a few minutes descending the stairs, the group of a few dozen people reached an open area, it was the highest floor on the facilities building just below the elevator, and Mack could see a few ques giving directions and several smaller elevators just like any elevator from Earth. But each elevator went to specific floors instead of going to all of them, Mack guess they projected this way for security reasons again, because this way everyone would need toe to the lobby area, where Mack was now, to get other elevator if they wanted to go to other floor of the facilities building, creating a virtual checkpoint where guards could arrest someone.


    And just as Mack thought of that, he saw several guards arresting a guy.


    "I surrender!" screamed the guy, realizing he had no way to escape.


    Dozens of guards stormed in him, like voracious beast going after fresh meat, even considering that the guy gave up, they still went full force on him, but they didn''t use spells or fancy abilities, only brute force, but that was enough to scare everyone around.


    An area cleared around the guards as everyone took space to not get involved in the fight, but Mack still moved forward, approaching the guards and the full of bruises arrested guy.


    "its better..." said the innocent girl, trying to stop Mack to get closer, but Mack made a gesture with his hand signaling it was fine and kept walking forward and closer to the guards.


    "Stay out of here! boy!" shouted a guard, preventing Mack from getting closer.


    Mack stopped and looked at the arrested man, full of bruises, dark clothes, and a gloomy air, as if what he was doing was nothing much, and was expected already.


    Mack looked the man in the eyes and changed his gaze to the guard that shouted for him to stop and said, "I was justing to help, but it seems is everything under control."


    "Tsc, Its fine, but next time don''t even bother kid, this is our job" said the guard a bit annoyed, then the same guard turned to the crowd of people and shouted, "Move! Nothing to see here!" in an attempt to disperse the crowd of people, the thing that guards feared the most was a crowd. Things could always go wrong when people gathered together.


    The dozens of guards now felt more rxed with the man arrested and started to move to a specific elevator,the one leading to the jail. A few of them walked ahead and a few behind the cuffed guy, and only two kept him under arms.


    Mack opened space for the guards to pass, just like everyone else around, but the moment the cuffed guy was a few inches from him, Mack saw the cuffed guy headbutt one of the guards.


    "Take him~" screamed a guard, but the cuffed guy suddenly ran, storming through the guards, bumping on Mack and a few other people around until a guard took a pistol and hit the man in the back.


    The shot was loud, but Mack recognized the noise, and it was just a regr firearm, without essence bullets.


    The still cuffed guy fell on the floor, but there was no blood, nor a hole in his back. He seemed to just pass out.


    ''Maybe some kind of stun gun?'' Thought Mack while seeing the cuffed guy was still alive.


    Barely Mack thought about it, and the guards stormed in the cuffed guy once again, kicking and hitting the unconscious man.


    Once the rage on them dispersed, they dragged his body to the elevator, leaving everyone around still a bit stunned by the sudden events.


    Only two guards remained, screaming for everyone to disperse; And having nothing to see anymore, the crowd did as asked.


    Mack, on the other hand, put his hands in his pockets, and the corners of his lips slightly raised a bit. But he still followed behind everyone, leaving the looby floor with only two guards remaining.


    The silence was brief as more elevators came and went. The lobby would always be one of the busiest floors of the facilities building.


    ...


    A few minutester, Mack was inside the mission hall, along with half the people that came with him. The rest seemed to have other meeting ces, or already knew where to go.


    The people that remained were going to take a few missions from start or were going to meet with friends in the mission hall.


    Mack initial n was to solo the ''big boss'' of the first floor and move to the next one, but once he saw those small devices that worked using maic fields he thought was a good idea to spend a few days to get to familiarize with the tower better, he may even find something that may help him.


    [Kid, stop lying to yourself. I know you changed the n just because of that big ass girl]


    ~cough~


    "Are you okey Oppa?" asked the innocent girl, "If you want, I have something for cold here, it''s a herbal juice."


    Mack wanted to facepalm himself, but instead put on a warm smile and said, "No need, no need, I''m fine. Thank you"


    ''Did she really say Oppa?'' Mack could not believe what the girl just said, and for a moment he felt that all his most ''private'' desires were being realized all together, but then he realized the girl was just not used to interact with other people and was used to talk only with her big brother, ''that''s why, yes, yes, she must have misspoken''


    But Mack was not the only one who heard that. "You two know each other?" asked the shy guy by their side.


    "No, Why?" asked the girl, a bit confused.


    Mack looked at the guy with fire in the eyes, almost as if wanting to burn the guy on ashes. ''Oh man, don''t say it! don''t!'' It''s what Mack was trying to say using his eyes while slowly shaking his head, but the man was oblivious to Mack and said to the girl, "Because... you just called him ''Oppa''?"


    The girl suddenly stopped on her track, her hands went behind her body, and she lowered her head, blushing her face as if the girl had be a huge tomato all of the sudden.


    ''Fuck man, why you had to say that?'' thought Mack, but was toote already.

 Chapter 146 - 146. An Odd Team

    The girl didn''t move. ''Did she break?'', but then Mack heard, "Err... sorry, I was not mean to..."


    "Its fine, its fine" said Mack, shaking his hand, but the girl still didn''t move. Mack was now wondering about her health, because the girl was so red in the cheeks that it could not be natural anymore.


    "Right..... I never asked your name. Mine is Mack," said Mack, trying to change the awkward subject.


    The shy man took the opportunity, and said, "My name is Lok Serpentine, but you can call me Lok" as if no one already knew his name.


    The girl took courage and, raising her head, she said, "Lina Highfalls" but the moment the words came out of her mouth, she stormed forward, and walked ahead of everyone.


    Mack could only shake his head, but a smile could be seen on his face. That girl was a bliss to watch. So innocent, and yet a full woman. It was rare for Mack to find girls like her.


    ~cough~


    Mack raised his eyes and looked to the side. "What?"


    "Nothing, nothing, you seemed lost, looking at Lina bu.... nevermind, nevermind," said Lok, a bit shy and feeling bad already for saying anything.


    Mack shook his head and resumed walking. ''what a strange guy''.


    [I would say.... what an odd team you have found.]


    ''Indeed''


    [Did you receive the package?]


    ''Yes,'' Thought Mack, putting his left hand on his pocket once again to confirm that the package was still there. ''That guy? What will happen to him?'' asked Mack, thinking about the cuffed guy that gave him the package when pretending to stumble on him.


    ''They will probably ban him for life from the tower, but no need to worry. The Fenryr tower doesn''t usually kill people unless they murder someone or something along those lines. He will be fine.''


    Mack didn''t care much about other people''s life, but thinking someone would die to give him a package, a package, was too much for his conscience, it''s not like he would cry over it if happened, but the bad taste in his mouth would linger for a few days.


    ...


    Time passed until came the time for Mack team to be received by the attended of the Mission hall, the mission hall, strangely, still had people giving missions, it was not some machines like banks or other kiosks, they had to enter a queue and wait for their time to take a mission avable at the moment they were there.


    Behind the attends there was a huge mission board that was almost 50 meters in size, showing mission number, how many groups or people could take them at the same time, their difficult and the contributions points that would be awarded.


    The mission hall worked almost like the elevator. By morning, they would give missions, and by noon, they would collect them.


    Mack was not sure why they did things like this, but they must have a reason for it. One thing that Mack learned for sure was that the Fenryr Tower aimed for maximum security, and if they have done things this way, that''s because there was a history behind it.


    The dozens of attendants seemed to never be enough for the unending tide of people that came inside the hall at every moment.


    "What mission you will take?" asked the attendant.


    Mack looked at the girl by his side, and seeing the troubled face on Lina, he looked back to the attendant, and said, "The easiest one, please"


    The man attending them gave a sigh, there was always people like those, that didn''t even bother to choose a mission beforehand, "There is a goblin infestation close to an orchid farm, we need three teams to take them down before they start to ransack the farm, it''s the mission #159, it need to be done today, are you up for the task?"


    "Sure, Sure, we will take that one," said Mack, not caring if was goblins or rats or whatever, he just wanted to walk a bit inside the tower and see how things were.


    "I need a name, .... Sir...." said the attendant in a not very politely tone.


    Mack looked at Lina as if signaling for her to give her name, and she quickly followed up. The mission was registered in her name, and only she could retrieve the contributions points now.


    "Lets go, we have a few goblins to kill" said Mack turning his back and walking away, the group followed him, and they entered the elevator, but before the elevator door closed, Mack looked at the giant board once again "#0 - Collect One Wyvern Egg - Hard - X Spots - 100 CP"


    ''So, I have to kill a few wyverns and collet an egg. I wonder if they are like the same wyvern from Earth fantasy story''s'', Thought Mack, remembering about his childhood.


    [It seems you learned themon tongue quite fast]


    ''Indeed, I''m not sure, but since I became level five, my memory seems to be extremely good. It''s almost impossible for me to forget something. That helped me a lot in learning it, also, themon tongue is like a variant of runes, they are like the modern version of it''


    [Your are correct about your memory. Level five brings changes way beyond muscles, it improves your body in several ways, and memory is one of them]


    ''I wonder how level ten would feel like. It must be amazing. Anyway, I will soon find out hehehe,'' thought Mack, raising the corner of his lips, while he watched the elevator door close in front of him.


    [Don''t be cocky. We still have a lot to do and don''t waste too much time in your ''recognition''.]


    Hack could be anything, but he was not naive, and he knew that Mack was just taking a break before the storm, and he approved that, Mack was rushing all the way since he stepped in the tower of chaos, three years had passed, but Mack never really stopped to enjoy life a bit, and a little break would be good.. That''s why Hack didn''t object when Mack suddenly felt on the mood to ''go hunt goblins'' or join a ''odd team of weirdos''.

 Chapter 147 - 147. Im Rich

    After a few minutes inside the elevator, the group reached another lobby. This one was the ground lobby, it was like the one at the top of the facilities building, just, was at the ground level, as the name implied.


    Mack left the elevator with the others and saw thousands of people, it was a sea of people, someing some going, it looked like an airport from Earth, and just like those, there were all kinds of people inside, Mack even saw some golden skinned people that really stood out from the rest.


    Struggling to move among the people, Mack made his way until he reached one of the several doors. There, he could see several stalls around the area, and a few higher buildings with two to four floors. It was if Mack was at some big city from Earth again, and behind those buildings, Mack saw a huge wall made of stones, the wall looked like a wall made for giants, as it was monumental bigger than the buildings inside, the only thing bigger was the facilities building where Mack came from, it was so high that Mack could not see the end of it when looking from below, it literally connected the skies to the earth.


    Looking around again, Mack felt even more impressed, because he saw a sun on the horizon. ''It must be an artificial sun, just like in the tower of chaos,'' Thought Mack, but he still could not stop to wonder how impressive the entire tower was.


    The immense wall blocked almost everything, but Mack still could see some people flying in birds outside the walls. The rest of the people seemed to be using those Automag that stood a few inches from the ground only.


    "Impressive! The wall! It''s so huge!" said Lina by Mack''s side.


    "I never saw anything so big, and I came from a very advanced." said the shy man, but once he looked behind him he said, "Nevermind, I think I saw now."


    Lina looked behind her too and saw the facilities building where they came from and could not avoid but being a bit heated "WOW! I''m dizzy from looking at it already!!"


    But Mack''s gaze was focused on something else, something far away in the sight. It was a huge mountain that could barely be seen behind the fog of distance; the mountain was extremely far away, but even so, Mack could see its silhouette piercing the sky. Its top was white and small dots circled around it as if vultures stalking its prey. But Mack knew these were no vultures but something much much bigger...


    ''I bet the wyvern eggs are there, one hundred percent,'' Thought Mack, alreadymenting his bad luck. He hated cold, and he hated to climb mountains.


    "Are you okey Oppa?" asked the girl, seeing Mack''s troubled face.


    "I''m fine, and stop calling me ''Oppa'' already. People will think weird things about us." said Mack, lifting the corner of his lips while looking inside the girl''s eyes.


    "I... I....I...." but the girl never finished her sentence, as she ran in front of them "...Sorry"


    Mack shook his head and followed behind.


    The stunned Lok also did the same. He was clueless to what was happening, but he knew something was off. Still, it was not his matter, so he chose to not meddle in and just followed by the side of Mack.


    A few minutester, the girl seemed to be fine again, and the trio walked together, looking at the stalls from time to time and seeing all the different things that were sold inside the tower. But none of them had the money to actually buy those things.


    Mack still had a few essence stones, but that was for an emergency. He also didn''t know where to sleep or where to eat and how much that costed, so he chose to be prudent for the time being.


    The stalls sold almost any kind of thing, from fruits, to essence bullets, but Mack noticed that the true good stuff was inside the stores that were like normal grocery stores from Earth. ''They are more pricey too,'' Thought Mack, looking at the price tag on an Automag disyed on the store. ''200 Essence Crystals / 2CP'', but with that he knew why almost everyone had those Automags, the price in essence crystals was high, but the price in contribution points was very low, two simple missions and they could buy one.


    ''So... the ration here is 100 essence crystals to 1 Contribution Point, thats why people flock to the tower like they do, one mission alone can give you 100 essence crystals, that''s a lot of money.''


    Mack finances were not that good, and he had barely 100ish essence crystals, but it was not like he really needed money to start. He had the Horuswork to rely on, and the old man, too.


    [Don''t think I''m your grandfather. I''m not giving you my money]


    ''Tsc, you should help more your poor grand grand grand ... nevermind''


    [Not Happening]


    Mack shook his head and took his ck device that looked like a smartphone from Earth, he connected to Horus Network and saw the CP he had on there, it seemed that most organizations used this kind of ''reward system'' instead of using Essence Crystals, ''Thats probably because essence crystals are not thatmon, they must have done this to avoid mining alls they know just to supply the folks with a currency''


    [That''s indeed the case. Most organizations ands have their own mary system, and each one has its own conversion to essence crystals.]


    Mack looked at CP showing in the Horus Network Interface and saw it was 998 CP, ''One to each person I killed during the trial, not all killed by me, but it seems that they still gave the points to me.''


    Seeing the number, Mack wondered how that converted to Essence Crystals and pressed a few buttons until he saw the option to exchange the points for crystals. ''Damm! I''m rich! 1CP is equal to 100 EC too.. I have 99.800 Essence Crystals''


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