ã€ŠOrigins of Three Empiresã€‹


 Prologue

    ??/??/ ??? ??

    Total war. The conflict between leaders, their war machines, their beliefs, their peoples. Carnage shook the world, unprecedented after even the toppling of the gods. The elemental realms paused their endless clash for supremacy witnessing the opposing sides draw from them for battle.

    When the war began to slow to a conclusion, the realms screamed as a hole was ripped through the interrealm then through all their realms. All battle ceased in horror at the hole oozing in primordial energies. One side decided death before defeat.

    09/31/ AWAD 200

    Storms filled the night. Anyone with a drop of sensibleness had long before barricaded themselves into their homes. The storms almost didn¡¯t seem just of rain and thunder but a siege of the world against man. These were horrid conditions for any except the most twisted of actions.

    The storm mirrored the chaos Jorn would bring with the ritual set up in front of him whether he succeeded or not. The markings would only be twisted versions of the ideograms of magicraft language to the ignorant. That included almost everyone¡ªJorn was the exception.

    He knew the truth. These were the originals, runes on the disks the cardinal mages extracted out of the still warm bodies of monsters. The magi language was but a distilled and more manageable form. The fact that the others didn''t desire more of the truth was baffling.

    Jorn looked back on the years he fruitlessly called for everyone to reach even farther. What was stopping them now that the gods were thrown down? The instincts of a whipped meek species it seemed. They accused him of insanity while he accused them of cowardice. In the end, he received no offer of cooperation.

    He had picked up an assistant but that fool didn''t count. At best Kisorn provided Jorn with amusing ideas in ''experimenting.'' The idiot let the one summoned obtained using the original ritual escape. No matter, though. The escapee only served as a proof of concept and didn''t know their language, No one would be able to question him on Jorn¡¯s whereabouts.

    Jorn¡¯s makanol scrambled the escapee¡¯s mana making any reading mind reading or enchantments of significant duration impossible with him as the subject. Didn''t his stupid assistant mention that the escapee¡¯s marker indicated he was a slave at the moment?

    With the room as a newly expanded and unsmoothed cavern barely lit with candles -- Jorn still couldn''t believe he had to resort to using candles-- he was amused to find that this would look like some sort of ritual offering sacrifices to some dark god to those ignorant naysayers. Then again when Jorn became God he wouldn''t be a benevolent one so maybe there was some truth to that. Wait he could actually ask one of those nay-sayers right now couldn''t he? Jorn had one right here!

    "Hey Asani you never thought I would make it this far did you? Give me your thoughts. Oh wait I forgot I took your tongue. Kisorn, go lessen the effects of the scrambler on her a little," he pointed out a battered woman.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

    Her eyes sparked and she mentally sent, [you sick dog! You will never succeed! The guardians will rip you limb from limb if this insanity of yours doesn¡¯t do...]

    Jorn kicked her in the face. Asani should have been able to endure a little more abuse according to previous data. Instead of bouncing back to berating him again, though, the spark of defiance in her eyes died. The data would have to be reanalyzed.

    "Well that was no fun. I broke her faster than I thought I would. Kisorn, don¡¯t bother turning the scrambler back to full power," he sighed at his miscalculation.

    Failing to predict trends of mental strength was no matter. Although only a little more than a proof of concept, his new ¡°hero summoning¡± ritual would still herald a new age -- his age -- and he relished holding the world itself hostage. As if an attempt by the world to smite him, lightning struck. Only a shimmering of the shields and slight strain in the sound nullification was prompted. Maybe the world didn''t appreciate what could only be a mutilating of the laws of existence.

    Jorn scoffed. An actual guardian regiment would be an actual threat soon if he didn¡¯t finish quickly enough rather than the philosophized sentience of the world. All the calculations panned out.

    He only had to execute the first step to godhood. Not the cheap mantles the so-called-originals of his world had and pursued by the former revolutionaries and their descendants. Godhood that stretched across the worlds was his goal. Within the ritual plebeians considered the ¡°hero summoning¡± ritual lay the key to true power. The ritual took advantage of how the world would leak in primordial energy occasionally and simply used summoned beings as focal points. Some summoned beings just happened to gain massive power from soaking in the blood of the worlds.

    Most of the summoned beings were indoctrinated into the summoners¡¯ views and presented as "heroes". If the indoctrination failed then they were framed as the "enemy of the world.¡± The strategy probably had varying degrees of success but apparently enough to make people believe the ritual to be the hero summoning ritual.

    Jorn had no interest in summoning a potentially powerful adversary. Even if the sentient beings he summoned weren¡¯t of high moral character, they would probably deem him as a threat. The first and last time he tested the authenticity of the ritual resulted with a dud of a specimen luckily or unluckily. No, the modified version of the ritual would siphon off primordial energy from the summoned.

    The groans of his sacrifices reached a volume that tore him away from his thoughts. "Shut up you hideous meat bags, be glad you will have an actual purpose to your otherwise meaningless lives!"

    Their groaning turned into outright yells in response, so Jorn ordered them to be bludgeoned.

    He exhaled heavily. The suffering of lower beings always soothed him but became obnoxious when too loud. Looking into better ways of silencing captives could be interesting. The venture would have synergy with his efforts to study pain thresholds. Those were thoughts for another time, because he needed to get started.

    With a dash of mana, the ritual began. A mash of colorful mana from the sacrifices lit up the various rings of symbols. A moment later, a ring of runes rose into the air. Every few seconds, a ring lifted up into optimum position. The result was a sphere of symbols flickering with a myriad of colors.

    Screams were elicited from the sacrifices as they felt their very existences being consumed. A bubble began to form in the center of the created sphere. This was what a hole between worlds looked like according to every record. Jorn had to look down from that point. He couldn''t very well let himself go insane from foolishly looking too long.

    The deviations started from there. Instead of the leaking primordial energies forming an egg like shape around the bubble, the energy should be siphoned into the first test subject. At least in theory. Jorn kept an eye on his first subject through various mediums but the rupture came without warning.

    The summoned subject slammed through the membrane that had formed. Jorn groaned at the failure in his life¡¯s work. The issue was obvious but would he have the time and resources for another attempt?

 Chapter 1

    "Objection! That is not related to the case at hand," an indignant young teen protested.

    On the bench of the courtroom, Judge Jay Black turned his head to a teen adjacent to the first.

    "Your honor, the jury needs to know the defendant''s intent to fully evaluate the grievousness of the theft of the beer as a minor," the opposing teen ¡®attorney¡¯ calmly defended.

    "Objection overruled.¡± Jay rejected the protest of the defending ¡®attorney¡¯ and motioned to the interrupted teen, ¡°please proceed.¡±

    The proceedings were for a teen court case he presided over.

    Teen court existed for minors to convert monetary penalties for misdemeanors into community service hours for clean records on the condition of pleading guilty. Overseeing the process for deciding the punishment only required half-listening.

    The final ''case'' of the day was about a teen who stole two packs of beer in anticipation to play hooky at a river. Unfortunately for the teen, the jury was apparently short on sympathy. The young jurors decided on 59 hours of community service, only a couple short of the maximum, and an apology letter to Walmart as the punishment.

    ¡°Looks like you had to sit through a lot more cases than usual today,¡± a brunette lady commented as Jay walked out of the courtroom.

    ¡°Well Samantha, I actually enjoy helping set kids on the right path whether as citizens or as prospective attorneys or even judges.¡± Jay sighed, ¡°I admit today was a little taxing though.¡±

    Samantha laughed, ¡°I know teen court cases aren¡¯t actually anywhere nearly as tiring as actual ones but aren¡¯t you an hour later than you should be?¡±

    Jay grimaced, ¡°today¡¯s teen attorneys argued doggedly and someone messed up in scheduling so many hearings. I¡¯m thinking Jared messed up. How are you and Eric though?¡±

    ¡°We both have gotten pretty busy lately, but we¡¯re doing great,¡± Samantha looked down at some paperwork she was working on.

    ¡°I¡¯ll let you finish up the documentation,¡± Jay made a last skim of the papers that documented the hearings today. ¡°Sorry to add to your workload but here are the cases that were heard today.¡±

    Samantha wordlessly accepted the papers.

    Everyone filed out of the courthouse soon afterward. Jay changed outfits, finished off some paperwork, and also headed home himself. The area was almost deserted when he pulled out of the parking lot.

    The roads were empty with all traffic lights flashing, a testament to how late it was.

    Jay pulled into his garage, briefly seeing the appearance of his home. A quaint red brick house not unlike the others on the street, but unlike the other houses the windows were pitch black.

    He tossed his keys onto the counter before cracking open his refrigerator. A ready-made was pushed into the microwave before setting the timer a few minutes longer than instructed.

    He sipped from a glass of wine. Eating ready-mades was not healthy. A long life was necessary in order to achieve his objective. Stew in large quantities could be cooked to eat later, but -- he looked around his empty house -- company would be appreciated. Plus, people might start assuming things from his lack of companionship so maybe several issues could be solved at once?

    He winced at memories of how previous relationships went, though. A tendency of burying himself in work left him wanting as relationship material. Maybe accepting a gold digger was the only way.

    Jay¡¯s thoughts wandered to why he ended up as a judge as he dug into the ready-made.

    Starting out as an attorney, winning, losing and learning through lawsuits had been fun (although losing sucked). The depositions were especially exciting in extracting vital information out of opponents. The biggest enjoyment came from encountering various cases and then winning.

    He dumped the empty carton of the ready-made into the trash bin.

    Jay remembered some of the stories his father used to tell them while brushing his teeth. Apparently one of father¡¯s clients woke up with all the cars in the neighborhood going off with his car wrecked. The same client claimed to have no idea of why then later claimed to have been attacked by a raccoon. Jay envisioned going from attorney to a position as Judge, believing pursuits in the sciences would be possible that way.

    There were several reasons for him to discontinue working as a judge. The prospect of having a time intensive ¡®hobby¡¯ in science proved impossible. There was only time for providing funding for research on most occasions. The salaries of even the Supreme Court Justices were not keeping up with inflation. The dignity of working as a judge dropped in recent years also.

    Jay clenched his jaw as he crawled into bed. Those details stopped mattering years ago. Sleep took him slowly.

    His eyes fluttered open, but the usual alarm hadn¡¯t rung. Checking his calendar reminded him why. A week specifically for forging swords was set aside last month. Not being able to schedule with his past mentor had been a let down. Several years had in fact passed, but being rejected still stung.

    He changed into a pair of athletic shorts and a tank top for his morning run.So early in the morning, the only motion visible were the trees swaying in the wind. The neighborhood was dark, quiet and maybe would be even eerie to some. The peace soothed him.

    Which houses were owned by whom was recalled, a routine for cultivating a good name. The popular vote was also necessary for rises in the courts and not just on appointments by the higher ups. His usual route was a ten mile circuit and ended with him drenched in sweat once home.You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

    He would have to compliment Mr. Haywood on his yard since he seemed to have put more effort in its maintenance. Other similar lip service would be provided to other people upon greeting them. Characterizing his attitude toward this routine was difficult oddly enough. Pleasantries were bothersome (especially considering what term he used to describe them), but he had always enjoyed learning about other people¡¯s stories.

    Jay stood in front of his car. Trying to get his driver''s license and failing lead into a large amount of anxiety as a teen. Needing several tries than normal made him think he had something wrong with him. He also lost confidence in other pursuits. Luckily he managed to pull through.

    He snorted. Why had he even gone down memory lane? His personality was quite a deal different from then. Maybe the cause was fulfilling a dream from those years. The small voice denying that reasoning was ignored.

    Jay turned on his navigation app before starting the car. His friends joked he wouldn¡¯t know his left from his right in new areas. The sword smith he had an appointment with lived several cities away, so fairly away from anywhere Jay frequented.

    Without any incidents alongside the way, Jay pulled up into a large garage the sword smith had set aside for guests. Only after a quick look over himself did he get out of his car. The sword smith was also a Youtuber and planned to take a video.

    ¡±It is a pleasure to meet you Alex Steele. I am the one who requested to make a pair of swords. I believe you wanted me to also go over laws concerning swords?¡± Jay called out to a blond man in his mid twenties stoking a furnace in a warehouse familiar from videos.

    ¡°Yeah! Aren¡¯t you a judge now? Congratulations! Let¡¯s get started! Well¡­ after we go over some things of course,¡± Alex whipped his head around revealing grey eyes.

    The motion was so fast his head might have flown off if not for being attached to his neck.

    ¡±First, do we need to go over standard procedure?¡± Alex asked.

    ¡±I don¡¯t believe so but let us go over them anyway,¡± Jay replied.

    He essentially rattled off, but with practiced professionalism, the list of rules Alex had set for himself. Jay went on to list the legalities of possessing swords.

    ¡±For the reason as to why you can¡¯t carry swords on your person in public, they are considered as knives surpassing the legal length limit by the law. Only in ceremony can...¡± Seeing Mr. Steele''s eyes glaze over already, Jay cut himself off, "why don''t we get started? I can always get into the intricacies later."

    Jay didn¡¯t count on having to actually do so.

    Mr. Steele''s eyes regained light, ¡°Ok! So I believe you wanted to make a forty inch and twenty five inch double edged blades? How about making them as a pair of damascus steel swords?¡±

    ¡±I did like to see the forging of those kinds of swords, but I want to forge high carbon steel swords instead,¡± Jay said. ¡°Besides you are talking about modern damascus right?¡±

    ¡°Well¡­ yes,¡± Alex drawed.

    Alex¡¯s disappointment was clear but he would not budge. After all, he was a paying customer.

    ¡±I could argue that point, but let''s crack on to the forging!¡± Alex threw Jay a pair of protective glasses and headphones like his own before moving to his stock.

    The forge already glowed with heat, so Alex only had to slide in one of the two cut portions of the desired steel. The power hammer was started during the wait time. After a couple minutes, the steel glowed. Alex deftly grasped the now heated steel with a pair of prongs, bringing it under the power hammer. The stick of steel slowly lengthened under the powerful hits provided by the machine, glowing iron oxide flaking off.

    Alex wasn¡¯t actually hammering out the blade shape. The piece of steel was cut into four bits once the length reached about twenty inches. After cooling down, the pieces of steel were stacked together with careful alignment and welded together at the tip. The steel was then chucked back into the forge to be reheated.

    ¡°Do you want to jump in and give a shot at folding the steel?¡± Alex smiled a challenge, ¡°this time we only need to fold the steel three more times. You don¡¯t need any markings do indicate where to cut do you?¡±

    Jay played along and smirked, ¡°I¡¯ll give it a shot.¡±

    Alex was probably only being theatrical for the sake of the video. Jay was happy he didn¡¯t make a show of his work like Judge Judy. Constantly exaggerating behavior seemed exhausting.

    Jay carefully grasped the steel in the forge with the prongs. Unlike how flamboyantly Alex moved, his movements were slow, steady, and deliberate. Alex showed how to work the power hammer and change the speed of the hammer, but Jay kept the rate hammer pounded the steel only at half speed.

    After three times as many more reheatings, the steel finally reached about twenty inches again. The next few minutes became the most taxing for Jay. He carefully placed the wedged hammer he accepted from Alex on the glowing steel. It was where he estimated to be at a third of the steel. Slowly the wedge tool was brought under the power hammer and two strong hits separated the steel into two. His movements to split the longer piece into two were just as methodical if not more.

    Jay thought he did his best, but Alex took a second to examine the handiwork.

    He held a thumbs up, ¡°looks fine to me. I¡¯ll stack and weld these together tomorrow.¡±

    The next day, Alex heated and lengthened the steel before shaving off the welding. The shape of the sword began forming under the power hammer with the folding process finished. He breezed through the remaining steps from forming the tang of the sword to hammering the crossguard into shape.

    Jay stopped Alex when he began making a pommel, ¡°I want to make the hilts more like that of the Japanese katana.¡±

    ¡°That could make the swords less secure in your hands,¡± Alex gave him a weird look, ¡°but you won¡¯t be actually using the swords so I suppose that won¡¯t matter.¡±

    At around three in the afternoon, the entirety of the forty inch sword lay finished. The whole process would be repeated but for a twenty five inch sword instead, and Jay would do so by himself. Folding the blades correctly had been nerve wracking but how hard could the rest be?

    Alex made all the other steps look deceptively easier than they really were. After the third day, Jay decided he would have to eat his words. He couldn¡¯t recall the last time he felt so tired and filthy except in football. Maybe the years were getting to him? The frequency of the moments of nostalgia was abnormal. A therapist might be necessary.

    Alex found a major warp in the folds of Jay¡¯s first solo attempt, almost eliciting a growl from Jay. The steel had to be scrapped.

    As Alex was getting more metal to use, Jay¡¯s phone rang. He picked up the call but with a sigh at the caller id.

    ¡°Hey man. Is it true you¡¯re out making actual swords?!¡± Clangs of metal rang out in the background of the caller.

    Someone in the background yelled, ¡°en guard!¡±

    Jay grunted, ¡°glad to hear you¡¯re healthy as ever James. Sorry I''ve been busy over the years. I am a little occupied so I''ll call you later.¡±

    "Wait. Wait. Come on!" James protested before being cut off.

    Finally, on the beginning of the seventh and final day before Jay would have had to defer on this specific dream both swords were completed. The blades were sheathed in airtight leather. The straight swords still might have come off as strange katana with the hilts wrapped like the Japanese did.

    The European styled blade and Japanese aesthetics clashed a bit, but they represented Jay''s cultural background and he liked that. They were his and semi-built to be used. Jay smirked at the thought feeling silly. These would remain as eccentric art on top of his fireplace like Alex said on the second day.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you a Japanese American?¡± Alex asked.

    Jay nodded in confirmation, ¡°I actually have some proficiency in japanese.¡±

    He didn¡¯t know where Alex had learned that, maybe from his profile, but there was no need to hide.

    Alex¡¯s eyes brightened, ¡°I see why you chose japanese wrappings for your swords then.¡±

    Jay accepted cords for securing his swords in their sheaths but rejected anything more. Alex probably felt needlessly guilty for charging by the hour. Jay didn¡¯t care about the expenses. With a wave of goodbye, he was off, headed back home.

    Jay grinned. He felt closer to making his daily greetings authentic with how much more fulfilled he felt in life. He ignored the small voice in him that laughed at the prospect.

    He was flying down the road when in a flash of light he found himself immersed in black. A minute passed in the darkness. Desiring weapons, he wished for his swords at least. His swords appeared in his hands astonishingly enough. A heart beat later, he burst through into a cavern. Momentum presumably from driving his car carried him towards a wall in front of him.

    There was another issue though. Perceiving seventy miles per hour for a distance of about forty yards so slowly shouldn¡¯t be possible. Ignoring that, how had he gotten here? Had he been teleported? Summoned? When he turned some more, he noticed a man in robes standing in shock.

    The man must have been the one responsible for wrenching him from his world. In a snarl, Jay chucked both his swords at him. Death was probably coming to him, but he would have his killer as company.

    Jay curled up into a fetal position bracing for his impact with the wall.

    He smiled seeing at least a gash on the man''s right arm. The last thing he saw before slipping into unconsciousness was the man''s face twisted in maniacal laughter in front of a weird light show.

 Chapter 2

    Jay reasoned that waking up in a stone cell might not be the worst thing that could happen. After all, many people have simply never even woke up again after collision injuries. But then again waking up in captivity had a potential to get plenty worse.

    He took a deep breath to steady himself and squashed the rising panic in himself.

    There were plenty of possibilities of what could have happened. The first thing he thought was that he had been kidnapped. Jay remembered how a fictional human trafficking cartel had set up their base to make it seem to the kids, the victims, were on another planet to crush any sense of hope for escape. Although the lie was discovered, the lie was pretty effective prior to that. These bastards could be trying a similar tactic.

    Maybe what seemed like teleportation was actually his car dropping through a hole? Then he should have noticed leaving the car. Well that theory fell through. The surroundings seemed too authentic also. The stench of the mold was overpowering. Jay rubbed some rust he pinched off the bars between his fingers. The decreptedness of his cell didn''t seem the least bit artificial.

    Maybe he had been knocked out with some sort of concoction and his car slamming into a wall was simply staged? The alternative was these people being capable of seemingly teleporting a whole car.

    Maybe aliens kidnapped him. The possibilities were endless.

    Jay didn¡¯t immediately dismiss the really small possibility of being in another world. Weakly he could refer to the theory of unpredictability existing, but mainly he didn¡¯t want to end up like the protagonist of the series called the unbeliever. Almost the whole time while the protagonist witnessed incredible things, he proceeded like everything was fake. He had valid reasoning like how he was completely free of a case of leprosy he had been plagued with in his original world and other things, but Jay felt like things would go rather horribly for him if he made the same mistake.

    Having all this time to contemplate circumstances seemed suspicious also. Jay thought his jailers would have tried achieving whatever their motives were with him when he woke up when he was most disoriented. And the less logical things seemed, the more Jay became worried.

    Actually being in another world would be the worst case scenario, since that would mean ¡°magic¡± was used to bring him here. The existence of magic brought with it a convenience to the elites that made most innovations unnecessary and therefore almost always meant the society developed around it would either be Utopian or a feudal society. Seeing the dark stone walls around him, Jay bet that the latter would be more likely.

    He grimaced. Living in a feudal society would be horrendous. Not only could dysentery potentially kill him, the superstitions could lead to his lynching depending on how well he could ¡®do as the romans do.¡¯ The elite and powerful would be more than simple landed aristocracy. They were likely capable of feats of magic. That fact could make the living conditions horrible depending on whether the peasants tried revolting yet. The possibility of slavery wasn¡¯t even touched.

    Jay began almost hoping for anyone to come. Sitting in dim lighting with all these thoughts bouncing around his head was certainly not healthy for him. Finally the sound of footsteps reached him so he readied the pile of sand dust he gathered.

    ¡±Se ug axalo axawaxako.¡±

    The second the door swung open, Jay was upon his captor. Or at least he tried to attack. An invisible barrier kept his kidnapper out of reach of him. One of the worst case scenarios, it was. The sand he flung floated for a brief moment. With a swipe of the man¡¯s hand, he was sent crashing into the wall at the back of the cell.

    ¡±Pe ug uctolchaxact vo?"

    Jay realized he had another issue. He couldn¡¯t understand the language being spoken.

    ¡°Usoropt imwit je waxaupp pit civirizow dolsen weurdniz gned zo cemmen raxackuaxago!¡±

    Jay found himself taking a barrage of invisible blows. Only curling into a fetal position was possible. A small part of him remarked on his terrible luck with getting a worst case scenario. The rest of him wracked with pain. Just before the haze of unconsciousness overtook him, fury came roaring up.

    All he ever did was work and work. His dream finally came into reach and a curve ball was thrown at him? The wholly inefficient system known as society always made him feel trapped. The whole thing was built on lies and subterfuge. He simply wanted to secure a place on the frontier of knowledge!

    ¡°Ug axalo keick te fo pit toch sufjond enrupp!¡± The crazy idiot would not shut up.

    Jay felt a curiously familiar sense of murderous intent well up in his gut as he fell into unconsciousness.

    He rose to sounds of commotion. The exact moment he lost consciousness wasn''t clear, but finding himself lying in the corner of the cell indicated the obvious. A dull metal tray was laid in front of him with a cup of ... beer and a lump of ... bread? Ah further proof of a feudal era. With a huff Jay shoved down the unfortunate excuse of bread and watered it down with the ... He couldn¡¯t call it anything other than swill and almost coughed up everything.

    Unnatural howls accompanied by shouts rang out, filling Jay with fear but also a sense of hope. He might have a chance at escape but could also be doomed to becoming food but he didn¡¯t ponder about that for too long. The shouts and howls died down until the final howl turned into a yelp and a single yell of triumph rang out.

    With a tortured screech, the cell door was torn out, and in walked in an ... elf?

    ¡°Pe ug uctolchaxact vo?¡±

    She had pointed ears to go along with an entirely too perfect beauty with absolute symmetry. Caught in a daze Jay didn¡¯t notice the elf¡¯s proximity until she had her hands on his temple.

    [Puedes entender? Wakarimasuka? Do you understand?]

    A musical voice rang out in Jay''s head. Startled, he pushed away the elf.

    [I have no intentions to hurt you, but I need your consent to cast a spell on you. It should help you understand the common tongue and be able to communicate. Right now I don¡¯t know what language I am speaking. I caught that I started out with two other languages but that is just the effects of the spell I am using.]

    Jay nodded his head mechanically; he wasn¡¯t sure what else to do, but found himself in a strange void the next moment. Various sounds were assaulting him slowly taking form into a language, but one inconsistent sound rang out. Curious, Jay followed it to its source only to be assaulted by a much more musical set of sounds.

    [An otherworlder! The last one brought devastation upon the world!]

    Various vines started to encircle Jay and that didn¡¯t seem to be a good sign, but conveniently he found the two swords he forged recently in his hands. His first sword didn¡¯t connect but his second slash sliced through vines cleanly. For a while, Jay hacked away at the vines. His training at the HEMA dojo became useful in the most bizarre way possible.

    With no end to the vines in sight, Jay realized he had to change what he was doing. With every swing his arms were getting heavier. After cutting down all the vines of the current batch, instead of resting and waiting, he rushed forward toward what was likely the source.

    He broke into a clearing after what seemed an eternity. The barrages of murderous vines became much more frantic and made even taking a couple paces a chore. Various foreign thoughts came to him in a jumbled mess, and he struggled to make sense of it.

    [You will end here!] The elf declared in a craze.

    A barrage of vines came from all around. Jay fought as much as he could but within seconds a vine pulled his left leg. In a panic, Jay stabbed into the ground to maintain his balance. Immediately then, like a light switch was flipped, everything in sight disappeared in a snap. He found himself collapsed on the ground, his two swords cast to the side.

    Jay didn¡¯t have to check the elf¡¯s pulse. He recognized the glassy eyed look and curled up into a ball before the first shudders hit.

    The elf would forever haunt him but Jay knew he couldn''t afford to waste time. That fact didn¡¯t disperse the turmoil though. Rationalization could help.

    What were his main worries? His first was being stranded in what appeared to be a world of the extraordinary. There was no knowing what new dangers there were. Killing someone was the second reason for the tumult in his thoughts. The killing was in self-defense but he only knew that conceptually and not emotionally. The last worry was potentially being the whole world¡¯s persona non grata and hunted down.

    Three worries in total. All three worries were acknowledged but then pushed aside. They would be dealt with later. For all he knew another contingent of something could be coming.

    Jay sighed. He would need to look as close to a local as possible.

    Taking inventory of everything was almost back-breaking, literally. One of the maces had to have weighed more than a ton but Jay noticed so almost too late. A gruesome sight had greeted him once he came out to what appeared to be the main cavity of the cave system. About a hundred fifty corpses give or take laid scattered about the complex.

    Fifteen men of various races from humans to lizardmen laid dead. Each of the fallen had about fifteen grotesque dead animals at their feet. Jay struggled to not look too long at the corpses. Some of them had their heads cracked open with grey matter spilling out while others had entrails strewn about their bodies. Large portions of their torsos seemed to have been chomped out. The silence was deafening and the rotting and decay had already started causing him to cough up everything in his stomach.

    He scowled at the wasted food and decided to replenish himself on appropriated rations later. They were probably much better than the excuse of a breakfast from before. Their packaging made them seem kind of like the meal biscuits back home strangely enough.

    Finding clothes and leather armor of a man who was closest to his size took some time. He ended up pulling an outfit off someone like a woodsman, probably a scout. The dead combatants appeared to be potentially extremely wealthy. Every one of them had pouches of gold and rations carrying more inside than what should be possible. Unfortunately transferring the contents of the other pouches into a single pouch wasn¡¯t possible. Whatever enlarged the capacities of the pouches reached its limit once the supplies of another pouch were added.

    Jay sighed morosely at the pile of magical pouches. Carrying around so many could be fatal if they were rare and he was caught.

    Tearing anything off a magical pouch seemed too much of a risk, so Jay improvised with a makeshift bag. Everything else that looked like an insignia was torn off. Hopefully whatever militant group the dead fighters were part of was Spartan. Whether his efforts were enough would show when meeting a local.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    He strapped on his swords, completing his outfit. Seeing that the only thing he had left of his home world were his swords hit him hard, sending tears down his face. Why did such an absurd thing like a magic summoning happen to him?

    Calming down took a while but getting out was simple enough. A gigantic hole led outside. His inadvertent rescuers were probably responsible. When Jay climbed outside he found himself in a wilderness. If the person who kidnapped him was hiding underground maybe the world wasn''t the worst to live in. Getting his hopes up probably wasn¡¯t a good idea, though.

    With a small trail in sight and the time appearing early in the morning, Jay set off. Hopefully the nearest bastion of human civilization wasn¡¯t too far.

    Following the trail was a surprisingly pleasant experience. A deer breaking the sound barrier gave him a fright but otherwise everything was enjoyable. Despite how the stench of dead bodies clung to him, the forest felt idyllic.

    What to do though? He was pretty sure he botched his chance at magically learning the language. He would stand out as a sore thumb if he didn''t do anything. Jay pondered on his options as he tried to wash off the terrible smell in a stream.

    Jay almost didn''t notice the screaming, but once he did, he pulled on his stolen gear and rushed toward the cry. Following the sound seemed too dangerous at first. The threat causing the cry for help could be overwhelming, especially in a world of magic. Coming face to face with the threat could result in immediate death, but the potential rewards could be life saving in putting a local in his debt. The trail was diminishing and made being lost until death from exposure a scary possibility.

    What he found was a sniveling boy swiping away at a pair of growling wolves with a walking stick. The beasts were clearly waiting for the boy to tire, only ever making gestures at attacking.

    Jay took a moment to think about how he would attack. Simplicity was best. A slash into the first wolf would be first then a blow to the second wolf with his fist. A second strike with his sword should be more than possible after knocking back the second wolf.

    With a solid plan, he rushed the wolves. His target wolf noticed and lunged at him. There was barely enough time to point the tip down towards the wolf, but ¡®barely¡¯ proved enough. The mangy animal skewered itself on Jay''s bastardsword.

    He managed to use the second wolf''s momentum in a counter, gaining enough room to swing his sword again. However, the fight didn¡¯t go as planned, because there was a third wolf. A third wolf lunged at him from behind.

    A small part of him mused on the intelligence of the third wolf that waited to ambush him. The attack took him completely by surprise and must have been for his neck. Luckily, the moment the wolf leapt for a chomp of his neck, he had sprung forward to cut down the disoriented second wolf. The sneak attack still resulted with hundreds of pounds of ferocity knocking him down.

    Jay''s surprise turned into red hot anger as he wrestled with the two remaining wolves. Dying out in the woods would be beyond humiliating. Along with the haze of fury, a surge of strength followed. Pushing back their chomping jaws became trivial. Not wasting the chance he drew his shortsword and slashed through both of the wolves¡¯ throats, who were moving oddly slow.

    The oddness continued as everything seemed to move in slow motion, from the blood of the wolves trailing behind his shortsword to the leaves coming down from the scuffle. When Jay blinked, everything returned to normal.

    He stood up grimacing at the copious amount of blood now on him.

    ¡°Thank you for saving me!¡± The boy happily exclaimed his gratitude in what sounded like plain English.

    "Is something wrong?" The boy asked.

    Jay shook himself out of his shock at the surprises and simply decided to chalk them up as luck for the moment. The three wolves were hopefully the last of immediate threats.

    "Nothing kid. Do you live close here?" Jay answered.

    "I am not a kid! I am Jax and fifteen-uousos-old you know! Besides, you don''t look much older yourself! Why do you want to know about where I live?" The boy, whom Jay now knew as Jax, grouched.

    Jay almost stumbled in bewilderment. Ousos probably were something like years, so his appearance should look at least ¡®thirty-uousos-old¡¯. Had being pulled from his world de-aged him somehow?

    He thought about what name to use. Using his real name could be dangerous.

    "I am just a wanderer named Jack looking for the nearest settlement," Jay said.

    "Ok. I¡¯ll lead to my village then. I have to repay you for saving me," Jax excitedly told him. ¡°I need to grab my dagger and the herbs I came here for.¡±

    Jay nodded his understanding, but one thing didn¡¯t add up.

    ¡°Jax I see that you are an herbalist, but then shouldn¡¯t you know this area is dangerous?¡± He asked.

    Jax looked up from digging up a plant, ¡°I get your confusion. The amulet I borrowed from my village¡¯s magi to repel the local fauna and monsters stopped working suddenly.¡±

    He finished collecting his target plant that looked like a fusion of rosemary and mint.

    ¡°I am actually surprised we haven¡¯t been attacked again by now,¡± Jax remarked.

    Jay quickly realized the ¡®why¡¯ to that. What had he just seen a couple of hours ago?

    They stopped by a stream for him to get the worst of the blood off himself and his sword.

    Jax kept on sneaking glances at him gradually more as they made progress. Eventually Jay¡¯s annoyance reached his limit.

    "What is with all the staring?" he asked.

    "I just have never seen someone so pale!" Jax said in wonder.

    Jay took a sharp breath. Looking closely, Jax was indeed a couple shades darker than him. Jax didn''t appear to think much about the armor he appropriated, so there was at least that though.

    "I¡¯m from the north and came down here for the warmth," Jay fibbed the unspoken question.

    "Well ok. Here is the village!" Jax seemed to buy it.

    A few more minutes passed and Jay found himself in front of a massive wooden gate of a palisade. Strangely looking fresh, the wooden fortifications were massive. Jax led him around the perimeter of the walls to a gate, but no fields of farming were visible. They were probably enclosed in the settlement to ward off the fauna.

    "Well come on! Washing uousos down the river!" Jax gestured to him wildly.

    Well how would he introduce himself? He should have thought about that! Simply proclaiming himself to be a wanderer could have awful results.

    "Who¡¯s with you, Jax?" An elderly voice rang out.

    "A wanderer from up north named Jack,¡± Jax answered.

    ¡°Why did you bring him here? Or did you have a choice?¡± The same voice asked.

    Jax stood next to Jay one moment and in the next he wasn¡¯t.

    Jay almost bolted. The possible conclusions were all quite awful for his health.

    ¡°Wait! Wai--,¡± The elderly voice shouted and coughed.

    The wooden gate groaned as it opened revealing a crowd of people holding farm tools at the ready. Some carried torches warding off the darkness creeping in with the sun setting.

    At the apparent high likelihood of being lynched, Jay considered fleeing even more. An aged man pushed through and gestured for him to come closer, though. With no knowledge of where the next nearest settlement was, running away prematurely could mean death.

    Jay settled on moving closer but staying a couple paces away. Talking and also escaping if necessary would be possible.

    "I hear you saved Jax from wolves so first I must thank you," the old man thanked him.

    "How should I refer to you sir?" Jay asked.

    Keeping his voice calm was difficult with the threat of a mob looming.

    "Just call me Elder,¡± the old man replied.

    "Well Elder I have news and a request," Jay spoke, shoving down the panic rising in him.

    He took a deep breath. They probably weren¡¯t used to visitors seeing how they lived in the middle of nowhere. A speech would have to be improvised.

    "Well go on," their spokesman beckoned him.

    "I escaped from the aftermath of a fight that must have killed most of the monsters you kept out with this wall around your village.¡± Jay looked into everyone¡¯s eyes to gauge a response.

    He guessed right. Expressions of many changed to those of excitement. Jax¡¯s remark about expecting an attack really helped.

    ¡°The fight was between a twisted magic user and a company of soldiers of justice. The magic user, an evil being who kept many others like myself imprisoned and dabbled in the darkest of arts, brought forth hundreds of his beasts in a pathetic attempt to preserve his own life,¡± Jay paused for dramatic effect.

    ¡°The soldiers valiantly stood firm despite the odds. After a long battle, the soldiers succeeded in bringing him down. Sadly they lost their lives in the effort,¡± he paused again but for a moment of silence.

    Some of the villagers bowed their heads.

    Jay spoke up, ¡°life must go on, though. I believe those soldiers gave your village a chance at better lives, a massive chance at expansion. I hope to help with the effort in exchange for a place to stay for a while."

    "We don''t usually accept outsiders, but if what you say is indeed true then this is good fortune. We will have a hunter go confirm what you say. For now you may stay at Jax''s place with his family. I am sure they will be more than willing to pay you back," Elder announced.

    The man never seemed to be against Jay¡¯s entry by his body language, though. That could be from the difference in culture. The gathering of people dispersed with the business concluded.

    Jay could tell he had been dismissed and followed Jax.

    He wasn¡¯t sure what to expect. The massive palisade could only be possible with modern technology but was likely a result of magic. The walls must have been courtesy of whatever hedge wizard like person the village had. The dwellings appeared in line with the level of technology, however.

    The interior wasn¡¯t as the exterior would suggest, luckily. There was a kitchen and a dining room along with what seemed to be a room for socializing. The three closed doors must have been bed rooms. The smell of the house wasn''t terrible at all even verging on pleasant. The interior also was entirely inconsistent with the size of the exterior and probably due to magic.

    Jax called out, ¡°mother I got some faswent for your cold!¡± He turned to Jay, ¡°my mother has been bed ridden since she caught a cold yesterday.¡±

    ¡°Wait, did you say bed ridden?¡± Jay raised his voice slightly.

    ¡°Yes, why do you ask?¡± Jax asked.

    ¡°Come on haven¡¯t you heard of people catching illnesses from others?¡± Jay¡¯s voice rose a little more.

    ¡°Well mom has the common cold so there shouldn¡¯t be a problem¡± Jax nonchalantly replied. ¡°Keep your voice down!¡±

    ¡°But I am not from around here! For all I know that sickness could end up lethal to me!" Jay almost outright yelled.

    Before Jax could offer a retort, a tired looking woman appeared from one of the rooms, ¡°Jax who is making that racket?¡±

    ¡°Mom this person is a northerner named Jack who saved me from wolves and the elder decided we would shelter him for a while as compensation, but he is worrying about catching your cold being deadly for him.¡± Jax explained.

    ¡°Well people up north must have been in constant fear of sickness because of how brutal it is up there," Jax''s mother pondered out loud. "Jack how old are you?¡±

    ¡°Around your son¡¯s age ma''am, so around 15 uousos,¡± Jay answered.

    He was going to have to get used to responding to Jack as his alias. Crafting a fake background would be a good experience for later.

    ¡°That¡¯s a funny way of referring to me. Just call me Mrs. Denns. I am sure you will be fine since you¡¯re young,¡± Mrs. Denns laughed.

    ¡°Ok Mrs. Denns. Will you allow me to stay while helping the village expand? I apologize for my outburst. As you can see, Elder has approved my presence in the settlement, but I wouldn¡¯t want to impose,¡± Jay bowed his head to Jax and his mother.

    ¡°That¡¯s alright, if the Elder said you can stay then you can stay,¡± Mrs. Denns voiced her approval. ¡°Thank you Jax,¡± she accepted a steaming mug from Jax before retiring to her room.

    ¡°Well Jack I guess we are roomies!¡± Jax exclaimed excitedly.

    Jay almost face palmed at the overexcitement. Jax would likely demand stories about his alleged travels.

    Jax''s room had only one bed. Jax looked at his face and realized what he was thinking. "Oh it''s fine I''ll sleep on the floor today. We can make another bed later."

    Jay grunted, "thanks.¡±

    He gladly took the bed. As a definite city person, the middle ages era esque world had been reeling. Jax must have thought he wanted the bed from exhaustion from traveling.

    ¡°Why do you have two swords?¡± Jax asked seeing Jay put them down.

    ¡°Oh these? I made them, a bastardsword and a shortsword." Jay answered. "As a wanderer you can meet lots of strange folk and a strange smith was one of them. I learned under him for a while, but I made these swords in a different smith¡¯s forge a lot later.¡±

    ¡°Cool... Goodnight Jack,¡± Jax muttered sleepily.

    Jay wondered for a moment if Jax had even listened but decided that didn¡¯t matter. Jax not bombarding him for requests for stories was a blessing. He also fell asleep surrendering to his exhaustion.

    Jax was also awake, when Jay woke up. Jax had his herbalist pouch tied on to his belt.

    ¡°Why are you getting up? Like you said the forest is almost empty. For the off chance some other beasts have moved in I have the amulet, which Magi already fixed. Plus, the amulet doesn¡¯t work as well with more than one person,¡± Jax said to Jay before heading out.

    Jay couldn¡¯t go back to sleep, so his usual routine came to mind. Having routines for staying fit in any world should still have benefits. There was an incredible amount of danger to moving about without weapons, though, so he strapped his swords on before heading out.

    The village was unpleasantly quiet other than the gate opening for Jax. Jay couldn¡¯t put his finger on what exactly made the quiet of the village unsettling to him. The reason could have been the enclosing walls to his culture clash with the level of technology. The reason was pointless to ponder on, so he hunkered down to run.

    Never being the fastest lit his desire to be the fastest back in middle school. Unfortunately he mistook endurance running as the answer. For whatever reason Jay¡¯s age had been wound back all the way back to a little under fourteen years old, so rectifying that mistake became possible. Running was also useful for sorting and draining pushed aside emotions on top of keeping fit.

    He never had the best sense of time but even he eventually noticed that he was being able to sprint way too long. Somehow maintaining a dead sprint for more than a whole minute had become possible. Maybe mana was boosting him somehow?

    ¡°You¡¯re doing it all wrong!¡± A shrill woman¡¯s voice exclaimed.

    Following the admonishment, a stick stuck out in front of Jay¡¯s feet. His legs tangled, the ground rushed up to him. A mouthful of dirt seemed inevitable, but at the critical moment time slowed. Maneuvering himself became possible and a few deft steps stopped his descent.

    ¡°A little bit above average reflexes for an amateur, but what is with your mana intake? It¡¯s all over the place!¡± A middle aged lady sitting on her porch yelled at him.

    Not even hiding her staff, she appeared to be the culprit who tripped him. That no longer mattered, though.

    ¡°No one back home could teach me," Jay caught his breath. "I decided to wander for that reason. I take it you¡¯re the Magi named Silvia?¡±

    ¡°Not sure how that¡¯s possible but here you somehow have braved the distance from the north. That¡¯s simply my magi moniker. Do you even know how to use those?¡± The nosy crone jabbed towards his swords.

    ¡°What does that matter to you?¡± Jay asked exasperatedly.

    ¡°Well you seem to have neglected taking care of one of your swords but otherwise those seem like of excellent quality. You won¡¯t convince Seran to teach you at that rate,¡± the nosy lady wasn¡¯t losing a beat.

    In order to get to the village faster, scraping off most of the blood and gunk had to suffice. The tools Jay lifted from the corpses of the soldiers he grandified would be put to good use later. The obvious question was who Seran was, but prompting the woman for riddles or rants wasn¡¯t appealing. Living in the settlement should naturally lead to him finding out either way.

    ¡°If you want to learn how to intake mana properly, come see me tomorrow. I need to set up things for beginners.¡± She declared flippantly before rushing back inside, slamming her door closed behind her.

    Jay could feel a headache coming. Early in the morning, already a random woman assaulted him. The rest of the day as well as the following days were likely to be uniquely taxing.

 Chapter 3

    Cleaning his sword turned out to be therapeutic. Almost all of the blood had been washed off in the river, but having impaled a wolf up to the hilt, some gunk had to be scraped off with a whetstone. Curiously, the gunk fell rather easily off his swords despite having time to harden.

    A sleepy Jax walked up to him and mumbled, ¡°breakfast is ready.¡±

    Breakfast was a quaint but plentiful fare of bread and eggs.

    Jax grumbled, ¡°let¡¯s go, we need to go help with the expansion you proposed.¡±

    Jay nodded and gulped down the rest of his breakfast.

    <hr>

    Jay regretted offering to help expand the village. The trees were incredibly durable. Even with no experience as a lumberjack, taking twenty swings at a tree and getting only an inch into the trunk had to be absurd.

    "Why are these trees so difficult to cut down?" Jay asked while biting back a snarl.

    "Oh this is Halfy wood and sucks up and stores the mana around abnormally well. These axes we are using are actually enchanted to cut more deeply,¡± Jax explained

    Somehow, even as Jax had even more trouble with the wood, he managed to maintain a jovial mood. Jay almost decided to scream curses, but that energy served him better in hacking at the tree in front of him. Plus having a fit of anger probably wouldn¡¯t endear him with the people of the town.

    "Ok," Jay grunted tiredly. "Jax do you know anything about magic?"

    "Not much. Magic seems to make anything possible. I do know the best herbs and presumably the strongest monsters form near higher concentrations of magic. That¡¯s why I trained my mana sight anyway. Go ask Magi Silvia if you have questions," Jax replied.

    Some strain appeared in Jax¡¯s voice, so Jay left him alone.

    Cutting down just one tree took a chunk of the day. The foreman called for a food break causing many to let out groans of relief. The labor seemed to be back breaking for everyone.

    ¡°Thank you very much foreman. May I know how I should refer to you?" Jay approached the man who had been directing them.

    The man offered him a bright smile, ¡°oh just call me Genks. You work a lot more than some of the knuckleheads around here so I should be the one thanking you.¡±

    Jay smiled back, ¡°you flatter me Genks.¡±

    ¡°Well go and eat,¡± Genks shooed him towards the pot.

    The line was short, luckily, and the chef scooped out a helping of stew and poured Jay a cup of water.

    ¡°You filter your water right?¡± Jay hated to seem condescending but he had to make sure.

    ¡°What do you mean?" The cook looked at him in confusion. "We get water from his lordship.¡±

    Jay shuddered. Did the tyrant somehow control the water supply?

    ¡°Is the river water not safe?¡± He asked.

    The cook shrugged, ¡°anyone who tries drinking from even boiled river water ends up sick somehow.¡±

    Jay groaned internally. At least dysentery wasn''t an issue.

    Break time lasted about a quarter of an hour, and Jay was back to hacking at the bases of the absurd trees.

    ¡°Seems like cutting down trees to sell should be a normal routine?" Jay asked Jax.

    ¡°Oh, well the King doesn¡¯t want to ''waste'' resources on sparing troops to clear the forest for us. His majesty is too busy at war with other countries and expects us to be happy that he expands the barrier at all.¡± Jax replied with his voice dripping with venom towards his king. ¡°Thank you for alerting us to this opportunity.¡±

    ¡°Shut it Jax! Don¡¯t risk having the Kingsmen coming down on us!¡± A random person hissed.

    ¡°No you should shut your mouth! They don¡¯t care about us frontier villages. Why do you suppose they don¡¯t even have a regiment stationed nearby us?¡± Jax yelled back.

    The same person growled back, ¡°you don¡¯t know that and we don¡¯t want to risk it.¡±

    Jax fell silent and Jay went cold. The mentioned ¡®kingsmen¡¯ could only be secret police.

    ¡°Jax what do you plan to do?¡± He asked.

    ¡°I will become an adventurer!¡± Jax replied hottly.

    Jay asked, ¡°do they not have any requirements to start?¡±

    ¡°No but they do have ranks. I suppose I will start out as rank E as most do,¡± Jax explained.

    The rest of the day went by in silence. Jay finally realized why he didn¡¯t like the morning quiet of the village. They were all living in fear. How was he going to pursue any of his renewed passions? Even an attempt to gather knowledge would make waves and then face opposition.

    Dragging the lumber back required much less effort, thankfully. The wood might have been difficult to cut down but was surprisingly light to carry. When dusk fell, Genks dismissed everyone.

    Jay wasn¡¯t sure whether to be excited or terrified to have an offer of help by Magi Silvia. A refusal to meet her could raise some eyebrows so he didn¡¯t have much of a choice to at least hear her out. News probably traveled fast in such a small town. The gesture at least needed to be made.

    Why did she even call out to him though? Not knowing how to regulate one¡¯s mana intake properly seemed the norm. How else was Jay able to keep up with the villagers? The inexplicable randomness of the magi¡¯s offer put him on edge. On top of the issue of randomness, there was no telling what learning mana intake entailed. What if the process required having the magi in his head? This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

    Jay grabbed his swords. Going to a potential fight without even a weapon would be foolhardy. After a deep breath, he rapped his knuckles on the magi¡¯s door.

    ¡°You¡¯re finally here. You know how long I¡¯ve waited?¡± Magi Silvia opened the door with a look of disapproval.

    ¡°I apologize but taking--,¡± Jay started.

    ¡°No excuses!¡± Magi Silvia cut him off.

    ¡°Well come on in!¡± She motioned for him to follow her inside.

    The furniture was sparse but a gigantic calendar spread out on one wall. ¡®09/32/ AWAD 200,¡¯ the calendar read. Well that might show why he didn''t hear the uousos as years. What did AWAD mean though?

    The magi eyed his swords, "have you finally cleaned your swords?"

    Jay blushed and nodded.

    He straightened his posture, ¡°respectfully, Magi Silvia, thank you for your offer, but no thank you.¡±

    ¡°If you are talking about the elf you killed, then it¡¯s fine. Elves mostly only ever come out of their forests as members of the guardians, an organization of murderers masquerading as justice. I saw you¡¯re an otherworlder, but I haven¡¯t told anyone,¡± Mage Silvia grouched.

    Jay unsheathed his shortsword and lunged, holding his short sword at her throat, ¡°how do you know that?¡±

    ¡°Your thoughts get carried along with the mana you bleed out," she paused. ¡°You will die early if you don''t regulate your mana processing either from being discovered or from internal damage.¡±

    Jay fell into panic at the sudden discovery of his identity. Otherworlders were clearly persona non grata to at least the elves. Considering the vague reason the elf yelled, hostility of a lot of other people could also come down on him.

    He needed to cut down the magi in front of him. She knew too much. His shortsword broke the skin of her neck, causing blood to trickle down. Killing her would only take a single thrust.

    Then the horror of killing a defenseless woman hit Jay and logic came back to him.

    ¡°I apologize for my loss of control,¡± hanging his head, he sheathed his sword.

    ¡°Nice to see you don¡¯t want to kill me. I do want to help you,¡± the magi sighed but somehow seemed unbothered.

    Jay asked, ¡°so learning to process mana properly would make my mind private once again, but why would not learning lead to internal damage?¡±

    The magic smiled, ¡°all in good time.¡±

    She probably only wanted to reserve valuable information in order to leave him no choice but to come back.

    The magi narrowed her eyes at his swords, ¡°actually, let me see one of your swords.¡±

    Jay scoffed, ¡°what for?¡±

    ¡°I want to check something,¡± Magi Silvia replied unhelpfully.

    She already grabbed for his short sword without his approval but Jay didn¡¯t offer any resistance. Almost killing her just out of fear without provocation made him ashamed. Her hand bled expectedly when she tested his short sword¡¯s edge with a finger. Without a word, she handed Jay back his sword.

    ¡°I suppose my hand bleeding would be something expected for you," Magi Silvia said while bandaging her finger. "I cast a shield around my hand so the blade should not have had any purchase. How did you manage to fuse your mana into your swords and in a way to create mana pathways in them?¡±

    Jay was confused. Fuse mana with his sword? What was the lady talking about?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know what you are talking about but these are simply steel,¡± Jay said incredulously.

    ¡°What is steel? Wait ¡­ a combination of iron and carbon? What is carbon? The solid form of mana had a use other than fuel for spells?! But that doesn¡¯t make any sense, wouldn¡¯t this have been discovered by now? Hmm, there is more than that though. Are those links?¡± Mage Silvia mumbled before raising her voice to a shout then fell into muttering again.

    Jay almost didn¡¯t comprehend what Mage Silvia said. Didn¡¯t that make him even more like a light novel protagonist? Where was his damn harem then? A choked laugh escaped him. Almost twenty years have passed since he picked up a light novel.

    ¡°Oh those sneaky bastards, they silenced that part of the details of the research didn¡¯t they?" She smirked and even more casually and declared, "as the situation stands you will be discovered and executed.¡±

    Jay knew his day wasn¡¯t going to end peacefully.

    ¡°Let¡¯s fix your fluency issue with the language. Fluency would help you become a proper magi and blend in more,¡± Magi Silvia said.

    Jay looked around Magi Silvia¡¯s house more closely. A rather simple abode, only a more pristine version of Jax¡¯s house with less rooms.

    ¡°You will call me master, and I will train you with mana regulation. I know you think this would be too good to be true, but I am betting on the fact that you will eventually help me topple the tyrants,¡± Magi Silv¡­ master said.

    Jay choked. Not singular but plural?

    Master answered. ¡°Yes plural. You have so many ideas in your head about how to go about it but it is too jumbled up. What exactly is a printing press?¡±

    Jay tightened his lips and began thinking about the implication of carbon being mana. From possible effects on the periodic table and radioactive decay to how mana was in all biomass, there was a lot to unpack. The randomness and complexity would hopefully make deciphering his thoughts too difficult.

    Master only smiled, ¡°I am replacing what the elf did to you. The enchantment was left flawed and after a quarter of a year would eventually have led to a lethal backlash.¡±

    Jay sighed in relief, surprised the elf didn¡¯t manage something more malicious. The translation effect of the elf was basically kind of like a curse, but seemed tame to what he dreaded. Year?

    ¡°Yes, I am speaking English right now, though I understand you have some fluency in another language. In Japanese? That will be useful for analogies later,¡± Master confirmed.

    Jay already tired of having her in his head.

    ¡°You will get your privacy back if you learn from me diligently. Now soak yourself in that barrel. You need to attain awareness of your core,¡± Master quipped.

    The liquid inside the barrel she pointed out was a murky black.

    Jay apprehensively lowered himself into the barrel. The liquid was strangely hot and cold at the same time. In fact, all the substance¡¯s characteristics seemed to fluctuate. One second the liquid smelled heavenly, in the next second the liquid seemed putrid enough to knock him out. The liquid was viscous then watery.

    [You must hold steady after we move on from the breathing rhythm. If you make a blunder, then you may cripple yourself for life. Now breathe in slowly in¡­ and out¡­ in¡­ and out¡­ in¡­ and out¡­.] Master began.

    The first ten counts made Jay¡¯s chest tight and felt awkward for another ten counts but by the twenty-fifth count his body settled into the pace.

    [Reach into yourself towards your center. Yes, how you go about pushing aside your emotions temporarily should work.] Master thought to him.

    Jay thought back to the most recent moment pushing aside emotions had been necessary. Stranded in a world of new and unfamiliar dangers, only having just killed an elf and potentially being persona non grata of the world were unhelpful facts. Contemplating their implications could have, no, would have killed him. After killing Jax, the three wolves would have killed him, if he stayed shocked.

    Instead of simply having his bunched up emotions to push to the back of his mind, Jay found himself floating in a mix of black and gold liquid.

    [The black and gold colors surrounding you is your mana,] Master explained in her thoughts to him.

    The ¡®mana¡¯ flowed like a liquid. With a closer look, he noticed that the mana was tinted more yellow toward the center of his core.

    [The black and darker mana around you is the result of not processing your mana properly. As you can guess your best quality of mana is yellow. You could go further and actually reach into your inner core, but I want you to take note of the largest current and follow along.] She directed him.

    Jay followed the current, and it split into a seemingly infinite number, except not quite. Keeping up wasn¡¯t impossible somehow. The branches numbered in the hundreds of millions. How did he know that and where did he recall that number from before? The rhythmic inflation and deflation of the branches clued him in. These were lungs. Some parts were discolored faintly.

    [Yes you are looking at your mana ¡®lungs¡¯ right now. Some parts are strained, because you haven¡¯t been managing them properly. You have been processing mana without consideration about shifts in how much raw mana your body produces. Your body naturally speeds up the processing, but the resulting delay damages you. Parts of your mana lungs get more raw mana to process then they can handle,] Master paused.

    So what did he have to--.

    [You must create a circular current in your core to hasten under your control. Then you will be capable of keeping your mana lungs from being overwhelmed, pulling mana from your mana lungs and into your mana stores faster than surges in mana yield can swamp your mana lungs. That isn¡¯t a complete solution though. Your mana will be even less processed unless put through your mana lungs at least one more time, making the more complicated spells all but impossible,] Master explained as she interrupted.

    Jay went back to his mana supply and looked around. Only smaller currents that only maybe eventually connected to his lungs existed. Looping his mana through his mana lungs did not seem possible.

    [I will be guiding you in forming a mana channel back to your lungs from your mana stores. That is for another day though. Breath with the rhythm I will tell you to come out of your trance. Eventually all that I said will be instinctive for you but that is a long way ahead. The breathing tempo for leaving your trance is in and out¡­ in and out¡­ in and out¡­.]

    Jay did as his master commanded. The breathing pace helped him reverse the process from before and to become conscious of the outside world once again. Except, the reversing went too far. Suddenly all three worries he pushed away from before overwhelmed him causing logic and reasoning to leave him once again. A desire to lash out at the world roared in him. His core and swords responded.

    [Jay what happened? What in Jadry¡¯s name?] Master exclaimed mentally.

    Jay tried to respond, but a swirling red haze of guilt, fear and anger engulfed him.

    [Sorry Jay but I am going to have to knock you unconscious,] Master apologized.

    A surge of purple slammed through the haze and into Jay, then he knew nothing.

    <hr>

    An aching body greeted Jay when he rose back to the waking world. The magi had left him on a dumped on the floor and the room was in absolute tatters. The carnage began around his bared swords at his sides, scraps of the scabbards he appropriated hanging off. Nothing in sight was free of slash marks, but the chair had been reduced to kindling. The floor appeared to have an impact from something due to how the numerous gashes circled around him. The tub of mana was nowhere to be seen.

    ¡°Boy I suppose I should have taken more precautions, because you were dipped in the primordial energies. I failed to realize your swords were connected to your core but you really made a mess of my house didn¡¯t you? Now I only have a little less than three-fourths of an uouso at most to teach you! With your mana processing under control, I might have been able to hide you, but either the kingsmen or the guardians will notice the mana scars from today. Ugh!¡± She lamented.

    On cue, another piece of the rafter broke off and made a loud thump on the floor.

 Chapter 4

    09/31/ AWAD 200

    Laftus was discontented.

    Countless men might envy him, a king, young and powerful, and currently surrounded by beautiful women making spectacles with their bodies while he enjoyed a massage. As a prospective god king, he even had the stamina to enjoy all twenty of them. His private chambers were filled with soft cloth, a shipment specially bought from Saverus. The terrible sense of boredom never left, though.

    He could rush expanding his territory... but at what cost? At the moment, fighting the other god kings would be costly and still pointless. The literature the godkiller tried to spread spoke of plenty of powerful men who would have remained powerful if they had not overreached. Laftus would remain powerful, no, become the most powerful.

    Overreaching was only what his opponents would do. Research with the second machina regiis was already providing benefits. The research team made much more progress after getting a hold of one they could take apart. His only chagrin was that a decade of waiting was in order. His cabinet members all stressed at least a decade was necessary to slowly muster troops without alarming the other god kings, no matter how irresponsible Laftus displayed himself as.

    He had to thank his ¡®father¡¯ for pushing his schedule forward with an idiotic death. The man tried to hook himself to the second machina regiis while already hooked up to the one belonging to their royal line. Simply a claim that the resulting explosion destroyed the second one had to be made, and the others stopped making talk of uniting to crush him.

    Why had he taken the news of his father¡¯s demise so nonchalantly? Ah, yes. King Salvatus busied himself in the wars, so Laftus¡¯s tutor predominantly took the father role. Kafsan, a scholar of all literature including that of the godkiller, taught him everything he knew. As far as Laftus was concerned, his father died four years ago not a couple months ago.

    A knock at the double doors interrupted. With a growl, Laftus held up a hand, motioning for his masseuses to stop.

    "This better be urgent! Or someone is losing their position!" Laftus almost snarled incoherently.

    "Well sire you told us to alert you if durin seemed to gain even an inkling of accuracy." A man with a smaller stature tentatively replied.

    Durin was the code by which the prophecy of the harbinger was referred to.

    "A fluctuation was detected then?" Laftus asked, immediately cooled down.

    "Yes sire," the courier said with a tone ill at ease.

    "Give me the details," Laftus gestured gruffly for the papers the courier held in his hand.

    He ran his eyes through the compilation of reports on the fluctuation in mana. As he feared, three fluctuations most violent in record occurred in the mana scape. The harbinger was heralded. No, the situation provided an opportunity.

    Laftus dismissed both the messenger and motioned for the massage to continue.

    Laftus laughed. An otherworlder actually came. If handled right, a major mustering of troops might not even be taken as a threat anymore with the otherworlder as the target. The others probably would think the same but he would be faster.

    Honestly, he had only used the records of overreaching leaders as an excuse. Maybe he shouldn''t have read them. Who was that ''american'' author? Right, ''Mark Twain.'' Didn''t he assert that with confidence and ignorance success was assured? Probably a misread or loss of meaning in translation though. Nothing was ¡®assured.¡¯

    Laftus smiled. The world definitely would get more interesting.

    09/32/ AWAD 200

    Laftus woke up and dressed by himself, astonishing everyone. From easing off his night clothes to bathing him while massaging him to eventually clothing him once again, usually he would let the servants do everything.

    The castle was abuzz with gossip, and Laftus was satisfied to see that the true reason why he changed didn¡¯t reach the rumor mill. What would be leaked remained under his control.

    As usual, he absorbed the prepared amount of mana by the machina regiis, a monstrosity of gears of runes and a single giant tank in front of which his throne stood.

    The machina regiis somehow managed to render the mana of others as his upon consumption of a sample of their mana. Ten minutes after absorbing the mana samples, Laftus consulted his enchanted scepter. About a hundred thousand more provide mana taxes. That indicated families were getting much larger if there were so many ten year olds. Was that a side effect of prosperity?

    Many discoveries were made from simply observing how the machina regiis functioned. More were made destructively investigating the second one they had.

    One of the most tightly kept secrets, the machina regiis was a key to godhood. Mana made all things possible with sufficient enough power. If Laftus didn''t succeed, then one of his descendants would achieve godhood.

    For now Laftus got to enjoy the immense power of holding mana from his serfs in his hand. Every king did so, a race started under the otherworlder''s nose once he had toppled the gods. The godkiller na?vely tried to distribute all the resulting knowledge but was promptly stopped. Legends said the godkiller was still around, simply imprisoned, but Laftus hoped not.

    He summoned his general.

    "Has screwing with servant girls and throwing massive parties stopped satisfying you? I know bafrin was a no go but there should be better uses for your time. Maybe take your training more seriously?" As per usual General Nagatas seemed to have a perpetual scowl on his face.

    "You know those¡­ activities were never satisfying,¡± Laftus sighed. ¡°As for bafrin being a no go, that may no longer be the case. Durin happened and we must have further discussion in the War room.¡±

    This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source.

    The general nodded as his face somehow even scowled even more, ¡°yes sire.¡±

    Laftus and General Nagatas stepped into a blue chamber after a short walk away from the training fields.. Apparently a past ancestor decided blue was a good color for planning war, but that wasn''t what they were there for. This was one of the four rooms with the utmost anti-divination wards. New ways of magical espionage were discovered everyday and his room and study, the ritual room, and the war room were kept updated against these..

    "An otherworlder has arrived in our world. One that came from the godkiller one at that," Laftus declared more relaxed than he felt.

    Nagatas hung his head and muttered, "I thought the gods are mere remnants of what they once were. On top of that they usually word their prophecies so as to actually steer events in their favor.¡± He hit the table in frustration and growled, ¡°prophecies should stay as hogwash!"

    "The prophecy was oddly vague other than saying the ¡®harbinger¡¯ foretold would arrive this month. Maybe the gods aren¡¯t sure that the ¡°harbinger of change¡± would actually move in favor of them,¡± Laftus tried to point out a silver lining.

    The attempt didn¡¯t work even for himself.

    ¡°Kaftaras''s tiny balls I thought we were in the clear since today was the last day of the month. I should have known better. Curse the prophecy,¡± Laftus agreed with Nagatas.

    Both Laftus and Nagatas fell silent.

    "I don''t see you cooperating indefinitely with all of the other god kings in order to put down the otherworlder. I suppose we shall use the resulting turmoil as a distraction?" Nagatas was sharp on point as usual.

    "Yes, but I might have to leave the country eventually if we are unlucky enough to be the starting point of the ¡®harbinger'', because chances are high that the otherworlder will have some absurd advantage from being summoned through the primordial energies. I need you to build up the military and the innovation department to finish up their research on ¡®that¡¯," Laftus grumbled. "Who is most likely to ally with us given the circumstances?"

    "Well sire, I believe Queen Lisaya has been suggesting marriage for a while now. You should know she is considered quite fetching," Nagatas said.

    "Yeah, yeah, yeah. I will marry her. I guess my life as an eternal ''bachelor'' is over. I will be pretty upset if I lose against this ¡®harbinger of change.¡¯ Who else?" Laftus tried to reply nonchalantly as he lamented the loss.

    "Well King Jerom has been suggesting a joint-expedition into the wilds, so he may be open for cooperation," Nagatas reminded him.

    "Ugh that fool doesn''t realize that a lot of the ideas he juggles with could be the end of our power. He should be easy to handle, though. Get me my speech coordinator. I will be calling for a massive expansion into the wild," Laftus paused. "Alert my spymaster to have everything he has to be compiled into one report. Get me my writing coordinator also, I need to send letters to Queen Lisaya and King Jerom. I also need to get the ball rolling for a meeting with all the rulers as soon as possible. The sort of mustering my country is capable of would threaten them too much otherwise."

    Laftus hurried to his study room. There was no time to lose, because who knew whether a moment wasted might lead to his defeat? He stopped to take a deep breath. Moving frantically would not help. The otherworlder still had to get their bearings most likely.

    On that note, Laftus never felt more alive! A new challenge stood before him. His slow jog led him to double doors of rich mahogany through which he pushed through. His speech and writing coordinators were already there.

    ¡°My apologies Baron Yevin, on second thought I won¡¯t need your services with writing quite yet. For now I will just work on a speech,¡± Laftus dismissed one of the men.

    Baron Yevin bowed before leaving quickly, probably because he sensed the edge in Laftus¡¯s voice. The other was Baron Galta. The punctuality was going to be rewarded. In fact, loyalty was going to be thoroughly reinforced with rewards. War was on the horizon.

    ¡°Baron Galta, help me form a speech to galvanize the people of my country to conquer the wilds,¡± Laftus dictated.

    Baron Galta started, ¡°very well sire. I suggest starting with a booming voice in a congratulatory tone as sire would know, but be careful to keep things simple. You don¡¯t want people to misunderstand, especially when trying to appeal to their emotions.¡±

    Laftus spoke, ¡°I believe I can make a go at appealing to my people''s love for the country. Emphasize how we are superior to the other countries.¡±

    He almost let out a sigh. Living decadently had so much less stress.

    10/01/ AWAD 200

    Laftus looked down at the people gathered under him. The spatiaths transported the elites of his country without much trouble. Numerous more people saw him through the imcaps that hovered around. His scepter showed that the totality of all the serfs watching reached about a million.

    He prompted his scepter to amplify his voice and began, ¡°my countrymen are you not tired of the humdrum of your daily lives? Have you stared at the horizon and wondered what was beyond? Thanks to my innovators, living beyond the frontier has become possible. Our country shall rise to the top as the perfect combination of order and progress!¡±

    ¡°What of the Kingdom of Jerom where everyone ¡®moves up¡¯ in the name of ¡®progress¡¯? Almost no order exists in that confusing mass of people. Most of them don¡¯t have a clue what true progress even is. Kingdoms like the kingdom of Saverus with their clockwork-like orderliness offers an almost absolute safety to citizens, but, unfortunately, rarely does the word for progress leave their mouths. Not our country though. We shall steadily move towards the future as every other country chokes on their flaws,¡± Laftus paused to amplify his voice even more.

    Raising his fist into the air, he boomed, ¡°the future shall be ours! All hail Jaclistan!¡±

    The crowds followed suit and chanted back, ¡°all hail Jaclistan!¡±

    10/02/ AWAD 200

    War was in the near future and Laftus¡¯s habits of frivolity had a price and cashed in.

    Laftus panted as sweat poured down his face. A soldier looked at him with uncertainty, but charged again when Laftus directed him. The soldier sustained a series of blows forcing Laftus to block and dodge a variety of attacks.

    Not much physicality was required when fighting people from his aristocracy, so Laftus¡¯s stamina dropped from only training for elegance of technique if ever. His trainer usually stopped short of striking but didn¡¯t make the venture any less tiring. Laftus¡¯s training armor could only hold against so many direct strikes.

    The training armor gave out for the fifth time and Laftus was exhausted. As soon as the high pitched alarm rang, the soldier stopped his series of attacks and backed off. The soldier swiftly left the training room after saluting.

    Laftus fell onto his back with his dignity and stamina physically and mentally in tatters.

    ¡°You will lose on the battlefield against the otherworlder at that rate,¡± Nagatas commented from the door. ¡°You know the training menu.¡±

    Laftus growled as he fell into a press-up position on the floor. Four unenhanced press-ups then a single acceled press-up was a routine he repeated twenty times. After those were curl-ups then squats.

    By the end, he ached so bad, the masseuses had their work cut out for them. The hot bath at the end of the day never felt so good.

    10/09/ AWAD 200

    A week passed before Laftus received any response letters.

    The condition the other rulers gave Laftus for a meeting was ridiculous. Build a whole new city? Their networks should have also told them of the harbinger prophecy¡¯s fulfilment. A lot of them must have taken their wars more seriously than expected.

    He would give them a city to meet at--under his banner. They should have an idea of what was coming for them even if the haze of the wilds made studying his new city difficult. The blatant nature of complying might even come off as desiring peace.

    The resources at his disposal weren¡¯t enough for such a venture though. Fortunately, he had already called for the necessary meeting with his aristocrats.

    Not a moment after Laftus sat on his throne, Kevisa called out ¡°Sir Hemetrat Saldan has arrived.¡±

    A bulbous frog like man burst through the doorway.

    ¡°What makes you think¡­?!¡± Sir Saldan started off in a berating tone but trailed off.

    Laftus filled the room with his mana field, no his mana dominion.

    He remained motionless otherwise, propped on his fist, ¡°you were saying?¡±

    Sir Saldan blustered, ¡°I believe consulting your nobility would have been most advisable before setting up various works like¡­ spatiaths as you call them.¡±

    Laftus asked cooly, ¡°and why must I consult my nobility about what I do with what is exclusively my land? Those roads weren¡¯t called the kings highways for no reason.¡±

    He knew exactly why Hemetrat was protesting. With such a higher level of connectivity with the various provinces of the aristocracy, they wouldn¡¯t be able to get away with so much as before. He even had a running bet with how much higher tax revenue would rise with his secretary. The purpose of the meeting wasn¡¯t to settle ruffled feathers, though.

    ¡°I called you for another matter. Not to talk about what I was fully in my right to do. I assume you are indeed aware of my call for conquest of the wilds. If I am going to ensure the serfs don¡¯t become uppity, then even more of my innovations will be necessary in the subsequent cities in the wild. You tested my patience, though, so tell me why I should even give you the chance for more landholdings?¡±

    Sir Saldan¡¯s mouth gaped open for a second like a fish out of water before he launched into a plea.

    By the third minute, Laftus lost his patience, ¡°your duration for an audience with me has expired.¡±

    Following custom, Sir Saldan bowed twice before leaving, but Laftus sneered at the correction. Sir Saldan would get nothing. Although, he would be noted for his insolence.

    Following aristocrats requested audiences with much better attitudes. They read the situation far more cleverly than Sir Saldan. Kevisa diligently recorded every word from which his aids would produce the details of negotiations proposed. Five hundred forty three submitted requests for audiences, so Laftus¡¯s schedule until the end of the year was packed.

    Four hundred four aristocrats refused to show up, though. Their contracts hadn¡¯t dissolved, so they hadn¡¯t committed true treason. Laftus¡¯s thirst for conquest flared, nevertheless. They probably truly believed he would accept such actions.

 Chapter 5

    10/01/ AWAD 200

    Jay¡¯s eyes opened to a white ceiling. It wasn¡¯t the cleanest white, but it was a familiar white. Morning used to be a slow business but Jay dealt with it a lot better now. He simply got up earlier to give himself more time, still hated it though.

    Breakfast was sunny side eggs as usual. He turned to his mom to thank her for the food¡­

    Jay woke up tearing up. There was never a chance to say goodbye. The ceiling he saw now was Jax¡¯s room¡¯s, a dark brown. He shook his head as though to shake away the sadness.

    Without possessing a stable whirlpool in his core, his swords proved to make the amount of raw mana he emitted worse. The solutions to sealing the swords were sheathes crafted from halfy wood. Normally the insulatory effects of the wood would be lost when cut down but stayed fresh from absorbing mana from Jay''s swords. Strong enough surges would obliterate them though.

    Why emitting raw mana exposed his thoughts still hadn¡¯t been explained to Jay¡¯s irritation. Master told him to find the answers to questions like ¡®that¡¯ in reading after he finally learned to read. The urge to try to force the magi to teach him to read as soon as possible crossed his mind multiple times.

    Today, though, he would finally get answers to at least some of his questions. Like why the year was denoted as ¡®AWAD 200¡¯.

    Learning the language properly to use magic was necessary apparently. For all he knew, maybe the ¡®common language¡¯ was an altered form of the ¡®magic language.¡¯ That could be the reason magi referred to Japanese as a good analogy.

    [You guessed right. The common language is indeed an altered form of the language of magic. I thought I told you to consider me as your master? Come outside.] Master thought to him.

    Jay couldn¡¯t wait for when he managed to regain his privacy.

    A surreal but familiar sight was set up right outside. Almost straight out of a classroom, a white board and rows of chairs were set up. Even a couple kids from the village were gathered.

    [Well I thought my favorite student would like company,] Master thought to him.

    [Bullshit! The purpose of this setup is for me to develop attachments,] Jay shot back.

    [Whatever you may believe, that doesn¡¯t change how I will only teach you this way. I will start in five minutes, so become acquainted with these kids. Be aware that some children can sense lies from how you emit mana,] Master dismissed him with a warning.

    Jay wanted to retort but thought it was pointless and scanned the crowd for Jax. Starting with someone he knew would be best. Finding Jax didn¡¯t take long with his head sticking out above most.

    ¡°Hello Jax, I am gonna hang out with you a bit. Can you introduce me to some of your friends?¡± Jay approached the group of excited kids feeling more than a little silly.

    Being rebellious to the magi would be foolhardy though.

    ¡°Sure Jack,¡± Jax replied. ¡°Hey guys this is the wanderer who saved me from several wolves.¡±

    Jay felt surprised at how Jax hadn¡¯t messed with the story to make himself look better.

    "I can tell he¡¯s telling the truth but tell me how you pulled off fighting off the wolves. I find that a child killing one of the monsters is really hard to believe.¡±

    Jay sighed. The girl might be capable of sensing lies. An imploring of the group was called for.

    ¡°I can describe the fight to you guys without any embellishment, but is that what you want? Out here in the middle of nowhere, you must not get much news nor excitement. Who here wants me to make the fight thrilling with some exaggeration instead of plain and more boring?¡± Jay asked.

    ¡°Make it fun!¡± Most of the kids answered.

    ¡°Well the wolves were certainly cunning. They almost got me. Call me Jack, by the way,¡± Jay began. ¡°I rushed to offer my assistance when Jax yelled for help and saw the two wolves circling and waiting for him to tire. I drew my sword to cut them down,¡± he unsheathed his sword to show them.

    ¡°But both the wolves must have sensed me since they immediately turned around to rush me. I barely managed to cut one down and had to knock back the other with a gauntlet. Regaining space made striking down the second wolf possible, but that wasn¡¯t how the fight ended,¡± Jay paused.

    ¡°These wolves weren¡¯t only abnormally sensitive but also abnormally intelligent. A third wolf had hung back waiting for the right moment to attack. Right when I was about to strike down the second wolf, the third wolf decided to attack. With a hair-rising howl, it leapt for the back of my neck. Fortunately, I chose to lunge forward to cut down the second wolf in the exact same moment and threw off the third wolf¡¯s aim. However, its weight slammed into my back and knocked me to the ground, turning the fight into a wrestle,¡± Jay paused to check for attention.

    The eyes of the other kids were glued to him.

    ¡°I found myself on the ground holding back two wolves away from my neck, a dangerous but also humiliating situation for me. There I was, about to be killed by random wolves. That infuriated me. Along with the anger that bubbled up, I felt a surge in mana that brought me strength. After shoving away the wolves, I cut them down with my shortsword,¡± Jay dramatically finished recounting the fight with a re-enactment with his short sword.

    He could see their eyes brimming with excitement. Everyone seemed to be at rapt attention to his description of the fight, the fight playing out in their heads, exciting them. How many others would join Jax with the same intentions for adventure?

    Gina, Han, and Samanseemed to want to be fighters pestering for more details of the fight. Afterwards, Jafta and Jefus wouldn¡¯t shut up about food and wondered how wolf meat would taste. Jax simply listened to everyone. Dakisa remained skeptical and also asked for more details.

    [Oh I forgot to mention that you aren¡¯t my only mage trainee,] Silvia thought to him.

    Jay groaned. That would mean that more people were privy to his thoughts. Irritation in him bubbled.

    ¡°Kids I am going to start so get seated. I plan on furthering your education.¡±

    Jefus blurted out, ¡°is that something delicious?¡±

    Not losing a step, master replied, ¡°it could help you get more delicious things, but stop joking, Jefus. Let me start with one question: do any of you know what the AWAD of AWAD 200 stands for?¡±

    Dakisa¡¯s hand shot up, ¡°that stands for After the War Against divinity. Year 0 is the year the otherworlder successfully toppled the gods.¡±

    Master clapped, ¡±Very good Dakisa. Everyone else should read more.¡±

    Jay would have to find out where the library was.

    That would explain why the elf wanted his death. Jay didn¡¯t really pay much attention after that. The lecture sounded like a fluffy overview anyway. Burying himself in the library after he gained literacy would suffice.

    He still caught how there were twenty three kingdoms on the continent. The gist was that these kingdoms had been in various states of hostility ever since the age of the gods ended. The gods were really destructive so not many records survived to leave much else to discuss. Master was only running through the popular theories and lengthened the lecture with pretty illusions.

    Jay was more perplexed and interested with the kids surrounding him. They all appeared to be educated but didn¡¯t appear to live constantly in fear like the other residents of the village. A ruler who poisoned the rivers and had a secret police should still be terrifying. Although, the ongoing atmosphere of fear potentially came from previously living where the tyrant¡¯s secret police was more active. The children probably didn¡¯t remember enough.

    ¡°¡­ people even say that the mana taxes¡¯ purpose is to make gods out of the kings¡­¡±

    Jay choked. That might be a highly classified secret if that was true!

    [That was just me playing tricks on your mind. Don''t worry. Preventing tricks on your mind will be simple eventually,] Master assured.

    ¡°... and as you well know there is a mana tax to go along with the normal tax at the moment. You¡¯re dismissed.¡±

    Jay would have to find out who the trainees were.

    "Hello [Jay Black]. We are what you would call the senior apprentices,¡± a cheerful voice called out.

    Jay turned back to see a redhead girl and boy walked up to him.

    Although Jay did intend to meet them, his irritation from before flared. Two more people invaded the privacy of his thoughts, a hazel eyed redheaded and probably her brother.

    The redhead said, "I''m Shannah and this is Jervoh, as you guessed my brother.¡±

    Jervoh walked off without a word, maybe tired of his sister. She already seemed to be capable of talking people''s ears off.Stolen novel; please report.

    Jay sighed, "you¡¯re going to have to teach me to read so show me the alphabet for now.¡±

    ¡°Sure, but we need to go outside first so the remnants of casting spells isn¡¯t left in the town,¡± Shannah said. "You won''t have the usual problems thanks to magicraft."

    ¡°There is no point for that. Master mentioned that I apparently created mana scars,¡± Jay replied.

    "Is that so? I don¡¯t care," Shannah huffed. ¡°The town is stuffy.¡±

    She must have really wanted to get out of the town.

    They walked quite a distance away from the town before they came across a clearing.

    "Here''s the alphabet," an image of almost forty glyphs sprung up on Shannah¡¯s right. "Yes this is an illusion, an external one. There is a surprising amount of history in the art of illusion spells. You see the first spell was fire and..."

    "Umm.. can we get back to the alphabet?" Jay interrupted.

    Jay normally was all for going for tangents but learning literacy was a priority. Plus, having his responses pulled straight from his head was irritating. Strangely, the glyphs seemed to shift before his eyes.

    "Are the two alphabets like how Japanese originated? A derivation of alphabets from other alphabets? Master did mention that Japanese would be a good analogy for something," Jay asked.

    "Ding ding ding! The common language was formed from the fragments of the original spells,¡± Shannah exclaimed.

    Jay groaned at Shannah¡¯s tone but appreciated having his guess confirmed.

    "Here''s the word for fire," Shannah swiped her hand down and three of the glyphs drifted forward.

    "Jealous aren''t yah? For fields like illusion magic, which is my specialty by the way... And that would be another tangent wouldn''t it?¡± Shannah smiled as she stopped herself.

    Once again she responded to his thoughts.

    Jay wondered whether he¡¯d learn anything, but Jervoh came back. A ton of papers, a table and two chairs floated along behind him.

    Setting the chairs and table, Jervoh sighed darkly, "we are simply developing you as a more effective weapon for rebellion. Literacy and conventional knowledge will be a start."

    Shannah protested, ¡°I thought we agreed I would teach Jay?¡±

    "That was before we had time constraints. You can fill in the gaps," Jervoh grunted.

    Shannah left in a sulk.

    The lecture was blazed through the alphabet. Glyphs were introduced along with their common arrangements. A massive amount of information Jay shouldn¡¯t have managed to take all in without issue. The exhaustion should have knocked him out a while ago.

    ¡°Hey Jervoh I promise I will try not to be too upset but are you currently casting a spell on me?" Jay asked.

    ¡°You finally noticed huh?" Jervoh snarkily asked.

    He held up his right hand and circles of complex glyphs glowed into existence. They did seem to hold semblances to the glyphs of the alphabet.

    ¡°As you can guess, we are a little pressed for time. I enhanced your learning speed so prepare for a lot of headaches."

    "Why won¡¯t a spell like the elf¡¯s work again?" Jay asked.

    Jervoh looked at him exasperated, "casting spells under that spell is impossible. Can we move on?"

    At Jay''s nod Jervoh launched into the lecture once again.

    10/08/ AWAD 200

    Jervoh had underestimated the backlash by several magnitudes.

    Jay growled. After only a week of the enspelled lectures, thinking about anything other than getting back to Jax''s house became difficult. A run could possibly clear his head.

    Speeding up the whirling of mana in his core, he took off at a sprint along the walls.

    Jay made several rounds around the town walls, before realizing there was a person at the center of town. That person was going through a dance with a... sword? The person wasn''t there anymore the next second. The next second, a cold blade was brought to his throat.

    "You know I was sure no one would be out at this time normally. The men would be at the tavern to get drunk and the women would be taking care of the children in their homes. Who are you?" A gruff voice demanded.

    Jay took a closer look at the man holding his jugular hostage. The owner of the gruff voice had a scruffy beard. Also, there was an overpowering smell of alcohol.

    "I am the person who saved Jax from wolves,¡± Jay answered. ¡°Haven''t you heard of Jack?"

    "You are lying about something. Bah, just go away," with a loud belch, the man motioned to shoo.

    "Are you Seran?¡± Jay asked.

    ¡°Yes. Why do you ask?¡± Seran replied.

    ¡°Teach me to fight,¡± Jay demanded.

    Actual fights were probably different then the martial arts he learned.

    With a look of disbelief, Seran scoffed, "and why should I do that?"

    "I doubt you actually want the circumstances you are in. Even if you do enjoy hiding in an obscure village on the outskirts, wouldn¡¯t letting all your knowledge and techniques disappear into the void be a waste?" Jay implored.

    "Pretentious brat! You think you think you deserve my knowledge and technique?! Might be fun to whack you around for a little, though,¡± Seran laughed.

    Seran held up a vial of a black liquid.

    ¡°Mage Silvia promised this would make blades dull for a while." Seran laughed. ¡°Now I think I know why she gave them to me. Bah manipulative gavitch!¡±

    Jay let the object thrown at him fall to the ground. It looked to be a vial of black liquid probably for pouring onto the blade¡¯s edge if Seran''s claim was truthful.

    "Good you weren''t dumb enough to catch an object thrown by a potential threat to you. You would be surprised with how naive everybody here is. Go on, just a drip on the blade is good enough, besides Mage silvia would easily figure out what happened if I tried anything," Seran said.

    [Seran is telling the truth,] Master interjected.

    Jay drew his bastardsword but left his shortsword sheathed. A single drop of the liquid covered his sword in a black but strangely glowing substance. Seran had already prepped his own sword.

    "You aren''t going to use your other sword?" He asked.

    "Not good enough to do that yet," Jay replied.

    Plus, His shortsword could be used if his bastardsword began sizzling or something, although that sentiment was only an overly paranoid side benefit. Master had backed Seran¡¯s claim after all. Seran started circling around so Jay followed suit.

    "I respect you for acknowledging your limits," Seran remarked and made a probing attack with a diagonal slash from the left.

    "Huh you have basics of grip down at least." Seran grudgingly admitted following up with a slash from the right. "But we aren''t dancing."

    Seran broke the choreography they had fallen into, rushing Jay. Hammering away his sword to the right, Seran slammed his hilt-weighted-fist into Jay¡¯s chest.

    Looking down at Jay on the ground, he mocked, ¡±do you have a backbone? I can''t cut you down but I can break your bones if you disappoint me!"

    With a growl, Jay closed the distance and attempted to lock Seran''s sword with his cross guard.

    "Trying to disarm me are you?!" Seran asked as he shoved away Jay.

    Jay couldn''t see how he could win. With actually defeating Seran not even a possibility, impressing him was his win condition. There was no way Seran hadn''t noticed the openings Jay had exposed stumbling backwards. That indicated a lack of expectation.

    Seran laughed, "hey... Hey... HEY! You giving up?!"

    Seran stopped mid barrage. The reason became clear with him hammering in an overhead slash. Jay¡¯s backwards momentum made capitalizing on Seran¡¯s opening impossible. Parrying proved impossible against the force behind the blow, and blocking left Jay¡¯s stance weak.

    He decided to gamble and fell forwards on purpose. Cranking up his mana¡¯s swirling, he slowed down his perception of time. Nudging the overhead blow off course with his head, he steadied himself on the ground with one hand and sprang forward with a thrust of his sword.

    "I can pull that trick too!" Seran sped up too and knocked away his high speed lunge.

    Taking several steps back, Jay once again rushed Seran

    "You know how well that went last time. At least you didn''t run with your tail between your legs." Seran scoffed.

    Jay still rushed him ignoring the warning, but instead of slashing, he threw dirt. Successfully blinding Seran, Jay channeled the fear and anxiety he had amassed since coming to this world and knocked aside Seran''s sword before revealing his unsheathed shortsword.

    Knocking away Seran¡¯s sword far enough to make parrying or blocking impossible for Seran, made attacking with his bastardsword also impossible. Jay lunged once again but with his shortsword.

    At least he tried to. Seran caught his shortsword¡­ with his eyes closed.

    "Nice try but not quite, but congrats you are someone that can be grinded into something worthwhile,¡± Seran remarked. ¡°Yes, honesty in fights is for deadmen, but now you get to see how far behind you are."

    Seran''s tone took a dive into the dark, and what followed was a brutal beat down.

    Not a beating within an inch of his life but a beating within a ''mm'' of his life. Seran could trigger and even maintain his acceleration multiple times effectively making it impossible to land attacks. Jay could only pull off changing Seran''s attack course one other time.

    [You are mistaken about Seran accelerating. Ask him,] Master sent.

    Jay decided to comply, ¡°Seran did you not accel yourself?¡±

    Seran laughed, ¡°I never let my mana whirl lose speed. I didn¡¯t brutalize you with high speed attacks the entire time because actually moving that fast burns through mana rapidly.¡±

    Jay bowed, hoping to express gratitude for the lesson. Although irritating, the initial fight and then beatdown were both extremely educational.

    ¡°Come back tomorrow if you want to receive beati¡­ no, be my student,¡± Seran called out as Jay stumbled back to Jax¡¯s house.

    The swirling of facts in his head settled down, but the exhaustion of the fight proved almost too much. Jay was out as soon as he fell in bed.

    10/15/ AWAD 200

    Jay yawned as he slipped out of bed and outside for a run. Not breaking the door was nice.

    He steadily ramped up the whirling of his mana over the weeks, enhancing all his physical capabilities. As a result, the cool air was incredibly invigorating. The urge to yell out into the sky with glee rose in him. Maybe being taken from his world wasn''t too bad? If Jay played his cards right, wouldn''t doing as many things as he wanted possible? The wilderness still existed as a frontier so who knew what could be discovered. New heights could be reached in well... everything! Drunken on his aspirations for the future, Jay didn''t notice Seran''s attack and was sent sprawling into the dirt.

    "Get your head out of the clouds fool! I thought the blacksmith''s son was a knucklehead but you may be worse in a different way!" Seran roared his disapproval holding a dull sword.

    Jay got up with a taste of dirt in his mouth and was about to protest.

    Seran cut him off, "Do you think anyone after your life will bother to give you forewarning? Just know that I will attack you at random when you''re running."

    Jay groaned as at the idea of being brutalized in the morning on a daily basis. The unrelentless of his mentors would no doubt be life saving. That didn¡¯t change the ridiculousness of why the experiences were necessary. The urge to howl in anger hadn¡¯t risen so high in him¡­ since ever. Not even working under his first insufferable boss in a law firm had been as bad, probably due to the stakes at risk.

    "Yell and scream if you want to," Shannah snuck up on him.

    She didn''t appear to have intention to attack him, but the surprise was still unpleasant.

    She continued, "you won''t last long if you''re tense all the time. Be more free. Oh and a bit of advice: try to get a sense of the mana that leaves your body."

    Shannah then left to make herself a nuisance elsewhere. The life advice was unsolicited, but why not? That hint about mana would certainly be very useful later.

    At the top of his lungs Jay howled into the air. Not simply tinged with anger but also excitement, anxiety, and a plethora of other emotions. People began to stir, disturbed by his outburst. Prompting Jay¡¯s hasty retreat into Jax¡¯s home.

    He should have been too fearful of the consequences of disturbing the town, but didn''t. The only thing he felt was a cathartic sense of exhilaration.

    <hr>

    "Hey, you haven''t learned our names have you? I''m Kenjo," A man sporting a wide smile introduced himself.

    ¡°A pleasure to meet you Kenjo, as you might have heard, I go by Jack,¡± Jay replied as he stopped hacking at the tree he was assigned.

    "Hey you said you didn''t know our names still right?" Kenjo asked. "I am thinking we could use introducing ourselves to you as an excuse for celebration. The elder might allow a little merry making then."

    Kenjo seemed to be a bit of a schemer, but the plan seemed harmless and a win-win situation.

    "I suppose you''re right," Jay nodded his head before hacking down the tree in front of him once again.

    After Kenjo smiled and began walking away a shout rang out. "Son of a gavitch I think I cut into an ancient one!"

    The sounds of trees being savaged came to an abrupt halt. Jay looked at Kenjo''s face. It held a look of disbelief and anger but also... fear?

    "How''d someone confuse an ancient for a normal halfy tree?!" Kenjo growled before running towards the general direction of the yell.

    Hesitant to draw ire, Jay asked, "would you mind telling me why this is a bad thing? Do ancients become monstrous when cut?"

    "They call monsters to its defense and well monsters always are more... let¡¯s say preemptive." Kenjo panted.

    Jay was still confused. He asked, "what monsters? Pretty sure the dead mage decimated anything that could serve?"

    [Ancients summon and turn fauna into guardian monsters from even thousands of miles away eventually, so they¡¯ve been all but wiped out within the mainland,] Jervoh explained.

    Jay didn''t recall intending the question for Jervoh. In fact he could have sworn he wanted Kenjo to answer, but what did he know? Jervoh was much wiser than he.

    [Kenjo wouldn''t know much about the fantastic. Anything you get from him would mostly be hearsay. Plus, he''s obviously in too much of a hurry to answer properly.] Jervoh countered.

    Jay scowled. The town sounded screwed, but the Ancient couldn¡¯t maintain the spell if killed right?

    [Yeah but magi attacks won¡¯t have any point with the ancient awake. We¡¯ll have to evacuate,] Jervoh sighed.

    If magi attacks wouldn¡¯t work, then what about cutting down the tree physically?

    Jervoh scoffed, [how are we supposed to defend the townsmen as they hack the ancient?]

    Jay scoffed back. Master had only complained that the complexity of the house seeds were difficult. Wouldn¡¯t creating and using wall seeds be possible. The house seed only took a day to finish, so wall seeds should take even less time.

    [The walls aren¡¯t guaranteed to grow in time. Oh... I see. The local fauna were wiped out, so the guardian monsters might take longer than a day to show up. That¡¯s a gamble though.]

    [Boy, you let me handle getting volunteers for the lumberman. Proceed to the north gate. Seran will be waiting,] Master ordered.

    Now that Jay knew his role, he brought his speed up a notch, blowing by Kenjo.

    "Hey watch it! You almost knocked me over!" Kenjo continued to spew complaints but Jay was already too far ahead to hear.

 Chapter 6

    10/22/ AWAD 200

    Jay finished his initial circle around the fort for surveillance and hunkered down for his early morning sprint. The fort around the ancient completed an hour before the first attack fortunately. The first guardian monsters were a herd of mutated deers thundering out of the forest. With the wall nullifying their initial charge, the herd only served as an increase in food supply. A week passed by with similar attacks.

    He smiled. His sustained speed for his mana whirl had increased drastically. Plus, there had been no annoying instances of invasive telepathy.

    Mana sight opened up a whole new world, and a variety of green hues were visible to his mana sight. Nothing but plant life appeared to be present.

    Jay narrowed his eyes at a strange ripple and in one motion drew his shortsword to parry a blow to his head.

    ¡°Good job, taking two shifts would be--,¡± Seran said, shimmering into sight.

    With a thrust of his bastard sword, Jay didn¡¯t allow Seran to finish.

    You didn¡¯t forget to counter, good,¡± Seran smiled wolfishly, dodging the strike.

    Seran followed up with a slash from the right, but the motions weren¡¯t completely consistent with the ripples.

    Jay managed to fend off the actual blow and asked with a grin, ¡°illusion magic?¡±

    Seran blurred to appear to the left of where he was before.

    He scowled, ¡°it''s called auracraft, boy. I have no need for nonsense spells that won¡¯t even work as well.¡±

    Before Jay could offer a rebuttal, he sensed a blow from behind and dived forward into a roll. Turning around showed Jervoh was his attacker.

    ¡°What was that for?¡± Jay growled.

    Jervoh only stared back silently.

    There had been many times the urge to break Jervoh''s face surged in him, but at the very least Jervoh¡¯s actions had clear purposes. That didn¡¯t dissuade Jay from trying to jump Jervoh at least once, though, a mistake. The attempt ended terribly with Jervoh leaving him hovering in the air until midday. Being reminded about the experience stung, the topic Kenjo guffawed at currently.

    Jay glared at Gavon who broke down into laughter after recounting the incident. Even Jave and Hegan chuckled. Did they really think they were whispering soft enough?

    "Oh sorry,¡± Hegan apologized. ¡°The fact that even a northerner despised Jervoh and his teaching methods was hilarious. Almost everyone hated every second of Jervoh¡¯s lessons. Luckily, we only had to endure long enough to learn glyphs to read contracts and do simple math."

    Gavan, Jave, and Kenjo grunted in agreement.

    Jay wasn¡¯t truly annoyed, because he had eventually learned everyone¡¯s names after staying so long. A little ribbing was par to the course in a community, but that wasn¡¯t what Jervoh did.

    ¡°I will ask once again. What was your issue with me?¡± Jay gritted his teeth.

    He had grown a lot under Seran. Maybe another try at thrashing Jervoh would work out.

    ¡°I was checking whether you were ignoring my magispeaking to you,¡± Jervoh uttered after the long silence. ¡°After being attacked without provocation, your thoughts towards me would be furious. I couldn¡¯t sense your rage even then, however. Congratulations, your mana whirl is fast enough for you to learn magispeak. how to defend yourself from magispeak and help yourself defend against magicraft attacks.¡±

    Jay almost trembled with rage and had to stop himself from reaching his swords. A couple slow breaths calmed him down. Jervoh always found the worst ways to irritate somehow.

    ¡°I guess I do something with the mana that goes and comes from my head?¡±

    Shannah¡¯s advice to sense the mana he emitted from his body had been really helpful. Focusing on the mana coming off his head had made him feel like he was thinking the same thoughts twice.

    Brain mana carried his thoughts somehow, and the mana whirl had a cleansing effect, apparently. Jay wasn¡¯t ever a schizophrenic, and a cause and effect relation was established when the eeriness stopped as soon as he lurched back in fear. The thoughts he felt twice decreased as his mana whirl increased over the past two weeks.

    ¡°Talk about what you¡¯re thinking or slow down your mana whirl. I can¡¯t tell whether you are thinking like a cretin or not,¡± Jervoh said.

    Jay refused to give up his newly earned privacy so easily, ¡°your sister told me to get a sense of the mana I emitted from my body so I noticed how my the mana coming off my head somehow carries my thoughts. I assumed I would have to use that mana somehow.¡±

    Jervoh sneered, ¡°you are actually on the right track but not¡­ quite. There would be no point in having a mana whirl. Yes, you use mana from your head, but only in small packages for telepathy. You use the mana you collect in your mana whirl to defend yourself. Since I said the skill you need to learn will help you defend yourself from magicraft attacks, what you have to do with whirled mana should be obvious.¡±

    ¡°I encase my body with my whirled mana?" Jay remarked, "that seems straightforward.¡±

    Having gotten used to handling mana from speeding up his mana whirl, Jay found using the momentum of the whirl to spread his mana across his body trivial.

    After foreign mana piercing the mana film Jay crafted registered in his mind, Jervoh smiled a particular sadistic smile.

    [@$(&*@&)#%&(@#)!]

    A sensation not unlike that of static of electronics assaulted Jay.

    ¡°Did you do that?¡± Jay ground his teeth seething in anger.

    Jervoh could have definitely warned him.

    [I suppose I could have.]

    If Jervoh could see his thoughts, then he should be greeted with brutal thoughts. Jervoh didn¡¯t shift from his bored expression, though, even after Jay thought of the most awful ways of thrashing him for five minutes.

    ¡°That was another magispeak package, so I don¡¯t actually know whatever you¡¯re thinking of me,¡± Jervoh smirked.

    Jay drew his swords.

    <hr>

    Seran was the voice of reason for once and calmed Jay down. His sword instructor had come back from his shift in the nick of time.

    By then Jehan, Daven, Kefian, and Nafen replaced Hegan¡¯s group, and they were in higher spirits. After a week of constant hacking they were almost finished cutting down the ancient. There would no longer be a fear of a swarm of monsters coming down on their heads.

    Shannah had a much more pleasant way of training him with his mana shell. She would try to force Jay to listen to her through magispeak as they discussed the things he learned from Jervoh. Shannah¡¯s erraticness the first time Jay met her had only been a one time thing, and exploring what he learned from Jervoh in more depth was fun. On top of that Jervoh was busy keeping watch.

    The three hours went by fast and Jervoh promptly just pulled out a large book from his pouch, courtesy of dimensional magic. The book he pulled out was titled A criticism of the anthology of the rise and development of the Halfy road, might be worth it to ask to read it.

    Exchanging a high five with Shannah after the particular productive session, Jay took his place as a sentry. His mana field now extended a yard from him and could be molded to bar magispeak or spells.

    Nothing but plant life appeared to be present to his mana sight as before, but something intruded his mana field.

    Jay drew his shortsword to block a blow to his back.

    ¡°Good, keep sharp,¡± Seran said but didn¡¯t appear.

    Jay spent the three hours of his shift also guarding against Seran¡¯s random attacks, but the rabbits that neared the fort didn¡¯t escape his attention.

    ¡°Jervoh we should go kill those rabbits shouldn¡¯t we?¡± Jay asked.

    A family of rabbits in the distance increased in quantity and proximity alarmingly.

    Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    With a grumble, Jervoh set down his book and gruffly asked, ¡°where?¡±

    Glaring at the rabbits Jay pointed out, he cast a spell. Both his hands became encircled with numerous glyphs glowing in his mana sight. The spell didn¡¯t stop at dissolving the construct in carrier mana. Taking the shape of a cone, the spell shot up in a shrill. After entering a lengthy ark, the construct plunged downward at the unfortunate rabbits. On impact, the spell enveloped all surrounding life in a violent surge of mana.

    ¡°Sorry you weren¡¯t supposed to look directly,¡± Jervoh remarked boredly.

    Jay clenched his teeth in agony still suffering from seeing the sudden chaos in the manascape. No longer on his shift, he stopped focusing his mana sight. A crater wasn''t formed as he expected. Instead the place hit became devoid of life. Only ash was left of the once vibrant area. The contrast between the small area of desolation and the steady vibrance of the forest was unnerving. Almost like a forest grew around a miniature desert, a reverse oasis. No, that didn¡¯t even begin to capture the sense of unnaturalness.

    ¡°What you¡¯re feeling is instinct your body''s way of telling you not to get anywhere near the area of effect,¡± Jervoh explained.

    Nothing seemed to make a move to fill in the vacuum. Not even random insects. Nature abhorred vacuums right?

    "The sense of menace of the area should dissipate quickly. Rigidity doesn¡¯t tend to hold in this world especially aberrant effects, but--" An implosion rang out behind him, ¡°--that can be used.¡±

    For a second, Jay was in awe at the sense of might but then remembered how much of an asshole Jervoh was.

    ¡°We won!¡± A border line war cry rose from the men as the ancient groaned and fell down.

    Cheers went up from the town audible all the way here, only to be interrupted.

    Jervoh boomed, "I would say I''d hate to be the harbinger of bad news, but you would know that wouldn¡¯t be true. The Ancient still managed to call a swarm." His eyes shined, "This is going to be fun!"

    A swarm was indeed in a rush towards them, and Jervoh had issues.

    <hr>

    Jay couldn¡¯t make heads or tails of what the mutated animals could have been. All of them had shapes in flux and in radically different ways. Some flickered like gases, morphed like water, or seemed to be the embodiment of plants squirming eerily.

    An unnatural call rang through the forest. The sound an amplified bleat then a howl and then a piercing bird call, in a freakish amalgamation. A chaotic mass of air, water, and plant monsters surged forward in what seemed as on cue to that horrible sound to Jay but with a queer silence.

    ¡°It has been a while since I have had fun,¡± Master¡¯s amused voice rose above the whispering she had been doing with her two apprentices.

    Jay spun around to see her and her two apprentices appear to be working on a spell construct. Figuring his sight had recovered enough, he focused his mana vision.

    He gasped in wonder. The sight was breathtaking and not just the complexity. Instead of a haphazardly placement, the rings of glowing glyphs were arranged as though an elegant piece of clockwork. As with all spell structures, the wonder disappeared, dissolved into mana that would carry the spell effect.

    One second a tsunami of monsters flowed forward heralding destruction. The next second many monsters found themselves falling into several pieces. If Jay had interpreted the glyphs correctly, then temporal cracks formed in reality itself, killing many and trapping even more monsters.

    Jay was in awe at the display of power. As soon as the cracks stopped growing, Seran jumped off the wall dashing towards the nearest monsters, sword drawn, and he followed suit.

    Softening the fall with a roll, Jay ran at a different group of monsters. His swords appeared to bend like they were stuck into water as they passed through a crack and sliced into the necks of monsters. Pulling away his swords returned their shapes to normal, prompting a sigh of relief from him.

    Not knowing how long such a spell effect could persist, Jay fell into a rhythm cutting down the surviving monsters. Until he got one his swords stuck, a swing too sloppy.

    He pulled harder but even then felt no give. Looking back at the offending carcass, Jay realized the monster was still alive and held his bastard sword with its dying body. Another monster managed to almost take a chunk out of him, but both monsters had their heads liberated by him with his short sword.

    Jay didn¡¯t know what warned him, maybe the cause was a stroke of luck or his expanding hyperawareness, but he managed to notice the icicles cutting soundlessly through the air towards him.

    Jay cut all ten down and almost stopped to marvel at the speed he was capable of moving at. However from where the shattered icicles hit, three plant monsters exploded into existence, intent to maul him.

    A magispeak rhythm prompted him to lower part of his mana shell.

    Jay retreated before letting Shannah¡¯s magispeak into his head.

    [Get back. We¡¯ll finish the rest of the monsters. Saving more on mana would have been great, though,] Shannah grumbled.

    Seran made a running leap on to the village wall and Jay followed suit. Up on the wall, Jay¡¯s attacker was finally visible. The thing was an amalgamation and probably the very thing that let out the hideous sound from before. Having antlers, the monster looked like a former buck but had a wolf¡¯s snout and tail, and wings. Unlike the sense of fierce beauty like that of a griffin, its parts gave off a horrible sense of deformity. In fact, its body seemed to squirm disgustingly.

    Hovering up in the air, the abomination brought with it another wave. Even Jay knew with his amateurish understanding with his mage sight that Master, Jervoh, and Shannah could not pull off the same thing before. Maybe a strategic error? Anyway, he felt an impending sense of doom as the revived swarm collectively prepared a volley of attacks.

    Then Master yelled and slammed a white and smooth stone on the ground, crushing it. Jay briefly wondered whether Master went mad but not for long. Fissures, not cracks, split the sky once again. The arriving monsters of the second wave fell to the ground like puppets with their strings cut, dead. The leader fared particularly badly, most of the fissures converging on him.

    Jay really wanted to know how that was done.

    Thinking the battle finished, Jay began to sheath his swords when he noticed the strangeness of the falling pieces of the ¡®final boss¡¯ like monster. They fell too much in sync. Falling speed was the same for all things, but this was too abnormal. There was a breeze and not even pieces of the wings were caught by it.

    This was going to make him look really petty and stupid if he was wrong.

    ¡°Master, are you out of weaponry? The boss monster probably isn¡¯t dead yet.¡±

    ¡°Why? Oh I see¡­ Well aren¡¯t we in a bit of sliccle?¡± Muttering, Master had a faraway look in her eyes.

    Jay turned to Shannah, ¡°you?¡±

    ¡°Out too,¡± Shannah answered.

    Jervoh pointed where Master threw the stone down, ¡°that was my plan and experiment.¡±

    Nothing else? Jay felt like slugging Jervoh but held back.

    ¡°Seran, you also come over here,¡± Master called out.

    Seran gruffed, ¡°I can only provide half of my mana without dying, too old.¡±

    When Jay turned back to Master, eyes filled with a strange light met his, ¡°I have just enough mana to set up a fire spell for your mana and Seran¡¯s to power. I don''t know how much will be enough to kill, so use as much as possible.¡±

    Jay sheathed his shortsword and tightened his grip on his bastard sword and mana whirl. Parts of his mana whirl still remained loose, though. An even tighter grip was necessary. His mana whirl was completely within his grasp, after what felt like an eternity. With a mental heave, he wrenched all the current in his mana whirl down his bastard sword and into Master¡¯s construct.

    His yellow mana mixed with Seran¡¯s black mana taking on a golden hue before contact that set the body parts on fire. In mana sight, mana links of mana of a rotten mix of green, blue, and brown surged into existence between each piece of the monster¡¯s body before fading away.

    After ten minutes of constant watch, Shannah and Jervoh recovered enough mana to scorch the body to ash for good measure.

    01/02/ AWAD 201

    Seran required Jay to move slowly through the sword drills he taught him. Jay¡¯s mistakes felt and were obvious for weeks. Fortunately, his learning curve was steep and Seran no longer snarled curses about his forms, only ever grunting to stop every once in a while. Jervoh¡¯s spell probably helped.

    "Well you did manage to do better than I thought you would," Seran gruffed.

    Gina, Han, Saman, and even Jafta and Jefus were watching from the side. Maybe Jafta and Jefus wanted to cut down their kills so as not to ruin the taste. Jay had to thank Jax for giving him tips on herbalism the other day, but he wasn''t there oddly enough. The strangest issue, though, was that Seran had made the drills look like a dance. Jay paused to ask, but Seran cut him off.

    "I know what you are thinking. This isn''t what you saw me doing, just the base I started from. Add to the drills as you gain experience.¡± Seran growled taking a swig of alcohol, "attack me."

    Jay rushed Seran at top speed with a growl, and the following fight went by for a minute. That was functionally ten minutes as Jay traded blows with Seran. Parts and pieces of the drill he learned were put to use as Jay struggled to force an opening in Seran¡¯s defence. At one point in kicking up the dirt to impede the other¡¯s vision, Jay and Seran had to rely only on their mana shells or auras to sense the other''s attacks.

    Seran¡¯s technique was much more polished, but he couldn¡¯t keep his body acceled like Jay could in the end. After a wide parry with the shortsword, Jay brought his bastard sword to Seran¡¯s neck.

    ¡°I won,¡± Jay coughed out.

    Seran smirked, ¡°that¡¯s a pathetic way to pronounce your first win.¡±

    Jay grunted in agreement and staggered off to Jervoh''s lecture. There were still combinations of glyphs he needed to learn, and books would become easier to comprehend.

    He would usually then go help with the lumbering. As long as the king was never mentioned, the people were far from being the cagey xenophobes he had originally imagined. They had quite a few fun anecdotes that kept him entertained.

    Jay lept forward when a ripple formed in his mana shell. Shannah, up to her usual antiques, tried to sneak up on Jay. She knew how his mana shell had a two-yard-radius, yet still tried.

    ¡±Could you please stop doing that?¡± Jay pleaded.

    Shannah smiled and said, ¡°No, it¡¯s fun and also beneficial for you.¡±

    She was fun to talk to but could be so aggravating.

    "Usual place right?" Jay asked.

    Shannah held up a sign that said yes and another one saying she had some things to gather. Why did she waste mana on carrying around things like signs in her pouch? Then again those could be illusions. Jay turned his attention more to his mana sight, but the signs seemed real. Shannah did claim to specialize in illusions, though.

    Shannah sort of reminded him about this one girl in highschool who also tried to randomly hug him. However, Shannah made less sense, since the annoying girl from highschool only did what she did to gain attention from everyone else. Jay appreciated how Shannah continued teaching him the way from before, though. His mana field and knowledge both lept forward in quality.

    A couple minutes had passed since Jay had been sitting at the usual place in the woods for the lectures as usual. That was the most he had simply just thought about the things that happened for months. Everything other than the lessons he learned from Jervoh, Shannah, and Seran fell into a blur. Magi Silvia seemed to be working on something frantically.

    Usually after so many minutes, Shannah would sneak up on him like before. Jay was looking forward to finally learning about magic beyond utility spells. Feeling a little impatient Jay began going through his sword drills. That was always relaxing. A deliberate series of motions he could either speed through while acceled or move slowly through.

    Out of sword drills and patience to go through, Jay walked back towards town. He would probably get some sort of explanation.

    The first sign was the smoke. There was more than usual in the sky but Jay dismissed that as the smith working harder than usual. Next was the smell. The wind brought an acrid smell but that could have been from the butcher. Jay saw him set up some meat to dry. The visual, though... that wasn¡¯t something he could dismiss.

    Instead of a picturesque village that could have pulled out of a high fantasy novel, flaming ruins were all that were left.

 Chapter 7

    01/02/ AWAD 201

    Jay realized the acrid smell from earlier was burnt flesh and vomited at the thought.

    He whispered, ¡°what happened?¡±

    Only the crackle of fires dying down answered.

    Still hoping some people survived, Jay trudged past walls reduced to charcoal. There was too much static in the mana scape for his mana sight to be sure everyone was dead. Something crunched under his left foot. Lifting his foot revealed a skull rendered brittle by fire.

    Jay jumped to the side with a yelp and through the smoke, scorched bodies came into sight. The people he laughed with, struggled with, and fought together with laid huddled in the town square, unrecognizable. The image was too much. Another blast of the odor of scorched flesh sent him running away.

    The town hall somehow remained standing, but investigating why would mean picking his way through the scattered bodies. After a deep breath, Jay headed back inside the ruins.

    The town hall turned out to only be blackened with ash and his mana sight revealed why. The town hall was riddled with defensive wards. One ward stood out and instructed him to infuse the door with his mana, even addressing Jay by name.

    Inside the town hall was a single book and nothing else. Jay picked up the book and stashed it in his pouch. The mana scape rippled. Cursing, he dove to the ground allocating as much mana to his mana field as possible. Instead of a mana storm as he feared, all the lingering mana of everyone gathered up and shot off to somewhere in the distance.

    Before Jay could wonder what that meant, a faint moan of pain finally registered in his ears. There was a survivor!

    Jay rushed past burnt trees and more scorched bodies to where he heard the moan from. The survivor was Jax--Jax who was stuck under a tree.

    ¡±Ah hey Jack. I need you to do something for me,¡± Jax rasped out.

    He must have accidentally inhaled smoke from the flames.

    Jay grabbed a hold of the tree pinning Jax down, ¡±Jax, don¡¯t worry. I¡¯ll get you out from under this tree. You don¡¯t look like you¡¯re bleeding out, so you¡¯ll survive.¡±

    ¡±Damn it Jack! I¡¯m screwed, because our tyrant suddenly decided to drain me dry. What I care about is what happened back in town,¡± Jax hollered hoarsely.

    Jay¡¯s mana sight confirmed Jax¡¯s vital mana draining.

    ¡°I¡¯m guessing the tyrant invoked a regis for the town¡¯s death,¡± Jax coughed out.

    Jay stopped still, stunned. How had everyone been forced to allow such power over them? And why?

    ¡°I don¡¯t know why I am being drained instead of outright killed, but my sisters should still be alive. They haven''t turned ten yet, so they haven¡¯t been forced into contracts,¡± Jax paused to take a shaky breath.

    Jay dreaded but could guess his next words.

    ¡°Jack, take care of my sisters for me,¡± Jax requested on his last breath.

    ¡°I will do my best,¡± Jay promised shakingly.

    Jax¡¯s sisters were dead already, but Jay could at least bury them. Everyone would get a burial.

    01/06/ AWAD 201

    Jay spent the next four days burying everybody. No tools survived the fire, so his swords had to be used to soften up the dirt. Reinforcement spell recasts kept them from breaking. The crops and the well had survived, so food and water weren¡¯t an issue.

    In the end, identifying most of the bodies proved impossible, so a single gravestone had to suffice for most of them. The gravestone was carved from the cave of the magi that held him captive.

    Jay tried to recite what he carved, ¡°here lies: Jehan, Dasia, Dakisa, Daven, Jana, Jafta, Jefus, Kefian, Jenia, Gina, Nafen, Hisa, Han, Gavan, Senia, Saman, Janjoh, Sia, Janani, Kenjo, and Jave...¡±

    His voice trailed off unable to go on.

    He was able to give Jax and his family their own burial, since his mother and sisters died in their house. Shannah, Magi Silvia, Jervoh, Seran all got their own graves, since they remained identifiable. The tyrant must have drained them also.

    When all the bodies were buried, Jay finally broke down crying in sadness and fear. The world had god-like-people who could kill whole towns with a snap of their fingers and he was their persona non grata. Jay fell asleep from exhaustion, whimpering.

    01/09/ AWAD 201

    ¡°You went over with Jervoh how there are wars between kingdoms on the economic level too, right? Here is the list of trade dealings between Savernan and Hazernan. I¡¯m sure you can tell what Savernan is trying to do to Hazernan, but can you guess how Savernan or Hazernan winning would be perceived by the other countries? ¡±

    Jay woke up to rain on his face and surrounded by a forest. After burying everyone, staying anywhere near the town¡¯s ruins became unbearable. Any longer in the rain risked hypothermia, so shelter was an utmost necessity.

    Jervoh and Shannah taught Jay a spell that sent out a pulse of mana for scanning the surrounding terrain, but Jay could only go through the motions. His mana had to be run through his mana lungs at least more than a couple times for the necessary level of refinement. Without a channel flowing from his mana core to his mana lungs, the situation wasn¡¯t bright.

    In desperation, he ran through his sword drills, hoping to focus more and also stay heated from exertion. Then, the budding connections between his swords and his hands dawned on him. Through constant sword practice, the mana channels in his hands and swords became familiar with each other. Pushing more mana through the two forming channels enlarged them, and with a mental pop, two new major mana channels formed in him.

    With no time to lose, Jay pumped his mana through the two loops linking his mana core, mana lungs, and swords. Fortunately, no new issue rose. After a second of using the new mana channels, casting the terrain scan spell became more than possible.

    He directed the terrain scan spell to form the terrain model on his right hand. The nearest cave turned out to be only half a kilometer away to the west. The cave hadn¡¯t been visible, because the entrance also faced west. A sigh left his mouth. The distance was manageable.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

    The possibility of something already inhabiting the cave crossed Jay¡¯s mind only when entering the cave. After taking a couple steps inside, he sensed a blow coming for his head. With a leap to the right, the blow only swept through the edge of his mana field and crashed into the wall next to him.

    Casting a reinforcement and sharpen spell on his swords, he stabbed his attacker in the chest, but his bastard sword found no purchase, skittering off of something. In response, his attacker sent a stream of mana underneath him. Favoring caution, Jay leaped backwards, and a pillar of rock shot up where he had stood.

    Jay rushed outside, figuring remaining inside the cave as dangerous. His attacker followed him and became visible in a flash of lightning. A bear with tusks, massive size, and hands dragging a stone club along from behind came into view. Mana sight revealed the club to have mana channels connected to the ogre bear. It must have used the club to defend itself.

    Anticipating the second time the beast activated their ability, Jay knocked aside the spell with his mana. The creature swung its club at him, but Jay dodged and punished the over-swing. Its club hand mutilated, the beast dropped its club in a roar of pain. After having several more attempts at using its ability knocked away, the animal sensed its inability to win and fled back into its cave.

    Jay sighed, but he would die without shelter. Lunging forward, he severed the tendons of the monster. The beast¡¯s attempt at calling up stone in defense was also knocked aside. The creature fell forward and let out a pitiful cry as a swing of his bastard sword took its head. Some of the blood splattered onto him.

    Before he could appreciate his kill, a powerful hunger overwhelmed him. Suddenly, he found himself gorging on one of the flanks of the unfortunate bear ogre. His mouth watered when more monsters showed up, his exhaustion forgotten.

    Jay lost himself to hunger, slashing, stabbing, and devouring. None of the monsters could land a spell effect on him. At one point, a scorpion like monster attacked but was shoved into his mouth after having its limbs lopped off. The pain from the monster-turned-prey struggling a little before being crushed brought him to his senses. Unfortunately, the moment of clarity was brief.

    Eventually there were no more monsters to feed on, and Jay stumbled deep into the cave before passing out.

    01/10/ AWAD 201

    "Come on let¡¯s grab the kid. I don¡¯t know how, but he survived an impromptu aura initiation. Eating so many monsters should have killed him. Should be worth a lot of gold, maybe even a platinum or two,¡± a man excitedly exclaimed.

    Jay stood up with his swords in hand, ¡°I don¡¯t think you will want to mess with me.¡±

    He brought his mana field to bear and continuously cycled his mana through his refinery loops. Oddly enough, his mana had a golden hue rather than the usual yellow even after being refined so often.

    Seeing the enslavers tense up, Jay gave a feral grin.

    ¡±He¡¯s quite the catch. Completing our route for the usual quota of twenty would no longer be necessary,¡± a second enslaver spoke up.

    The third enslaver shook his head, ¡°we shouldn¡¯t take the risk in trying to subjugate him. Curse Havanza¡¯s trickery, Reven probably woke him up.¡±

    The enslavers walked out of Jay¡¯s sight.

    Jay growled. Would he let profiteers of slavery go free? The answer was a hard no.

    He carefully made his way up to the cave entrance and heard one of the enslavers exclaim.

    ¡°He¡¯s coming up!¡±

    Out of suspicion, Jay cast a terrain scan spell emphasizing detail over distance. The results elicited a snarl from him. The enslavers were burying some sort of contraption at the entrance of the cave.

    "Feya''s tits, he knows what we¡¯re trying to pull!" the enslavers cursed.

    Jay decided creating another exit would be safer than trying to barrel through. Another terrain scan spell told him the thinnest part of the cave walls was to the right. After three slashes with reinforcement and sharpen re-casted, he was outside.

    The three enslavers squinted as Jay stood with the sun at his back.

    ¡°Aren¡¯t you quite the specimen? Maybe too much for us.¡± The third enslaver smiled, ¡°how about joining us? Our trade is lucrative.¡±

    Jay locked eyes with him and snarled, ¡°I came up to execute you.¡±

    Without responding, the slavers began casting earth binding spells. Jay followed suit taking a gamble. As he¡¯d hoped, ¡®over-refining¡¯ his mana made imitating the enslaver¡¯s spells possible. Enough mistakes rendered all mana glyphs inert, though. Fortunately, roughly casting the same earth spell proved manageable.

    ¡°Son of a gavitch, Reven what monstrocity did you lead us to?¡± the second slaver complained.

    Jay had the wave of dirt and stone he created clash with the others¡¯, and smiled wolfishly rushing the complainer.

    The second enslaver yelped in fear and rushed a spell, but Jay disrupted the attempt, close enough to use unspelled mana. The enslaver tried to ward him off with their sword, but taking their head was simple after an easy parry.

    The remaining two enslavers sent fireballs from a distance, but he cut those down. The stunt¡¯s cost in mana was a bit much, but the fear in the enslavers¡¯ eyes made him grin ferociously.

    ¡°What are you?!¡± they screamed as Jay rushed them.

    Jay refused to answer and they held up their swords as if hoping to ward off evil - as if they had the right!

    He worried initially about taking on two people in his first serious fight, but in their terror, the two remaining enslavers became frantic. Maneuvering for them to get in each other¡¯s way was almost trivial. Jay de-armed one enslaver when he over-extended and the other enslaver tried to run.

    The cooling bodies of the three enslavers hit the ground with the fight only having lasted a minute. Ironically, the enslaver that ran wasn¡¯t the one who tried to negotiate. Jay mentally added the motion of de-arming that enslaver to his drills.

    The fight could have gone drastically different if they weren¡¯t trying to keep him alive at least initially. His opponents wasted time on an earth spell rather than use a lethal spell. They couldn¡¯t have known he could copy their spells, but if they had chosen an explicitly lethal spell, one that used acid for instance, then he might have lost. They probably were used to only fighting monsters or the inexperienced, for their enslaving operation.

    Jay sat down to recuperate, but a plethora of new details overwhelmed him. The rapid outflow of blood from the corpses, insect-like creatures presumably pollinating plants, to panicking horses, his mana field began registering numerous more movements.

    The cause of the change baffled him until he focused on his mana sight. His mana field used to give off mana but that was no longer the case. A new cohesiveness eliminated the loss of mana, expanding the effective range to fifteen yards away from him. Had consuming monsters grant his mana the cohesiveness? Minimizing his mana field to extend only two yards made the inflow of information tolerable but threw away a potential edge to use.

    Jay¡¯s eyes flicked to where the enslavers had set their trap. If he hadn¡¯t known the trap¡¯s existence, then he might have been on his way to bondage. The trap had only shown up in his mana sight as a blur in the mana scape. Avoiding dirt lacking vegetation to disturb would be necessary until learning to detect such traps. That wasn¡¯t the only issue, though.

    If people could camouflage traps in the mana scape, then some could probably do the same to themselves. Seran had always seemed to attack from blindspots in Jay¡¯s mana sight but maybe that wasn¡¯t the case. A larger mana field would at least give him more warning.

    ¡°Awwww!¡± Jay hollered.

    He was already sick of the idea of living in fear.

    Calming down, Jay looked for the enslavers¡¯ means of transport. They seemed too well kept to have been walking. Transporting twenty slaves would be easier with something to transport them. Plus, the movement of panicking horses registered in his mana field when expanded.

    Jay found a wagon in a clearing a couple yards away and a lot of things showed up when he rummaged through the storage unit. Twenty collars were the first things he found, confirming what he thought. The collars had to be destroyed, but bread, salted meat, water, and a couple of useful odds and ends like flint and steel showed up. All these were stored in a spatially enchanted chest.

    He looked around for the trail the enslavers were using but had no luck. They left out a map with a pin indicating where they were and even had a trail marked out. The clearing wasn¡¯t indicated on the map, curiously. Focusing his mana sight revealed the mana scape to be severely disturbed as though¡­ They were using earth spells to move the trees around them! The clearing wasn¡¯t on the map, because the enslavers moved the clearing with them. Clever bastards.

    Jay cast the earth spell he learned from the enslavers. The spell ¡®restrained¡¯ the tree he targeted, wrapping stone around it. He casted the spell again but omitted a series of mana glyphs that roughly meant capture. Instead of wrapping stone around the next tree he targeted, the spell impaled the tree with several spikes.

    He face-palmed. Finding the right spell would take a while.

    01/13/ AWAD 201

    Several days later, Jay finally managed to puzzle out a earth spell to move the trees around the clearing and behind from the earth restraint spell. After burning through half his mana, he stopped to take a rest. The horses stopped without prompting, probably trained to stay in the middle of the clearing.

    Munching on some bread and a slice of gazenja, a meat tasting like pork and beef, he cracked open the book he found in the town hall. The first pages had lists of phrases from Enchanting for Idiots, Dalfton¡¯s skeletons to Taxes of Gajanistan in columns, but the majority of the massive book was blank. A grin crept onto Jay¡¯s face, as a sneaking suspicion came to mind, and he smothered the phrase Dalfton¡¯s skeletons in mana.

    In a burst of mana, writing formed on several pages and a dark laugh also burst out of Jay. If he was already a persona non grata, then he would at least provide a proper reason. If the world wanted a piece of him, then the world would get a full course. He fell asleep reading.

    Jay woke up to the sun''s rays and went through his drills. The drills were soothing as ever, similar to what taichi must feel like. The poisoning of the waterways came to mind. Why wasn''t he sick? Then again, the poisoning was magical in nature so maybe the effects didn¡¯t reach beyond the tyrant¡¯s territory.

    A lizard like animal tried to take a chunk out of him but became a chunk of meat for him instead. The beastie tried to rush him head on, so beheading it was easy. After a quick fire spell, it became breakfast.

    After finishing breakfast, Jay uprooted a tree using the earth bending spell he figured out. The tree was a halfy, but after being uprooted, they no longer possessed their absurd durability. He fashioned hundreds of pieces of wood, with an axe he found in the enslavers¡¯ supplies.

    Grabbing one of the pieces of wood, he began whittling at it with his short sword. After a hundred scrapped pieces, the a carving of the first glyph he learned but reversed took form.

 Chapter 8

    01/13/ AWAD 201

    Jania was pissed. The Kavus family had the gall to demand for her inheritance directly after her father died on one of his expeditions. Sure she had no real backers, but they could have waited a little.

    "Pick up your pace! I have research prizes to earn!" She harped.

    Their lackadaisicalness was baffling, and instead of doing as she asked, one by one the men she hired began drawing their weapons.

    ¡°Has a mutant blocked our way? You should be capable of smashing through anything else,¡± Jania grumbled.

    She certainly paid for such an escort.

    Instead of answering her, Kazal, the leader of the ruffians, called out, "how about we get the real job over with? We should be far enough into the ward zone, and I think we are all tired of the gavitch of a ¡®boss.¡¯ Let¡¯s have a hunt rather than wait until she¡¯s asleep.¡±

    Jania¡¯s eyes widened. The thugs she hired somehow slipped free of the contract-work for guarding her.

    She sighed. The Kavus family was probably behind these thugs trying to kill her on top of lacking in decency, but how? Even in a rush to attain achievements in order to gain a backer, she made sure to prepare the contract-work herself. How had the thugs weasel out of the contract?

    "So it ends this way does it?" Jania asked, hoping to buy some time.

    She immediately began casting a gate spell she modified as a diagnostic spell for wards.

    Kazal replied, "I would say this isn''t personal, but with how much of a gavitch you were to us... that isn''t true anymore. Right guys?"

    All forty of the ruffians grunted in agreement.

    Jania scoffed, ¡°your professionality was pathetic. Thinking back, our interactions should have clued me in. Plus, requesting fighters of your ability should have taken longer.¡±

    Honestly, she didn¡¯t have any clue anything was off, but the conversation needed to keep going.

    Kazal snorted, ¡°I heard how your father treated some of his escorts. I¡¯m sure you would have been the same gavitch to even a proper escort.¡±

    Jania grit her teeth. These thugs were not amateurs. Casting a gate spell didn¡¯t work among other long range spells, but short ranged ones weren¡¯t blocked. She probably didn¡¯t notice the ward due to that detail. Lafia''s idiocy!

    The forty angry mercenaries almost had her cornered. Well the angry part probably saved her from a dagger in her sleep. She had contingencies against such attacks, but the ward managed to disable some of them without her knowing.

    Some of the deceptive bastards shifted to her left, west. She smiled. There was something there they didn¡¯t want her to find, and she had an idea as to what.

    Jania launched a wind slash she crafted from her diagnosis spell at one of the men, forcing him to dodge. She didn¡¯t waste the opening in the now broken formation and rushed off.

    ¡°She¡¯s going after the ward stones!¡± an especially stupid thug called out.

    The confirmation was nice but unnecessary. Jania already knew.

    Kazal howled, ¡°you fool! You basically told her!¡±

    Jania heard him smack the fool as she ran, consulting her reformed diagnostic spell.

    There appeared to be two wards zones superimposed on each other. She could simply take out the standard gate spell preventer, but she needed to know how the thugs escaped the escort contract. Plus, some retribution was called for.

    Disabling the anti-gate ward would be first and made the situation simple, a race. Her former guards who were now hunting her must have thought her escape was impossible. Jania smirked. The ward didn¡¯t reach into her. She would have noticed.

    A familiar rush came after pushing more mana into her personal speed spell. The sensation never got old. Showing her hunters a rude hand gesture, she dashed off towards the anti-gate keystone.

    "What in Kazaro¡¯s bane? Hafar! I thought you said any sort of spell other than simple melee spells would be disabled?!¡± Kazal yelled with clear panic and fury.

    Jania smiled but gained too much distance to hear Hafar¡¯s response.

    01/15/ AWAD 201

    The forest was rather vacant for some reason. She expected to have more trouble dodging various monstrous fauna and even flora. The danger was the reason why she could have gained research prizes. All idle thoughts came to a stop when she realized the wards were no longer in effect. She hadn¡¯t noticed out of exhaustion from setting up surprises while fleeing.

    She could finally escape or fight, but there were two possibilities. A hermit magi might have taken up shop. Clashing wards created dead zones, after all. Or, a monster higher tiered than the wards could handle had taken up residence.

    Jania immediately expanded her mana field, prepared to snuff any magic effects, and began crafting a gate spell. Soon after, the presence of monstrous mana assaulted all her senses.

    ¡°Finally another human! I was getting tired of silence and I ran out of monsters to ¡®keep me company,¡¯¡± a person called out.

    What in Lafia¡¯s fall? Why was there a person so far out here? Was he one of Kazal¡¯s men? But then, wouldn¡¯t he fain normalcy then? Asking for help should answer those questions.

    ¡°You have heard of Icarzo Kavus, correct? I¡¯m his daughter,¡± Jania declared. ¡°Can you step out where I can see you?¡±

    ¡°Sure I know who Icarzo Kavus, the adventuring researcher is, but coming to where I am would probably be easier for both of us,¡± the person snickered boyishly.

    But a boy shouldn¡¯t be so disconnected from civilization.

    Jania crafted a wind slash and crept past the trees she heard the ¡®boy¡¯ call out from behind. She didn¡¯t know what she expected, but she certainly hadn¡¯t expected a lone boy on a wagon in a clearing.

    The dark brown haired and unusually light skinned boy got down from the wagon.

    ¡°Do you have people after you? You seem a bit of a mess for someone of high standing,¡± he asked.

    Maybe Jania would have been considered pretty normally, but the combination of her no doubt bloodshot eyes from lack of sleep and random bits of the forest stuck on her including and not restricted to mud probably made for quite the sight.

    Jania shook her head in disbelief at the amount of mana pouring off the boy, ¡°why didn¡¯t you complete your Auracraft training? Your ferocity tinted mana is everywhere.¡±The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

    The mana seemed absurdly subdued almost as though refined, strangely.

    ¡°Is that what my mana became? Aura? I can still cast spells, though?¡± The boy tilted his head slightly sideways, ¡°You still haven¡¯t answered my question.¡±

    Jania was the most baffled she had ever been. The boy was a walking ward nullifier. Auracrafters shouldn¡¯t be able to extend their auras so far, much less cast spells. He would serve well as a research subject!

    ¡°I do, in fact, have forty mercenaries, well thirty-six mercenaries now, after me,¡± Jania answered. ¡°If you can help me subdue them, then I will pay you more, but I only need you to stay in this clearing.¡±

    ¡°I don¡¯t need more gold. I have plenty of that, but I do need a base of operations¡­¡± the boy trailed off. ¡°Making more enemies would probably not be wise but your enemies are rich, right? They would have to be, going after the daughter of Icarzo Kavus. They would probably become my opponents also then.¡±

    The boy looked up at the sky then said, ¡°I¡¯m Jay Black. What¡¯s your name?¡±

    His justification for helping her was strange, but she would take any help.

    ¡°Jania Kalen. Thank you for agreeing,¡± Jania sighed in relief.

    She wrinkled her nose at Jay¡¯s state of appearance, ¡°how long have you been in the Wilds?¡±

    Her own was pretty awful, but Jay must have been out in the Wilds for weeks.

    ¡°That¡¯s rich coming from someone who was about to be hunted down like a dog,¡± Jay laughed.

    Jania scowled but swallowed her indignation.

    ¡°So, you never completed Auracraft training?¡± Jania inquired.

    ¡±Yes. What of it?¡± Jay gruffed.

    Was the subject sensitive? But didn¡¯t Jay not know his mana had turned into aura?

    Jania continued, ¡°well I doubt any sentient settlement would allow you in, but you clearly desire such company specifically humans. I can hook you up with a trainer. My uncle is one of the few trying to keep the art alive and has made his aura stop feeling like miasma.¡±

    Jay nodded, ¡°thank you.¡±

    Jania set up more surprises, trembling with anticipation.

    Jay asked what she was doing, but she promised to explain later. All he needed to know was the contraptions being spell traps.

    After an hour had passed, Jay came and tapped her on the shoulder, "they''re here."

    Crouching next to one of the trees, he pointed to his left, west.

    Jania grimaced. She only managed to set up a little over thirty spell traps. Not all of Kazal¡¯s group would fall for her spell traps. Two of them weren¡¯t even lethal and therefore might not work at all.

    Jay whispered, ¡°when they get close, cast a dark zone around them and without disabling the sound canceling effect.¡±

    Jania replied, ¡°very well. I will set up a light zone also.¡±

    Jay nodded in appreciation.

    At first she had been confused, but the ¡®why¡¯ dawned on her when she looked around at how expanded Jay¡¯s aura-mana was.

    <hr>

    ¡°Boss I suggest turning back and regrouping,¡± Lajen whispered carefully.

    Kazal glared at him, ¡°and let our prey escape? What has got you spooked? The monster in the area? You know we can easily take something at the level of whatever is lurking.¡±

    Most of Kazal¡¯s group didn¡¯t really use stealth and had the penchant for being absurdly cruel, both being against their original texts. What they did do was make for really good meat shields. Despising all things to do with valor as idiotic, Lajen brought stealth and surveillance abilities to the table, so he didn¡¯t really need to get involved in much actual fighting.

    Lajen had an unpleasant feeling about the situation. Clearly they thought that if a monster got their target then they would just kill that and dig the target¡¯s corpse out. There was one issue with the plan, though. Why wasn¡¯t there proof of a fight? Their wards wouldn¡¯t work in an area filled with such a monster¡¯s mana so the target should have been able to put up a fight. Lajen didn¡¯t like the situation at all.

    Plus, their target somehow managed to keep well ahead of them while harrying them with spells.

    ¡°Ah! Something grabbed my foot!¡± Someone yelled as they were dragged away.

    Lajen realized that someone was Hafar and cut down roots trying to drag off another. The attacks weren¡¯t the work of a treant or any monsters but of spells, but the spellcaster, presumably their target, was nowhere to be seen.

    Kazal called out, ¡°our prey should be near! Keep your eyes open and make sure she can¡¯t get any more cheap shots!¡±

    The following incidents were from a nightmare. A fellow mercenary would be walking along when a lethal spell of some type roared into existence under them. Some died to acid spells, some died to poison spells, some died to fire spells. Their numbers were cut to a forth in no time.

    ¡°Ah!¡± another man fell to a fire spell.

    Lajen frantically searched for the target but had no luck once again.

    When Kazal finally seemed ready to quit the job, they broke into a clearing.

    In front of a wagon, a boy stood holding two swords with a grim expression. Also in front of the wagon, their target stood-their target who was casting a dark zone.

    Everyone lunged forward, only to be engulfed in darkness.

    Lajen strained his ears for the sound of movement, but nothing was audible either. So the target hoping to buy enough time to cast an area effect spell? The situation could still be salvaged if they reached her.

    Lajen found his forward charge interrupted, feeling two blades stab into his mana field from the right. Somehow his attacker, probably the boy, found him. Lajen leaped away and strained to detect the boy but couldn''t. The next attack came from his left with a similar result.

    The boy took full advantage of the darkness, dealing heavy blows from all sides unpredictably. Lajen felt death near for the first time in a while. Even if he ran, the boy would be able to trip him. Lajen didn¡¯t see himself surviving a trip.

    When the dark zone fell apart, Lajen found himself greeted by their target who smiled triumphantly with a wind slash storm spell ready. Next to her, stood the boy who toyed with him. Men who probably attempted to continue charging or flee instead lay motionless, cut down.

    Lajen realized escape would be impossible. Everyone read up on their target and knew Jania Kalen¡¯s wind slash storms could reach half a mile in radius. She had plenty of time to craft one of those. In an uncharacteristic roar of rage, Lajen joined Kazal and the few others surviving in a rush of their target, also thrusting his own mana forward in an attempt to disrupt the spell.

    Lajen only managed two steps forward.

    <hr>

    Jay vomited seeing the remaining mercenaries reduced to cubic chunks of meat.

    Wiping his mouth he asked, ¡°was cutting them up like that necessary?¡±

    Jania grimaced, ¡°All of them were of high ability. Overdoing is better than underestimating them."

    Jay looked at the now sniveling man restrained with tree roots.

    With a look of disbelief, he asked, ¡° so he¡¯s Hafar?¡±

    Jania wondered what he expected briefly, but she could always ask him later.

    ¡°Hafar, can you guess why we left you alive?¡± Jania asked, peering straight into his terrified eyes.

    ¡°No¡­¡± Hafar mumbled.

    Jania took control of the spell trap keeping him captive, constricting the roots. Hafar screamed from the pain.

    ¡°You think I¡¯d be the easiest to squeeze.¡± Hafar panted out with a bloody grin. ¡°But I can¡¯t say anything.¡±

    Jania growled in frustration. She probably had her first bit of proof of the dishonesty of the Kavus family but only if she got Hafar to cooperate.

    "Hey Jania, am I correct in assuming mercenaries pillage, rape and enslave on some of their jobs?" Jay asked.

    Jania nodded slowly in confusion and annoyance from his interruption.

    ¡°Jania, do you know whether Hafar has a family?¡± Jay asked in a sigh.

    Hafar¡¯s eyes widened.

    ¡°Yes. ¡± Jania confirmed, narrowing her eyes. ¡°Background checks are standard procedure for hiring escorts, but my check was obviously insufficient. His whole name is Hafar Kalson and has a wife and three sons.¡±

    She didn¡¯t appreciate the interruption but maybe Jay had an idea.

    Jay continued, ¡°His family shouldn¡¯t be too difficult to find right?¡±

    Hafar¡¯s face visibly paled and what Jay was hinting dawned on Jania.

    ¡°Hafar¡­ you know I can¡¯t really let you go, but your death isn¡¯t necessarily the worst case scenario, is it?¡± Jania let her words hang in the air a little.

    "If I can''t get what we want out of you, then I would have to take out my frustrations on your family. I wouldn''t immediately kill them. I would first slowly make their lives unbearable, maybe bribe the people living near them. I could have the merchants raise their prices just for your family. I don''t have to go on do I?" Jania leaned forward to stare into Hafar''s eyes.

    ¡°Please leave my boys out of this!¡± Hafar pleaded.

    ¡°Are you ready to give me what I want?¡± Jania whispered softly.

    Even feeling righteous anger, going so far to get answers left a bad taste in her mouth.

    Hafar cried out, ¡°I can¡¯t! The contract-work would kill me too quickly even if I tried!¡±

    Jania growled in frustration once again.

    ¡°I might be able to get the answers out of him, but I will need some time,¡± Jay broke the silence.

    Jania asked incredulously, ¡°how?¡±

    Jay replied, ¡°I¡¯ll look for flaws in his contract.¡±

    Jania nodded and walked away to set up camp.

    After hours of asking strange questions about hypothetical situations, Jay stood up. He motioned to stay put and walked over.

    ¡°Jania, I think the king himself might have had a hand in trying to kill you.¡±

    Jania¡¯s eyes widened in shock. The king might want her dead? Why? Her father did refuse to work for him, but did that call for killing her?

    Shellshocked, she rushed over to Hafar, ¡°does the king want me dead?¡±

    Jay yelled desperately, ¡°no! Don¡¯t!¡±

    A fire roared into existence swallowing Hafar. Only ashes were left when the flames died down.

    Jay sighed, ¡°I only managed to keep Hafar alive by keeping him thinking he hadn¡¯t told me anything crucial.¡±

    Jania blushed in embarrassment.

    01/16/ AWAD 201

    Jania woke up and accepted some bread and cheese Jay offered. Realizing the king wanted her dead did not help her sleep. The curiosity brimming in Jay¡¯s eyes was too early in the morning.

    "You said you would explain spell traps?" Jay asked.

    "I store whatever spell sequence I choose in this contraption, setting them to trigger when certain conditions are met which I can decide also,¡± Jania yawned while taking out a mana stone. ¡°My father figured out how to store spells in mana stones, but realizing a sequence of spells had to be cycled through in order to maintain the integrity of the spells took a while.¡±

    Jay¡¯s eyes widened and he began laughing uncontrollably.

    Jania asked coldly, ¡°may I know why you are laughing at that statement of facts.¡±

    Annoyance shifting into anger woke her up completely.

    ¡°Sorry, but I think I know why the king wanted you and your father dead,¡± Jay weezed. ¡°Your father¡¯s invention would completely negate the necessity of your feudal system, because any person with a little mana would become capable of defending themselves.¡±

    Jania replied even more frostily, ¡°I hadn¡¯t thought of the implications too well admittedly, but I don¡¯t see why you laugh.¡±

    Jay guffawed, ¡°you have exactly what I need for my plans for turning everything upside down, and I just can¡¯t believe how lucky I am finding you.¡±

    Jania choked on a piece of bread.

    She asked apprehensively, ¡°you would plunge the world into chaos?¡±

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t you?¡± Jay shot back, smiling devilishly. ¡°Neither of us will live long otherwise. The world has cast you out just like an otherworlder, like me. I imagine your king has asked the other kings and queens to put bounties on your head too.¡±

    "You are an otherworlder?"

 Chapter 9

    01/02/ AWAD 201

    The research team of King Laftus was abuzz since the detection of the otherworlder¡¯s arrival, but one particular researcher wasn''t too happy. Jaf managed to connect the target to the world of the god killer, but all the credit went to his supervisor.

    Jaf would have been fine if they had just given him just a small raise, but no! They didn¡¯t even give him that. Already fuming when starting up the reconnaissance equipment, he punched the mana-scape scan in irritation when only static showed up. A sense of foreboding came over him as he shook his hand from the pain.

    Jaf flung a spell to lift up the outer shell shielding the inner workings and searched for any sign of breaches. Nothing came up. Still hoping for the static to only be a malfunction, he scaled down the settings. His breath quickened and his eyes dilated. The mana-scape was rapidly oscillating.

    Focusing his own raw mana sight also indicated the abnormality faintly. That could only mean two things, and one more test would make the cause clear.

    "Hey Raifus go see if the boss is available. I think he is going to want to see our readings," Jaf called out.

    No matter the results, a lot of people were probably going to die.

    Jaf concluded that being a grunt wasn''t too bad actually, leaning back into his chair with a smile. Experimenting with random spell loops was fun. Most importantly, the poor son of a gavitch who had to report this, in other words his boss, wasn''t him.

    01/04/ AWAD 201

    ¡°You detected the rising of a Kajin two days ago and you are only telling me now? Why?!¡± Laftus asked furiously.

    Plans would have to be adjusted. More soldiers would be necessary and construction of his spearpoint city would have to be sped up.

    ¡°Well sire, we had to look into more details to confirm and actually did manage to find out more,¡± a bumbling research overseer tried to cover his foolishness.

    Laftus growled, ¡°why did I create your division?¡±

    The fool in front of him mumbled, ¡°you said that it was to come up with innovations to give to the people and therefore keep them happy and to--¡±

    "Alert me to events exactly like this!" Laftus roared. "Since you have proved so incompetent in your job, you can be the one to alert General Nagatas to come to the war room and Count Hafard, Count Fasiar, and Count Gatarn to send in their reports."

    Chances were great that the otherworlder would get away from him at this rate. Not only was this a potential catastrophe or even a cataclysm, it even made another problem worse! Well Laftus supposed this was another way his days of laziness came back to bite him.

    Laftus directed his secretary, ¡°Kevisa, retrieve Nagatas¡¯s report on the army and make copies of the reports for myself and for Nagatas.¡±

    She handed him a file from a cabinet.

    General Nagatas and the other reports arrived a couple minutes later. Kevisa did as directed and Laftus flipped through his copies with a cursory scan before frowning.

    "Nagatas, I heard from my research division about a Kajin rising, but according to further investigation of the mana-scape the Kajin may prove abnormally powerful. More improvements of the army would be appreciated, but I don''t know what should be changed exactly," Laftus muttered.

    Nagatas shuffled through his army report and pointed at something on one page, "Sire, your army should be formidable with muskets capable of flinging spells increasingly farther and longer lasting equipment to the credit of the research division, but you need more recruits."

    Laftus grimaced when he looked at the numbers Nagatas pointed out, "you have my permission to alert the conscriptors. Normal conscripting might attract attention, so frame the increased conscription as for guarding settlers. My other issue is the rebellion of some of my aristocracy.¡±

    ¡°They are planning to muster a combined army without my sanction,¡± Laftus almost snarled. ¡°I don¡¯t have time for insurgents, so this will mostly be a subjugation. Surviving serfs and land can be distributed to the aristocrats remaining faithful. Prepare the army. We will hit them hard before they realize the spatiath systems don¡¯t fade.¡±

    General Nagatas bowed twice before leaving.

    01/05/ AWAD 201

    Laftus nodded to Nagatas in appreciation at the assortment of troops in formation. They were decked out in the best equipment his research division could offer, a thousand strong. Not being able to bring all of his army to bear stung, but he couldn''t show weakness to the other rulers.

    Nagatas would take another thousand troops to subjugate a different insurgent noble.

    A gate exit materialized a few paces away, and a man stepped out. Laftus¡¯s troops tensed up until they realized he was a comrade.

    ¡°My lord, the spatiath has been activated and is ready for use,¡± the man announced, kneeling to Laftus.

    Spatiaths was the moniker given to paths in the spatial realm. Experiments using spell loops to construct spatiath beacons were astounding successes.

    ¡°Proceed as planned.¡± Laftus commanded.

    The spatiath courier retrieved mana from his spatiath operator, and that mana contorted to encompass them. A burst of mana from the spatiath operator tore open a hole in their realm¡¯s fabric, and Laftus found himself in the spatial realm along with his troops.The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    Spatiath beacons passed by as they rushed toward their first target. A minute passed and they managed to cross the over five hundred mile distance. Spatiath beacons were arranged in a distorted circle around where the target would be in the spatial realm. Laftus¡¯s troops split into six, leaving Laftus an escort and mustering around five beacons equidistant to each other.

    Laftus commanded, ¡°start the countdown for synched re-entry!¡±

    After a ten-second countdown, nine hundred of his troops disappeared from sight, re-entering their realm, the interrealm. One of Laftus¡¯s escort immediately readied an imcap for viewing with a bird¡¯s eye view and showed Laftus¡¯s troops having the target¡¯s fortified manor surrounded.

    Laftus made a feral smile at his first target¡¯s encirclement. Count Favan possessed over a thousand serfs but appeared to want more. Well, the insurgent count definitely gained more men paying heed to his actions.

    Horns were blown and shouts rang. Count Favan¡¯s men noticed the army surrounding them. Not even a minute passed and over five hundred cavalrymen thundered out of the manor. Laftus¡¯s first target insurgent noble, Count Favan, rode at the center.

    Laftus¡¯s troops fired their spell canons but ceased fire witnessing how the target and his cavalry managed to evade. They couldn¡¯t waste ammunition considering they had four hundred and three more targets left to subjugate.

    Meanwhile, the target and his cavalry continued to charge. Clearly they believed they could break free of the encirclement. Five hundred cavalrymen would have difficulty beating nine hundred troops but beating two hundred troops would be within easy reach.

    Laftus nodded his head, understanding his current quary¡¯s thoughts. They underestimated his spatiath network¡¯s versatility, though! Before the target and his cavalry reached the northernmost regiment of Laftus¡¯s troops, the other four regiments appeared beside their northernmost brethren, having briefly returned to the spatial realm. With too much momentum built up, the cavalrymen became fish in a barrel.

    A couple bombardments of lightning broke down the enemy¡¯s defense wards, and then Laftus¡¯s army shot a lobby of earth spells encasing the broken enemy in stone.

    Laftus strolled up to the man wearing the most gaudy armor, Count Favan. His escort had protested leaving the spatial realm, but he wanted to see the expression of the first person he defeated.

    Count Favan¡¯s expression of bewilderment was delicious.

    Laftus laughed, ¡°you truly believed you could get away with treachery didn¡¯t you?¡±

    Encounters with other targets went similarly, as expected. Nagatas led a series of thrashings with the edge magitech provided. The insurgents must have thought enchantments like the spartiath beacon¡¯s enchantments had unravelled. They thought wrong. They thought a war of attrition would work. They thought wrong.

    Laftus viewed the new barrenness of the surrounding lands through his imcaps with dark satisfaction. Containment enchantments were used to strip away farmland from the insurgents. An innovation intended for settling the wilds, but their effects mimicked burning and salting land. His rabble rousers pinned all the blame on the insurgent nobility for revolting.

    Even a serf uprising with enough numbers would cause problems, but the infrastructure improvements Laftus had planned would re-cultivate their loyalty. The insurgents would lose before they even truly realized the futility of the fight.

    Laftus bizarrely felt gratitude. Insurgents would be put down, especially the aristocrats who dared raise a hand at him, but the easy civil war allowed him to riddle his outerlands in spatiath nodes. A smile danced on his lips at how an invasion against his country would fare. Invaders couldn¡¯t even hope to deal serious damage with the farm lands moved farther inland.

    Kevisa set a stack of papers on his desk and interrupted his happy musing. Laftus banged his desk with his forehead. The truly tiresome part of the campaign began after the actual conquest: distributing the plundered lands.

    Laftus sighed. Not all the ringleaders were dumb enough to flee when he gave them chances in secret. Only about three-fourths of them fell for the trick and allowed for ¡®accidental¡¯ killings of them in the heat of battle. Hopefully, not too many of about the hundred insurgents left would be forgiven.

    01/16/ AWAD 201

    ¡°Kevisa, call in a masseuse and get these documents filed,¡± Laftus pointed out the stack of papers to his right.

    Leaning back into his chair, he glared at the other stacks of paper and groaned. The weeks after the suppression of the insurgency had been a constant march of paperwork. His bureaucracy couldn¡¯t handle things without precedent on their own, so some of the paper pushing spilled into his lap. Creating a city with so extensive innovations caused a scramble of demands by his aristocracy. They wanted similar cities.

    There were still many ruffled feathers from the distribution of the insurgents¡¯ lands and had to be appeased since they adhered to their loyalty contract specifics. Laftus groaned at how many more names were left on the list of complaints apparently unique or significant enough for his review.

    Laftus was enjoying a nice massage when the mana-scape rippled chaoticly, and he froze when the rippling disappeared in an instant. A lecture by the scholar who raised him, Kafsan, came to mind. Despite the destructiveness of the gods, some records were apparently left about the time in their reign, and hero summonings occurred even then.

    ¡°One thing was noted about many of the heroes. When a ¡®hero¡¯ decided to back a god or goddess, all magic entailing the realm that deity represented spiked in power. If a ¡®hero¡¯ chose the god of fire, then the strength of all fire magic spiked. The goddess of chaos was an exception, though. Her domain rose from the clashing of all the different realms, the interrealm, our realm. She enhanced and fed on discord, so a declaration to follow her by the ¡®hero¡¯ caused a chaos of some kind in the mana-scape which she would devour.¡±

    Laftus snarled quietly, ¡°the prophecy has been completely fulfilled hasn¡¯t it?¡±

    Kevisa came back with her breath in a disarray, ¡°sire!... The research division has requested for me to pass on a verbal message. May I do so?¡±

    Laftus nodded uneasily.

    Kevisa whispered, ¡°the hero has decided to back the goddess of chaos, and the result suggests¡­ the goddess of chaos survived the War against Divinity.¡±

    Laftus already knew, but having his research division confirm remained disturbing. If there was a goddess of chaos, then the other deities might come back. At least, talks of dealing with the otherworlder should become much more productive.

    He ordered, ¡°Kevisa tell Baron Yevin to send a variation of the letter we sent before but including the fact the otherworlder has likely aligned with the goddess of chaos.¡±

    Kevisa nodded and bowed three times before leaving.

    Laftus picked up the next piece of paperwork but found his hand shaking. He was afraid?

    The otherworlders of previous records almost always seemed god-like in might, especially the God-killer. They almost didn¡¯t seem real in being such absurd existences, and a similar incarnation of power sided with the gods.

    Talks of cooperation should become much more productive. became immensely more productive. Every ruler knew how large of a threat the otherworlder posed. Instead of the mockery of a suggestion to meet if Laftus offered a new city as the location for the meeting, the location of the meeting was set in the wilds.

    Unlike before, a tense silence reigned after the ture topic of discussion came up. No one, not even the rulers grew up without the stories of how powerful otherworlders were and the heights of might they could reach. Everyone simply sat in silence.

    King Jerom, a young ruler like him, jumped up and slammed the table, ¡°cooperating to track down and obliterate the otherworlder is obviously the best course of action.¡±

    A random king scoffed, ¡°you are a fool if you believe such a thing is possible.¡±

    His name was¡­ ah, Aldress.

    King Jerom shot back, ¡°then I guess we all get to be overthrown by the otherworlder.¡±

    Aldress and a couple other kings fumed and the meeting devolved into bickering.

    Laftus shook his head to himself as well. After having his call to eliminate the otherworlder jointly rejected, he looked more deeply into the ongoing wars. Before, only a cursory monitoring of the bloodshed was necessary. A lot of the rulers had genuine blood feuds with each other to his surprise.

    ¡°I believe we should still consider options near King Jerom¡¯s suggestion,¡± a greying man called out.

    The arguing came to a sudden stop. No one wanted to anger King Salverus.

    Laftus raised an eyebrow. The time Slaverus had waited to begin the actual discussion was surprising. Salverus ended up as the de facto moderator, since he had the most conquered rulers under his belt. A calmer and considerably more competent version of Laftus¡¯s father and also someone Laftus had hoped to damage as much as possible in the opening attack of his original course of action.

    King Aldress spluttered, ¡°what do you suggest then, King Salverus?¡±

    ¡°For now, since everyone here appears to have accepted me as the mediator, I should be the mediator no matter the level of cooperation agreed upon. My army stands above you all in strength, but I have far too much lands to consolidate under my authority for more gains to interest me. Although some may be catching up.¡±

    Laftus almost gulped and noticed some kings lightly cough. He sighed, realizing his plan before the otherworlder showed up probably would have failed, if he hadn¡¯t noticed so many threats. Hopefully Salverus didn¡¯t know too much about him.

    In the end, a system of warnings was agreed on. A joint-hunt was out of the question, but sandwiching the otherworlder between armies was possible. The rulers of the armies might decide to re-engage their feuds after killing the otherworlder, but that was still acceptable.

 Chapter 10

    01/14/ AWAD 201

    Jania asked to cast a couple of diagnosis spells the day after Jay told her his status as an otherworlder. At Jay¡¯s nod, she took out eight spell templates and went through a series of spells scanning him exceedingly methodically. Her eight spells burnt through half the day as she bombarded Jay with questions.

    Jay winced, remembering Jervoh¡¯s lecture on the stupidity of using spell templates in battle. Templates offered higher precision in exchange for casting spells almost sluggishly. If anyone fought using spell templates of combative spells, the templates would degrade before they finished and end up as unknown spells. Unknown spells wasted mana, a potential death sentence.

    Casting combat spells piece-meal would work, but the research required to break apart even only one spell into manageable parts took at least a year, worked only in the area the research took place, and cost obscene amounts of mana.

    Wait, that seemed exactly the sort of thing the rulers would use. Kings or queens were largely ¡®sedentary,¡¯ probably had plenty of retainers to assign as researchers, and had access to ridiculous amounts of mana. The very same kings and queens he would be antagonizing...

    Jay started to sweat profusely. Attacking castles would probably be close to suicide.

    ¡°What was the theoretical speed perfected spell-template-piece systems cast spells?¡± he nervously asked Jania before remembering how quiet she remained all morning.

    Jay sighed. Jania was probably understandably shocked from yesterday. Spell casting while going through sword drills was what he would work on while he waited.

    An hour later, his muscles felt nice and loose but his progress frustrated him. Casting spells with one of his swords in a sword drill let alone a fight required compensation for the actions deviating from spell formation he made. And if he was forced to call on his aura to tank a spell attack before he finished casting his spell¡¯s progress would be scrapped.

    Jania called out, ¡°can you describe your summoning?¡±

    Jay humored her and recounted bursting through a black material. After experiencing a mana bath, he could make the connection how the material felt like more powerful and wild mana.

    Jania paced back and forth when he was done.

    Puzzled, Jay asked, ¡°what¡¯s wrong?¡±

    Jania shouted into the sky, ¡°Lafia¡¯s whorishness, I¡¯ll just be blunt. The stuff you burst through was a mass of primordial essence, the source of past otherworlders¡¯ power. The summoner you saw probably siphoned away a considerable amount of primordial essence from you, making you much ¡­ weaker than usual.¡±

    Jay fell to the ground and snickered for a bit before yelling in a burst of anger, ¡°not only am I stranded in a world stuck in the middle ages and also somehow dystopic, my first friends massacred, but the bastards who killed them will come after me while overestimating me?¡±

    Jania looked worried.

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry I wasn¡¯t planning on inciting chaos by fighting,¡± Jay walked over to the cart he appropriated and took out a handful of the wooden pieces he had carved. ¡°I¡¯ll be using these to spread ideas.¡±

    Jania asked, ¡°I don¡¯t see how such a plan would lead to chaos? We already have a spell capable of doing such a thing. Why would we use mundane means? Sure the contraption wouldn¡¯t be detected like the spell, but you wouldn¡¯t be able to supply enough copies for anything to spread.¡±

    ¡°I only need this to spread to kick things into gear,¡± Jay laughed and handed her a piece of paper.

    Jania¡¯s eyes widened but then she scoffed, ¡°you are terrible at writing schematics, but I see you plan to have the serfs help spread ideas.¡±

    Jay nodded.

    ¡°Then you realize there will be a lot of blood soaking the ground with this plan?¡±

    Jay flinched but hardened his gaze, ¡°better they die helping break the yokes on them than in endless wars.¡±

    ¡°We should try to track down your summoner to try and retrieve the primordial essences he stole from you, though,¡± Jania said while putting away the last of her spell templates.

    ¡°I suppose, but only if we can find a lead,¡± Jay replied and began casting the earth spell he puzzled out to make a path.

    Jania asked, ¡°where are we going? You have a map so you should know where the nearest city is.¡±

    Jay shrugged, ¡°I figured we should head back to the cave where I summoned. Might give us a lead and I left a lot of gold there.¡±

    Jania growled, ¡°you don¡¯t even know the exact direction do you? Let me cast a divination spell using some of your memories. Send me an image of the place and area.¡±

    Jania pointed a little more north than Jay had intended to head. If he had continued his course, he probably would have missed the cave by miles. Jay blushed.

    01/28/ AWAD 201

    ¡°Cast the divination spell again. I feel like we are going in the wrong direction,¡± Jay said.

    Jania looked at him incredulously and replied, ¡°I already did that two more times. We¡¯re fine unless the layout you saw was an illusion, which would be impossible to cast so quickly on you without you noticing.¡±

    She trailed off before giving him a more scrutinizing look.

    ¡°Send me an image of the town you stayed in.¡±

    Jay complied with her request but then felt hostility rise in him.

    Why? There was no reason to fight Jania.

    Jania broke into a fast paced jog¡­ towards the village? Why did he know that? She didn¡¯t pointNo the method didn¡¯t matter. Why was heHe couldn¡¯t let her see the village! Why?No, the reason didn¡¯t matter!

    Jay picked up his pace to catch up to Jania when a blow struck the back of his head. How had he not noticed?

    ¡°Sorry Jay but you seem to have been tampered with mentally.¡± Jania said from behind him.

    The blow shouldn¡¯t have been nearly strong enough to knock Jay out, but his mind became hazy as he fell on the ground.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

    ¡°I hope a second shot from this won¡¯t kill you.¡± Jania uttered before a second blow to him stole his consciousness.

    When Jay woke up he found himself in a small clearing sprawled out onto a¡­ block of stone? It was absurdly flat and engraved with layers and layers of ritualistic spells. They were loosely themed as spells involving freedom? Wait what was he doing before? Jay clutched his head at a surge of pain from a headache.

    ¡°You¡¯re awake. Come on we¡¯ve lost enough time.¡± Jania called out. appeared to have foraged a little for food.

    Jay squinted at her from the pain he was in and growled, ¡°I vaguely remember you knocking me unconscious... with an enchanted tool of some kind. I want an explanation.¡±

    Jania sighed, ¡°do you not remember what you were doing?¡±

    Jay frowned. What did she mean? He was¡­. Wait why couldn¡¯t he remember?

    ¡°I believe you had a compulsion on you.¡± Jania drawled.

    What?!

    ¡°By who? And what kind of compulsion?!¡± Jay yelled, but he had a sinking suspicion.

    ¡°The compulsion is most effective as an enchantment engraved into an object.¡± Jania pulled out a book, no, his book! But it looked different, covered in engravings he didn¡¯t remember. ¡°This served to create and keep the compulsion intact.

    ¡°That would mean¡­¡± Mage Silvia put the compulsion on him, so she was somehow connected to his summoner.

    Did that mean some others were also lying? No, people always eventually slipped up, and compulsions to hinder his perception would have hurt her efforts to turn him into a weapon. Silvia was the only one who kept interactions with him at the minimum.

    Jania held her hand up, ¡°I wasn¡¯t finished. From what I can tell the first portion was for getting you to come to a cave a couple miles away from the town you were staying at.¡±

    That explained why the monsters he ate were balanced in variety for his aura. Mage Silvia and Seran had set up the area.

    ¡°That makes no sense. It was after several days that I finally got there.¡± Jay exclaimed.

    ¡°The engravings should seem rather ragged even to amateurish eyes like yours.¡± Jania said.

    Now that she pointed it out, Jay noticed how messed up the carvings in the book were especially in mana sight. The mana seemed to leak everywhere.

    ¡°I messed up the enchantment but only enough to free you from the effects. Most of the damage seems to be from overcharge.¡± Jania explained then smiled, ¡°you¡¯re lucky you met me. I¡¯m one of the only people capable of altering such complex enchantments without breaking the one for your book. You need it for your ¡®idea plan¡¯ right?¡±

    ¡°Thank you.¡± Jay hollowly thanked her and held out his hand to be handed back his book.

    He looked back at the stone block. ¡°So the stone block was used to dismantle the compulsion on me? What were the other parts of the compulsion other than not wanting to go this way?¡± Jay asked.

    Jania grimaced. ¡°The other part was to get you to go to a certain place. Couldn¡¯t figure out where, though...¡±

    She went back to putting away her stone block, muttering how she only wanted pure knowledge in the end.

    ¡°Seeing you haven¡¯t betrayed me, you intend to stick with me?¡± Jay asked her tentatively.

    ¡°You came from an experimental hero summons right? I don¡¯t see the sort of person doing that not touching into messing with the slave contract spell. I wanted to research something like that and you can easily rat me out to any Guardian people or anyone for that matter and I would be screwed. I was tired of chasing after research prizes just for more funds.¡± She took a deep breath, her eyes bright, ¡°people who ally themselves with otherworlders have a chance at ridiculous wealth and power.¡±

    Her shoulders slumped, ¡°as you said before, I was ousted by the ¡°established¡± order.¡±

    Jay replied, ¡±thank you for joining me.¡±

    Jania appeared not to have even heard him, though.

    ¡°Javus Lofest?! He doesn¡¯t even have a single scholarly bone in his body! Scholars like my father always end up having to marry into the nobility if they want to aim for ambitious projects. Your world seemed marvelous compared to our¡­ I realize backwards society. In the kingdom, no republic you will probably make will allow me to research pretty much anything I want right?!¡±

    Jay, feeling a little overwhelmed, spoke up, ¡°I never said anything about establishing a country.¡±

    Jania began muttering, clearly not listening, ¡°well the only thing I''d want to do would be research. You don''t have any issue with that. In fact, you yourself used to...¡±

    Jay tuned her out at that point. He felt the honesty spell fade out of existence. Whatever the objective they needed more gold.

    01/30/ AWAD 201

    The next couple days had gone by uneventfully with only the occasional monster attacking them. They all appeared to be mutated forms of animals that would normally cower away from intruders.

    "We should be pretty close. Those monsters from before must have been stragglers from the fight with an Ancient I mentioned." Jay said, breaking the silence. There were only ambient sounds for extended periods of time, but that was only because their rather fast pace made conversation difficult. They both agreed they want to get to civilization as fast as possible.

    Deep in thought, Jay didn''t notice they entered a charred forest, at least until a branch crumbled like charcoal under his feet. In the distance, he could see the blast zone and took a deep breath.

    Conceptually, Jay knew that the smell of vaporized flesh had been washed away long before. Still, he felt he could still smell it.

    Why? Why could something so terrible happen? Rule of the jungle? That was for animalistic savages!

    "I think I realize why your master tried to make it impossible for you to come here. Even if you wouldn''t know what this was, someone with you could potentially. And that someone that could be me." Jania looked like she felt queasy, shocking Jay.

    "Why?" Jay almost felt he was opening Pandora''s box with that question.

    Jania grimaced before continuing, "you see even researchers like me have ethics. We wouldn''t gawk at most things not even at messing with slave magic if not for it being outlawed. This mage Silvia you speak of had all the mana released by the deaths gathered and sent to something..."

    "Probably her last act of defiance. Maybe she sent a massive spell attack at the capital or something." Jay suggested.

    "No, the preparations required are what is terrible. You need an obscene number of sacrifices to set up the capture field required. For a village of this size, you would need at least ten sacrifices a month maybe more if you consider how perfectly the barrier formed integrated with this country''s barrier." Jania shuddered.

    ¡°Well, my summoner could have and probably used hundreds of unfortunates he kidnapped from other worlds for his summoning experiments.

    Jania continued, "I don''t know what your mentor''s purpose was but I think she meant to unleash a calamity. We''ll have to hope she failed. Let''s go grab some gold."

    The walk to the cave that Jay first found himself in was short. Only charred remains were left of the forest, so a more direct route became possible.

    Looking around the ''cave'' revealed it to be artificial. Although still rough, the texture of the walls were consistent, and there were doors to other rooms. No visible supporting mechanism for the main cavity was in sight, so an enchantment for bolstering the structural integrity existed as a carving somewhere probably.

    Jania let out a shriek of delight, "with that many pouches of gold...," and her voice trailed off into muttering.

    She scowled at the awful stench. Bodies left to rot for almost three months made a horrible smell. Jay also found himself scowling.

    Jania yelled obscenities before she took out two masks and cast a multitude of spells on them

    . "These should keep out the smell and show any ongoing magic," she explained when she handed one to Jay. "Now go gather all the pouches. They should be filled with hundreds of pieces of gold. I will make sure whatever keeps this place intact will last long enough for us then take a look at what this crazy dude was trying to do and catch the attention of the Guardians."

    Jania''s face was filled with delight as she skipped into one of the rooms.

    Jay put on the mask and looked around at the bodies liquified from decay. Seeing the pouches soaked sent a shudder up his spine.

    Jay emptied his stomach outside after he finished getting all the pouches together. Even without the smell, handling the pouches was awful.

    "I found an amazing amount of data and a strange beast. Maybe the data will say something about it," Jania yelled in excitement as she burst back out of one of the rooms.

    Jay grunted, "cool," as he looked up squatted in front of the pile of pouches. At least they no longer had currency issues.

    Jania wrinkled her nose when she walked up to the pile. It seemed that Jay wasn''t only imagining that the effects of the masks were diminishing. Jania cast a spell that removed the gunk, thankfully. She then moved towards one of the separate rooms with a bag she found and her ritual board in hand.

    "Are you making one of those spatially expanded bags? Then make another one for me." Jay asked. The guardians probably had some method by which they identified the belongings of comrades. He had wondered what they were going to do about that possibility.

    "Yes. Fine, I''ll make another you so be quiet and don''t interrupt me," Jania replied. "Clean up this room. You saw the spell I cast before right?"

    Jania had indeed cast the spell for removing the gunk off the pouches slow enough for Jay to get the gist. He could muddle through forming the spells as long as he kept his intent in mind but that could take days.

    As Jay cast the spell, he noticed the spell didn¡¯t work too well on bones and might have to move them all to one of the rooms. Pilling up all the bones was going to be disturbing.

    He guessed they were spending the night here then. Jervoh and Shannah did mention that enchanting took a long time.

    01/21/ AWAD 119

    "So you''re done making the spatial bags?" Jay asked Jania seeing her wake up.

    He offered a helping of the breakfast he prepared. Having already had a portion, he couldn''t help but think he did a damn good job. Jax¡¯s lessons helped him...

    "Thank you," Jania muttered as she took the bowl Jay offered her. "Thank you for cleaning the room, but how did you manage doing so quickly?" Jania asked with her post sleep daze clearing.

    "Casting the spell for the first time went slowly for me, but I noticed I could tweak a portion to increase the range. The mana cost was a bit much, though." Jay explained smugly.

    Jania''s expression didn''t remain that of disinterest, turning into one of irritation, "I shouldn''t have to remind you, but when you alter spells you end up heightening the risk of miscasting. Especially with the amounts of mana you throw around.¡°

    Jay''s smugness didn''t disappear and he replied, "If any of my spells starts ''misfiring,'' then I can just make all my mana in that spell crunch up and nullify the effect. I¡¯m always casting within my aura."

    Seeing Jania''s unamused face, Jay held his hands up in surrender, "ok, I will make sure to be more careful and ask you when I want to mess with spells."

    Pouring out all the gold from the pouches took a whole half of an hour. The amount of gold they gained reached a ton. Seeing all that gold fit in two bags felt even more absurd.

    "Come on let''s get going. The way back to the city my uncle lives takes a week. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can solve each other''s issues," Jania chided Jay.

    Jay nodded and followed Jania outside after he looked around the cave one last time.