ã€ŠGenius Mage in a Cultivation Worldã€‹


 Chapter 1 - Unbloody Revenge

    "Stop it! Stop it now you bastard!" Ortensia clutched at the bars that held her and the soldiers back. Her blue eyes widened in a craze. Fat beads of sweat flowing down her forehead only signified how little this princess cared about her appearances right now.

    ''Serves you right, bitch...''

    Sparing just a single thought for his cheating wife, Layn refocused his attention back at the magic circle. With the seventh, innermost ring nearing itspletion, his long-awaited wish could finallye true.

    "My princess, I don''t think your kids are here, why bring them up?" Barely moving his lips, Kasher threw a witty response. Three years ago such remark could sting at his master''s soul. Now, after years worth of preparations, Layn''s life-long student and friend knew he couldn''t care less.

    "How dare you! Men!" Suddenly calming down, Ortensia stepped aside from the magic gate barring her entry to her husband''s chamber. Her previously wide-open eyes, now turned into slits. Just by looking at her face, one could tremble from the intense hate leaking from her pupils.

    "We won''t break his barrier. He is a damned archmage for a reason. Destroy the walls instead." For a moment, everything and everyone seemed to freeze. In one time and in one ce. For a fleeting moment, no one moved.

    "Yes, princess!" Then in the next, soldiers rushed at the stone walls of the Layn''s mage tower. Using whatever they could find around them, theytched to the walls like some parasites, devouring it at a slow yet steady pace.

    ''But it doesn''t matter now. Not anymore.''

    There was no hate in Layn''s eyes as he threw a quick nce at the soldiers. Ascertained that he had ample reserve of time, he brought his eyes back to the giant rune.

    ''This will be my first time invoking Gran Arcana. Well, I can only hope everything will go ording to the n now.''

    Shaking thest shred of doubt out of his head, Layn lowered his tightened fingers over the floor of his chamber. Darkwood brush. Procured during one of his heroics of the past. Imbued with both the energy of the ancient and magic of modern times, it was one of the rare conductors, capable of infusing the magic into the runes as they were written.

    A pioneering tool, creating a foundation for the entirely new field of magic, one that even Layn only started to poke around.

    ''Yet, today, it will be a tool that will change the world. Despite its infancy.''

    After three years of living as a cuckold, after three years of very in the most luxurious prison of the world, Layn had more love for this tool than he had for his wife. More love than he had for someone who he risked his life on multiple asions to please.

    With thest stroke finished, the middle-aged archmage finally raised up on his feet. Taking a moment to look lovingly through his small group of loyal followers, he then turned his sight towards the barbaric crowd.

    "It''s all futile. My barrier stretches all around this ce. Not even the attack from below you was preparing will prate it. Let''s face it, it''s over now. Or at least, it soon will be." Speaking towards his wife as if he was exining a simple problem to his kids¡­

    All of the sudden, Layn''s face twisted in a gentle regret. Not one powered by hatred. One born out of betrayed love that he had for who he thought to be his children. Regret directed at those pure knobs of energy, who were not at fault for how much of a slut their mother was.

    But it was way too little to change the archmage''s mind now.

    "Everyone, " turning his attention back to his friends, Layn''s lips curved in a gentle smile

    "I wouldn''t achieve any of it without you. Even now, you are willing to sacrifice everything for my sake. For that, I will never be able to fully repay you." Lowering his head, Layn bowed to his faithful followers.

    ''Why is it easier to find real trust and friendship on the battlefield than in romance?''

    This thought used to gue Layn''s mind. Endlessly searching for an answer in the moment of desperation, it was this question that drove him forward. But now, it was something that he took for granted.

    After all, what did that princess amounted to whenpared to the ultimate loyalty of his people?

    "Master." Just this single word was enough. Enough to bring Layn back from the realm of nostalgia and reminiscence.

    "Brother." From another direction, a different call came.

    "Teacher." Resounded in the air.

    One by one, the small crowd called their leader out, each using the word that most fit their rtionship.

    "Everyone¡­" Pulling out a small, simplistic knife from his pocket, a knife fitting for the kitchen in the slums rather than the high rooms of the pce, Layn put it against his palm.

    "Stop it! If you don''t stop it right now, you will force me to use it!" Noticing that the preparations were now done, Ortensia started to panic. Even if she didn''t know what Layn had in store, it was clear it wouldn''t end up with anything good for her.

    "Your ancient tricks won''t work here." Ever-so-slightly tightening his jaws, Layn remained otherwise motionless. The knife made a cut on the inner part of his right hand. But no blood appeared yet.

    "Are you sure about that?!" Screaming from the bottom of her lungs, Ortensia reached under her robes before pulling a fist-sized, ck sphere. Nothing more but a sundry item at the first nce, only after one truly gazed into it would this orb''s magnificence reveal itself.

    "Pearl of the ancients? Really? To think that I was looking for it everywhere, only to have you bring it to me yourself! Magnificent!" Exploding in a burst of suddenughter, unbefitting the grandeur of the ritual he was leading, Layn bent in half due to the convulsions of his abdominal muscles.

    "Huh? Do you really think you will get me with such a cheap trick? But the fact that you are resigned to use such low methods only means one thing." Stepping forward and cing her hands at the magical gate, Ortensia smiled, certain of her victory.

    "That you are at your wit''s end. I call your bluff, dear. Now, I will tell this one,st time..." As if snapped out of a leash, princess'' fingers clutched against the magical bars to the point where bones appeared under the skin covering them. "Stop whatever you are doing, Right. Fucking. Now."

    ''This has to be some kind of miracle¡­'' Amazed with how his wife managed to control herself to the point where she didn''t crush the orb with her hand, Layn leaned his head on his shoulder. Putting a finger at his mouth, he made the dumbest face that he could think of before speaking.

    "But I no longer am doing anything? The crystals are thrown, the mountains are open. There is no stopping the river anymore." Using a line out of the poetry that Ortensia loved so much, Layn smiled as the giant rune below his feet started shining.

    In fact, he could fully activate it at any given moment!

    "Yet, you was right about one thing. I kinda lied a bit." Suddenly moving his hand up only to scratch his head, the archmage smiled gently towards the princess, as if he was watching his own kids ying in the summer.

    "I was perfectly aware of that pearl. In fact, I was the one who pushed it into your hands. After all, isn''t it amusing that you brought the key to this gran arcana right to my hands¡­ yourself?"

    With the corner''s of Layn''s lips reaching the furthest they could on his face, his smile turned quite devious, only to soften up a momentter. After all, there was absolutely no point in gloating. Not when taking what was about to happen into perspective.

    "Everyone. Once again, thank you for everything. Now that we have the energy of the pearl, everything is set. And don''t you dare to worry. I will be sure to find you all. Brothers, sisters... " Layn didn''t take a momentary break to raise the tension. It was his throat acting up, blocking him from finishing his sentence.

    ''To think I would still find those emotions in me¡­'' A tear flowed down Layn''s cheek. Blood finally appeared in the cut on his palm. No longer paying any attention to the princess behind him or the soldiers desperately pounding at his barrier now that the walls were gone, Layn looked at his followers.

    "Tonight, we change the world." Turning his hand to the side, Layn allowed a drop of his blood to fall on the shining gran arcana written over the floor of his chamber.

    The droplet touched the runes on the floor. But instead of sttering all over it, it sshed, as if the floor suddenly turned into a pond. Under the influence of the blood droplet, a bit of this strange liquid jumped up.

    All the energy vanished from the surroundings. It happened too fast for anyone to even see how fast this situation urred. In what seemed like an instant, the ck orb in Ortensia''s hand liquified, before the raising droplet of the strange liquid from the floor sucked it all, along with the rest of the idle energy. The ancient artefact told to be capable of nullifying any and all the magic in the world was gone just like that.

    And then, that raising little droplet, plummeted back down to its source.

    To say that many things happened in an instant, would be a gross understatement. Once the gran arcana absorbed the foreign energy, it breached right through its critical mass. With all the force converging in the middle of the enormous magic circle, a disaster came.

    For a shred of a moment, everyone and everything was consumed by the raging ball of magical sma. The stone walls of the castle sizzled away just as quickly as the flesh and bones of humans in the face of this domineering outburst.

    But then, just as the rest of the fell prey to the magical disaster, everything reverted back to how it was a moment ago.

    "What did you do¡­?" Raising her eyes widened in terror at her husband, Ortensia asked with a feeble voice. "What diiiiddddd yooouuuu doooooooo????!!!!" Even though Layn wasn''t looking, the princess'' words funnily stretched in time. Then, the archmage''s entire life shed through his eyes¡­ in reverse.

    And then, there was nothing.

 Chapter 2 - Desert

    "I''m alive!" It was the first thought that Layn had when his body formed once more. The emotions behind it were so strong, that he even end up screaming this sentence out loud¡­

    Only to realise that due to the roaring of the wind, no one could hear him at all.

    "Huh?" Under the immense force of the winds, Layn wasn''t even able to turn his body around. ording to the n, he should reappear roughly twenty years in the past, above theke near the capital city. Taking the slight miscalctions in the form of the gran arcana into ount, there was a chance he would end up to five miles away from the casting ce.

    But that was location difference, not heigh change. Appearing so high in the air wasn''t a part of Layn''s n by any means!

    "Shit, I need to do it after all¡­" Tightening his jaws, Layn felt the magic coursing through his only partially formed body. Right now, every single bit of magical energy was precious. If he recklessly used his formative magic energy, his future potential would be wasted!

    But there was no point in having huge potential as a corpse. Making up his mind, Layn used the fundamental magic to force his body around.

    "Wha¡­" Gazing down into thend far below, Layn felt his mind suffering from a shock. No matter how much he screwed the forms, he shouldn''t appear so high in the skies! And what was the deal with the desert below him stretching as far as he could see? Royal capitalid on a vast in, not this kind of barrennd!

    ''Heck, I will think about thatter. For now, safety first.'' Reprimanding himself in his thoughts, Layn focused on crafting magic. Slowing down his descent was beyond the scope of simplistic fundamental magic. Thankfully, doing so wasn''t all that costly in terms of mana usage.

    "Hernloc." Chanting this single word in his mind, Layn forced the image of a rtivelyplex magical form to appear in his mental vision. Pouring a small bit of the mana that still gathered to reconstruct his body properly into this mental image, the archmage allowed nature to do the rest.

    With the magic flowing through the multi-dimensionalbyrinth of runes and geometrical formations, Layn felt the spelling to effect only when half of the distance from the merciless surface was already gone.

    As if falling into a huge, soft pillow, Layn''s body stopped elerating towards the ground. Soon, his hectic fall turned into a gentle glide through the air. Using the moment high in the air, Layn looked around. Before he would lose this advantage, scouting his position had almost absolute priority.

    ''Something went wrong with the gran arcana¡­ Too many things don''t add up¡­'' That was the only logical conclusion that Layn could create on the spot. Rather than arguing with the facts, the archmage preferred to make the most out of the situation he was in.

    "An oasis? I''m surely in luck, huh? Wait, am I seeing right?" Talking to himself in a silly attempt to push the worries aside, Layn focused on the area that piqued his interest¡­ Only for the nearby sand dunes to hide it from his eyes.

    "Eh, I guess nothing can be done about that. At least I know where to go. Its something." Even with all the knowledge that Layn had, surviving on the desert without ample preparations was¡­ Unlikely to say the least. While he could still reach the civilisation by resorting to morally questionable means, it would take an enormous toll on Layn to do so.

    Once Layn appeared just several feet above the ground, his delicate spell crashed against the ground, disappearing in the process. Expecting this oue from the very beginning, Layn allowed the gravity to do its work, softening his drop by bending his knees uponnding.

    "Okay, that''s it for the energising part. Time to¡­ have some rest." Instead of hurrying towards the oasis where he sensed the presence of other humans, Layn sat down on the hot sand. With the fresh water in the oasis just around the next dune, even if those people would leave, his chances of crossing the desert still skyrocketed.

    And right now, it was of absolute priority to let his body finish forming.

    Even though fundamental magic was nearly costless while the basic spell that Layn used was considered to be one of the lighter ones, Layn could still see the wounds on his potential. The mana that was supposed to shape the fine details of a part of his was missing, disturbing the otherwise wholesome flow of energy within.

    Fixing those imperfections was still possible, even if it would require enormous amounts of magic energyter on. But to a degree, it didn''t matter. Even without a mirror or water to see it with his own eyes, Layn could feel that at least this part of the gran arcana worked.

    After enclosing the energy of the magical nuke, the insane form of the grand spell used that energy to forcibly bend thews of the universe. By itself, doing so was insanely easy, possible even for Layn to do so in his free time. The problems arose when the matter of moving through the fissure in the spatialws surfaced.

    Nearly all the energy that the gran arcana consumed was used to first decode the information of Layn''s body, then to send just this information alone through the fissure, before using the energy on the other side to reconstruct his body from the magic energy alone. That was the only way in which the absolute rule of time could be challenged.

    And just as nned, Layn''s body returned to how it was twenty years prior to the moment of casting the gran arcana. Freshly in his twenties, Layn could feel the energy of youth coursing through his veins. But the fact that he could feel the power of his body also meant something else.

    Raising his eyes towards the dune behind which the oasis hid, Layn''s lips formed a gentle curve.

    "Let''s see whether they will be able to tell me where the heck I ended up!

 Chapter 3 - Reconstruction Group

    //Text in [xxx] is a trantion of the ancient. There is deeper trantion in paraments/author notes

    "Ugh, I knew deserts were dangerous, but I didn''t realize just how much¡­" Muttering to himself as he continued to walk forward, Layn swiped the sweat from his forehead. No matter how long did he travel, the dune beyond which the oasis awaited wasn''t getting any closer.

    Or at least, that''s how it seemed for the archmage.

    Step by step, he continued to walk through the endless sands with the scorching heat of the sun frying his back. With only the simplest of the clothing weaved from the magic energy itself covering Layn''s skin, he could only dream of something to shield himself from the unrelenting rays.

    ''Strange¡­ I know this is a desert¡­ But howe there is so little magic in the air?'' As his walk continued to extend into what seemed like an infinity, Layn couldn''t ignore this matter any longer.

    ''Could it be some kind of hidden ce that managed to avoid the influence of the culling? Nah, not possible.'' No matter what kind of possibility Layn attempted to rationalize, it all fell short of the mark of logical solution. After all, no matter what the ce was, the air was capable of sneaking literally everywhere.

    Because from the looks of it, as soon as Layn got close enough to those foreign voices to discern the specific words¡­ he still couldn''t understand a word.

    ''Wait, I think I heard this somewhere¡­ Don''t fucking tell me¡­'' With a sudden realization striking the man like a lightning, his face suddenly swollen up in a huge disappointment mixed with relief. After a few more moments during which Layn was splitting his efforts between climbing the dune and listening to the strangenguage, the realization finally struck his head.

    As strange an ent as those people were using, there was no denying one simple fact. The tongue that they were using, was a bastard form of the legendary ancient tongue that Layn studied even before his time as a member of the hero party!

    Outside of some strange academics infatuated with ancient history, only one kind of people could speak thisnguage as fluently as the people Layn was listening to could.

    Reconstruction groups.

    Sprouting like flowers ever since the world entered a rtively peaceful era, they were a fun way for the rich to waste their money away while the poor could make an easy profit out of the counterfeit ancient goods. Only this kind of people could bother to learn an entirenguage just for the sake of keeping their little ys even a bit closer to the realism of the years-long gone.

    And from the sound of the things, it seemed like the group that Lay was about to encounter, belonged to the absolute top ranks in terms of dedication!

    Finally taking thest few steps to arrive at the top of the sandhill, Layn could finally take a closer look at the oasis and the people in it.

    ''Gosh, they really are abandoning all the reason for this hobby.'' Even a single look was enough for Layn''s lips to form a thin, perfectly straight line. With his eyelids lowering halfway, he started at the peculiarly dressed group for a moment before releasing a deep sigh and descending down the dune.

    Form the delicate robes that seemed to magically flutter on the wind, through some clothes that hardly even pretended to hide anything all the way to the thick furs worn on the naked arms by several warrior-looking guys. As cheap and tattered as the clothing of this group looked for the most part, Layn had no doubt that each of those outfits could cost as much as an entire vige!

    "Krashar ketense!" [Bring the drinks]

    Hearing the unfamiliar words, Layn couldn''t even guess what they could mean. It seemed that this group worked on their ancient much harder than the archmage did in his academy years. But looking at the situation, Layn had actually yet to even join the academy at the current date, making him probably the youngest to ever be proficient in thatnguage.

    The group noticed him. Ever since the strange shout shook the air, amotion appeared in the camp at the oasis. By the time Layn got close enough to see the faces of the reconstruction group, they were all lined up with their hands calmly pressed against the handles of their weapons.

    "Gosh¡­ How could they be so irresponsible! We are still in the desert, don''t they realize it?" Seeing how instead of magic guns or recently poprised crystal sabers the group held on to the historically urate but almostpletely useless iron weapons, Layn''s mind almost exploded. Back in the days, a simr group to theirs was all over the news. Not because they managed to discover the secrets of the ancient ruins by dressing in a way their original owners did.

    They became popr because the entire group of nine sumbed to a stray monster that happened to cross their path!

    "What the hell do you think you are doing you id¡­ everyone?!"

    Rather than bothering to speak in ancient, Layn instantly used themon tongue. Yet, to his surprise, there was no reaction in the group.

    ''Great, now they are ignoring me. Eh, let me y their game then.'' It wasn''t the first time when Layn met with this kind of problem. With how humans were innately stubborn, it was still a rarity to meet someone so unreasonable.

    "Kaka¡­ Kakasha pair." [I''m approaching with friendly intentions.] Using the simplest of the simplest forms that he could recall at the moment, Layn raised his hands in the air in the universal gesture ofck of hostility. For some reason, as near as he was to exploding due to the extreme irresponsibility of those people, they apparently looked like they actually knew how to use their weapons around.

    After all, as a former member of the future hero party, Layn knew pretty well how to judge one''s skills just from the stance he would assume before the fighting.

    "Sakastha parien?" [Comes from where? (Comes where) Where are youing from] Tilting his head to the side as he heard Layn''s poor ancient, one of the men from the group stepped forward while responding. Thankfully, this kind of usual and casual exchange still hung around in Layn''s memory, allowing him to understand the context.

    But instead of using his voice to respond, the archmage turned around before pointing his hand at the depths of the desert, before returning to the previous position and shaking his arms.

    "Kaka parien na yome" [I don''t know where I''ming from CHECK T/N inment] Finishing his message with the slightly moreplex sentence, Layn barely held his facial muscles from twitching when he saw some giggles appearing amongst the female part of the reconstruction group.

    But now that their conversation finally started, archmage''s initial idea of the group actually being a reconstruction group was thrown into shambles. Even though there was a little chance that such a young group would be fascinated with the culture of the ancient¡­ There was absolutely no way for no adult or teacher to oversee their activities!

    "Jestranda collea." [Stranger,e] With Layn''s earlier message conveying the fact that he was lost, it was a pleasant surprise to hear the man who assumed the position of the leader of those youths reply with an invitation. His sentencecked an emotional denominator, making it hard to gauge what that middle-aged man was feeling about the idea, but the invitation still stood.

    With Layn''s extreme thirst caused by the continuous sweating as he walked, even the prospect of walking right into a trap didn''t seem to be that much of a price for getting a few sips of fresh, drinkable water.

    After all, even with his body only recently formed back, Layn could still tell that just the residual energy from his formation that remained in his body amounted to several times more than all the magic held in those people''s aura!

 Chapter 4 - Trying To Comunicate

    //Trantion of ancients included in: square brackets [xxx], author''s notes and paragraphments//

    "Leto magnari. Kosha?" [Do you have someone speaking manynguages?] As much as Layn knew about the ancient, it wasn''t even close to being enough to hold a proper conversation. But in terms ofmunicating on the basic level, with enough effort, even signnguage would somehow suffice.

    But it wasn''t efficient tomunicate in this way. With the precious few drops of mana remaining in his aura, Layn was very conscious about using magic and wasting this sparse resource away. Yet, the ability to readilymunicate with others was of utmost importance. And with every moment that Layn spent with the group, he was bing more and more aware that for those people, the ancient tongue might just as well be the mother-tongue!

    The implications that such a situation would lead to, were too grand for Layn to bother his head with them for now. Responding to his request, the leader of the group gestured at the rest of his friends, calling forth one of the cutely dressed girls to his side.

    Wrapped from head to toe with what seemed like a single, long strip of expensive cloth, one could tell the gender of that girl only by the superly delicate figure and feminine traits on her cute face. With even a single one of those two giveaways missing, Layn wouldn''t have the doubts to make any assumptions in the first ce.

    After all, who knew how those strange people would react if he were to identally mistake the gender of one of them? From the worsening of their rtions to the public humiliation and execution, there was no telling how great such transgression was for the locals and their culture.

    "Irea, leto magnari. Kaka?" [I (Irea) speak manynguages. Do you?] cing his hand on the girl''s shoulder, the man sent a questioning look to Layn''s face. But instead of trying to speak themon tongue once again, something that Layn already knew would end in failure, the archmage actually took a step forward before cing his forefinger on the girl''s forehead.

    "Satte!" [Stop] Noticing the strange move, the leader of the group instantly unsheathed his weapon, pointing it threateningly at Layn.

    "Maste, maste." [Calm down, chill out] Calming the man down, Layn closed his eyes. With so little magic energy, he couldn''t afford to waste even the minimal amounts of it. Starting with the standard diagram for the thoughts transfer, he quickly removed all the parts that he considered to be spare, before finalizing the form on an imaginary piece of paper. Filing it with magic, he then directed it through his fingers to the girl''s head.

    "Kah!"

    Stepping back as if someone struck her head with a hammer, the eyes of the girl widened greatly. At the same time, Layn instantly recalled an image of a vast in, before focusing on it for a moment. With the thoughts transfer, he didn''t need to name it. After all, the same image that he focused on, would appear in the vision of the girl!

    "SATTE!"

    Before she even managed to finish her retreat, the girl already shouted towards her leader, whose sword was falling at an astonishing speed towards Layn''s forehead. Rather than betting on fighting techniques or special moves, the man clearly wanted to dispose of the potential threat in the form of Layn as swiftly as possible. Thankfully, the girl''s sudden shout managed to stop his sword before the leader of this ''reconstruction group'' would force Layn into actual defence.

    "Na?" [ins?] Releasing a sigh of relief seeing that the sword of her leader properly stopped, the girl turned her face back towards Layn before uttering a single, questioning word.

    "Na. Parien?" [Where are the ins?] Seeing that his technique didn''t end up failing due to the extensive inference in its structure, Layn could sigh a sigh of relief. The word standing for the in didn''t appear in their discussion even once so far. The fact that this girl brought it up made it obvious that at least to a certain degree, the thoughts transfer seemed to work.

    "Magnari waxetta, magna magnari." [A lot of walking, very, very much - Its an insanely long journey on foot] Pointing with her hand towards the same direction that Layn came from, the girl used the enhanced form for magnari, implying just how far Layn would have to walk to reach the nearest ins.

    "Kette, kusanari, kusa kusanari." [The settlement is super close]Before Layn could ever respond, the direction that the girl was pointing at changed, this time to theplete opposite of where the nearest in apparently was.

    ''So the settlement is rather close, huh? Well, it''s not like I can get much more out of them.'' Sighing deeply as he shook his head, Layn cut off the thought link to the girl. Twitching slightly upon the release, the girl looked around at first, before suddenly dashing towards the man that almost attacked Layn before.

    "Rexa, magna Rexa magnari!" [Expert, super-strong/great expert] Spitting those words in quick session, the girl stood exactly between her male leader and the archmage. But there was something wrong. ording to the guess that many of the archaeologists made, Rexa was the word that the modern Rexus, the king came from.

    But it didn''t make absolutely any sense for this to suddenly start calling him with a pretty simr word, that Layn sadly failed to understand.

    "Kaka¡­ Etto. Etto gare." [I, okay. I will do that] After a moment of hesitation, the middle-aged warrior finally lowered his sword before shaking his head to the sides as he moved aside. As soon as the girl noticed it, her eyes lit up as she ran towards the archmage.

    "Kaka Irea. Kakeshi?" [I''m Irea, and you are?] Nodding her head and pointing her finger at her chest, the girl spoke. Then, she then raised her head back to look at Layn''s face with sudden, extreme interest.

    ''Well, given how she called me something before¡­ Eh, let''s just go with the flow.'' Shaking his head to tear the useless doubts out of his head, Layn brought his eyes back at the face of this energetic girl.

    "Kaka Layn. Irea kakeshi magna ronoh." [I''m Layn. Mettingdy Irea is a great honor (official greeting)] Lowering his head while responding to the girl''s introduction in the only full form that he could remember from the ss, Layn bit his lip.

    What was initially just a guess, now turned out to be practically certain. Even for the most hardcore reconstruction group, there was no way they would abandon all the goods that the modern civilization had to offer. But in this camp, not a single modern appliance could be found!

    With thisst straw of hope now gone, Layn could only bite his lips.

    Because only when the pain was strong enough could he free his head from thinking about the only one remaining possibility.

    "Kaka ronoh.." [The honour is mine (reply to the greeting above)] Not letting Layn im the honors of meeting her but taking the honors of meeting him for herself instead, the girl smiled.

 Chapter 5 - Son Of A... Dog

    //Trantion of the ancient is in square brackets [xxx], paragraphments and author''s notes

    In the end, the group allowed Layn to join their ranks. And once it happened, the full degree of their friendliness finally came to the light. Rather than just leaving him alone to tend for himself, the same girl that he happened to create thoughts transfer with led him to the smallke in the middle of the area, before conjuring a pair of cups out of the thin air.

    "Kaka magnari ypah." [I''m very happy] Nodding his head in gratitude, Layn epted the cup filled with the freshly obtained water. Leaving the problem of dealing with any and all potential parasites to his slightly modified intestines, Layn finally enjoyed the feeling of the rtively cold water flushing all the sand from his throat.

    Just a single sip was enough to make the archmage feel like if his entire body revitalized on the spot. It seemed that his earlier tiredness wasn''t physical exhaustion, but the way of his newly reformed body to announce how greatly itcked water.

    Layn''s thirst was finally satisfied only once five more cups were filled and emptied. Only then did his brain return to the usual rate of its spin, allowing the archmage to look at the world around him with rity.

    ''What the fuck I was doing all this time!'' Internally screaming as soon as the major part of his intelligence returned from the unexpected vacation, Layn only barely stopped his own hand from punishing his stupidity by pping his own face.

    "Irea, collea." [Irea,e] With the entire group preparing to leave the oasis, it was thest moment for Layn to invest most of what remained of his initial pool of magic. Due to how dead the entirety of this desert was, it would take literal aeons for his full state of mana to replenish by itself. Even in the locally rich in life oasis, the density of magic in the air was so impossibly small, that Layn once again started to consider the most disastrous scenario.

    And asdy fortune would have it, so far, it seemed that this unbelievably tragic scenario seemed to perfectly answer all the inconsistencies between Layn''s n and the reality he had to face.

    Hearing his call, the girl quickly trodded towards the archmage, with great curiosity written all over her face. Even though she had her own initial doubts about Layn, ever since she first uttered that ''Rexa'' world, her attitude changed drastically.

    "Let''s try it out¡­" Muttering to himself as an extremelyplicated structure of grade fifth spell appeared in his mind, Layn overcame thest bout of hesitation, before pouring all his remaining magic right into the form.

    But nothing happened. That is, on the surface.

    With the magic in the area being extremely thin, the usually high cost of this spell lowered by a huge degree. No interference of the local free energy meant that more of Layn''s mana could be used to achieve the actual objective rather than keeping the spell stable.

    And soon, this godlike spell started to work.

    It wasn''t anything shy. Just a mix of five different spells charged in a pr fashion. The activity of one part would lead to the activation of the other, and so on. This way, a single bout of energy could constantly travel between each of the activators, saving Layn the trouble of controlling it.

    "We should reach the city in two to three days. That is, if our gabba won''t sezere." [package/sumb] Even though the spell wasn''t perfect, it mademunication way easier. The meaning of the untranted words could be guessed from the context or just the gestures and facial expression of the one speaking.

    But as great as this spell was, not only it couldst only for so long, Layn also had to limit its usability to keep the energy cost affordable. With that said, while the spell would continue to learn more words, understanding others would quickly be an easy task¡­

    Sadly, speaking in theirnguage was an entirely different matter.

    "Ra!" [Careful!] A sudden shout forced Layn out of his train of thoughts. Raising his head towards the noise, he saw that not only the people on the side of the group but literally everyone instantly started preparing themselves for the sh.

    Swords left their sheaths, maces raised in the air, towers blocked the line of enemy''s sight. In just a moment, the entire group ceased to move, creating a protective circle with Layn in the middle of it.

    ''Aren''t they a bit too skilled in protecting their cargo?'' Unknowingly using the same word to refer to himself like the men his spell heard doing earlier on, Layn moved his eyes towards the source of the danger.

    ''Wait, really? Firedog makes them so cautious?'' Stunned by the sight in front of his eyes, Layn once again got the urge to p his own face. At this point, his ominous prediction that his gran arcana misfired, died under the show of ipetence of this group.

    How could such a huge gathering of clearly experienced warriors have any trouble with disposing of a single firedog? Even though it was the size of a house and the fires spreading from every inch of its skin could burn even stone, as long as one knew what he was doing, taking an entire herd of those wouldn''t be a problem at all.

    Sadly, as a great source of fire-resistant skin those dogs were, they weremonly referred to as the bosses of the desert, due to how rarely one could spot more than just a single one in any particr ce.

    But from the looks of it, neither the leader nor the rest of the group that Layn joined seemed to take this encounter as lightly as the archmage. Still motionless, they continued to watch thezy actions of the fire dog.

    "Want me to beat it up?" Layn attempted to say, while perfectly aware how he most likely said something along the lines of ''I hit big bark''. Thankfully, from how the girl that Layn decided to stick with looked at him with her big, wide-open eyes, it didn''t seem like anyone would have anything against it.

    "No. Keep him back. We can''t risk the safety of the guest." As strange as the current course of events was, the way in which those people acted only reinforced Layn''s idea that he didn''t want to acknowledge.

    The idea that rather than moving twenty years to the past as he nned, he actually ended up in the era before the culling, the greatest disaster to ever happen,id the foundations necessary for the proper magic to develop.

    The sanctity of the guests was one of those clues.

    The sanctity that Layn could care less about.

    So before waiting for the girl to kindly trante those words to him, he went past the men in the formation, walking right in the open area between the group and the fire dog.

    "Come at me, you son of a¡­ well, dog."

 Chapter 6 - Realisation

    In the future, killing the monsters would be one of the cardinal sins against morality.

    During the age of the explosive growth of civilisation all over the, all the natural habitats of the monsters got destroyed. In the face of the carpet bombing of the high-tier magic from the aerial units, not even a single being that could pose a threat to humans remained.

    But that was only the official reason behind this genocide. In truth, after the ancient disaster that shattered all the magic stones that were ever excavated, the new civilisation was starving for a cheap way of storing and amassing energy. Outside of the several items created by the quickly dying old civilisations before they werepletely gone, every single monster in the world was a source for this highly sought-for item.

    That was the true nature of this crusade dered by the entire humanity against the monsters. It wasn''t aimed at securing the already safends of the great cities and nations. It was all about harvesting the energy that those monsters had in abundance.

    ''Yet, if my guess is right¡­'' Taking a quick nce behind, Layn noticed the look of extreme shock on the faces of his new acquaintances. Turning his head back towards the fiery beast, the archmage could barely keep his hands from shaking. His eyes, filled with intense greed.

    ''As long as I get to absorb it¡­'' What could appear as a dire threat and a danger for those possible ancient guys, Layn could only see as a pile of free energy that he could freely consume. And it was exactly what he needed to not only recover his strength but also fix this wed body of his.

    ''Stop!"

    A sudden shout from behind did little to slow down Layn''s advance. Without a shred of fear or even anxiety, he approached the beast.

    Even though it was clearly not the behaviour that the monster was used to, it quickly took on the offensive. Lowering on its legs, it tensed its muscles only to rapidly jump forward!

    ''Right into my arms¡­'' Smiling internally, Layn opened himself for the influx of the direly needed mana. But just as the beast was about to let him consume it, a sudden pull forced the archmage out of his stable position.

    ''What?'' There was no way for what just did happen, to happen. Those people werepletely empty in terms of magic potential. Even with just a tiny fraction of his power and abilities avable for Layn to use, he could clearly see that.

    But the speed at which one of the possible ancient moved was simply inconceivable.

    "GARE!" Screaming from the bottom of her lungs, Irea pulled at Layn''s arm. From right behind her, the leader of the girl''s groupshed with his spear at the firedog.

    "Excuse me¡­?" Uttering those words and raising his eyebrows as far as mother nature allowed, Layn observed the moves of those people. Out of all the things, now he was perfectly certain that they had nothing to do with the civilisation he knew.

    There was no way for them to be anyone but the ancients.

    Moving in quick strides, the leader of the group closed the distance in just a heartbeat. Sliding on his gently bent legs towards the monster, he stapped upwards. Using the momentum of his sudden approach, the tip of his spear cut through the air with a deadly whistle.

    A slight, sonic boom shredded the air.

    Those people had to be the ancients. Because no one in the modern civilisation would be as reckless and stupid tosh at the magic beast with physical attacks.

    Quickly following their leader, the rest of the group quickly joined the fray, showering the firedog with an impressive avnche of attacks.

    "Satte!" Ordering with a desperate voice, Irea''s eyes shed with the shadows of terror. But before Layn could even react, she followed into the battle. Despite the terrific shaking of her body, her tearing-up eyes, she jumped towards her colleagues.

    "The hell?!" Finally managing to shake the shock of what just happened to himself, Layn instantly sprung back towards the battle. In this newly formed body of his, something that would cause him a huge pain in the back was now an easy feat.

    But without any energy left, he couldn''t reach the battlegrounds as quickly as the rest of the group.

    So he was forced to watch the dramatic hell unfold right in front of his eyes.

    After the initial moment of confusion, the firedog finally retaliated. In an instant, a st wave exploded around him, shaking the nearest opponents out of it. With the mes the following suit, three of the ancients couldn''t escape having their limbs scorched.

    And that was enough for Layn to feel the familiar rush of adrenaline in his veins. Something that he still had in himself, ever since the days of participating in the legendary quest to take down the demon lord.

    Stepping up his speed a bit, Layn finally reached the frontlines. With the wounded already pulled to the back, the group was in a clear retreat. At this point, even when both the leader and the Irea girl noticed Layn''s stubborn return, they couldn''t do anything about it. They already tried to save him, after he recklessly walked right into the jaws of this beast.

    "Usa." With just a single word on his lips, Layn walked directly into the body of the monster. Going as far as to dpose a small part of his being to get the mana for the quick approach, the archmage raised his head and touched the solid core of the monster.

    And then it happened.

    In an instant, his entire body stood in mes. But those were actually nothing but a visible, physical manifestation of the raging storm of energy coursing around the core stone of the monster. But it was also the moment when Layn realised that something was amiss.

    What should be an easy task of swallowing all the rich energy of the monster, wasn''t as simple as it should be. Or to be honest, it was actually hellishly hard!

    Overwhelmed by the sudden realisation, Layn''s body nearly exploded from the magical corrosion of his body. Even though he was desperately trying to absorb this formless energy into his aura, his means were just too small. The archmage was akin to a person standing in the middle of a raging river, trying to stop its flow by drinking it away.

    "To think I would meet with such a powerful monster and perish in such a way¡­" With Layn''s trembling lips sending his words through the air, something changed in the ancients. Even though he couldn''t really see it, Layn was certain that some hearts beaten out a bit harder, some breaths turned into gasps.

    Even though the group couldn''t understand the words, the tone of his words passed the meaning around.

    Layn''s lips formed a gentle curve. "... Or I think not!"

    His eyes suddenly lit in a fit of craziness.

    ''Now it all makes sense!'' Screaming in his mind, the archmage looked at the situation with his crazed state of mind all over his face. His fresh body was burning away from the powerful magical mes of the firedog. All of his muscles were about to dry and wither away. Not even a single shred of skin remained on his entire body, not even a single strand of hair.

    But at this moment, it mattered not. The tortuous feeling of being skinned and burned alive, both from the outside and from the inside at the same time should put Layn in an extremely bad mood.. But the reminding part of his lips¡­ kept smiling.

 Chapter 7 - Fight With The Firedog

    There was one event that divided the timeline of human civilisation into two separate parts.

    The great culling.

    It had many names. The ancient apocalypse, doomsday, greatest disaster in history. ording to the knowledge gathered during the long years of research and study over the ancient remains, one thing could be said for certain.

    At its peak, ancient technology was in no way inferior to the one developed by theter part. To a degree, one could say that the greatness achieved by the ancient would leave any rational mage of Layn''s time in constant shame. Dwarfing the pitiful achievements of modern magic, the civilisation based on the magic stones stood as something that the future generations could only strive to create.

    But even this kind of a great human thought stood no chance against the great disaster. In the span of a single day, all of the stones that made the foundation of this highly technocratic society¡­ shattered. Not even into dust, but what waster proved to be particles so small, one could hardly speak about them outside of the terms of chemistry or alchemy.

    And yet, it was this disaster that opened a new path for humanity.

    Just a few years after the fall, people recorded an increasing number of miracles. In just a few generations, proper magic became a thing, and by the time Layn was defeating the demon lord, the schrs back in the safety of the headquarters worked hard on the theorem of a golem capable ofputing great numbers and spells.

    ''A great civilisation had to fall for the world that I know to even be born. But that doesn''t mean there is nothing I can do about it!'' Layn''s eyes lit up. Then he did two things at once. As if preparing for a fight, he instantly dposed his physical body back into its true form. As nothing more but a cloud of magic propelled by the will of the gran arcana, he merged with the powerful aura of the monster.

    SHRIEK!

    In an instant, the firedog released a pained groan. Its fires exploded¡­ Only to subside right away, disappearing from the world. As its body dposed, the thick fog of the magic that made up the monster swirled in ce, turning thinner and thinner. After just a short while, even thisst hint of the firedog existence disappeared, revealing Layn''s untouched body.

    ''What energy¡­ But I don''t have the time time to waste.'' There was only one thing that he could do to stop himself from relying on the fading influence of the gran arcana whenever he would encounter a monster. The only way for Layn to let his knowledge and abilities shine was by actually using them. And in a world void of the magic particles that made it easier for the magical energy to flow, he just needed a simple tool to change that.

    Looking down at his hand, Layn red at the pristine, red colour of the gem. As the heart of the monster and the source of its energy, it gently brimmed in a low tune, as if it was some kind of cat purring on its master''sp.

    "Jawere¡­ Ja-impossible¡­" With the voices of the ancients reaching Layn''s ears, his face twitched. Even his tranting spell took a while to catch up on the meaning of the word. While he was d that the dense cloud of magic hid the moment when his body disintegrated only to reconstruct itself in its perfect form the momentter, it didn''t mean he was safe from their scrutiny. If they were to consider him to be some kind of a monster¡­

    Using the moment when the ancients were still rooted in ce, Layn focused his attention on the stone in his hand. Unsure about its quality and many other potential harms of doing so, the Archmage didn''t dare to infuse himself with what he was about to create. That''s why he needed a special tool.

    The abundance of the energy that he stole from a monster allowed Layn to whip out a long rope. Due to the generally simple structure of both the item itself and the material it was made out of, this was the shape that Layn quickly decided on.

    "Deconstruct¡­" Whispering the activator of a rtively advanced, third-grade spell, Layn felt a sting on his soul when it helped itself to the huge yet limited pool of his stolen magic. Sucking nearly a third of his momentary power, the spell quickly started working.

    Directed against the stone in Layn''s hand, it quickly turned its solid structure into a fine cloud of extremely small dust.

    "Infuse." Raising the long rope in his right hand, Layn could feel his face tensing all over when he invoked yet another fuel-costly spell. Without the proper tools to create fourth and higher graded spells, he could only rely on the first set of the craftsman''s tools. That also meant he could only really prepare another tool for himself by defeating yet another monster of the firedog''s level¡­

    Even though the spells were costly, they were far from being perfectly efficient either. During the course of the spell''s work, nearly a third of the dust spewed out. Thankfully, at least more than a half properly stuck to the simple rope, before merging with its structure.

    The qualitative change to the material¡­ didn''t happen. The stone powder was way too fine to harden the rope. If cut, it would be destroyed like anything else. But it wasn''t Layn''s aim to create a sturdy rope at all.

    Fixing his hold over the tool, he finally felt a familiar sensation.

    Just as he expected, it wasn''t the magic being thinner in ancient times. It was theck of a proper conducting element in the air! But with his new tool in hand, although the amount wasn''t great, Layn finally got ess to a stable and endless source of magic energy!

 Chapter 8 - Who Are You?

    "Now¡­ what should I do with them?" Muttering this question under his nose, Layn confirmed that no one was moving so far. Scanning the area with his eyes, he could see that out of about eleven people in the group, four were missing. Or rather, while everyone was standing and staring with bulging eyes at Layn, the four of the victims of the firedog''s mes could onlyy still on the ground.

    Once Layn''s sight swept past Irea, he noticed a huge, burnt mark on her arm. Stretching from her wrist as far as to the side of her waist and shoulder, it was clearly the source of the anguish written all over her face.

    Taking a deep breath, Layn closed his eyes. Using the proper conducting element in his tool, he absorbed the remaining part of the refined energy from the air. Cutting a small wound open on his vein, he then extracted a thin strand made purely out of the stone dust, before connecting it to his blood flow.

    Layn took a step forward.

    "Kaka¡­ who? Who are you?" After the momentary buzz, Layn''s trantion spell fixed itself. Supplied with a fresh, abundant stream of mana, arcana''s potential instantly spiked. For as long as Layn could maintain the spell, he wouldn''t have any further problemsmunicating with others.

    Layn took another step. Noticing the extremely cautious and focused look in the ancients'' leader eyes, he swept his rope to the side, only to let it curl around his body. In a moment, this simple rope wrapped itself around Layn''s torso. The energy around him constantly decreased, absorbed through the rope to his bloodstream.

    "I''m Layn." Leaving the job of tranting his words to the spell, Layn took onest step. Reaching with his hand, he gently grabbed the fingers of the girl''s injured hand.

    ''Recreate the symposium¡­''

    The weirder the way to call aplicated spell, the easier it was for the modern caster to recall its structure. By imagining a hall full of academics in the sanitised suits, Layn could see all four rings of this fourth tier spell. Written atop the white cloth of the doctors'' aprons, they served only a single purpose.

    Pushing his newly obtained energy through those rings, Layn allowed it to umte for a bit, before suddenly opening his squinted eyes. With all the four images falling on top of each other once this mental image copsed, theplicated structure of the spell clicked.

    "Wha¡­" As soon as the slight shine of the healing spell appeared all over Irea''s wound, the leader of her group jumped forward. The eyes of the girl herself widened in shock at first, only to widen even more once she realised what was going on.

    With the warrior approaching along with his unsheathed spear, Layn observed the changes going on on the girl''s battered skin. In a set of motions too small to notice individually, her body seemed to repair itself. As if each of her bare cells suddenly exploded with energy, they would split and divide and split and divide¡­

    By the time the tip of the spear started to threaten Layn''s safety, the spell reached the critical mass. With all the flesh tissue now regenerated, the remaining energy of this rtively strong arcana exploded, filling the girl with its physical manifestation.

    "STOP!" In one instant, the girl pushed her hand forward. Grabbing the spear right behind its de, she violently turned her body around, snapping the tip off the weapon. But that didn''t stop her leader''s lunge.

    Pang!

    The sound of the shattered end of the wooden pole bouncing off Layn''s most basic barrier didn''t even attract the archmage''s attention. Taking a close look at the state of the healed girl, he couldn''t fail to notice how certain part of her charms poked out of the hole in her clothes.

    Turning his eyes away, Layn located the next victim. While his spell was potent, it was focused on healing, not reversing the time. Letting the girl duke it out with the leader, Layn moved on.

    In the situation a few moments ago, no words would suffice to calm it. From the looks on the faces of the ancients, they were unable to decide whether to treat him as some expert or a gigantic threat. No matter how the archmage would want to exin or move on, they wouldn''t let him.

    It was that stalemate that forced him to just shut up for the most part and give the message through his actions. With thenguage barrier keeping them from understanding each other only until a few moments ago, as long as he could get the ancients to calm down for a moment, Layn could obtain something that would be of great use for him.

    A local guide to the nearest settlement, where he could use his bullshitting skills to somehow make a whole out of his entire situation.

    Approaching the next victim, Layn kneeled on one knee in front of him. From the looks of things, while he received far greater injuries, they were mostly only on the surface. Maybe due to the way they used the sparse energy, but this man seemed way more resilient than the humans of Layn''s era.

    ''Recreate the symposium¡­''

    Closing his eyes only to open them a momentter, Layn invoked the heal once again. The sting on his veins was real. While the cloud of energy that followed him was now mostly absorbed, repeatedly using such an advanced spell without a stable supply of high-grade magic was still taxing.

    Unable to react to Layn''s swift and decisive moves, the rest of the ancients could only watch how he healed another one of their victims only to stand up and move to the next. Layn hesitated only above the third of the injured that he approached.

    Because to save him, he would have to somehow invoke a grade six spell. Something that even with countless resources that he had as the Kingdom''s archmage was still rather costly.

    Shaking his head tomunicate the situation to the injured girl, Layn lowered his head to her, before moving on. Rather than wasting time on the lethally injured female, he could still save thest of the victim.

    "Who are you?" Once thest of the injured could now breathe a sigh of relief, Irea warily approached the archmage.

    "I told you already, " Layn replied while shaking his head to get rid of the dizziness. Using the heal four times in a row, he barely had any mana left.

    "I''m Layn."

 Chapter 9 - Dark Huntress And The Saint

    *At the same time, roughly 2.000 miles to the northwest*

    The Republic of Chartia was one of the frontier nations of the north. upying the freshly reimednds on both sides of a thin sea, most of its poptions was centred around several towns. On its outskirts, the wilderness reigned supreme.

    That''s why, when a huge ball of light suddenly shone several meters above the ground, there was no one to witness it. Passing unnoticed, this glorious, godly sight quickly diminished, nking out into the nothingness of the dark sky.

    But even if someone was lucky enough to witness this sight, they would still fall to notice two figures that appeared from that strange sphere of light.

    Instantly falling down to the soft grass of the in, by the time the two of them reached the ground, they already changed their location to a more suitable one.

    Landing on her feet before dampening the momentum on his knees, Yelna released a pained groan. Holding the body of her husband in her arms, it was hard to soften this kind of drop.

    "Thanks for the help." Winking to the girl, Markus jumped down from her arms. Taking a quick look around, his usual, calm face stiffened.

    "What the hell is this?" Cursing the unknown perpetrator of this disaster in her mind, Yelna pulled out her universal knife. Customised ording to her own instruction, it was the only weapon she needed besides her enhanced bow to survive in any ce and time.

    But that didn''t make it any easier toprehend what was going on.

    "It seems that my interpretation was off. Such changes to the terrain¡­" Kneeling down to grab a handful of earth before standing up and looking around, Markus looked down towards the line of the horizon.

    "Stop ying around and just tell." Cutting the mystical y of her partner, Yelna looked at him with a dark expression. Noticing the unfavourable look in his wife''s eyes, Markus dropped the earth from his hand before taking a stoic expression as well.

    "I think we¡­ no, the world moved way further to the past than what we expected. I saw the effects of that arcana, it didn''t interfere with our ce, my barrier held against it properly. And that means¡­" Spreading his arms wide, Markus'' expression soured.

    "The first records of civilisation in the holy state reach as far as to the first era of the ancients¡­ Could it be?" Bringing her hand up and rubbing her fingers against her chin, Yelna tapped her finger against her bottom lip.

    "You know those records were quite doubtful. Let''s not be as negative. After all, there is no possible way to gather sufficient energy to push the entire world so far back to the past!" Protesting against his wife''s suggestion, fluttering his white saint''s robe to the back, he blinked a few times before looking again at his wife.

    Her elegant, simple outfit that she liked to wear turned now to its battle version. Creeping upwards of her skin, it quickly covered the entire body of the female. Due to its dark and green colour, it instantly melded the girl''s figure into the background, making it extremely hard even for Markus to spot her.

    "Then all we need to do is to find the culprit and get him to reverse the spell. Isn''t that right?" Raising her hand once again, Yelna suddenly noticed the motion, forcefully stopping her hand in the tracks.

    ''Stupid habit.'' Cursing her tick more than she did the situation, Yelna proved how little she cared about her current circumstances.

    But looking at it from another perspective, it would be strange for the two former members of the hero party to be discouraged by something they already knew wasing! Due to the time restraints, Markus only managed to fetch his wife before the apocalyptic event struck.

    Shielding the two of them with his holy barrier, even as a Saint he barely managed to hold on against the onught. And due to the distance that separated him from the source of the disaster, he got to experience its full scale on his own skin.

    Back when the state of the mana in the world was disturbed, Markus was already prepared. Cuddling the girl to his chest, he could see how the entire world around him started to wither¡­ backwards. Even before the destructive wave of the magic sma could reach his location, the effects of the time-reversal already started to work.

    Then, death came. Over and over again.

    As soon as Markus and Yelna would die to the outcry of magic so strong that no shield could ever stop it, the time-reversal would bring them back to the moment before Markus'' antimagic shield copsed.

    Dying and reviving many, many times every second, it took nearly three hours before the catastrophic mana disaster ended its lethal phase.

    Shocked and terrified to no end, the two of them could only cuddle together as they saw the changes happening to the world. But Markus knew all of it would happen. It was this knowledge and his faith that allowed him to not only survive the ordeal but also be a support for the hero herself, the dark huntress Yelna.

    "It won''t be easy. All I know is the direction¡­ and even this is only a general one. Unless he will somehow mark his presence, we will be blind to his moves. And don''t forget that in this direction¡­" borating once again, Markus shook his head. In the many years that surely passed under the influence of this gran arcana, the shape of thend would change.

    But there were some things that would remain all the same.

    Using a small amount of his remaining mana, Markus could sense the maic field of the. Adding the rtive positions of the stars and the knowledge of the movements of the tectonic tes, he was more than capable of judging the distance they would have to travel.

    And it was ranging from just a few days worth of walk, all the way to over five thousand miles!

    "Well, it doesn''t matter." Shrugging her arms in reaction to Markus'' scary estimates, Yelna took her first step forward. "Sooner orter we will find those responsible for this."

    Taking another step, the girl''s lips curved slightly up.

    "And then we will force them to bring us back."

 Chapter 10 - Throught The Sands

    *Desert, current time*

    ''Good grief, it''s really unfortunate¡­'' Shaking his head, Layn silently followed after the rest of the group. Now that the problem of how they should treat him was gone, the atmosphere normalised a bit.

    Sadly, this encounter didn''t end up as perfectly as Layn would want it. No matter how hard he would try, he was unable to save one of the girls. After receiving the full brunt of the firedog''s attack, her internal organs looked like a boiled soup. It was only her insane willpower and some kind of body strengthening technique that kept her alive for long enough for Layn to notice her anguish.

    ording to his own morals, the archmage initially wanted to offer her relief, but doing so was super risky. If the culture of the ancients didn''t approve such acts, he would pretty much destroy the entirety of the positive opinion that he harnessed by healing the others.

    While the death of one of the ancients heavily weighted on Layn''s mind, her survivingpadres didn''t seem to mind the situation at all. Just a single nce at the entirety of the group would deprive anyone of any thoughts that the ancients would grieve over their deadrade.

    ''What a strange bunch, '' Layn pondered as he shook his head. ''Maybe it''s time? It''s been a few hours already¡­ but still. I didn''t notice any sad expressions even right as she passed away.''

    Step by step, the archmage followed after those heartless ancients. For some reason, the entire bunch turned pretty silent. Ever since his disy of power they didn''t seem to understand, even Irea turned quiet. It wasn''t that she refused to talk at all, but the atmosphere in the group simply made it impossible for Layn to approach her in the first ce.

    Out of a sudden taking a stop, the leader of the ancients looked at the sun. Only once I followed the path of his eyes, I noticed what was putting me off so greatly. The light of the local star wasn''t the same as the one I was used to!

    While I epted the fact that I returned in time to the past that I would normally consider ancient, I couldn''t be so sure about what period of the antique I ended up in. And it wasn''t as simple to discern as one might think it would be.

    The history basically began with the ancient disaster. It''s this event that the oldest records ever found depicts. But from just the scale of the ancient ruins left by what was before that grand event, Layn''s modern colleagues managed to learn a lot about the antique, about the civilisations that predated the disaster.

    But even with this, there was a huge difference between knowing that this sort of limited artefacts came from the antique, and actually knowing anything about its culture of customs. In essence, while the history past the disaster was well documented, once one wanted to

    "We should somehow manage, " moving his sight down, the man stared at the shadows thrown by the sparse vegetation around the ce. Not really sure what did that man mean, Layn decided to let this remark go past his ears. Right now, he was happy that someone finally started to speak.

    Because his trantion spell wasn''t a miracle. It was a fairlyplicatedputing structure, capable of quickly learning anynguage. But in order to do that, it needed to be exposed to as much of saidnguage as possible!

    "Don''t worry, we are nearing the camp." Concluding without even a single shred of hesitation in her voice, Irea pointed towards the nearby sand dune. "We should see the camp once we cross it."

    Now, Layn''s curiosity was piqued. What camp? Why there was a need to reach it before a certain time? What was the source of anxiety clearly visible in the eyes of the ancients?

    "Say¡­ where are we going?" With no other choice, Layn forced himself to approach the girl. But rather than receiving an answer, he heard a slight shriek as the young female twitched strongly before jumping half of a step away.

    "We¡­ We are going to the camp. Don''t you know it?" After calming her panic down, Irea replied with a shaking voice.

    "Eh, isn''t it obvious already?" Smashing his forehead against his palm, Layn decided to go with the simplest lie possible. "I don''t really remember anything outside of the abilities ingrained in my flesh. How could I know what that camp is?"

    Spreading his arms out to put an emphasis on his logic, Layn looked at the girl with a genuinely puzzled expression. Noticing the look in his eyes, Irea breathed out heavily as if only now did she manage to ovee the panic-born trembling of her body.

    "Just wait for a moment and you will see. Basically, it''s a gate." Irea''s voice was still far from being stable. It seemed that Layn''s act of healing both her and her friends put a strange barrier between the two, making the girl frightful of the archmage.

    But instead of pushing the female to be more open about things, Layn backed off. Returning to his previous position in the group, he followed the rest of them, heading the advice of the girl. If he could understand something just by waiting for a short moment, then there was no point in scaring the girl even more.

    Sadly, Layn failed to ount for the usual problem of the deserts. What seemed like a nearby hill of sand, wasn''t actually as close as it appeared to be! Taking over an hour to reach its foothold and actually another hour to reach its peak, Layn managed to exhaust himself thrice before the sight that Irea had in mind appeared before his eyes.

    ''What the¡­''

    Maybe it was due to how little he thought about a civilisation that would allow a group of such lightly armed people to enter a ce as dangerous as this desert was for someone who knew nothing about magic. Maybe it was because of Layn''s natural disposition to regards the achievements of the ancient cultures, charmed with what modernity brought.

    But there was no denying that the ancients managed to create a civilisation that in some regards managed to outss the modern world that Layn knew of. And now, taking the sight in front of him into the ount, Layn realised that he was greatly in the wrong by underestimating what this age had to offer!

 Chapter 11 - Gate

    Stretching as far into the distance as his eyes could see a row of rtively small mountains cut through the open space of the desert. With the highest peaks reaching at most three thousand feet, while this natural barrier looked menacing, it wouldn''t really stop anyone determined enough from crossing it.

    Yet, standing defiantly to the mindboggling length of this natural barrier, a roughly one-mile long valley cut straight through the mountains. And right across this mile-long entrance to the other side, a monstrous constructionid.

    Stretching as far as thirty meters into the skies, a respectable wall blocked the entry to the valley. With many towers and sprawling soldiers on top, it was clear that anyone wanting to go through the wall could only ept the situation and use the single gate in it.

    "See? This is the camp." Pointing her healed hand towards the magnificent gate, Irea looked at me with a peculiar look in her eyes. Then, as her eyes moved towards what seemed to be the destination of the group, she nced at the rags that covered her body in ces where her old outfit burned away.

    "Eek!" Shuddering as if someone sshed her with a bucket of icy-cold water, she quickly turned her eyes away.

    ''Strange¡­'' Letting the weird reaction of the girl go past him, Layn focused on the huge defences instead. With modern technology, an enormous number of workers and even greater funding¡­ Only if everything aligned perfectly would the modern civilisations be able to construct such an enormousplex. But ancients did it without any of that!

    "Don''t you feel anything? Like, rage? Fury? Anger?" Suddenly appearing in front of the archmage, the leader of the ancients asked him before turning his head towards the Irea. From the looks of things, she was supposed to serve as some kind of trantor for me.

    Putting a delicate smile on my face, I moved my eyes from the impressive walls in the distance on top of the face of the ancient leader.

    "Awe? Impression?" Summing up the situation with just those two words, Layn straightened on his legs before moving forward. Caught by surprise with this kind of reply, the middle-aged man only stood in a daze for a moment before following suit. Soon, the entire group picked up the pace.

    Step by step, they marched towards the long line of the walls. From up closer, they turned out to be even more impressive than what Layn saw initially. Because rather than being made out of a huge but single stone wall, this piece of fortification had it all.

    From the earthy ramparts sprawled with sharp pieces of ss, metal and wood in front of them, through a deep ditch separating the earthwork from the proper walls, all the way to anotheryer of the stone construction hidden several tens of meters deeper into the valley.

    "While we will be passing through the gates, it would be best if you could remain silent." After conquering the shaking of her body, Irea approached Layn before throwing another piece of advice.

    "Sure thing, I wouldn''t want to offend anyone by an ident." Nodding in response, Layn moved his eyes back towards the enormous walls. Between bothering with people like any other and sightseeing the ces that the modern world would be deprived of, the choice was simple.

    "Good. Let go then." Quickly escaping from Layn''s presence, the girl rejoined her previous position in the group''s formation. Soon, Layn learned that they weren''t the only ones hurrying towards the gate.

    The closer the group got to the only passage leading behind those magnificent walls, the more people appeared from literally all sides of the desert. As if this wasn''t a ce where only monsters roamed, what seemed like a deste area quickly turned to be a quite busy gathering ce.

    By the time Layn reached the end of the queue stretching for about half a mile, the sun finally started to set. With its slightly more orange rays than what Layn was used to decreasing in density and intensity, they had now less than one, two hours tops to cross the border.

    Because if Layn''s idea about what changed over the ages and what did not was right, then spending a night in the desert would be the least advisable course of action.

    When thend was deprived of the warm rays of the local star, monsters didn''t suddenly gain power. As beings created purely from the huge concentrations of mana gaining a limited degree of sentience,ck of sunlight had no way to power them up. What the darkness could do though, was limit the fighting strength of the humans.

    Thankfully, the queue was moving rtively fast. By the time Layn and his group of ancients managed to reach the gatehouse, there was still at least two-quarters of an hour remaining of the daylight.

    "Group name and token." As their group approached the guards, the same leader that asked weird questions to Layn earlier on, stepped forward.

    "Here you go, sir." Passing on a strange-looking piece of parchment and a carved-out magic stone, the ancient leader stood his ground, waiting for the guard''s assessment.

    "Wild wolves¡­ The number of people is right, the token is right. Wee back to the civilisation." Glossing over both of the tokens of identity, the guard simply waved them away, allowing the group to pass.

    Contrary to Layn''s initial belief, passing through the first set of walls didn''t mean the end of the checking. Once his group emerged from the long, underground passage of the gatehouse, they appeared on a huge in.

    A huge in that waspletely filled with people, all forming a huge, sneaky line, leading towards another set gate far off in the distance.

    "Uff, we made it." Instead of whining at the notion of waiting in yet another, this time a massive queue, the ancients of Layn''s group moved to the end of the queue before plummeting to the ground.

    ''We made what?'' Confused about the sudden change of the situation, Layn looked at the now rxed faces of the group. For some reason, they didn''t seem to care about at least another day of waiting in the queue!

    "Your ma¡­ You are Layn, right?" Before Layn could make any sense of the situation, Irea approached him again. This time, the archmage could clearly see all the efforts that she put to stop her body from trembling.

    ''Just what do you take me for, some kind of monster?'' Pretty sure about the source of the girl''s fear, Layn could only shake his head in as this annoying question popped up in his head.

    "Yeah, that''s one of the few things that I remember. Or rather, that''s one of the many things that I do remember, but one of the few that are of any use." Even though the words of the people all around them were muffled and mixed together into nothing more but a noise, it wasn''t a problem for Layn''s trantion spell. Now that his rope was providing him with a constant influx of mana, and as little as it was, Layn could at least properly power this critically important spell of his.

    "Good. Then, Layn¡­ If you really don''t remember anything, you should watch the gate with all your focus.. It will be a sight you won''t be able to forget."

 Chapter 12 - True Form Of The Barrier

    Following Irea''s advice, Layn looked at the mountains and the nearby walls. But as he continued to stare at the vastndscape outside of the valley¡­ nothing really happened.

    "Just keep staring. I don''t know the exact time, but soon the barrier will be closing." Noticing the strange expression that appeared on Layn''s face, Irea calmed him down. Taking a look at her face for a moment, the archmage could see an expression of great expectations and anticipation.

    ''I guess there is nothing wrong with just staring at the mountains.'' Once again heeding the girl''s words, Layn fixed his position on the ground, resting his arms behind his back. With his eyes now glued to the sight behind them, he was ready to see what was this matter all about.

    But nothing happened.

    Yet, for Layn it didn''t really matter. With each passing second, his trantion spell continued to improve. With every single word that the people around him spoke, his ownnguage improved by leaps and bounds. And first of all, he couldn''t make any move even if he wanted to.

    ''Dog''s luck, huh.'' Brooding over this crazily unfortunate situation of his, Layn stopped really caring about waiting for some sights to happen. In the end, against the ancients, he was currently powerless.

    As of now, his trantion spell sapped the majority of the energy that his makeshift rope could absorb. Unless he would find a greater source of magic stones, there was hardly any way for him to improve. And while fighting with monsters would be the easiest way to grow his potential, he could survive in the desert only for so long.

    On the other hand, those ancients really caused the archmage to worry. Even if they were far weaker against the monsters, their specific set of abilities made them an extremely bad match for Layn.

    Instead of relying on the wild magic power around them like mages of the future, they seemed to somehow absorb those scarce amounts in the air and slowly refine their bodies with it.

    Without any fundamental knowledge about those techniques, even Layn couldn''t really tell how strong those ancients were. Those few hints that he always took for granted to let him discern the other''s strength were nowhere to be seen in those newpanions of his.

    "It''s starting." Pulling Layn out of his deep thought, Irea stared right ahead. With her back facing the inner gate, she directed her eyes directly at the gate. Contemting the rough but delicate beauty of her profile for a moment, Layn looked in the same direction.

    Only to see the desert behind the walls slowly fade away.

    It didn''t disappearpletely. By the time the changes stopped urring, it seemed as if a night began all over the desert simultaneously. With the vast expanses of the sands suddenly hidden in the deep shadow, Layn finally directed his attention to something far more important.

    Even though he didn''t know anything about the local techniques, he could still feel the fluctuations of magic in the air. After all, Layn wasn''t an archmage for nothing!

    But the scope of what he saw in the astral dimension of the world, astounded him.

    To even begin topare, only the disaster that he caused himself by invoking a gran arcana was close to the amount of energy that separated the desert from the world on the other side of the walls. This veil of magic was so insanely dense, that its usually invisible appearance still managed to block most of the light from travelling between the two sides of the barrier.

    ''What a pity¡­'' Just a single look at this insane barrier managed to raise Layn''s hopes only to shatter them immediately afterwards. It wasn''t as if the air where the barrier now stood was rich in the magic conducting element. It was some kind of innate, overbearing force pushing this insane amount of magic to the world, forcefully feeding the area with the purest form of energy.

    In other words, if Layn dared to touch it, he would be instantly fried to the bone!

    ''Now that I think about it¡­'' With both the conducting element and such raw, unrefined energy appearing in his thoughts at the same time, Layn wouldn''t be an archmage if he didn''t notice one thing.

    ''If I were to introduce the conducting element to the air¡­'' Just a single image of the disaster that would ur if such an overwhelming amount of energy would be released to freely travel through the world was enough to send a powerful shiver down Layn''s spine.

    "Now it all makes sense¡­" So shocked by the sudden realisation, Layn even forgot about his own trantion spell.

    "What does make sense?" Sitting right beside him, Irea looked at Layn''s face with a strange look in her eyes.

    "..." Instead of jumping in panic, Layn simply remained silent for a moment. Only once a few seconds passed did he breathe a mouthful of air, before slowly releasing a deep sigh. "It''s nothing. I just understood something strange."

    Leaning his head down, Layn took yet another huge breath, before suddenly lean to the back, to the point where his head hung to the back.

    "Aaaaagghhh." This time, it wasn''t a sigh. It was a powerful whine of someone incredibly annoyed and disappointed. "And I just realised how pointless my ideas were. What you saw in the desert¡­ Consider it a lucky stroke. Outside of that, I''m incredibly weak."

    Slowly standing up as to not alert the others, Layn looked once again at the inner side of the barrier, before decisively turning around. Rather than looking at a ce he wouldn''t enter, it was better to focus himself on what stood ahead of him.

    "Weak? Are you kidding me? Even with the ten of us¡­" Hearing Layn''s excuse, Irea instantly reacted with a sour expression appearing on her face.

    "I still don''t remember much, " Layn cut her off, raising his hand as if he was back in college. With what he just saw, there was no longer any point in hesitating. He returned to the past to change the future, not to idle away. And with what he saw about the ancients so far, the easiest way out of his current situation was already written in a certain sacred book.

    A sacred book that he cherished so much in his childhood years. The same sacred book that pushed him into joining the military first, and then the Hero''s party.

    "The adventure of Layn the archmage and his associates." Muttering under his nose, Layn couldn''t stop a smile from creeping on his face. The image of this old, tattered book appeared in the archmage''s head. But this time, instead of the name of the ancient hero, it was his name decorating the titr page.

    "Excuse me?" Looking sharply at the archmage, Irea made Layn move his eyes on her.

    ''Now that I think about it¡­'' Taxing the girl''s face with a thoughtful look, Layn smiled once again. It seemed that she finally overcame her fear of him.

    "It''s nothing. Just one of the old, stupid memories." Openly sharing his smile with the world, Layn noticed the queue moving up. "Shouldn''t we move forward a bit? I''m quite eager to see what lies on the other side of those walls."

    Pointing his chin at the inner part of the fortifications, Layn finally regained his energy. Not the magical one as annoying as it was, but at least the one that drove him to push himself with everything he got!

    "Moving back to the point, you can consider what you saw on the desert¡­ as my trump cards. While I''m still not sure about several points myself, I have a feeling that¡­" Taking a short moment to let the pressure build up a little, I smiled gently. "It feels as if I was under the tutge of someone incredibly powerful¡­ But I was never taught the basics. That might be the reason why I feel so weak when you guys take me for a monster."

    Rather than avoiding the issue, it was better to just address it directly. Even though it was a risky bet, if Layn were to go all in without any regard for the morals or coteral damage, the abundance of the people around him as the endless source of energy behind him would let him fight his way off. That was the main reason why he dared to make this bet.

    Because even if everything were to go awry, he would still have some kind of way out.

    "Oooh!" Spreading her eyes wide, Irea looked at Layn as if he was some kind of a chickenying golden eggs. But it wasn''t the first time when the archmage experienced this kind of looks. The moment right between the defeat of the demon lord and his marriage to that cheating princess. Upon returning to the royal capital, a lot of young women looked at him like that.

    As if he was an ownerless sack of gold wandering right in the arms of someone in desperate need of some coins.

    "That actually makes some sense. Now that I think about it, you moved extremely slowly back then." Appearing out of nowhere right beside the archmage, the leader of the ancients put a thoughtful look on his face as he looked down into Layn''s eyes.

    "Well, that''s only a guess of mine, so I hope you won''t get your hopes too much. Even if I''m right, I somehow ended up stranded in the desert, without my memories¡­ So I can''t even be sure that such a teacher actually wished for me to remain alive." Rather thaning up with something new, Layn basically quoted line after line from his beloved book.

    ''Is this just a coincidence?'' Thinking about it, Layn couldn''t help but feel weirded out by how fitting those words of the novel were for his current situation. But it was still too early to draw any premature conclusions.

    "I understand. Consider it a favour, but you can tag along with us for now. We might not be the greatest party in the world, but we can definitely pull our weight. Whether this decision of mine will end up curing a favour with a senior expert will be my bet." Finally revealing a smile on his face, the leader of the ancients brought his hand forward.

    "Let''s be in each other''s care from now on!"

 Chapter 13 - Agreement Of The Gods

    Even though the area between the outer and inner walls was huge, with so many people gathered in this singr spot, it was still a miracle that they didn''t need to sit on top of each other.

    With the initial hurdle of having the ancients ept him into their group now passed, Layn could finally rx. Even though just being amidst the enormous crowd of those people was still taxing on his emotional state, the archmage managed to grow beyond this anxiety. Right now, it turned into nothing more but a constant itch on his awareness, something that he could easily deal with or just t-out ignore.

    "Still, for your luck to be so bad¡­" Suddenly speaking up, Irea stopped Layn from contemting over the details of his surroundings. "This ce isn''t anywhere close to where you could learn the basics!"

    Shaking her head in what was most likely supposed to be a disappointment, Irea actually failed to hide the excitement in her eyes.

    "Oh? How far would a ce fit for me to learn the basic be?" Rather than being discouraged by the words of this girl, Layn decided to be proactive about this matter. After all, there had to be a reason behind that excitement in the girl''s eyes. If it was just a passing remark for her, she wouldn''t have that look in her pupils.

    "How far? Ugh, that''s a tough question. The nearest ce thates to my mind is Yanyan academy¡­ But I don''t think it will be good for you to join its ranks. From my experiences there¡­" Clearly hesitating to answer Layn''s question, Irea looked as if just bridging that ce''s name was enough to unsettle her.

    "What would you advise me to do then? If that Yanyan ce is no good¡­" Instead of forcing his way towards this academy, Layn simply allowed the girl to fill the nks. Since she approached him with some kind of clear yet hidden purpose, pursuing the matter of that Yanyan ce would only make it harder to actually reveal her intentions.

    "To start from the very beginnings¡­ How about you and me will go and¡­" Before the girl could even finish her sentence, a crisp sound of a hand smacking the back of her head disturbed her flow.

    "Don''t even think about it. Listen¡­" Once again using some kind of technique that allowed him to appear out of nowhere, the leader of the ancients put his hand on Irea''s shoulder. Putting his weight on it, he forced the girl''s knees to cave in, making her sit down on the ground.

    "... I might not be an expert or a teacher of any sorts, but I still think going to the academy will be the best for you. Not only will that earn you an identification token, something that you will soon find to be in a dire need of, but it''s also the perfect ce to find the techniques suiting you." As he ended his sentence, the man''s face suddenly soured. "But there is no denying of how shitty that ce is. While on the desert, the strong eat the weak is taken literally, in that academy, unless you will bully others, you need to prepare to be bullied yourself."

    After saying his piece, the leader of the ancients looked sternly at the sitting girl. Reaching forth with his hand, he swung his forefinger to left and right, right in the girl''s face before finally leaving.

    "You heard him." With a look of helplessness appearing on her face, Irea clearly didn''t dare to refute her leader''s actions, even after he already walked away.

    ''I wonder if she''s just wary of him hiding somewhere near¡­'' Taking that strange ability of the man to appear right in the worst timing, Layn couldn''t help but wonder. For him, all of the techniques used by the ancients were akin to the long-lost magic of the world long-gone.

    In Irea''s eyes, this technique was most likely something quite good, but nothing out of ordinary. From how no one around them seemed to react to Irea''s leader appearing and disappearing like that, it was clear that it wasn''t something all that coveted or rare. But without even a single shred of idea about the real inner-workings of any of the ancient techniques, Layn had no way to understand the underlying principle of it, and thus, was defenceless against any move born in the ancient era.

    "Yeah, I did. Let''s change the topic then. Mind telling me something about this¡­ barrier? What is it? Who made it?" This was the real point that Layn was curious about. Given how the enormous amount of magical energy was involved in the creation of this barrier, he could hardly even imagine a force capable of erecting such a barrier.

    "Who? Isn''t that obvious?" Looking at the archmage as if he was some kind of insect who didn''t know better, Irea showed this kind of contemptuous face for the very first time. It seemed that Layn unknowingly stepped on thendmine.

    "I''m sorry, but it doesn''t seem like the history behind this ce is amongst the memories that I still hold." Instead of ring up at the clear disapproval hearable in the girl''s voice, Layn instantly lowered his head as to show ample respect for the matter. If just a bit of humility would end up as the only cost of learning more about this insane barrier, then Layn would have to be crazy or stupid to not pay it.

    "Eh¡­ Okay then. The current barrier¡­ it was erected by the demonic shadow god. It''s a patron of the demonkind that lives on the other side of this vast desert. Before the change, this entire area was under the influence of the light-god blessing, granting us the entry and a slight power-up while in the desert."

    Exining the situation as if it was something pathetically obvious, Irea continued to cast asional nces at the archmage.

    ''I wonder if she''s worried that I will ridicule her.'' That was the only way in which Layn could exin the strange looks that the girl was casting at him.

    "So, how did you know that one god would trump over another?" epting the narration that the girl provided as something beyond any discussion, Layn asked. After all, if he were to start arguing about whether beings like gods existed or not, all his hard work to curry some favours in this particr group of ancients would be for nought!

    "Trumph? No, it''s not like that." Putting a strange smile on her face, Irea finished. "They came to a standstill and decided to reach an agreement. For three months, the shadow god will reign supreme. Then, for the next three months, our god of light will bless thisnd.. That''s how it always been and that''s how it always will be."

 Chapter 14 - Layns Questions

    "Is it real life? Or is it just a fantasy?" After hearing Irea''s exnation, Layn unintentionally muttered those words under his nose. With no intent behind those words, even his trantion spell didn''t pick it up, leaving the girl clueless as to what the archmage just said.

    "Excuse me?" Baffled by the strange wordsing out of Layn''s Irea couldn''t help but probe him a bit.

    "Ah, it''s nothing. Don''t mind me." Noticing the girl''s curiosity, the archmage quickly pushed the topic out of the agenda before focusing his sight back at the astonishing barrier.

    ''Is it some kind of natural phenomena or¡­ Is this barrier really created by some god-like being?'' No matter how long the archmage thought about this problem, he was unable to find conclusive evidence for either of the possible solutions. In the modern world that he hailed from, there would be no way for such an impressive magical feat toe unnoticed and unresearched.

    Sadly, the locals were content with just taking it for the works of God, leaving such incredible phenomena to its own devices.

    "If you are still thinking about this barrier¡­ Well, I can only say one thing. Don''t waste too much time trying to figure it out. Everyone thinks they would be capable of uncovering its secrets when they first see how it works¡­ But even though this ce has several thousand years of history behind it, a single person has yet to seed." Noticing what could be the reason behind Layn''s thoughtful state, Irea rushed to talk him out of thinking about the barrier too much.

    "Don''t worry, I''m not as arrogant to think I''m someone special enough to understand it. But it doesn''t change the fact¡­" Raising his head towards the barrier once again, Layn couldn''t help but shake his head over how futile his attempts to exin his situation would be if he ever tried to bepletely serious. "... that it''s making me curious."

    Releasing a deep sigh, Layn finally moved his head in the opposite direction, just in time to notice the huge mass of people gathered between the walls, starting to move. Just like the magic carriage traffic back in his time, by the time the fluctuation of the queue reached their position, the groups at the front have long stopped walking.

    "Thinking about the curious things, howe we are not constantly moving forward?" This was one of the things that Layn believed he was able to understand. While the weight of such information wasn''t great, it was still one of the ways for the archmage to understand a tiny bit of the rules that governed this ancient society.

    "Ah, you mean the queue? That''s pretty simple." Irea smiled before pointing her hand towards the inner set of the walls. "Rather than checking people one by one or group by group and forcing everyone to constantly stand and move, the guards are inviting about a hundred people at a time."

    Lowering her hand, the girl smiled once again, as if answering Layn''s inquiries gave her a lot of joy. "This way, instead of moving an inch at a time, people can just take it easy and move only once in a while."

    ''Makes sense. Given how there weren''t any ces with queues as long in my times, it''s only logical they figured out a way to make it easier for everyone.'' Rationalising the method used by the ancients, Layn obediently stood up and moved several meters forward, before the queue stopped once again.

    "But it''s not really something you were curious about, isn''t it?" As if reading Layn''s mind, Irea smiled once again, before allowing a gentle giggle to escape through her mouth. "You don''t need to worry too much about it. If I can answer your questions, I will. If I won''t be able to or if the question will be something I won''t be happy to answer, I will inform you about it."

    From how Layn was constantly sending an anxious look towards the barrier, it was clear that this topic was far from over for him. But in reality, it wasn''t as if the archmage was worried about asking about the barrier. He just didn''t believe that an ancient person like Irea or her colleagues could provide him with a scientific answer.

    "Let''s stop talking about the barrier, for now, there is something else that I''m quite interested in. Mind exining the basics of your training to me? Since that''s what I''mcking right now, I can''t really think of a better topic to waste our time on while we wait." Pushing the topic of this incredible barrier out of the agenda, Layn inquired about their training regime.

    But his thoughts were as far away from this topic as they could humanly be. Rather than trying to discover more secrets of the ancient world, something that he would learn about sooner orter, Layn finally focused on something far more important.

    ''What am I even supposed to do right now?'' Glueing his eyes to the girl and passively registering what she was talking about, the archmage finally attempted to tackle his most important problem.

    With the entire idea of going back to time being oriented about changing the things that Layn was unhappy about in his initial walk through life, going back all the way to the times he considered ancient, foiled all his ns.

    Appearing on the desert, then meeting with what he thought to be an incredibly stubborn reconstruction group, fighting with the monster, discovering the differences of the magic¡­ All of those things and events pulled his thoughts away from what was his real trouble.

    Because as fun as journeying the ancient world could be, he gave a promise to his followers from the future.

    He promised that he would find them once again. He gave them his word.

    And if he were to just live the rest of his days in this insanely interesting world of the past, he would die millenias before he would even get a chance at keeping his promise!

    "And that''s the gist of it. While the idea of starting to train right away might seem promising¡­ If you attempt to refine your body right here, you will get used to the local density of the world''s energy. While there is nothing wrong with it per se¡­" Taking a moment to replenish the air in her lungs, Irea clearly didn''t expect Layn to interject.

    Waking himself up from his deep train of thoughts, the archmage realised that they already moved all the way to the gate. With a single look at the crowd that still separated them from the inner gate, he could tell that it would take a few moments at most before their turn woulde.

    But he still had to make a sense out of Irea''s relentless lecture. Scanning the memories of his body from the time when he passively listening to her words, the archmage absorbed all of the knowledge that the girl passed to him in just a single moment.

    "This will make it hard for me to train in ces where energy has a slightly different nature, right?" Finishing Irea''s sentence in her stead, Layn smiled. From how her eyes widened in reaction to his words, it seemed that he hit the bullseye with his guess.

    "That''s exactly right. While it''s entirely possible to ovee this problem¡­ I''m worried that if you try to condition your body with different energies, your body might end up shing those energies, not only destroying all the effects of the previous training but potentially even causing huge injures to your internal organs!"

 Chapter 15 - War Camp

    "Next!" The domineering voice of the guard at the gate was mixed with hints of boredom and exhaustion. Given how tiring it was for all the people between the walls to just wait for their turn to get checked, Layn could only imagine how taxing it was for the locally employed soldiers.

    "It''s our turn. Hurry up or someone will try to take our spot!" Hurrying the archmage up, Irea quickly picked up the pace. By the time the outsider in their group managed to hasten his steps, he was already at the very end of the entire group.

    Soon, the checking began. But contrary to Layn''s initial worries, it wasn''t as detailed as he thought it would be. Instead of doing a full-body check like some of the special forces at the magic airports of the future would, they epted the token of the group and actually studied its content before cross-checking it with a set of documents that magically appeared from a small room within the gatehouse.

    "Something''s wrong¡­ You should have one more female and one less male, shouldn''t you?" Raising his eyes from above the set of parchments, the guard scanned the faces of the small crowd. In just a single look, his sight locked on Layn''s face.

    "You,e forward." Pointing his hand at the archmage, it was clear that he somehow managed to figure out that he was the outside of the group.

    "Sir, he is¡­" Stepping forward, the leader of the ancient team that Layn temporarily joined attempted to exin the situation, only to be forced to remain in his ce with a single gesture of the guard raising his hand.

    "Don''t make it any harder and any longer than it needs to be." Moving his sight from the middle-aged man to Layn''s face, the guard asked. "Who are you? Where are you from?"

    Hearing the questions, the archmage''s mind instantly swirled, producing several possible ways to answer. But Layn''s situation wasn''t as good as it was back on the in behind. With quite a considerable distance separating him from the barrier, even if he were to madly dash towards it, the chances were that he would be dead before even crossing half of the distance.

    This made the problem of answering the question quite vital to not only the situation but also his life.

    "Sir, with all due respect. I won''t pull your leg by iming that honestly, I have no idea. Ah, that''s for the second question. I''m Layn."

    Spreading his out while putting on an embarrassed expression, Layn could only hope that this bit of helplessness that he revealed would soften the stone heart of the guard.

    "¡­"

    Instead of instantlyshing at the archmage for how daring if not disrespectful his answer was, the guard limited himself to just looking at his face for a while.

    "Eh, let them in. Life writes strangest scenarios." With a wave of his hand, the check was over. Unable to actually believe that it was that easy, Layn barely noticed when his group of ancients pushed him through the long gatehouse tunnel. Only when they finally emerged on the other side of the inner walls did the insane sight that revealed itself to Layn''s eyes managed to force him awake.

    "What in the disaster¡­" Freezing in ce and staring nkly at the enormous campsite before him, Layn momentarily felt as if he returned to the years of his youth.

    The tents covered all the area that his eyes could see. Amongst the fragile cloth of those temporary shelters, many bricked building could be seen. But even those appeared to be greatly different that what Layn knew from his times. Rather than using themon bricks for their walls, they appeared as if they were cut from a single piece of a huge stone, only to be somehow transported and forced into the ground where they currently stood.

    "Magnificent¡­" That was the only word that Layn was capable of uttering after staring at the sight for a moment. Behind him, the rest of the group didn''t even bother to hold theirughter. Only after a long while did someone approached the archmage and heavily ced a hand on his shoulder.

    "Okay, now I''m convinced. You really either don''t know or don''t remember anything. Let''s fix one of the major mistakes then." By pulling on Layn''s shoulder, the owner of the hand forced him to turn around. Finally connecting the familiar voice to the face of the leader of the group, Layn looked at him with confusion written all over his face.

    ''Mistake? What mistake? You are a mistake!''

    Abhorring this kind of physical, masculine closeness, Layn had to hold himself back quite a lot to notsh at the man with his magic. Thankfully, the years of practising self-restraint, something that was crucial during his time as a member of the hero''s party, paid off.

    "My name is Karter. As you surely noticed, I''m the leader of this group. Given how he can make the introduction himself, I will do it for him. This one here is Sitra, our scout. Guys, don''t make our new friend wait!" As soon as Karter uttered those words with an amiable smile on his lips, the rest of the group pounced at the archmage, instantly bringing his restraints to their limits.

    "I''m Besh! I''m Pa! I''m Harre, nice to meet you!" In a single moment, Karter''s hand was reced by an army of palms. It seemed as if every single member of the group had a hidden interest in molesting the archmage while pretending to share their names with him.

    "Okay, okay! Just step away for a bit!" Finally snapping, Layn moved to the back himself, while using his reaction speed and manoeuvrability to its limits to avoid even more touchy-feely ancients. Only then noticing how the direct, physical contact wasn''t the man''s forte, the rest of the group grew some decency to back off.

    "Now that the introductions are mostly done, let''s stop wasting time. We still need to sell our spoils!" Commanding the group to move out as soon as he noticed how the situation he started didn''ty well with Layn''s character, Karter looked sternly at his subordinates before smiling towards the archmage.

    "Onest thing before we go then." Taking a step forward, he brought both of his hand in front of his body before curling the fingers of his right hand into a fist that he then pped in the open palm of his left hand.

    "Survivor Layn, wee to the war camp!"

 Chapter 16 - Split

    "Sir, I sold the crystals!" Without any spoils to sell in the first ce, Layn decided that following after the leader of the group seemed to be the most rational choice. And soon, his guess proved to be correct. While everyone else was busy rushing around the war camp, Karter quickly moved to a nearby stone building. With just a single nce inside, Layn''s lips curved up.

    ''I guess some things remain the same, be it now or ages and ages in the future.'' Letting out a gentle chuckle, Layn followed into the stone building. In the instant he crossed the doors, a joyful atmosphere of the Inn overwhelmed him. Feeling as if he has returned to the times of his heroics, he quickly found the way to the table when Karterid his body down.

    And it was here, where the rest of the group soon started to report in.

    "Sir, the carcass of those three ungraded monsters went for seven gold pieces in total!"

    "Sir, I managed to sell those medicinal herbs we gathered for eighteen huge coins!"

    "Sir, the stale water¡­"

    "Sir, the voice of the spring¡­"

    "Sir¡­"

    One by one, the group quickly converged at the inn, presenting all their earnings to the leader. Soon, the archmage managed to make a sense of what the local currency was.

    Starting with the smallest denomination, there was a copper coin. Judging from how many other names all the other coins had, it was inevitable that ancients had some other ways of calling it, but as it appeared only once, Layn had no way of learning it for now.

    After the copper coin, came the silver one, also called a medium coin, standard coin or flux. As for the origin of itsst name, Layn couldn''t even begin to imagine it. In the end, there was still a chance it was some mistake of his tranting spell, so the archmage decided to just disregard it.

    Past the silver coins, the golden coins appeared. Whether there were some further divisions of the golden coins, Layn couldn''t really tell. Outside of its most direct name, people tend to call them huge coins, gold pieces and a word that his tranting spell failed to trante altogether, sounding along the lines of a ''cow''.

    There could be some other pieces of currency in the cirction, but as they weren''t brought up during the count of the spoils, Layn would have to be an oracle to guess their names or even if they existed in the first ce.

    "Okay guys, summing everything up, we earned forty-three ''cows'' and twenty fluxes. Like always, the coppers will be donated. But now, let''s speak about the costs." In an instant, the atmosphere turned far more grave than what one could expect from the talk about money.

    ''Even if the costs are high, shouldn''t they still be happy that they managed to earn¡­?'' Puzzled by the strange behaviour of his ancients, Layn continued to sit silently in the corner of the now crowded table.

    "For Pasha¡­ Like we agreed, ten ''cows''." Bringing up a name that Layn didn''t recognize, Karter silently pushed ten pieces of gold away from the main pile. The stiffness of the man''s moves was the final clue that allowed the archmage to figure out what was going on.

    It wasn''t that those people couldn''t handle parting with the coins they earned, even if it was for the sake of necessary costs. The huge portion of their pay was deduced for the sake of the girl that Layn was unable to save.

    ''Now that I think about it, what would happen if I weren''t with them in the first ce? And if they still encountered that monster? And if their wounded didn''t make it?'' With how Saulus managed to heal all the wounded but one, if they were to die instead, then wouldn''t the costs of their deaths that they agreed upon already greater than what they managed to earn?

    "Okay then, with the sad part over, let''s discuss the other costs. The standard maintenance and tax, the supplies fee and the others. Brought together, it should amount roughly to twelve ''cows''. With that said, we are left with twenty-one gold coins and twenty fluxes." With his voice pausing for a moment, Karter made sure that everyone was focused on him before pointing his hand at the archmage.

    "If not for this guy, we would most likelyy our heads during this trip. With that said, I suggest we all take a single ''cow'' each, leaving the rest in his hands. This money would also be slowly used up as our fee for escorting him to the low-tiernds." ncing at the faces of his group, Karter ignored the shocked look on Layn''s face.

    ''Lay their heads? Wasn''t I the one who forced them to break their formation? Shouldn''t they me me for both their casualty and the injures they sustained?'' With a long history in the military on his own, Layn was fully aware of the importance of the formation. Even though he couldn''t recognize the way the ancients set their group, it didn''t make his guilt any smaller.

    "I concur." After a long period of time when only Karter''s voice could be heard in the discussion, Irea suddenly stood up with agitation brimming in her eyes. Quickly noticing what she actually did, her face flushed in red as she plummeted down to her chair.

    "I already inspected the ce where my wound was. If what we know about that demonic me is true, then my wound was lethal. One gold is just enough to survive until the next season, so I think that''s the most we can ask for."

    "After all," Moving her eyes on Layn''s confused face, Irea pushed all her gratitude to her eyes putting the archmage and his morals in an even tougher spot. "if not for him, we would surely all die while fighting that beast.. Without his help, instead of returning to sell the spoils, they would be snatched by some other party once our dried-up, rotten corpses would be finally discovered."

 Chapter 17 - Third Party

    "Honestly¡­ You don''t even know the worth of those coins and yet you still refused to ept half of what we were willing to give you." Casting a suspicious nce at the archmage, Irea leaned her head on her shoulder. "Maybe you are sick in the head? Ah, I meant to say, practising some unheard off morals aiming at reinforcing your state of mind?"

    Quickly changing both the tone and the meaning of her question, Irea giggled cutely while escaping outside of the reach of Layn''s hand. Already busy carrying several items with his leading hand, his waving left palm instantly attracted the attention of the several people passing by them.

    "Look where the fuck are you waving! You almost struck me! Don''t you fucking know who I am?!" As if the entire camp was only waiting for anyone to do something that could be considered provocative, a stranger who was several feet away from the waving Layn suddenly appeared right in his face.

    "Yeah, we have no idea who the fuck you are. Scram!" Rather than bothering with the clear scam that was about to transpire, Irea cast a single nce at the man in front of her before gently pping at his face.

    THACK!

    Even though Layn saw a lot of things in his adventurous life, it was the first for him to see the phrase of pping someone out of his boots to be actually performed in reality. With the stinky shoes of the scammer remaining right where he stood a moment ago, his body crashed into a nearby tent, instantly striking up amotion.

    From how a huge group of people with simr aura instantly surrounded the area of the crash, it was clear that he was in for the hell that he wanted to serve the others.

    "How dare you snap my tent! Don''t you know who I am?! You will pay for this!"

    "And how dare you destroy my wares! This ordinary-looking vase was actually an heirloom of the Tanguan n that I spent my entire fortune to buy! Pay up or don''t me me for what will happen!"

    Before the poor scammer could even say a word, he was already surrounded. But rather than standing in ce and feasting her eyes on the pitiful end of the idiot who attempted to scam her benefactor, Irea grabbed Layn''s hand and pulled him forward.

    "Ah!" After making just a few steps forward, the girl suddenly shrugged before letting go of the archmage''s fingers. Retracting her hand, she looked at the man with a fear exploding in her eyes.

    "Don''t worry about it. It''s not that I hate when other people touch me. It just makes me ufortable when strangers do so without notice or a real reason." Just like Layn said, there was one time when aplete stranger touched him all over without incurring his wrath or resentment. But theck of Layn''s reaction at that time could be attributed to the fact that the man was carrying the barely conscious archmage out of harm''s way.

    Before the atmosphere could get awkward due to the topic at hand, Layn''s eyes drifted towards the stalls swarming all over the city. From those presenting weapons and armours on the racks, others selling some kind of precious books¡­ One could walk just a few steps to go from eating breakfast, studying knowledge, upgrading his equipment and ending up at a red parol.

    Seeing the red light hanging above the entrance of one of the rare, permanent buildings, a small smile crept on Layn''s lips.

    ''It seems that some things don''t change, huh¡­''

    "Eh?" Noticing the nce that Layn sent towards the most obvious location and how his face changed after that, Irea tugged at his sleeve. "So you are not that much against a little touching, huh?"

    Put in a spot by such framing, Layn could only shake his head with a slightly uneasy expression on his face. Unable to exin that he was simply admiring how this one kind of job remained the same from the ancient times all the way to the modern future he knew, the archmage had no other choice but to let the girl have her assumptions.

    "You should know by heart that it''s not really what you assumed¡­ But let''s just drop the topic instead. I was just surprised to see a ce like this so soon." Shaking his head, Layn refused to acknowledge Irea''s imaginations as the real reason why his sight was drawn towards the brothel. In the end, it was all about the simrities between the civilisation that he knew about and the world of the ancients.

    Because with the constant threat to his life now gone behind two sets of enormous walls and godly barrier to add on top, Layn couldn''t help but start thinking about his situation.

    What should his purpose be? To return to his times? But how was he supposed to create another tier seven gran arcana? Even if he were to ignore the problem of amassing such an insane amount of energy that was required to start the chain reaction, without the conducting element in the air, the most that Layn could do was create the igniting mechanism for the magical nuke necessary to power such a spell!

    There was the option of just waiting for the period of the spell to end, but that meant either spending over twenty years in the ancient world without any idea how his actions would influence the future he came from, or even going as far as dying in this times only to reappear just a secondter than his gran arcana would be originally fired.

    ''Either way, if I don''t do something, I will be stuck in this world for quite a while, huh¡­''

    Rather than being shaken by this reality, Layn was somehow capable of just moving on. Not because he wasn''t worried about it. Even though he was a former member of the hero party, he was still ultimately just a human.

    The only reason that allowed the archmage to stand above those mortal worries, was the fact that he simply had no means of solving those problems of his. Rather than despairing over what he couldn''t do, he was much happier to focus on what he was capable of!

    "Speaking of which¡­" Letting go of Layn''s sleeve, Irea looked at him with a serious look on her face. With her cheeks covered in a slight brush, Layn felt like sighing. It seemed that another round of lecturing prompted by how he was attracted to the sight of the brothel was about to strike.

    "Thank you. Honestly, truthfully and from the bottom of my heart¡­ Thank you for saving me back then." Rather than poking holes in the archmage''s morality, the girl made a step forward before grabbing Layn''s hand with her own delicate fingers. Bringing the man''s hands together, she pushed them high up on her chest, before lowering her head and muttering. "I already know that you don''t pay it much mind, but still. I owe you my life. And I will surely find a way to repay this debt, mkay?"

    With Irea''s voice turning soft and silent, even Layn, despite his rather unpleasant memories with women, felt touched a bit.

    "Oh, if it isn''t hunter Irea! What a chanced meeting it is, isn''t it?"

 Chapter 18 - Insults

    "Kerren! What a¡­ pleasure to meet you." Uttering the pleasantry after a slight moment of hesitation, Irea backed out a single step. With her shoulder brushing past Layn''s, she stopped her retreat. "What interest do you have with me?"

    ''Strange¡­'' Looking at the man that dared to approach them, Layn once again started to doubt his ability to discern others strength. Just from the clearly expensive clothes that he wore covered with gems and sown with golden strands, it was clear that this persona was of rtively high importance or influence. Yet, no matter how the archmage attempted to peer into that man''s aura, he still appeared to beplete trash!

    ''No, I shouldn''t judge ording to my own standards!'' Shouting in his thoughts, Layn internally cursed this natural habit of his. Carved deeply into his soul after years of venturing through the world, it wasn''t something that he could get rid of easily. Even if in this world, it would only cloud his judgement.

    Because no matter how he looked, Irea''s group consisted of trashes and trashes alone. That is if the standard measuring system of the future were to be used. Outside of that clearly faulty system, Layn saw on his own eyes just how capable they were.

    "With you? Don''t think too much of yourself. I came looking for Pasha. Any idea where can I find her?" Kerren''s tone was rtively¡­ normal. Despite wearing super decorative and thus expensive clothing, there was no hint of animosity in his voice, nor any giveaway of some vile intentions on his face.

    But the fact that Irea backed off when she saw him still weighted down on Layn''s mind.

    "Pasha¡­ Uh, well¡­ She sumbed to her wounds." Lowering her head, Irea silently muttered the exnation. So silently in fact, that the man who asked the question clearly didn''t hear her.

    Yet, that didn''t mean he missed the message.

    "So she died¡­ Pity, truly a pity. She was pretty inventive in bed." Rubbing his chin, Kerren appeared to be buried in his thoughts for a moment, before his face twisted in an ugly smile as he looked down on Layn''s guide. "Well, nothing that we can do about this then. So, are you going to take her ce then? In my bed, that is?"

    ''Wha¡­'' Hearing the words of that man, Layn almost stumbled on his feet, even though he wasn''t walking at all. Even if he wasn''t the one to judge, especially without the knowledge about the local culture and how people tackled those topics, the look of disgust and momentary terror that appeared on Irea''s face was more than enough for the archmage to gauge the situation.

    "Do you want me to kill him?" Asking in the same manner as if he would ask whether to take down theundry before the storm would hit, archmage looked impassively at the girl beside him.

    "Ah? What?" Instantly forced out of her moment of stupor, Irea looked at Layn''s face. Unable to spot even a hint of yful mood that would indicate that the man was joking, her eyes widened before she hastily grabbed his arm with both of her arms. "No, don''t. He is two-star veter¡­"

    Shaking the girl''s hands out of his arm without any problem, Layn moved one step forward before cing his hand atop Kerren''s shoulder.

    "Two star what? Is he some kind of celebrity?" Unable to be bothered to even look at the man whose shoulder he was holding, Layn looked at Irea. But that was only a y of sorts. With his skin gently swooshing over the tiny part of the man''s naked shoulder, his entire self finally revealed itself to the archmage.

    "He is a two-star veteran! Even I don''t stand a chance against him, not to speak¡­" Before the girl could finish her words, a hand appeared on top of Layn''s palm.

    "Who the fuck do you think you are touching! I will kill you!" With his hand holding Layn''s in ce, Kerren''s other hand shot forward. Due to their proximity, it took him only a fraction of a second to touch Layn''s chest¡­ If not for his hand stopping just a millimetre away from Layn''s cloth.

    "See? He tried to kill me. It should be okay to deal with him, right?" No matter what, that idiot attacked first. All that Layn did previously, was patting his shoulder. Even if he had some kind of backing or high position, no one could me the archmage for acting in self-defence!

    ''Thank God I set that barrier in time¡­ If not for this¡­'' With his aura currently containing Kerran''s body, Layn knew everything about him. How strong was that punch of his, how much weight his arms were capable of pulling, how heavy he was, how much energy coursed through his veins¡­

    No matter what kind of detail it was, Layn had easy ess to it. And it was thanks to this control that he had over Kerran that he was able to gauge the strength of his attack.

    "Layn¡­ Just let him go. As much as it pains me, " Irea threw a hateful look towards the face of that expensively dressed man, " my group still owes him a huge debt. I''m happy that you are willing to help me, but this is something we need to deal with on our own."

    With the skin-to-skin contact andpleteck of defences against any of Layn''s abilities, all it would take to eradicate that man from the face of the world was Layn''s single thought. But rather than calming himself down by imagining all sorts of spells that he could n within that man''s body, Layn focused on the strange images of that man''s insides.

    Because even though he had no aura whatsoever, a rtively huge amount of refined magic energy was coursing through his veins. Yet, for some reason, no matter how much Layn attempted to map the path that this inner energy of the man was taking, he was unable to do so.

    "Okay, here you go." As curious as the insides of this man were to the archmage, Layn couldn''t afford to step on any of the possiblendmines. With Irea speaking up for the man despite how he clearly offended her before, it would be unwise to keep going with what he himself believed to be right.

    After all, he wasn''t in the world that he knew the rules of.

    ''Still... '' All it took was a single sprout of annoyance in Layn''s mind. Instantly reverting the idea of just letting the man go, the archmage''s lips curled upwards as a simple, tier two spell materialised at his fingertips.

    Puff.

    The sound created by the spell wasn''t threatening at all. Even the spell itself was something that Layn and his friends back at the Royal Academy of Magic used to y around, especially during the winter. But for someone that didn''t expect its effect¡­

    "Wha¡­" Unable to even voice out his surprise, Kerren''s body shoot through the air, crashing against the wall of a nearby brothel. The wall didn''t crumble. There wasn''t even any mark left once Kerren''s body slid down the stones and fell to the ground.

    In the end, this was just a simple spell used by mages to throw the snowballs around!

    "I¡­" Stuttering on the ground, Kerren slowly attempted to stand back up, only for his legs to slide off the ground.

    Pah!

    Unable to stand up on the ground as if it turned slippery for some reason, Kerren''s constant attempt to stand up only resulted in his face constantly assaulting the ground as if it was some frenzied pervert chasing after skirts.

    "Layn¡­ Didn''t I tell you? He is a damned two-star veteran! An ace of the Soaring Dragon group! Just what in the grace of God did you do!" Irea''s face was torn between panic andughter. Her teary eyes glued to the show that Kerran was providing for everyone.

    "Two-star? Veteran? Ace? Soaring Dragon?" Repeating all the titles that the girl used to call the man struggling to stand up, Layn leaned his head to the side. "To use such names while being so weak¡­ Or maybe there is something wrong with his head, making you guys all take pity on him and go along with his fantastic stories?"

    An archmage was someone who had to have perfect control over their bodies, even to a greater degree than magicless fighters. Out of all the warring sses, there were only a few who had the demand of even greater control over one''s flesh. As such, it posed no challenge to Layn to take up a look of shock, embarrassment and guilt.

    Before anyone could react, Layn hurried forward. With just a single touch of his hand, thebo of slippery and repulsive spell disappeared, allowing that alleged ace to stand up straight once again.

    "I''m really sorry! I didn''t know your situation. I hope this great ace of the plummeting chick....dragon could forgive my rashness!"

 Chapter 19 - What The Hell Is Going On?

    "Get your filthy, peasant hands away from me!" Uttering through his lips as soon as Layn got close, Kerren could only throw a look filled with hate at the approaching archmage.

    "I don''t really care what your circumstances are, " stopping in the man''s track, Layn rose on his knees and looked coldly at the man sprawled on the ground, "but I dare you to call me a peasant ever again."

    Just for this moment, Layn invoked all the bloodlust that remained in his psyche after his years in the hero party. All those bottled-up feelings of disgust, anxiety, wrath and despisal. All those feelings got him through the toughest of times, earning him the unfaithful wife and life in the mostfortable prison in the world.

    For the moment, the old Layn, the sole cause of the hecatomb of the city of Karrieta, returned.

    "I¡­" Even if the techniques and ways of killing each other have changed over the vast millennials that spanned between their respective times, one thing remained the same. Not even noticing, but more like feeling the aura that the archmage surrounded himself with was more than enough for the acimed ace of the soaring dragon group to remain on the ground.

    Layn knew very little about the society of the ancients. But from what Kerren said himself, it was easy to assume that since a peasant could be used as an insult, ss awareness was pretty high in this age. As such, flying into a rage when one''s status was to be challenged, was something that Layn deemed to be the most reasonable way out of the situation.

    ''This is bad¡­'' With his emotions calming down, Layn finally noticed what a mess did he put himself into. Right in the middle of a foreign city, going against someone of a potential high status¡­

    But there was an excuse for his rashness. After years and years of life as one of the most respected members of the entire human society, having this kind of low-life act arrogant in his face crossed Layn''s bottom line. And with how the archmage was starting to figure out the entire ancient magic thingy, the danger that those people posed for Layn was diminishing at a steady rate.

    "What''s the hell is going on here?" Before the situation could turn any worse, a loud, deep voice broke through themotion. Akin to a sea parting its waves to let the chosen tribe pass through, the crowd opened the path for a small group of guards.

    Even though they didn''t wear the same type of uniform, just the coat of arms, exactly the same as the one on all the gs around, was enough of a giveaway of their profession.

    "Layn! Come here¡­" Shouting archmage''s name only to turn silent and order him to go back in a calm voice, Irea managed to achieve what her shouts alone wouldn''t be able to. While there was a factor of Layn''s unwillingness to stand against the guards of the city, it was still the girl''s call that pushed him into making the decision.

    "It''s okay, I''m not doing anything." Raising his arms to the level of his head, Layn backed out a few paces before standing down beside the girl. Seeing his willingness to cooperate, the guards only threw him an angered nce before directing their sights towards the pummeled Kerren on the ground.

    "Wait, isn''t he¡­" Quickly alternating their eyes between the archmage and his victim, the initial anger of the guards disappeared, reced by a strange feeling of relief and pity.

    "Well, it''s good that someone finally taught him a lesson¡­ Hey, Irea, who is that idiot?" Clearly hinting at something that wasmon knowledge for the locals, the guard addressed the girl by the name, proving that she also had a fair bit of shame in this war camp.

    "He is not¡­ This man is well¡­ Under our protection? Or maybe I am? In fact, it wouldn''t be a lie to im that he is a benefactor of my entire group." Lowering her head, the girl turned her attention to the guards as well before exining the situation.

    Leaving her sentence on an open note, Irea scratched the side of her chin for a moment before suddenly shaking her head and smiling uneasily. "Either way, I hope you won''t pay any mind to the friendly spar that was the cause behind this entire situation, " said the girl as she reached with her hand to the side, only to ce her palm on the back of Layn''s head before forcing his entire upper body down as she bowed herself.

    Initially startled, Layn didn''t put any resistance to her guiding moves. Once Irea''s intent rified, the archmage actually lowered his head on his own, epting the way that the girl has chosen to diffuse the tension in the air.

    In the end, he started the entire affair because of his own reservations. No matter what, Irea knew far more about the world of this time than Layn did, making her judgment far more likely to be correct than whatever Layn would be able toe up with on the spot. As such, rather than blindly trying to find a way to get away scot-free from pummeling the other guy, just lowering his head to the guards appeared as a simpler option.

    "As if I would let the situation end like that! I¡­" Noticing how the entire situation was calming down and heading to a peaceful solution, Kerren jumped up. With the threat of Layn''s cold eyes already phasing away into nonexistence in his memories, he was clearly keen on making things hard for Layn and his guide.

    "You really, " squinting his eyes, the archmage looked towards the location of that pitiful, arrogant man, when a familiar voice broke through the noise created by all the people that already gathered to observe the situation.

    Raising his eyes towards the source of the sound, Layn saw Karter walking towards him in big strides, with his arm raised in a way that made it look as if he wanted to draw everyone''s attention to his forearm.

    "Kerren will let this situation be as it is. Let''s just all go our own way, okay?"

    Ignoring Kerren who was trying to add something to the side, the leader of the Irea group pointed at his forearm before looking at the guards with a look of steeled resolve in his eyes.

    "I''m willing to get marked for that."

 Chapter 20 - Im Willing To Get Marked!

    The silence that ensued after Karter''s promation instantly alerted Layn about the weight of what he just heard. The shocked faces of the guards and the glister of trump in Kerren''s eyes only further solidified archmage''s guess.

    "Karter¡­ Are you really sure?" Stepping half-step forward, the leader of the guard sent an uneasy look to the leader of Irea''s group. Yet, rather than backing down or attempting to calm the situation with other means, the middle-aged man continued to walk forward with his right arm raised.

    "I am willing to get marked as well." Appearing from thepletely opposite direction, one of the Irea and Karterpanions stepped forward with his arm raised in a simr fashion.

    "And so am I." One by one, the rest of the group appeared from all kinds of directions. Some stepped out of the crowd of onlookers, some came running from across several streets.

    With each addition to the count, the look of trump on Kerren''s face continued to sink, reced with desperation growing with each next appearance.

    After just a moment, the entire group encircled the area of themotion.

    "I am willing to get marked too." As soon as the members of her group stopped appearing, Irea shook her shoulders before raising her arm as well. Then, the eyes of not only everyone participating in the event but also all the onlookers moved on the archmage.

    "I''m not really sure what it means, but heck, I would be damned if I were to keep my arms still." There was a limited number of possible meanings behind marking. And not a single of Layn''s guesses was bad enough to warrant remaining still.

    "What''s your move, Kerrren?" As soon as Layn''s arm moved upwards, the eyes of everyone moved towards the dummy that thought he could be rude towards Layn''s guide in the archmage''s presence. Still trying to raise at least on his knees, when faced with the attention of everyone in the area, the man froze.

    "God damn it, where the hell they are when they are needed¡­" Cursing under his breath, Kerren looked around for a moment before his shoulders sunk. With a look of defeat surfacing on his face, he gave up on his attempts to stand up before raising both of his hand into the air.

    "I give up. There wasn''t any topic, to begin with, and I willpensate for the losses." Lowering his head in a poor attempt to hide his jaws tensing up in hate, Kerren ended up making the decision on his own. To end the situation right here and now, even if it meant losing a bit of face.

    "There was no topic? Then you will surely apologise to my group for insulting the honour of both its existing and deceased member, am I right?" Speaking up, Layn didn''t expect a wave of gasps to follow. Knowing perfectly well that look around in a surprise would tell the others how little did he know about what was going on, the archmage could only stare menacingly at the humiliated man.

    "You little¡­" Almost erupting in fury, the entire body of the man twitched when the despisal filled his mind.

    "Will you?" Cutting Kerren''s attempt to stall the situation, the guard sent him a cold stare.

    ''Did I ce my bets right?'' Even though it seemed as if that annoying, little man was cornered right now, Layn couldn''t help but worry. Once again his impulsiveness made him push his limits even further.

    And it wasn''t something that he should be doing when stranded in a foreign world of antique!

    "I¡­ I apologise." After throwing yet another nce at the crowd surrounding him, Kerren finally caved in. cing both of his hands t on the ground, he slowly lowered his head before striking the pavement with his forehead. "For being rude and not knowing the limits in my flirt as well as disrespecting the memory of your fallenpadre, I do apologise."

    Layn would have to be blind not to notice how tightly the man''s jaws were pressed against each other. It was a miracle for him to be able to speak like that already.

    "Great, then there is no need to mark anyone. Now, if you could kindly make yourself sparse, I would be immensely grateful. For as long as you will linger in the area¡­" Spreading his arms to point at the crowd that was surrounding them already, one of the guards looked at Layn with an anxious look on his face.

    ''No wonder they are wary around me¡­ It seems what I did was quite¡­ overbearing.'' Commenting the situation in his thoughts, Layn put a gentle smile on his face before putting his hands behind his back.

    "I''m grateful for your help in peacefully resolving the situation." Contrary to Kerren who noticeably had to swallow his pride to lower his head, Layn saw absolutely no problem in doing the same. After all, he was really grateful to the guards for stepping in, and what''s more, not taking Kerren''s side right off the bat.

    "And to you, my friends, I''m grateful for vouching for me." Turning his eyes to the ancients of Irea group, Layn bowed lightly again before a sharp tug on his sleeve forced him to look to the side.

    "Let''s go now, mkay?" Instead of using a stern or even cold voice, Irea simply snuggled to Layn''s hand before looking at him with upturned, glistering eyes of hers while asking in a soft voice.

    "Sure thing." At first, Layn simply smiled and followed in the direction where the girl pulled him. But instead of entering some kind of inn or even buying some meat skewers from the street-side stalls, not only did Irea continue to pull Layn along with her, but the rest of her group quickly joined the pack as well!

    "What''s going¡­" Before Layn could even finish his question, Karter''s stern voice interrupted him.

    "We are leaving the war camp. While we got lucky that he didn''t have his people beside him, there is no way he will forgive you this humiliation. We need to ditch this ce as soon as possible." There was no me in the leader''s voice, just pragmatic spirit. Since there was no way to take back what happened and cate Kerren, their best shot at avoiding the sh with that two-star veteran, was by leaving the camp before he could give chase!

    "Speaking of which¡­ This marking thing, anyone willing to exin what the heck it means?"

 Chapter 21 - Scoot Over

    "Ah, how about we drop it for now¡­" Scratching his head with an uneasy smile on his face, Kaster decided tough the topic away. It was obvious that the meaning of being marked was deep, otherwise, he would just exin it. What''s more, if it was something silly, the guards wouldn''t y along with it in the first ce.

    But ultimately, Layn decided to just nod his head and drop the topic. If for some reason it was hard on Kaster to speak about it, then there was no point in pushing his buttons. After all, it was only a matter of time before the archmage would learn what it means.

    Walking along with the party, Layn quickly noticed that they were really leaving the city. Considering how everyone seemed to only carry a small bag, a pouch and their weapons, it didn''t seem like it was any trouble for this group to move around on short notice. But that didn''t mean Layn wasn''t grateful for how considerate they were.

    After all, he was the only reason why the situation escted back with Kerren. Even though he was obviously bullying the girl, there was no way he would dare to do anything serious in the middle of the city. The fact that Layn couldn''t keep his tongue behind his teeth ended up forcing the entire group to leave the war camp - something that they didn''t seem to want in the first ce.

    "Hey¡­" After several moments of walking, Irea closed in on the archmage before snuggling rubbing her shoulder against his arm. Her lowered head made it impossible for Layn to read her mood or intentions.

    "I¡­ I wanted to thank you. I wanted to thank you for standing up for me." Fingers of her hands yed with each other above her abdomen as she silently whispered those words. For a moment, her body trembled, as if she was scared of Layn ridiculing her for some unknown reason.

    "Don''t even mention it. While I was quite excessive with it, isn''t it the way that all men should act? Are the guys in your culture really that different from those I knew?" As silly as his excuse of being groomed by some kind of expert on the desert could be, Layn still could use it for his own benefit. It was thanks to how broad this fake backstory was, that he could adopt any mindset in the public, without anyone recognising it as a sign of him being from the future.

    "I don''t¡­" Instantly attempting to rebuke Layn''s words, Irea raised her head up while doing so, only to reveal how teary and red her face was. Realising this fact while in the middle of denying what the archmage said, she turned mute only to lower her head again.

    "I don''t know¡­ But yes, you are different from the others." After a long moment of silence, Irea finally admitted before rapidly running away from the archmage''s side.

    ''What a strange girl¡­''

    Layn didn''t feel insulted by being called out for being different from the others. While it wasn''t a good sign for his disguise, if he were to appear just like everyone else in these times, it would be a far greater problem.

    For the rest of the day, nothing else of significance happened. Walking forward at a slow yet steady rate, the group didn''t stop even for a moment. If someone had to go to the side, it was his or her duty to catch up with the otherster on.

    The only event that stood out from the monotony of walking for several hours, was mealtime. While everyone pulled some kind of rations from their small backs whenever they were hungry to snack on it as they walked, when Irea did so, she quickly cast a nce at the archmage before once again getting close to him.

    But instead of talking him up or even pretending that the events from before didn''t happen at all, she simply forced a huge piece of beef jerky in his hand before moving several steps aside and starting to munch on her own piece.

    "Everyone, let''s stop for today. We walked far enough." Once the sun started its slow descent behind the horizon, Karter finally announced the end of today''s journey. As if it was the mostmon thing in the world, everyone stood on the spot before jumping away.

    Without wasting even a single moment, everyone took their backpacks down, quickly putting all the insides on the ground only to turn this surprisingly small piece of cloth into a tiny tent. Stuffing their belongings at the feet of the temporary housing, within just a few minutes from when their leader announced the stop, everyone already had a ce to sleep.

    Standing without a clue as to what he was supposed to do, Layn only managed to scratch his head. Even if it wasn''t a problem for him to sleep outside with just some grade one or two spells, the prospect of the awkward atmosphere that having their guest sleeping under the starry sky would bring to the group was an actual problem that the archmage had no idea how to face.

    "Okay then, I will take the first guard. Layn, you can take my¡­" Before Karter could finish his words, Irea run up to him only to stomp her heel on his feet.

    "Don''t mind him. I will take the first guard. You can rest in my tent for now, okay?" Smiling sweetly to the archmage only to quickly turn her head towards her leader and stop her heel again, Irea managed topletely and utterly defeat Layn with her actions.

    Dropping all the ideas of understanding her motives or reason, Layn only managed to nod his head.

    "Thanks, I will take you up on your offer."

    Contrary to sleeping outside, doing so in a tent, even if only for a few hours, would allow the archmage to regenerate a tiny bit of magic more than if he were to protect himself while sleeping outside. In this world of unknown dangers, Layn didn''t dare to underestimate the potential dangers, forcing himself to be as prepared for anything as possible.

    Yet, there was one thing that the mage forgot to consider. Even though walking long distances wasn''t something new for him, it was already a long time since hest did so. Even then, his newly remade body still wasn''t used to this kind of strenuous exercises. That''s why, as soon as his head touched the simple bedding crafted from severalyers of cloth and soft vegetation gathered from around the ce, he just couldn''t help but doze off in an instant.

    ''Ah¡­ It smells nice¡­'' With the upperyer of the bedding made with Irea spare clothes, her scent instantly overwhelmed Layn''s mind, as his consciousness faded away.

    "...ey¡­" Still halfway in thends of dreams, Layn couldn''t really make up what he just heard.

    "Hey." With a few more shakes to his shoulder, his consciousness finally returned to Layn''s mind. "Scoot over."

    Opening his eyes, he saw Irea''s cute but tired face as she scrambled to fit into the extremely tight insides of the tent!

 Chapter 22 - Snuggles

    "Eh?" For a moment, Layn was unable to utter even a single different sound. Staring with his widened eyes at the sleepy face of the girl as she continued to climb up on his body, he had no strength to react to this umon invasion.

    ''Were the morals so loose back in the ancient ages?'' This single question stomped the archmage''s mind, making him unable to react in any way or form for a while. A while long enough for the girl to fully enter the tent before snuggling up to Layn''s chest. With her head rested right on top of his breast, Layn finally regained his senses.

    ''I need to do something, '' shaking off the influence of the initial surprise, Layn calmly analysed the situation. Most likely, the girl was tired after her guard duty and the information that someone else was in the tent simply wasn''t registered. Following her habits, she simply snuggled into her beddings, not letting stuff like a presence of a damned man stop her from the long-awaited rest.

    "Umm¡­" Just as Layn finally managed to gather the strength in his arm in an attempt to poke Irea''s cheek for as long as it would take to wake her up, the girl suddenly opened her previously squinted eyes.

    "Ah¡­ Mind telling me what''s going on?" There was no exhaustion in the girl''s eyes. While she managed to convince him otherwise with the perfect acting of her body, Irea wasn''t capable of lying with her eyes.

    Now that it was obvious that she was only pretending to be so meek due to tiredness, Layn decided to just confront her with the situation. Whether she was really hitting on him or just acting spoiled, the easiest way to discern was just to ask.

    "Isn''t that quite obvious?" Moving upwards his chest, Irea crossed her arms right atop Layn''s sr plexus, before resting her head on her wrists.

    "As you know, back¡­" rolling his eyes, Layn attempted to bring up the backstory, only for Irea to ce her finger on top of his lips, shutting himpletely.

    "Back in the desert, there were hardly any women, so I''m not so sure what to make out of your actions." Keeping her finger where she ced it as she spoke, Irea raised it to her own chin, only to cutely lean her head to the side next. "Is that right?"

    A mischievous smile blossomed on the girl''s lips.

    ''Even though I already expected that it''s still hard to reply to that.'' Layn wasn''t as naive as to underestimate the ancients. While he only needed a bit of preparation to be able to face them in battle, their wits and intellect were on par with the modern people. Just because they didn''t know a lot about the intricate details of the world around them didn''t make them any more stupid.

    In fact, a small voice in Layn''s brain continued to advocate that the people of the current time were actually way smarter, given how most of the people too weak to be suitable for their lifestyle would be curbed out by the nature.

    In a sense, those who reached their adulthood, whenpared to the cradled humans of modern times, were beasts. Their bodies were more resilient, their health sturdier, their senses sharper and their heads calmer. Without those traits, they would never reach the day of adulthood.

    When thinking about this matter, the fragile body of the girl that served Layn for a nket was actually on a grade simr if not higher than his perfect replica thawed from the threads of pure magic!

    "Yeah, you nailed it right on the head." Using his hand to cover his face instead of poking the girl''s cheek, Layn admitted. Thankfully, rather than pushing him harder, the girl swung happily her legs before rubbing herself on Layn for a moment.

    Despite the initial suggestive nature of what she did, her coquettish moves quickly turned out to be just an attempt to find a morefortable position. As if not minding sleeping with a rtive stranger at all, Irea curled to Layn''s side, using his arm for a pillow.

    "You won''t mind, do you?" Whispering directly into Layn''s ear, Irea seemed to know perfectly well how to push his buttons.

    "Sure¡­" Unsure how he was supposed to react, Layn decided to drop the topic. In the end, he would be ufortable if the girl came at him any harder, but having someone to cuddle with after an emotional and exhausting day hit the home just in the right way.

    "Goodnight then." Letting go of his restraints, Layn turned on his side a bit. While still keeping the girl on his arm, he leaned towards her, using his free hand to enclose her in a tight embrace.

    Initially startled by this action, Irea forgot how to move for a moment. But this moment was long enough for the exhaustion that Layn kept in check for the entire day to finally surface. By the time the girl could react, the steady breathing of the archmage signalled that he has fallen into a slumber.

    "Goodnight." Curling her lips upward, Irea snuck her hand towards Layn''s back, before snuggling even closer to him. With her face hidden in Layn''s broad chest, she added.. "May you tell me your real story one day."

 Chapter 23 - Scrambling In The Tent

    Just by sleeping in the tent, Layn''s mental state returned to the one he had while travelling the future world. But even though even the slightest shred of sound was enough to wake the archmage up in an instant, with Irea cuddled right up his chest, the night was surprisingly refreshing.

    Waking up in this ancient world was almost as pleasant as waking up in the arms of the princess, right at the beginning of their rtionship. Back when she had yet to cheat on him, back before she turned his back against him. Back then, waking up with Ortensia in his arms was something that Layn looked forward to every morning.

    But this kind of affectionate moments ended before Layn would ever have a chance to properly enjoy them. As soon as the belly of the princes started growing with a Kingdom''s designed heir in it, he altitude turned maybe not cold, but indifferent at the very least. Ever since that moment, over five years worth of memories ago, Layn''s married life practically came to an end.

    Back then, forced himself to believe that the girl was just pouring all the love that she had on their children, and he would only need to wait for the cradling period of the newborn to be over¡­

    Sadly for the archmage, the very first time for him to wake up with a girl in his arms was quite a few years in the future and over six years down memoryne. And what''s more, that girl wasn''t even sworn to him!

    ''I wonder if they still have this kind of rituals. I made fun of them back in the future, but the origins of this marriage tradition should trace all the way to the ancient world¡­'' Pondering over the topic, Layn finally lowered his sight from the monotone colour of the top of the tent to the face of the girl sleeping on top of his breast.

    For this one tranquil moment, Layn just stared at the adorable face of the girl. Whether the institution of marriage already existed in this time or not, it didn''t change the obvious. No matter what the culture prevailed in this world, there were still some sanctions about an intimate rtionship between people.

    Just the fact that Irea had a hard time refusing aggressive advances of Kerren proved that point. But rather than leading to some deeper thoughts or ideas, this realisation only made it more enjoyable for Layn to adore the defenceless face of Irea.

    "Hmm¡­" As if she could feel that she was being aggressively stared at, Irea started to restlessly move around, before her huge eyes revealed themselves from under her eyelids.

    "Good morning." Not bothering to hide his interest in the cute face of the girl, Layn greeted.

    "Huh?" Moving her head up, Irea blinked a few times as if unable to discern what was real and what was a shadow of her dreams, before a rity returned to her eyes.

    "Oh, hey." Rather than getting flustered by the situation or panicking, Irea lowered her head back on Layn''s chest, clearly intent on going back to sleep.

    "Not so fast!" From how the very first rays of the sun already managed to wake the archmage up, it was given that the entire camp would starting awake at any moment now. Knowing from his own experiences, Layn didn''t want the girl to fall asleep once again, only to end up being drowsy for the rest of the day.

    With his words alone bearing little fruit, Layn decided to employ his hands as well. But rather than molesting the girl''s delicate body like some kind of horny teen or an old pervert, he moved his fingers up her armpits, before furiously moving them up and down.

    ''Ah!" Forced awake by Layn''s aggressive tickles, Irea instantly attempted to run away from the torture, only for Layn''s arm to wrap around her waist, holding her firmly in ce.

    "You wanted to sleep? Let me see how you go to sleep now!" What began as an attempt to wake the girl up, quickly turned into a desperate life-or-death fight. With their bodies squirming within the tight confines of the tent, Layn could only attempt to ignore the many times when his skin experiences the softness of the girl above him in the most direct of ways.

    "Everyone! Wake the hell up!" Before the modern man and his ancient girl could finish their fun, the loud voice of Karter reached their ears. With their bodies entangled as a result of their bloodless fight, when the prospect of leaving the tent came up on the agenda, the situation turned troublesome.

    "Ah! Watch where you are touching!" Protesting meekly when Layn''s attempt to free his arm from the mess resulted in his hand falling on a soft mound of her flesh. Not naive enough to misunderstand what he just touched, Layn''s face covered in a hue of red.

    Even though he wasn''t a virgin or even someone who barely had any intimate time with women in his life, for some reason, interacting with this energetic and cute girl was capable of bringing him to the edge of endurance.

    "Ah, finally!" With their bodies finallying apart, Irea quickly squeezed herself through the opening of the tent, only to reach out with her hand inside as soon as she got out. "Come, I will help you."

    Following in the steps of the girl, Layn slid on the beddings. As soon as his legs reached the open area, a shiver caused by how cold it was outside travelled up Layn''s spine.

    "I know it''s cold, but we need to get moving right now. Our scouts detected Kerren''s team. They are only about an hour behind!" Shouting towards Layn as soon as he got out of the tent, Irea was already running around the ce, gathering all her belongings. Once Layn was finally out, her nimble hands quickly got to untangle the knots holding the tent together.

    In just a few moments, the entire camp disappeared. All the fireces were covered with fresh earth, all the private stuff was safely stored in everyone''s backpack. In this atmosphere of general rush, Layn didn''t even bother to ask how did this girl manage to learn the news so quickly.

    Because now they had to walk.. And only walking mattered.

 Chapter 24 - You Will Do It Either Way

    Compared to the night when Irea turned out to be quite talkative, during the walking part, she became as mute as everyone else in her group. From the outsider''s perspective, it seemed that the ancients didn''t want to waste their strength on useless bbing about when they could direct said strength to just moving faster or longer.

    With the constant threat of the humiliated Kerren guing the minds of everyone in the group, Layn had a hard time holding back. As a royal archmage, he wasn''t used to running around from some arrogant pricks. Out of all the harm that living in the pce has brought to his life, this was the one thing he actually enjoyed.

    But right now, no one cared or even knew about his authority. In fact, the kingdom that would grant him such authority has yet to appear on the maps. And honestly speaking, judging from the fact that it was clearly an ancient world, it would still take at least several hundred years before it would form, assuming that the disaster would be right around the corner!

    Yet, there was a chance that Layn''s spell threw him to the past even further than he worried it did. Given how little information remained about the life of the ancients in the modern age, Layn was unable to judge which of the ancient periods he was in right now. After all, just asking questions that could help him to learn the truth would easily expose his real identity!

    "Okay. Everyone, short break." After nearly a half of the entire day spent walking and walking alone, Karter finally gave an order to the stop. From the looks of it, while it was taxing on them as well, the ancients were still capable of maintaining the pace. The only one that truly required some rest, was the archmage.

    ''Dang it. Not only did I made that idiot chase us, now I''m the one stalling the walk!'' Cursing himself in his mind, Layn felt the weight of responsibility for his own weakness falling on top of his shoulders. That''s why, as soon as everyone took the chance to instantly sit down and rest a bit, the archmage actually approached the only person he managed to get to know better in the entire group.

    "Hey¡­ I know it might sound stupid, but could you tell me at least the basics of the basics? I know you guys said it would be better if I held with all my questions until we reach the academy¡­" Starting out with such a tone, Layn felt this kind of attitude was necessary. After all, he was going to ask the girl for something that her entire group already agreed to be a stupid request.

    But Layn wasn''t all that worried about learning faulty means. In the end, no matter what, magic was magic. Even if the way in which the archmage used it was greatly different from what the locals were doing, the basic principles shouldn''t be that much different. With this in mind, although he could talk about it openly, Layn was still quite certain that he could perfect any of the faulty techniques that he would ever obtain from the ancient world.

    "As I told you, it will be better¡­" Groaning slightly before starting with the usual response, Irea suddenly stopped speaking when she noticed the look on Layn''s face. Swallowing down a gulp of saliva, she took a deep breath before leaning back on her hands.

    "I don''t want to slow everyone down during the march. Just give me a hint, anything. If my hopes are right, then I should be able to figure out the rest on my own¡­" Intent on somehow passing the information about his skills without revealing his true background, Layn noticed that he made a mistake when the girl suddenly sent him a sharp look.

    "Try to figure it out yourself? Are you out of your mind?!" For a moment, at least three of the fellow ancients looked towards the two of them, attracted by Irea''s sudden shout. Noticing the attention that she brought on the two of them, the girl lowered her head before finishing in a whisper. "I guess that if I don''t teach you, you will still try to learn it on your own."

    Suddenly pping her delicious-looking thighs with her palms, Irea nodded at the archmage.

    "Come here." Reaching out with her hands, the girl clearly had something on her mind. Not sure what to make out of this peculiar situation, Layn ultimately decided to just go with the flow. epting the girl''s touch, he allowed her gentle hands to wrap on his cheeks before pulling his head closer.

    And closer.

    And then, Irea locked his face right against her fleshy thighs, enclosing him in this strange position by resting her upper body against the back of his head.

    "Don''t think, don''t try to analyze it. Just let me guide you for a bit." Whispering those words directly into his ear as the smell of her young skin filled Layn''s nostrils, the girl unintentionally sent a shiver down the man''s spine. Even if being erotic wasn''t her intention at this moment, she still excelled at it.

    Closing his eyes and allowing the delicate warmth of the girl''s body to coax him, Layn fell into a state simr to a slumber. His entire body rxed before a strangely condensed strand of magic energy fused through his skin and into his flesh.

    The experience alone was wild enough already, but as this energy started to roam his insides, it became even stranger. For an archmage like Layn, only energy already infused with someone''s will, be it through a spell or arcana, could behave like that. Still, under someone else''s control, it seemed to wander around Layn''s insides for not reason.

    But it was as clear as the sky during the day that Irea wasn''t casting any spell, nor drawing one of thoseplicated arcanas!

    "Strange¡­" Irea''s voice once again reached Layn''s ears, gently tickling his brain. "Well, no point thinking about it. Let''s move on."

    With something drawing the girl''s attention, her body wrapped itself even tighter around the archmage''s head, putting him into warm heaven of softness. At this moment, he felt even more rxed than after his first night with the princess!

    "Oh my, natural second grade? Are you for real?!" Irea''s arms tightened around the back of Layn''s head even harder, while her chest started to move really quick. Even though he couldn''t see it, just the slight movements of her flesh along with the rapid beating of the girl''s heart were more than enough for Layn to notice that she noticed something strange.

    ''Was it a bad idea after all?'' Thinking about his actions only after theye to an effect, Layn cursed his hurried nature. But after a moment of hesitation, his thoughts calmed down. ''After all, it''s better if she will notice it rather than someone random..''

    Feeling a sudden pull on his chin, Layn followed the guidance of the girl as she raised his head from her thighs. But before the archmage could utter even a single word, a gentle whisper entered his ears.

    "There is no other choice. Let''s do it like this."

    Then, the girl lowered her head and ced her slightly wet lips against Layn''s mouth.

 Chapter 25 - Cultivation

    All at once, Layn''s world exploded.

    From the moment the girl''s wet lips rubbed against his mouth, from when her tongue pushed a bit of her saliva inside his mouth, from the moment the two of them joined in a deep kiss¡­

    Not only Layn''s lower body reacted. Rather than that, it felt as if a certain innate drive, something hidden deep within him, was moved.

    This strange urrence was clearly a magical reaction¡­ But one that the archmage experienced for the very first time.

    And then, as if a sledgehammer smacked itself right into Layn''s head. With his body possessing an incredibly high magic affinity, a sudden invasion of the foreign energy shocked and paralyzed the man.

    But rather than wreaking havoc inside him or burning his insides only to suck them offter, this push of Irea''s mana served like a kick that started the entire chain reaction. The magic that was infused in his flesh started to move.

    Feeling the glib tongue of the girl moving around in his mouth, Layn''s let himself go in this intimate moment, minding the potential onlookers not. Since Irea was all right with this, he had no reason to refuse her advances.

    After all, who was he supposed to be faithful to? His cheating wife that would take several millennia to even be born? No, there was no reason for that at all.

    But Irea wasn''t going to give him even this little time to think the matters through. Pushing her body against his skin, she wrapped her hands around Layn''s head, locking it in ce as she continued to exchange saliva with him.

    And at the same time, Layn''s insides were exploding in both pain and ecstasy. As if some kind of slug was cleared out from his body, as if a certain kind of magic virginity was torn apart, his energy finally started to rotate.

    ''So that''s the idea¡­'' It was impossible for Layn to figure out the magic of the ancients without experiencing it on his own. It was simply so different to what he was used to, that his own expertise would block him from ever understanding it. Only when Irea forced enough energy through her affectionate kiss into his system, did the seed of understanding sprout in Layn''s mind.

    And in an instant, he noticed several problems with the situation. Instinctively understanding the principle behind what the girl was trying to guide him through right now, Layn reached out with his arms before wrapping them around the girl''s waist. Under the guidance of his hands, the girl climbed up his legs, sitting down deeply on hisp.

    Entangled as much as two humans could be, the pair of a modern person and an ancient got lost in their own world. While for an inexperienced eye their actions would look no different to just making out, not even a single of the ancients from their group seemed to look at it like that.

    "Ah¡­!" Suddenly breaking the kiss, Irea deprived Layn of the crucial energy that he was using to push his own mana forward. Only now noticing how red the girl''s face became and how the light in her eyes seemed to fade, Layn desperately grabbed Irea''s shoulders before pushing her away.

    ''Right¡­ That energy had toe from her, it''s no wonder she''s exhausted.'' Realising what should be obvious, Layn looked at the girl with terror in his eyes. While he was insanely thankful for her showing him the ropes of the ancient magic, he got too absorbed into the euphoria stemming from growing stronger.

    "I''m sorry. It seems I''m only capable of helping you out so little¡­" With her cheeks flushed in red, Irea turned her deep, blue eyes away. With her lips trembling, she clearly was in a sorry state.

    A state that would make it rather hard for her to travel under such an intense regime.

    "Argh!'' Suddenly releasing a pained whine, Layn grabbed his face. Attracting the attention of the other ancients with that move, the archmage could feel the pressure building up.

    "Okay, let''s tackle the elephant in the room." Using themon saying out of habit, Layn suddenly froze. Even if his tranting spell could manage to convey the meaning, there was a huge chance the ancients would still fail to understand the butchered trantion. But rather than letting this unnned ident set him back, Layn quickly refocused his attention.

    "How big will be the group of that bastard? I mean, how many and how strong." Looking at how tired the rest of the group was, it was pretty clear that even for them such a long march was pretty taxing. What''s more, they were returning from what appeared like a seasonal hunting ground, meaning they were tired from the long hunt in the first ce.

    "Kerren''s? Ugh, if he gathered all his people¡­ Thirdy at the very least. But for a chase like that, I think he would rather go with the elites." Recognising what was going through the head of the new addition to their group, Karter''s initial smile turned sour. "Twenty experts, twelve of which are two-stars."

    Releasing a long sigh, the leader of the ancients shook his head before exining.

    "You might now understand this kind of power, but in our group, we only have two, two stars experts. It''s me and our hunter, Sitra. And as much as I hate to be unable to pull my own weight, I''m still unable to fight at my full strength."

    Listening to the exnation, Layn already made his move. Instead of absorbing the energy through his rope to his aura, he used it to propel his inner energy instead. And as surprising as it was, the energy that Irea kissed to him, paled inparison to the flood that seemed to invade Layn''s insides.

    "Well, it''s manageable then." Winking to the leader before bringing his focus back to the girl on hisp, Layn raised his head and caressed the cheek of the exhausted woman. "I will need you to take some rest now."

    Standing up, the archmage pulled the girl along, before grabbing her in a princess carry and resting her down on the ground. Using her own backpack, the archmage made a pillow for the girl, before focusing his eyes on the direction their group came from.

    "I might not know the basics, " using the constant flood of energy from his rope, Layn quickly managed to force all the individual strands of flow in his inside to merge into a single drive. As if a whirlpool, all the energy that his body was enriched with from the very beginning, was now steadily revolving around the empty core.

    The more energy Layn poured into his insides, the faster the flow became, turning its content even thicker and denser. Soon, the spin of the ephemeral mana inside him was so strong, that his body seemed to start breaking apart from the pressure.

    "Impossible¡­" Watching the proceedings, Irea raised her tired eyelids before her eyes suddenly shook open in shock. At this point, even her pupils dted, as if she couldn''t believe what she was seeing, no matter how intense the sight was.

    But Layn didn''t stop there. With his drive formed, propelled to some insane degree and leaving a huge spot in the middle of the flow open, the archmage couldn''t stop himself from pouring all the iing energy right into the hole.

    Yet, it felt as if it wasn''t a hole in the tform of energy, but an abyss.

    At this point, the speed of Layn''s growth nearly disappeared. As if it was bottomless, all the energy that Layn was sending straight down its entrance, the abyss remained as empty as before.

    ''I guess that''s it for today¡­'' Keeping the flow of mana from his rope steady, Layn raised his head. Just a slight movement of his hand was enough to tell him how insanely strong he had be in just a span of a single moment. Looking around, it seemed as if just by turning his head, he could call powerful winds.

    But what truly nailed the point, was the faces that all the ancients were making. Full of shock, amazement and even adoration that should be reserved only to one''s wife or gods.

    "Almostplete primal awakening... " Staring at the archmage as if she was in a presence of a god, Irea could only whisper as her lips refused to work properly.

    "So, my n is simple.." Ignoring themotion that he caused, Layn smiled before spreading his arms open. "If I will be able to defeat Sitra with ease, would you guys leave the task of dealing with that bastard''s group to me?"

 Chapter 26 - This Is Where You Die

    "Are you sure about this?" There was no way for such an attentive girl as Irea to fail to notice the main intention that pushed the archmage for such a rash decision. While her eyes were still filled with amazement after Layn''s consecutive breakthroughs, there was also a hint of worry in them.

    "Don''t worry. I already judged the general strength of everyone in the group. While I do expect a few surprises," moving his head towards his opponent, Layn lightly lowered it to show respect when his eyes met with Sitra''s intense stare, "overall, it won''t be a difficult fight."

    Layn wasn''t bragging there.

    The main reason behind his scare of the ancient cultivatorsid in the fact that he couldn''t see through their abilities. Starting with their superior physical endurance and speed, they held the worst kind of advantage over the generally immobile mage.

    But this status no longer applied to Layn.

    With his body now greatly reformed thanks to Irea''s help, he could tell that his speed wouldn''t pale inparison to what he saw during the fight of the group of ancients with the monster. And even if one of their two-star experts, a hunter at that, could reach ever greater speeds, it didn''t matter at all.

    Because as long as Layn could find a single moment to cast a spell, the entire fight would be decided.

    "Okay then. Karter, he is ready." Nodding her head in acknowledgement of Layns decision, even if she didn''t really believe his haughty ims, the girl still opted to believe him. Moving one step aside, Irea hesitated for a second, before moving back, grabbing both of Layn''s hands and enclosing them with her palms.

    "May the fortune assist you." Lowering her head over the small ball made off their hands, Irea gave Layn her blessings before running out of the designated duel area.

    "Sir Sitra, I will be in your care." Moving his face towards his opponent, Layn spoke out slowly, in order to give the other party time to decipher his words from the movement of his lips.

    Given how the man waspletely mute and deaf, after moving his hands for a moment, he pointed his finger at Karter nearby.

    "He is telling that he won''t go easy on you. Be ready." Stepping forward, Karter stood right between the two of us. Rather than announcing the start of the fight by voice, he did it by slowly lowering his extended arm.

    "Fight!" Sweeping his hand all the way, Karter shouted. At the same time, Sitra rushed forward, with a knife already glistering in his hand.

    ''Amendable dedication.'' Noticing the attack, Layn smiled. ''Sadly, it''spletely futile.''

    With the reaction speed of the archmage spiking after he made use of the ancient cultivation, he didn''t even need to jump out of the hunter''s way to buy more time. As soon as the hunter leaned his body forward, Layn was already in the middle of setting up a barrier.

    A barrier that fully formed before the hunter could move past half of the distance separating them.

    Hit.

    Sitra''s knife struck right at Layn''s head. There was no hesitation behind his moves, nor did he try to pull back his attack. But rather than prating Layn''s skull, the de slid off the barrier, exposing Sitra''s waist to Layns'' fists.

    "Rush." Uttering just a single word, Layn invoked the visualisation bound to it. His fists moved at a rate faster than he could consciously control.

    "Aim." Another short whisper escaped from the archmage''s lips. At the same time, his fist slightly changed its trajectory.

    "Hit." With his own barrier extending as his fist rushed right toward''s Sitra''s waist, the hunter''s attempt to cut at the iing arm once again proved to be futile.

    On the other hand, Layn decided to drop the first spell before the attack connected. With the fight assist of the simple, close-quarter buffs he developed back in his time in a hero party, he didn''t need any experience in fighting at close range at all.

    After all, leaving this task to a perfectly unperturbed magical reactions would obviously have a greater effect than frantically swinging his arms on his own!

    "Ugh!''

    The attack finally connected. Even though Layn was using his left hand, he still decided to drop his hastening spell. In the end, this was a friendly spar. And shattered liver wasn''t an easy injury for Layn to heal.

    Nevertheless, with the right side of his waist struck right below his lowest rib, Sitra''s face suddenly flushed as he kneeled down on the ground, before falling to the side.

    "Is that considered my win?"

    Due to the fact that Layn used just the right amount of his skills and power to triumph in the duel, the rest of the group didn''t seem to be convinced.

    ''I bet they are thinking it was a lucky shot¡­'' Noticing the uneasy stares of hispatriots, Layn sighed heavily before extending his arm to the side.

    "I used just the bare minimum of my strength to achieve this victory. If I wanted¡­" With a tiny amount of mana in Layn''s aura suddenly condensing at the surface of his palm, his mind instantly filled with a single word.

    ''Shatter''

    Located barely a few steps away, a huge boulder decorated the mundane ins. But as soon as Layn raised his hand towards it, the stone suddenly exploded outwards, covering the entire area with deadly pellets of broken granite.

    "WHAT?!" Given how Layn didn''t even utter a single word while casting his spell, even his colleagues could be confused about the method he facilitated. But for the ancients beside him, the confusion had to be way greater.

    "Could it be¡­" Instantly rushing to Layn''s side, Irea unceremoniously grabbed his hand before immersing herself in her thoughts. "No, you are not two stars yet. Howe you can use techniques?!"

    Looking down at Irea''s face, Layn could only scratch his head with an uneasy smile for a response. What he just did wasn''t some kind of technique, but a simple memory-y relying on ingraining the construction of an entire spell within the meaning hiding behind a word.

    In other words, he had no idea what those ''techniques'' were in the first ce!

    "It seems that you have finally given up and running, you bastard." Before Irea''s curiosity could be sated, a new voice entered the fray. And from how it was oozing with hate, it clearly wasn''t someone from their group.

    "Wait, are you this¡­ hmm¡­ Karen guy?" Turning his head to the newly arriving group, Layn smiled. Using the name that found its sacred spot at the top of silly jokes of the future, the archmage even attempted to insult the man, only to be met with a confused look of hate.

    "Bark all you want. But no matter what you say, this is the ce where you will meet your end!"

 Chapter 27 - Fear

    There was no room for reconciliation. Seeing Kerren''s face, Layn understood that only blood could calm the rage that surrounded this ce.

    His movements were rtively slow. Compared to a two-star expert before him, even after his consecutive breakthroughs, Layn was still way off.

    But what Kerren failed to consider, was that cultivation wasn''t Layn''s greatest strength at all.

    "Go." Compared to other magical constructs, releasing the spell was one of the simplest things one could do. Consisting of only three basic ideas, it was a perfect trigger to all of the formations that Layn created leisurely before the duel with Sitra.

    Crack.

    In this world devoid of magic conductors, formations were a mage''s best friend. Developed thanks to the greater understanding of the nature of magic that modern civilisation achieved, there was actually no reason for them to work any worse in the ancient world at all!

    Theplex structure of the main formation finally harnessed enough energy. By the time Kerren managed to cut the distance by half, the entire in that he was dashing through suddenly exploded with light.

    Apparently, that was all. Outside of the initial shock to the eyes, this strange illumination didn''t appear to cause any harm. Outside of the annoyance factor, one could disregard itpletely.

    Layn sighed before approaching the girl beside him. For some strange reason, this lengthy action wasn''t stopped by Kerran.

    "May I?" Stopping right before the girl, Layn looked her deeply in the eyes for a moment. Their noses didn''t push against each other only due to the perfect height difference between the two of them. Reaching with his hands down, Layn ced his hands on the exposed sides of Irea''s waist.

    "Huh?" To say that the girl jumped in a surprise, would be actually an overstatement. Rather than that, she suddenly seemed to melt while a strange mist clouded her eyes.

    "Your sword? May I borrow it?" Ostentanouesly flirting with the girl, Layn pushed Irea''s chin up with his finger all the while staring at her lips.

    "My sword? Huh? Uh, sure¡­?" Meekly responding in his arms, Irea looked up to Layn''s eyes.

    "Thanks, dear." Lowering his hand from the girl''s waist to her hip only to push it on the handle of a short sword hanging from her side, Layn pulled the weapon out. For some strange reason, his opponent and all of hisckeys that jumped in to help him when they realised something was going wrong¡­

    Still failed to reach the archmage and the girl who were at the forefront of the group.

    "I need to take care of this lousy bunch now, so I hope you will forgive me for a minute." Sending a wink to the shocked girl, Layn moved away from her. Just as he was to step into the illuminated sphere, the archmage suddenly turned around.

    "While I know I''m clearly the reason for this fight, but I can tell they were an eyesore to you guys as well. That''s why," speaking up towards the group, Layn pointed the tip of his sword at Irea, "I will get the right to make a decision for the entire group, and it won''t be challenged by anyone or anything. Don''t worry, I won''t be unreasonable."

    Putting the most innocent look on his face that he could, Layn smiled. Right now, there was a group of twenty experts fuming to kill everyone. Right behind his back. Even though those people offered him a lot of help, there was no denying that they still were strangers.

    And this moment right now would decide whether they will turn into a fleeting memoryter on or properpanions for the archmage. Even if the intent behind this request was likely to be insanely different to what the ancients could expect.

    "Fine." After a moment during which the entire group hesitated, Irea suddenly stepped up. Even though her insanely cute and meek behaviour at times, she could still prove that she wasn''t deprived of the wits either.

    "Oh my¡­" Taken aback by the girl''s readiness to ept his term, Layn lowered and then shook his head while cing his hands on his hips. "Out of everyone here, you should keep your guard the most around me!"

    It was hard to tell whether Layn''s words were a scold, a whine or an outcry of desperation. Instantly rooting both the girl and everyone else in the spot, Layn winked at the girl once again, before leisurely jumping into the dome created by the strange light from before.

    "Now, let the real fun begin." As developed as Layn''s morals were, there were times when even someone aspassionate and stoic as him would throw the conscience to the basement before grabbing the knife with his teeth and going on a murderous spree.

    Arrogance, he could forgive. Boasting, bullying, even cheating and stealing or scheming could still earn his mercy. But destroying and disregarding the lives of innocent women?

    "The hell is this ce?!" Once in, the main feature of the formation would cease to work. After all, the entire purpose of the main trap that Layn prepared, wasn''t killing the opponents. That he could achieve with just one or two small ones.

    It was to hide away his insane powers from the ancients.

    "You know, I never could understand you an arrogant lot." Speaking up, Layn couldn''t care less about revealing his position. All at once, all twenty pairs of eyes moved towards him.

    In a sh, just the insane killing aura released by all of the experts would be enough to squash Layn as an ant if he was just a cultivator. Sadly for Kerren and his party, in terms of mana maniption like mental-affliction based killing intent, cultivators fared far worse than even the shittiest mage in the world!

    ''Disperse.'' With a single thought, the dense aura of death suddenly disappeared. While it didn''t seem like Kerren and the party had any hopes in this attack finishing Layn off, the ease at which the archmage dispelled it still put a hint of doubt in the back of their heads.

    "You know, once you reach the top of the world, your position bes more of a burden than something to enjoy." In this regard, Layn was saved by the betrayal of his wife. It was back then, over seven years ago, when he dropped the exhausting work at the royal magic office, focusing on his own projects instead.

    While the main reason was obvious, to sessfully use gran arcana to fix the mistakes that lead to the disastrous oue for many, the process itself was still exhrating. And it wasn''t something that one could experience by being on top of the world.

    After all, making decisions regarding thousands and millions of people, wasn''t the perfect way to spend one''s afternoon.

    "Still, you guys dared to infringe on me, dared to raise your weapons against me. And that means I won''t need to hold myself back."

    At this moment, Layn''s expression darkened. His cultivation, albeit weak, started soaring furiously in his insides. With the drag created by Layn''s cirction of mana, the energy contained in his aura turned even denser than before.

    ''Who knows it could work together so well?'' Not expecting such a lucky oue, Layn smiled. The enemies at a distance continued to madly attempt to cross the distance that separated them.

    "Well, let me show you what''s the difference between us, then. I would call it teaching you a lesson, but since you will die at the end, what kind of a lesson would it be? Yourst?" Shaking his head, Layn looked at the struggling figures of the ancient experts. As if they were blind to the reality, they still couldn''t acknowledge how their efforts werepletely futile.

    "Disgraceful."

    Uttering just this single word, Layn moved forward. But instead of speeding up and closing the distance, he just appeared right beside the first enemy. Without even moving his sword, the first head flew off its usual seat. Then, he appeared beside another. Another head flew away.

    But the victims, couldn''t even utter a word.

    After all, in this mental-enchanting formation, it wasn''t about one''s movements or any physical attempts. It was all about intent.

    Meaning, the only reason why everyone didn''t just die at once from the instant shes of Layn''s imaginary swords, was the archmage''s deprived wish to make them suffer the fear their victims would suffer due to their actions.

    The fear of death.

 Chapter 28 - Layns Wishes

    The culling of Kerren''s group didn''tst long.

    But mindful of what his new friends had to go through because of the man, Layn decided to leave Kerren for the very least. Forcing him to watch as the heads of hisrades and allies fell off their shoulders one by one, the archmage quite enjoyed the clear terror in the man''s eyes.

    "Please¡­ I beg you¡­ I will never¡­" Being in control over the formation, Layn could hear the cries of the man, even though he didn''t appear to be speaking at all. After all, only once was aware that everything in this realm was akin to an illusion would one strive to ovee it.

    Then, Kerren''s turn came. As his head lopped out of his neck, the still expression of terror remained perfectly instilled on his now tense facial muscles.

    "There is no need to keep everyone tense. I wonder what kind of face Irea will make¡­" Muttering to himself, the archmage swung his hand, putting an end to the formation.

    In the end, his guess turned out to be right. The fact that the air of this world was deprived of the magic conducting element didn''t mean anything for the usage of formations! As they derived their powers not from the free-flowing magic itself but its alignment in the world, with the caster pitting various natural powers to make them work in a specific way, they could work even in ces heavily deprived of magic energy!

    But as happy as the archmage was with the results, with the dispersal of the barrier, the gore scene of the aftermath revealed itself to everyone''s eyes.

    "Gasp!" Since Irea stood nearest to the archmage, her reaction was the most audible one. As for the others, Layn could only judge their thoughts from their shocked expressions.

    Casting a single nce at the beheaded corpses in front of him, Layn lowered his sight at the de in his hand. While he killed them all by eding to thews within the formation, it was still the first time for the archmage to fight with someonepletely clueless about methods to defend themselves in such traps.

    In the end, this easy fight only left Layn with a bad aftertaste.

    "How did you¡­" Raising her deep eyes from the corpses back at Layn''s face, Irea trembled slightly as she asked, only to cut her sentence short. After cutely shaking her head, something seemed to click in her mind as she sped her hands and lowered her entire upper body.

    "As promised, I will fulfil any wish you might have." Looking at the girl, Layn''s eyes twitched when he saw her hands slightly trembling. What''s more, after just a moment of hesitation, everyone else in the group suddenly kneeled on one knee before sping their hands and lowering their heads.

    "We will fulfil Senior''s wish!" Responding in a single choir, the ancients clearly weren''t prepared for what they just saw. Compared to the girl who was at least trying to appear to act normally, the fear in their moves was clearly visible.

    ''Ah, I get it. Hiding my means doesn''t change the oue. Did I overdo it?'' Cracking his brain over the topic, Layn ultimately decided to put it on hold for now. After all, his entire n of basically buying the loyalty of those people was about toe to fruition.

    "Okay then, before we start, I have a normal request for everyone. Don''t treat it as my wish or anything. Would you mind helping me out to collect their valuables? It would be a pity to leave it here to rot." Be it outfits, weapons or even money, everything had its value. After iming their lives, it was only natural for Layn to im their belongings as well.

    "Ah, sure." Startled with such a natural request from the archmage, Karter sprung up. Noticing that the new addition to his group wasn''t overbearing but was trying to disperse the tension that hung over everybody, he sprung up before ordering his people around.

    "Let''s go." At first reluctantly, soon the entire group dived into the slightly repulsive but natural activity. And once the treasures hidden in the group''s storage rings started appearing, the greed made everyone work even harder.

    As time went on and more and more different treasures and bags of money started to pile up, Layn finally observed some longing and anxious nces that ancients started to throw towards the pile. While they didn''t appear that they had problems getting by, it was only natural for a human to long for such riches.

    Out of the entire group, only Karter, Sitra and Irea appeared to bepletely unfazed in the face of the treasures. Karter most likely already projected what kind of wish Layn had in store while Sitra didn''t seem to care at all. Thinking about this, given how much credit did those people give to the two-star experts, maybe this fortune didn''t appear all that appealing to him.

    It was Irea that presented Layn with a peculiar case. With her eyes slightly clouded, her movements seemed to be slightly off. As if she couldn''tpletely focus on gathering the spoils, with her mind surfing somewhere across the skies.

    Soon, this arduous yet fruitful task came to an end. The corpses were stripped off everything of value, the storage ring got emptied and all the money from the various sack piled in a single mountain.

    Moving up, Layn stood before the pile of goodies before throwing a thoughtful nce towards the ancients.

    "Okay then, let''s deal with this before the atmosphere will turn sour." Smiling to everyone, Layn could see the dejected looks of some of the ancients. On the other hand, Karter and Sitra appeared to bepletely rxed, as if they already made their assumption and reinforced their belief in what they thought the archmage would do.

    And it was the perfect moment to shake everyone.

    "Outside of Irea, my wish for everyone is to split this pile more or less equally between everyone in the group, and then ept one of the portions each without holding back. Any attempts at refusing this split will be treated as the vition of our deal."

    If one could rate the moments of turning group expectations around, then Layn''s act would definitely score a ce amongst the highlights.

    Those who already gave up on the haul, suddenly found themselves enriched by a substantial amount. Given the difference of numbers between the two groups, on average, everyone would be privy to nearly two times the average wealth of an expert from Kerran''s group!

    "Eh? What about me, then?" As surprised as everyone by Layn''s sudden and unexpected decision, Irea almost jumped in ce. Raising her eyes on the archmage''s face, the girl''s face instantly exploded with red before she shyly hid her face to the side.

    "Ah, fear not.. While I might not know you much, I''m pretty sure if I offered you the help that I believe you really need right now. That''s why, as to make sure that you, my benefactor in more ways than you might think, will be properly rested, once we will move out, instead of walking, you will swallow your pride and allow me to carry you!"

 Chapter 29 - Piggyback

    At first, Layn''s request put everyone on the spot, making them unable to react to it in any way or form. For a short moment, the ancients simply weren''t sure how they were supposed to react to his words in the first ce. But just a few nces at the pile of treasurester, and some ''knowing'' smiles started appearing.

    "Since that''s the case, I don''t think there should be any problem¡­" Speaking up, Karter turned his head away from Irea. Scratching his chin, heughed beforepletely ignoring the girl''s stare.

    "Leader!" Clearly bothered by the sudden change in the atmosphere, Irea protested to Karter, only to see his face remain its is position. "And now what?" Spreading her arms, Irea fell to her knees. Rather than tired or terrified, she appeared to be just helpless, clueless about what she should do.

    "Now, you will enjoy your ride." Moving up, Layn approached the girl before rustling her hair with a mischievous smile on his face. Retracting his hand, the archmage then squatted in front of the girl, spreading his arms lightly to the side.

    "Uhmm¡­ Are you really sure?" With her face already all red, Irea asked. One of her hands was covering her lips as if she didn''t want anyone to see her speaking what she just did.

    "I wouldn''t use my wish for it if there was any doubt in my heart. Come on." Shaking his hands, Layn hurried the girl up. ncing with the corner of his eyes, the archmage could feast on the sight of this clearly embarrassed girl stepping forward before obediently leaning over his back.

    ''In the end, why not enjoy the moment while working for the future?'' Thinking to himself, Layn forced his face to remain still when the soft flesh of the girl''s tights rested on his hands. With his fingers sinking into her hot skin, just the stimulus from his arms was enough to go any man crazy.

    But then, Irea leanedpletely forward, resting her upper body against his back. Instantly feeling the softness all over his skin, Layn shuddered lightly when Irea''s breath struck his ear.

    "Here we go!" Forcing himself out of the dreand, Layn activated the reinforcement formation that he prepared in advance, before gently standing up. Now that her legs could no longer support her, Irea sank even deeper on Layn''s back, tightening her embrace to keep herself on top of him.

    "Aren''t I too heavy?" Irea''s whisper quickly reached Layn''s ear. Given how she didn''t ask it with a normal voice, it was rather obvious that she was actually minding her weight.

    ''I guess some things don''t change no matter the historical period.'' Shaking his head horizontally in response to the girl''s question, Layn fixed his hold over his body before making the first step. After a momentary adjustment to the new centre of weight, the archmage quickly realised that what should be a slight hurdle, even with the reinforcement formation in his pocket, didn''t pose any challenge to him at all.

    ''Maybe it''s the effect of this ancient magic? It''s heavily oriented about one''s body after all¡­'' Pondering over the issue, Layn couldn''t help but be reminded of the girl on his back as soon as he managed to stop thinking about her.

    With her warmth, her smell, her softness surrounding him from all sides, it was no wonder the archmage had some troubles forcing Irea out of his head.

    "Tell¡­ Why did you request something like this?" After a rtively long moment of walking, Irea seemed to calm down enough to ask this question. Unknowingly forcing Layn back into the abyss of thinking about her, Irea rustled slightly on his arms.

    "It might be hard for you to believe, but I already benefited from your help a lot. You can consider it my way of paying you back. Weren''t you tired, back when I decided to take that Kerren guy on?" Rather than hiding his intent, Layn decided to just be honest. In the end, he had no ties in his current life. For a pack animal like a human, having some form ofpanionship was vital.

    But the truth was, for an archmage like Layn, offering even just a scrap of knowledge was of great meaning. Used to discovering the truths of the world from the slightest hints and assumptions, learning so much about ancient magic was something that greatly exceeded any of the favours that Layn obtained in his previous life.

    Even if her lessons were fully practical without even a hint of the theory behind them, Layn still benefited greatly from them. Not only because he managed to learn about a new kind of magic. The other major point that made the archmage feel so indebted to the girl, was that she gave him the keys to the path to security.

    Because as soon as Layn would stumble upon an expert or just a natural talented cultivator capable of oveing formations,pared to the raw physical strength of the ancient magic, he would be nigh powerless.

    In the end, even though Irea''s question seemed like an invitation to a discussion, the girl decided not to pick up the topic. Hanging silently from Layn''s neck, she quickly started dozing off, only to fully rx and fall asleep just a few momentster.

    ''Isn''t it a testimony to how tired you were?'' Even now, Layn has yet to hear the girlining about being exhausted. While the signs of it were obvious ever since the moment she used all of herself to push Layn''s cultivation, she didn''t voice even a single whine, she didn''t allow others to learn directly from her how tired she was.

    And just that determination, although unnecessary, was something that Layn could wholeheartedly admire.

    ''Eh¡­ To a point, doesn''t she resembles you quite a lot, Yelna?''

 Chapter 30 - One Hell Of A Slut

    *********

    Far north-west of the cia continent

    ********

    "Urgh, I''m getting chills." yfully shaking her body, Yelna chuckled at Markus'' suggestion. "Another world? Don''t tell me," Suddenly taking on a serious expression the girl pretended to be serious. Unfortunately, the sparks of fun in her eyes betrayed the girl''s intent. "You really believe we were transported to some kind of isekai world?"

    Ignoring Yelna''s clear attempts at rilling him up, Markus looked at the city in the distance.

    "This is definitely not our world¡­ Or at least, not our time." Biting on his lips, the former - or future? - saint stared at the distant town. There was something bothering him about that ce as if it wasn''t the first time he saw it¡­ But it was the first time he saw it nevertheless.

    ''Just what is this feeling?'' As a former member of the hero party with the position of Saint, his role was far from acting like a noble priest representing some kind of church. As a specialist of nothing but a veteran in everything, his sole job was to create miracles when traditional means failed.

    And now, this jack of all trades, unfazed by anything the hero party met on their way to y the demon lord¡­ Was lost.

    "Yeah, yeah. The more you speak about magic, the less I understand. Can''t we just each stick to our speciality?" Shaking her head in denial, Yelna refused to listen to Markus'' lecture once again. For someone speaking as little as she did, borating on this conviction only reinforced the message behind her words.

    "Eh¡­" Sighing deeply in reaction to Yelna''s words, Markus sent her a look of disbelief. "You do realise that we are in a foreign ce, maybe in a foreign world. If you were to stick to your speciality, wouldn''t you go on a rampage, ughtering several cities and then live the life of a fugitive?"

    Even though the two of them ended up together, it was still quite a quirky pairing. Quoting the words of the mage that apanied them during their heroics, they were like water and fire. While not suitable for each other, only great fires could withhold the pressure of water and only water could pacify the mes.

    To a degree, one could say that they ended together because there simply wasn''t anyone else that either of them could stick to!

    ''Why am I having those thoughts again¡­'' In the end, Markus was unable to get the wise words of his friend from the past out of his mind. Stuck like some kind of parasite, this thought constantly soured his otherwise enjoyable retirement with the former hero herself.

    "I do realise it. But in this ce, we don''t know anyws. Following the rule of strength seems to be the best option for us." Not seeing anything wrong with what she was saying, Yelna continued to walk forward without the slightest care in the world.

    What others would find stupid, reckless and naive, was actually a norm for the girl. With her senses tuned up to the absolute human limits, with her strength on par with some of the greatest monsters in the entire world¡­

    For a predator like her, what there was to worry about in a random, punny forest?

    "How about we get to the city first? For now, we know nothing. What''s the culture, currency¡­ Heck, evennguage may be a huge problem. If you just go with the intention of wreaking havoc, even your strength may be insufficient to get us out of the city safely." Once again attempting to curb the enthusiasm of his girl, Markus'' lips twitched. In terms of their daily life, Yelna was the best woman he could ever ask for. Only when it came to adventuring¡­

    At this moment, Markus once again remembered what was the reason behind the disbanding of the hero party. And that reason was walking right beside him.

    "Thinking about it," attempting to change the topic to get the girl immersed in it, Markus spoke, "do you have any ideas who might be behind this entire thing?"

    "No idea." Not hesitating at all before giving her answer, Yelna returned to her usual, silent self. Markus efforts, on the other hand, failed even before they had even a chance of sess. Seeing the empty expression on the woman''s face, Markus could only sigh.

    ''So she already made up her mind¡­ Eh, this is going to be tough.'' As a self-proimed saint and the overseer of the hero herself, Markus was mostly used to Yelna''s antics¡­

    But when it came to stopping her, he could only have any hopes of doing so before she would set her mind to something. Because once Yelna would make a decision, there would be no stopping her anymore.

    "From the bad options, I believe it''s doing of the demon lord." Ignoring Yelna''s clear refusal to join this discussion, Markus continued. "I know that we managed to kill it¡­ But didn''t you find it strange how easy it turned out to be? What if that hydra was actually an offering for the spell that I protected us from?" Letting his mind roam free while attempting to bite the problem, Markus focused.

    "No way. I killed it and I killed it good. Don''t act like Layn!" Bringing up the painful memories of the day when their team disbanded, even Yelna managed to realise that she wasn''t supposed to do it. Raising her head only to see Markus face souring, she quickly rushed forward to grab his hand before lowering her head.

    "I''m sorry. Even though I already know he was right¡­ He could''ve been a little bit more gentle about it, didn''t he?!" Despite all those years that have passed ever since the disbanding, Yelna clearly still couldn''t move on from that major argument. But rather thanforting the girl, Markus'' suddenly stood on the spot with his face filled with terror.

    "Wait, if it''s not the demon lord¡­ Yelna, do tell, do you know what Layn went through after we split our ways?" Asking out of nowhere, Markus remained in ce even after the girl already moved several steps to the front. Only when Yelna realised that her partner stood behind did she take his question seriously.

    "No, not really. Why asking?" Turning around on her heel, Yelna looked at her man''s face.

    "You see, while it wasn''t my priority, I actually gathered a bit of information about his life, just like I did with everyone else. And from what I knew, he married one hell of a slut. If he learned about her true nature afterwards¡­"

    Just thinking about the possibility was enough to send a shiver down Markus'' spine.

    "Then I might have a guess who is responsible for what happened."

 Chapter 31 - Als Clan (Part 1/2)

    ***********

    Great Central ins, two dayster.

    ***********

    "Huh?" Opening up his eyes, Al couldn''t believe what he saw. Staring wildly at the lush forest all around him, he quickly blinked his eyes in an attempt to tear off the illusion.

    But stubbornly enough, the sight before his eyes refused to fade away.

    Shaking his head, the warrior rose up to his knees then to a standing position, all in one, fluid motion. His fingers tightly grasped the long handle of his beloved axe. In this strange world around him, only the familiar feel of the trusty darkwood could put his mind at ease.

    "Al! Are you okay?! Where are you?!" The sudden appearance of voice instantly drew the man''s attention. Turning on the spot, he rushed towards the source of the sound. Cutting the nts on his way with quick swings of his trusty weapon, Al hurriedly made his way over to one of his friends.

    "Uffer! Over here!" Even though only a few steps separated them, only when Al started swinging his axe high above his head did the other party notice him.

    "Thank the great spirits!" Rushing towards his friend, Uffer soon grabbed his leader in a bear-like hug. Patting each other''s back, both of the men slightly rxed. At least they weren''t alone in this mad vision.

    "How nostalgic," A sudden rustling alerted both of the men. But even before neither of those two experienced warriors could even take a stance before a surprisingly young man appeared right in front of them.

    "Lessen!" Rather than fighting off with the thrill that their friend had served them, Al could only release a sigh of relief.

    ''No matter what''s going on, at least those two morons are with me.'' This time turning Lessen into a victim of an overbearing hug, Al quickly got rid of this moment of weakness in his soul.

    "Now then, where in all hells are we?" Distancing himself from the two of his sworn brothers, Al looked around once again. While the distances that initially separated them seemed to be roughly the same as their positions on the battlefield, the fight was going on right in the middle of the great in, not in some kind of dense forest!

    "Someone struck us unconscious and moved us somewhere else?" Uffer was the first to offer a suggestion. "Even if the time of the day is different, it proves nothing in that case."

    Raising his head to the skies covered by the tops of the trees, Uffer summarised his idea.

    "It could be that¡­" Moving his eyes from the old, massive beardie to the youngest of the three of them, Al could feel a strange shudder moved down his spine.

    ''It''s not his shaven face,'' looking to the side, the leader of the tribe attempted to pinpoint this strange feeling of his, yet to no avail. ''Just what in all hell is this feeling?''

    cing his hand on his massive chest, Al caressed the furry coat that served him ever since he stepped on that path of the warrior. A surge of memories appeared in the man''s mind, filling him with nostalgia after the long lost home and¡­

    And hope for building a new one.

    ''No matter what is going on, what I need to strive for doesn''t change'' Reinforcing his conviction, Al curled his fingers to a fist.

    "Hey, are you listening to me?" Forcing the man to regain his situational awareness, Lessen didn''t spare Al the annoyed, lecturing look. "Dang, you oldies can be really senile at times." Shaking his head with a nonchnt look on his face, Lessen wrapped his arms around his mostly exposed torso.

    Contrary to the two burlypanions of his, the youngster of the group was more of a lightweight. While that didn''t stop him from being the most lethal of the trio,ck of proper, warrior''s fur-armour seemed to be at his disadvantage right now.

    ''Wait, how could it be so cold?'' With another piece of the puzzle falling into its ce, Al suddenly brought his head up, looking at the shivering youngster.

    "If it''s so cold out here¡­ The distance from the ins had to be enormous. We were out maybe for a few hours, days at most. You can only travel so far in that span of a time." Shaking his head, Lessen''s face suddenly tensed up.

    ''It seems that he starts to feel uneasy too.'' This sudden thought appeared in Al''s head out of nowhere. And in that single moment, the background of this thought that his sharp mind promptly provided, allowed the leader to finally connect the dots.

    To finally pinpoint that annoying feeling that made his deepest innards shiver.

    "Brothers¡­" Attempting to share his guess with the rest, Al''s voice ended up stuck in his throat. On the other hand, hearing their leader addressing them in such a formal way, both of the warriors instantly caught up on how serious the situation was.

    "It''s not that we were moved in ce¡­" Before the warrior could even finish, a sudden buzz erupted in his head. As if someone was splitting his brain in two, this powerful warrior couldn''t stop his knees from giving up.

    Falling on his knees, he then rolled on the ground while a powerful force seemed to rip his entire mind apart.

    Then, it ended.

    Just like that, without any foretelling, the torturous event was over.

    "What the hell happened¡­" Raising weekly from the ground, Al looked around. Then, his eyes widened.

    What was rtively empty forest before, with the three of them talking things out, suddenly had some guests.

    Consisting of two bloodied groups, a party of about twenty people suddenly came awake amongst the trees.

    "Kill!" It took only a second before the first shout shook the air. Ignoring the change in their surroundings, both groups shook awake upon the first sight of the other. If not for the same drive that prompted the trio to jump into the fray, they wouldn''t be even able to react to the situation.

    Soon, the fighting came to a close. With all the red-coated oppressors now fertilising the forest bed, the remaining group instantly formed around Al.

    "Leader! What are your orders?!" Rather than swarming like some amateurs, the warriors of Al''s n properly formed up. Their request was passed by a single mouth of the officer that happened to appear amongst the group.

    "For now¡­" Alternating his sight between the ce where the scene just took ce and the location he came from, an unrelenting thought shook in Al''s head. Adding how he could roughly recognise the face and the name of the officer, yet another puzzle fell into Al''s palm.

    "What the hell happened here?!" Out of nowhere, a voice appeared. Before Al could give any orders, a bright figure suddenly broke through the tree crowns, heavilynding on the soft floor of the forest. Seeing the aura around the figure, Al''s insides tightened.

    Finally, he found the answer he was looking for. With all the clues that he got, he would have to be an idiot not to figure it out. But figuring out his situation didn''t mean it was any good.

    Tightening his fingers around the handle of his axe, Al made his first step.

    "A celestial¡­" Staring daggers at the man, Al continued his approach.. By the time he made his second steep, the rest of his nsmen shook the surprise off, properly taking the fighting stance. ''I have no idea how did you survive until now, but I will be sure to help you see your end!"

 Chapter 32 - Als Clan (Part 2/2)

    Taking a step forward, Al looked at the celestial with a grim look on his face.

    ''Now everything makes sense. If the barrier still stands, if the great spirits don''t respond, if the celestials are still here¡­'' Riling himself up more and more, resolve filled Al''s veins. Sensing the aura of their leader, his men fell in the formation, before following after him.

    All the while, the celestial looked at them with a confused look on his young and gentle face.

    Then¡­

    ''Not again¡­'' Before Al could even form his thought, the buzz returned. FIlling everyone''s mind with sense-shattering pain, itid waste to the formation of Al''s men. But at the same time, while falling to his knees once again, the leader of the n could see that the buzz worked on the celestial as well.

    ''Just what the hell is this thing!'' Shouting in his mind with desperation, Al could only shut his mind off when another wave of unbearable pain came.

    And then, just like before, everything came to an end.

    Groaning heavily as he moved his head to the side, Al confirmed that once again, the forest poption enriched. Given the dense vegetation, Al was no longer able to count the number of people appearing.

    "Ki¡­" Once again, the same scenario almost appeared. Almost, because rushing to his feet, Al shouted from the bottom of his powerful lungs.

    "CEASE THE FIGHTING!" His throat was burning. Even in battles he rarely would use this devastating technique. Not only was it extremely tiring, but its aftereffects would also leave the man nearly mute for a few days.

    Miraculously, it worked.

    Given their longsting enmity, the red banner tribe knew Al''s abilities pretty well. And using such unpractical technique just to stop them from killing each other had to have a reason.

    And surviving in the face of Gener''s tribe might for over twenty years, red banner nsmen were far from being too stupid to understand it.

    Ignoring the celestial altogether, Lessen jumped towards Al,nding on his knees right beside the leader of the tribe. Noticing the intent, Uffer quickly shielded the two of them with his enormous body d in thick furs.

    "Not¡­ ce¡­ moved.... time." Uttering those words through his burning throat with the utmost effort, Al had to rely on his friend''s help. "Barrier is still up¡­ Celestials¡­"

    Before Al could finish, Lessen''s eyes dted, before his eyebrows turned them into thin slits.

    "I understand. Leave it to me." Abandoning his leader without any shred of care, Lessen stood up. While Al finally could bring himself back to his feet, his close friends already approached the group of confused warriors from both ns.

    "Our grudge is no longer valid. We are back in the unforgiving world we fought so hard to thoroughly destroy." Lessen''s voice sounded grim. Utterck of hate on the youngster''s face even when he looked at the soldiers of the enemy n seemed to be the greatest factor behind his apparent credibility.

    Sadly, before he could utter another word, a pained groan alerted everyone''s attention. Clearly oveing a struggle far greater than either of the nsmen, the young celestial attempted to climb up to a half-sitting position, only to instantly roll to the side and start vomiting.

    "Oh fuck¡­" It was this sight that ultimately convinced both sides of the truth. In fact, even most of Al''s troops found themselves stupefied when they heard their officer''s exnation.

    But the aura of the man couldn''t be mistaken. Only those abandoned by spirits could possess the aura of the spirit''s envement!

    "Wait, what''s going on¡­?" Despite the ordeal he was going through, the sudden wave of the chilling cold born out of thebined killing intent of all the nsmen was still enough to shake the celestial awake.

    And the first thing he saw when a bit of sanity returned to his mind, was something that could be considered the worst nightmare.

    A huge group of burly, fur-d warriors whose weapons were already dripping with blood. And all of them stared at the young man with clear and unending hate in their eyes.

    "Wait, aren''t you¡­?" With his eyes suddenly widening in a shock so great that all the hints of fear disappeared from his disposition, the celestial attempted to say something, when his face suddenly twisted in the utmost terror.

    "No, no, NO! PLEASE NO¡­!" Surprised by such an act of cowardice from the member of this lofty race of celestials, nsmen were rooted on the spot. This young man wasn''t even a shadow of the terrifying monsters that they all had fought back in thete days of the apocalypse.

    Buzz¡­

    Striking out of nowhere, the strange force once again forced everyone into an embryonic position. With a headache capable of splitting mountains now targeting everyone''s brain, the entire forest turned silent as if someone threw a spell on it.

    Already slightly used to the torture, Al managed to look around. And just as expected, he could see people appearing out of nowhere, only to fall unconscious to the ground. Then, the torture ended once again.

    ''So that''s what''s going on¡­'' As little as the change was, Al was slowly getting used to the excruciating sensation. It wasn''t the first time when he had to toughen through something like that after all.

    "Make the others stop the fighting." Forcing the words out of his throat, Al instructed Lessen while standing up. Bit by bit, Al started to close the gap between him and celestial. Moving faster and faster with each inch, he was already running towards the youngling by the time he only started blinking his eyes.

    ''No hard feelings. I just can''t let you regain your strength.'' Swinging his hammer-holding hand to the back, Al dampened his momentum, stopping right above the youngling. Raising his axe high above his head, he looked down at the opening eyes of the celestial.

    "It''s either you or us. That''s how it always has been." Reaching the perfect position for the hit, Al got rid of the signs of mercy from his face, dressing up the proper expression of the n leader.

    In the end, even executions had their proper rituals.

    "I am Al, of the thundering axe. In the name of the Gener n," speaking up, Al swung his axe down, "I sentence you to death."

    mming the sharp edge of his axe right into the face of the young celestial, Al mercilessly split his head into two. And just as the brain matter and blood sttered on everyone around, a surge of energy washed over the ce, rejuvenating the nsmen tired after two days of constant fighting.

    "Ah, raise to the skies and be free, spirits." Feeling the familiar surge of strength, Al instantly fell to his knees before raising his arms high to the skies. Still holding the bloodied axe in his hand, his sight lost its sharpness as he stared into the ephemeral energy floating away.

    Then, his body suddenly tingled.

    ''Okay then, let''s get this over with.'' Turning his hand around to the rest of the warriors, Al smiled before uttering. "Whoever conquers the pain first, will have the right to im my leading role!"

    Encouraging both his and the formerly enemy nsmen, Al smiled.

    Then, the buzzing came once again.

 Chapter 33 - Mercenary Guild

    ''I wonder what the General would do¡­'' sunk in his thoughts, Layn wouldn''t even notice the city walls appearing in the distance if not for Irea pulling on his arm and pointing her hand towards it.

    "We finally reached the city!" The happy expression of the girl was poisonous. Once Layn looked at her face, his mood could no longer be as bad as before. "Do you have any ns for today?" Suddenly stopping in her tracks only to turn around and ask, Irea stared intently right down Layn''s eyes.

    Ever since the incident with the archmage carrying and taking general care of the girl, their rtionship turned slightly weird. Unsure how far should he read into the moment during which the girl helped him out, Layn didn''t want to move with things too fast.

    "No, not really. Some job, then lodging? Outside of that, I nned to stick with you for now." Sending a nce towards the outline of the city visible in the distance, Layn stood in his steps, gazing at the sight.

    Or rather, analyzing everything that he could learn from it. With no more words appearing between the two of them, the march continued. Soon, thendscape around the group also started to change.

    From the deste sands of the desert that seemed to reach all the way to this point, thend suddenly turned into a lush and colourful paradise. Various herbs grew freely while embracing the light of the sun. Low-ranked beasts and herds cattle popted this vast piece of opennd.

    And right amidst all those growing riches, a magnificent city stood.

    Its walls reached over twenty meters into the skies. Divided into sections by orderly set towers, the intimidating set of fortifications separated the bustling life of the town from the rtive calmness of the outside.

    "Okay, Sitra, Otter, take the bounties to the office. The rest of us goes as per usual." Turning his head to the back, Karter nodded at the archmage. "Layn, it includes you as well."

    Moving ahead right away, the middle-aged man led the group inside the walls. Initially worried about the guards checking their identity, Layn found that surprisingly, no one seemed to care who was entering the ce at all!

    "Don''tpare it to the warcamp. Out there, it''s the frontline. This city here," Irea stepped out in the open, spreading her arms wide, "is a shelter for everyone in the area."

    ''This killer smile,'' Layn identally ced his hand over his heart as if a sudden ache exploded in his chest before forcing a smile on his face as well. ''How can she be so cute?''

    It went without saying that even these short holidays in the ancient world were insufficient to heal his emotional wounds. While he managed to move on in terms of his past rtionship long ago, it didn''t mean those wounds have healed.

    ''As amusing as she is, every smile thisss cause is paid for with this pain¡­'' Pushing his palm harder against his chest as if he was attempting to beat out his own heart into submission, Layn quickly managed to triumph over his emotions.

    "I understand. But about that usual Karter mentioned, what is it?" Layn asked. In the end, it was still quite surprising to see the leader ordered his people around, even already at their destination.

    ''Didn''t they finish all their official matters before?'' Pondering over the problem, Layn followed the quick advance of his teammates. Soon, they arrived at the doorstep of an inconspicuous building. Right when Irea finally opened up her mouth and started to speak.

    "Right, you might not know. This is the mercenary guild. We came here to register our arrival and exchange the tokens we obtained at the camp."

    Exining the situation as the group went in, Irea quickly turned silent. Putting her hand at the handle of her short sword, her eyes shed with focus.

    On the other hand, Layn was pretty rxed. Because from the very moment he stepped into the building, a familiar atmosphere surrounded him. Rather than getting anxious, the archmage actually took a deep breath of the smokey air inside, allowing it to spread throughout his body, helping his muscles to react.

    ''Yeah, that''s the stuff¡­ No wonder that debate was so heated.'' Chuckling in his mind, Layn focused his sight once again.

    Contrary to his reaction to this ce, all the ancients from his group visibly tensed up. Coming closer together, they forced Layn to the very middle of the formation as they advanced towards the counter.

    "Perrien''s Mercenary Guild at your service, how can I help you?" After waiting in line for a few moments, they finally got to the registry. Sitting behind a table, an adorable looking young man asked with a shaky voice.

    ''Is this his first day or something?'' Casting a nce at the official, Layn quickly refocused his attention at Karter.

    "Wild Wolves mercenary group, we came to register our arrival and exchange the battlefield tokens."

    Pulling out a stack of paper coupons from one of his sacks, the middle-aged man passed them to the young man. Taking the papers, the official scanned them one by one, before hiding them below the counter and turning around to ring a bell behind him.

    "Yes?" In just a few moments, another attendant appeared behind the doors in the backside of the counter, casting a curious nce towards the source of the ringing.

    "Senior, we received thirty battlefield tokens. Could I trouble you to bring the gold?" Puzzled by the sight and ongoing exchange, Layn looked at Irea beside him before lightly poking her in her side.

    "What is this all about?" While Layn could already guess what was going on, it was still better to confirm his assumptions with those who actually knew the real answer to his question.

    "Ah, that''s simple. Ten of them will be taken as a fee since our group has ten people. The rest of them is exchanged for the gold ording to the local ratio." Looking up at the archmage''s face, Irea noticed the hints of confusion on it.

    "Listen. If someone travels all across the continent to participate in the battlefield, his remuneration should be greater, right?" Shaking her head with a slight annoyance behind her eyes, Irea added. "It''s not like we can do anything about it. That''s just how the higher powers decided for the entire thing to work."

    Shaking her shoulders, Irea looked back at the ongoing exchange. With the botched exnation already in ce, Layn could figure out the detailspletely on his own. But before he could do so, a low yet loud voice interrupted his train of thought, before a huge man suddenly forced his way through the ancients before cing his hand on Layn''s shoulder.

    "I have never seen you here before. Who are you?"

 Chapter 34 - Tradition

    "Nor do I know you. Begone." There was no point in bothering with crooks like the one that dared toy his hand on the archmage. But there was no way for Layn to ignore it if any insults or threats were thrown his way.

    That''s why, rather than instantly ring up or outright ignoring the intruder, he gave him a way off. A nice chance to reconsider and stop his foolish actions. But it would ultimately be that man to decide the route he would take.

    "Hah! A good answer!" Instead of going for the usual bullying of the new, the huge troglodyte that almost assumed this role was somehow cated by Layn''s words.

    "Excuse me, but I really do not care whether the answer is right or wrong. Would you mind not bothering me any longer?" Shaking the giant hand from his shoulder, Layn looked coldly at the man in front of him. And he would be pretty much willing to go further with his narration, if not for a sudden tug on his sleeve.

    Turning around, Layn once again saw the faces of the ancients. This time though, they were warped by anxiety and unease.

    "Not letting others push you around is a good thing, youngd." Shaking his smiling head, the man then suddenly stopped moving it as his expression darkened. "But one should know their limits. After all, what would you do if I could smash you with just two fingers of mine?"

    With a slightly devious smile creeping up on the lips of the giant man, Layn could only sigh with defeat. If that man really wanted to force a sh, then he wouldn''t be a rowdy adventurer if he were to refuse!

    "Those words are truly wise." Nodding his head to the smart sentence of the giant man, Layn quickly added. "But let me reiterate them. What would you do if I could squash you with a single finger of mine?"

    From the instant wave of whispers that shook the entire building along with constantly sinking expressions of his teammates, Layn could tell that the man in front of him was a figure he shouldn''t anger. But at the same time, rather than worrying about that man''s strength, he could use his authority to establish his own position!

    For a moment, the man went silent. ncing at the confident eyes of the archmage, he attempted to guess how much of his words was a bluff. But in the end, what was the oue of his inner calction remained confined safely behind the man''s skull.

    "You are actually right. I know not your strength, nor you do know mine. But to not make you pressured any longer¡­" With his smile widening, the man finally revealed what he had in mind "I''m actually the guild master of this mercenary branch. Meaning, whenever I see someone new, I need to assess their strength personally."

    And that was it for calmly resolving the situation. With how this man put the situation, there was little that Layn could do to avoid the sh.

    But doing so was never his intention in the first ce.

    "So the leader of the local mercenary guild is an arrogant prick who bullies everyone into submission then? I think it''s great that I came here then!" The easiest way to gain an advantage over others was to actpletely unpredictable.

    Layn could tell that what this local master expected, could be generally rounded up to the two basic options that humans had in a dangerous situation.

    To fight or to flee. But rather than openly standing against the man or submitting to his pressure, Layn actually managed to confuse him.

    "What?" Rather than answering, Layn turned around and looked at the anxious ancients from his group.

    "Or maybe I''m mistaken, maybe I''m a naive and stupid kid who doesn''t know anything about life at all. While thest part of what I said is actually true, let''s pretend that everything is. How else am I supposed to take your actions then rather than as a provocation?"

    If the man wanted to test his strength, there were many ways to go around it in a pleasant and cultured manner. But he came here to pick a fight with the archmage, and Layn''s pride didn''t allow him to ignore the glove he was unlitarely smacked in the face with.

    "I¡­ I''m not a guild master for nothing. If you think you can just go around and nder me¡­" After a moment necessary to push his thoughts back on the right track, the guild master attempted to sound threatening, only for his intent to failpletely when Layn interrupted his words.

    "If someone steals, they are a thief. If someone overestimated their strength and meaning, they are arrogant. If someone is bullying others, then he is a bully. There is no nder when one names things as they are." Layn didn''t intend to let this man do as he wished. Even if this ce was just a temporary stop for him, given how he would most likely spend quite a lot of time at this age, there was an urgent need for him to gainmon acknowledgement as a powerhouse.

    "You¡­ Well, you are right. I''m a big, arrogant bully. What are you going to do about it?" Unable to keep up with Layn''s sharp tongue, the giant man finally decided to drop the appearances and be true to his real desires.

    "What am I going to do about it? Absolutely nothing." Replying to the man''s smile with one of his own, Layn finished. "Your childish act is not a grudge that would make me take your life. You will need to try a little bit harder for that."

    Waving his hand in an attempt to shoo the man away, Layn turned his face back towards the counter. Ever since this unexpected raffle began, the ongoing exchange of tokens stopped. Only when Layn threw him an annoyed look did the attendant scrambled to finish the work.

    Given how Layn just acted rude to the guild master, it was understandable that the attendant wanted to have nothing to do with the scuffle.

    "Great then!" cing his hand at the handle of arge sword strapped to his belt, the giant man suddenly let out a low growl, which quickly turned into heartyughter.

    "Everyone! This is the attitude that the mercenaries should have!" After eximing and taking Layn by surprise with that, the giant man suddenly turned back and looked at the archmage''s face. "Pardon the earlier.. You could say it''s a tradition of sorts to put down any potentially arrogant newbies. My name is Kasher, what is your name, youngd?"

 Chapter 35 - What The Future Holds

    "I''m Layn. It''s a pleasure to meet you." In the end, the archmage didn''t have anything against the guild or its master in the first ce. If this was the kind of ritual that everyone joining the mercenaries had to go through, then there was no need to bring his personal pride to it.

    As stupid and uncivilised as the tradition of bullying newbies in the submission could be, it was effective. Even in Layn''s own time, various forms of initiation still existed, even if they were lesser in scale and intensity. Because when it came to creating bonds between people who had to trust each other, only by pushing one to the limit would others learn his true value.

    "Tell me,d, did youe here to join our guild? While it''s not the best job that one could dream of, if you are not a merchant of craftsman and your spirit doesn''t wish to toil the earth till the end of your days, there is hardly any better job out there!" Patting a huge board with various pieces of drawings snapped to it, Kashar smiled.

    "I''m sorry, but I don''t think it''s a good idea yet. Since my foundations are pretty weak for now, I would rather focus on improving them for now." Replying with a smile to a smile, Layn looked at the ancients surrounding him. "Once I will make sure that I''m not a pushover, I will dly take you up on your offer."

    For the ancients behind the archmage, it was actually quite hard to keep their faces straight. GIven how they experienced this single, humble man taking on an entire group of experts, most of which were two stars, hearing how he imed to be a pushover, only a single question appeared in all of their heads at once.

    ''If you are a pushover, then who the heck are we?''

    "Ah, it''s a pity. But I won''t be as reckless and irresponsible as to invite someone too weak to participate in the missions." mming his fist against the counter of the reception to ent his words, Kashar smiled. "Once you reach the rank of a one-star soldier or two-star novice, we will wee you with open arms!"

    Making his im, the guild master lightly beaconed with his hand. As if it was some kind of secret code, a servant with a cup of beer appeared almost in an instant, only to pass the mug to the giant man.

    "Until then¡­" Taking a huge sip of the beer, Kashar then mmed the contained down on the table before waving the group away with a huge smile on his head, "get the fuck out of my sight, you arrogant prick!"

    Even though the words were harsh, the smile on the man''s face proved that he wasn''t really angry.

    ''I guess there will always be some rowdy people all over the ce.'' Smiling to his own thoughts, Layn followed the rest of his group as everyone prepared to leave. But right as they stepped outside, Irea instantlytched to his side.

    "How could you be so reckless!" Several light hits to Layn''s shoulderter, Irea''s fist finally stopped attacking the archmage. "He was a damned guild leader, you know? Don''t scare me like that in the future!"

    Turning her words into mutter as she realised what she just said, Irea wanted to back off, only to realise that Layn already grabbed her arm, refusing to let her go.

    "In the future?" Feeling better after soaking in the familiar atmosphere of rowdy mercenaries, Layn decided to conquer his own fears. After the pitiful end of hisst rtionship, he was quite repulsed by the idea of starting a new one. But with every moment that he spent with this particr girl, not teasing her was turning harder and harder!

    "What kind of future, I wonder?" Pulling on the girl''s arm, Layn stepped closer himself, only to put his face right in front of Irea''s eyes. Looking deeply into her eyes, Layn waited for a moment before suddenly retracting himself and taking a step back.

    Raising his hands in the air, he then added. "Just a joke. I''m not that boring to catch you by the words." Gracing the girl with a mischievous smile, Layn finally resumed his normal walk. But after following the ancients for a short while, he suddenly recalled quite an important question.

    "Hey, Irea!" Calling the girl out, Layn sessfully managed to get the girl''s attention. "Would you be so kind as to give me an advice? While I know what I''mcking, I''m not really sure what should I do topensate for it¡­" This problem was pretty clear to the archmage ever since a while ago, but he simply didn''t want to tackle it before he would be forced to.

    And now that they were in the city, the time when Layn would inevitably split ways with the group was looming closer and closer.

    ''In the end, I cannot leech on their sympathy for much longer.'' It wasn''t even a problem of morals, but of Layn''s personal beliefs. In the end, as long as he could obtain just a few monster cores, he could quickly recreate the power that made him the royal archmage back in the future.

    With such possibilities in the background, relying on the help of the ancient would not only make it hard for Layn to cooperate with them ever again, but it would also even slow his rate of growth!

    "Ah, isn''t it obvious?" Contrary to all the borate ns that Layn already set for his near future, Irea didn''t seem to treat his question as anything serious. "Didn''t you notice that we only exchanged a small number of tokens?"

    As soon as the topic appeared, the rest of the ancients within the group suddenly wobbled in ce, before quickly regaining proper walking pace. Although their strange behaviour was only momentary, the fact that all of them turned their heads away from the archmage was enough to prove that something really was going on.

    "Yeah. But after your exnation, I thought you were just going to venture further ind to get a better price for them. Isn''t that the case?" While he didn''t know the exact numbers, it was clear that those ancients could obtain more money just by travelling deeper into the continent. And given how the desert would be hidden behind the barrier for the next three months, wasn''t this the most obvious course of action for them?

    "Ah, silly. We all decided to save a hundred tokens not to sell them somewhere else for a better price.." Stopping in her tracks, Irea turned around and graced Layn with a lovely, happy smile of hers. "We saved those tokens to pay for your enrollment!"

 Chapter 36 - Get Your Filthy Hands Off Her

    "Enrolment?" Stunned by what Irea clearly took for the answer to his question, Layn turned even more confused instead. While the word itself wasn''t foreign to him, the meaning behind it was simply too abstract for Layn to acknowledge it right away.

    "Yeah. You said that youck proper foundations, didn''t you?" Sending a light nudge to Layn''s side, Irea quickly trodded out of the archmage''s reach, avoiding the retribution. "Isn''t the cultivation academy the best choice then?"

    ''As if.'' Shrugging at just the idea of entering some kind of school once again, dread befell Layn''s soul. Not because the school seemed scary to him for some reason, but because of how useless and wasteful going to one would be!

    ''On the other hand though,'' suddenly struck by a realisation, Layn looked around. Everywhere around, everything was different to what he remembered from his own time. The buildings, the clothing of the people around them, their possessions¡­

    Heck, even the food on the street-stalls was starkly different, although the heavy use of oil and spices was just the same. But if just being out in the open of the street was so rich in the experience of the ancient world, wouldn''t a school be a perfect way to learn somemon sense?

    "First off, I''m not okay with all of you pitching in just¡­" Turning to the wider audience, Layn directed his words to the rest of the group as well. But before he could finish, Karter and Sitra stepped forward. Passing a sheet of paper forward, the leader of the group looked calmly in the archmage''s face.

    "This is the list of spoils that we obtained from the vagabonds you killed." While it was only Layn''s guess, it seemed as if using Kerren''s name out in the open could cause them some trouble. Lowering his eyes down on the markings on the page, the archmage once again cursed the fact that he was unable to read local letters or numbers.

    "On the right side, Sitra calcted the overall worth of those tokens we saved for you." Pointing his finger at the specific parts of the paper, Karter exined its content. "I assumed you wouldn''t like to be indebted to us, so here is the offer."

    Passing the long piece of paper to Layn, Karter straightened before rising his eyes at the archmage. "Out of the fair share of the spoils that you imposed, we will deduct the equivalent of a hundred tokens. Irea, exin the rest."

    After being waved at, Irea once again stepped forward, even going as far as grabbing Layn''s hand to bring his attention to her face. "It''s just easier to use tokens rather than in money when talking about the academy. Think of it as epting someone by rmendation rather than an outright fee."

    Clutching her hands around Layn''s arm, Irea smiled. Then, her eyes twitched, only for her body to freeze in ce.

    "Teacher?" Shouting from the other side of the street, a youth in rtively in robes made a surprised face. Then, his shock turned into delight, as he and a group of people around him instantly raced forward.

    "Teacher, I''m so d to see you back in good health!" Stopping right before the girl, the leader of the pack instantly bowed before bringing his face up. Putting a wide smile on his lips, the youngling started his litany.

    "Oh, may the days without Teacher''s guidance be cursed¡­ If the only academy could properly recognise your skills and worth, teacher¡­" Praising Irea to the skies for things that Layn had no idea about, somehow turned into a sting on the archmage''s soul.

    ''Who does he think he is, this little maggot,'' cursing the aggressive youth, Layn moved his eyes on the petrified girl beside him. Noticing his look, the girl slightly turned her head away. But for some reason, her eyes were filled with anxiety.

    ''Is this idiot bothering her or¡­'' Swallowing the sour pill that the other possible exnation would mean, Layn kept a gentle smile on his face.

    "Oh, and the elder is here too! Let us pay the proper respect!" Noticing the duo right beside me and Irea, the youth turned to them, cupped his hands and bowed his head.

    "Third ss pays respect to the elder!" Bowing their heads in a disciplined manner, not only the leader of the group but all of his friends lowered themselves before Karter and Sitra.

    "Going back to the topic," In the end, Layn decided to ignore the interruption and pick up right when everyone left. "If you put it like that, then there is no reason for me to refuse." Shaking his shoulders, Layn then let go of Irea''s hand and moved it towards the duo.

    "The pleasure is ours. I will let the three of you deal with this situation." Stepping aside, Karter clearly wanted no piece of the discussion that was bound to happen here. With a vicious smile on his face, he raised his hand only to wave them goodbye. Rushing ahead, he then pulled the rest of the group, leaving only Layn, Irea, Sitra and a group of overzealous children on the street.

    "Either way," Barely stopping himself from pping his palm against his forehead, Layn moved back to his previous position. Then, a mischievous thought appeared in his head.

    "If you will excuse me," Sneaking forward, Layn grabbed Irea''s hand back. Feeling the shiver that this action sent travelling down the girl''s body, he raised his eyes at the group before him. "You might''ve failed to notice, but we were in the middle of something. Do me a favour and leave catching up for someter moment, alright son?"

    Irea violently shook her head, sending a terrified look at Layn''s face.

    This alone dealt critical damage to the man''s soul, heavily disturbing his pride and possessiveness. ''So in the end, that''s what she was worried about a moment ago.'' Solving the puzzle, Layn felt strange, nearly forgotten emotions slowly sprouting in him.

    "Hey, I don''t know who you are, but out of respect for yourpanions I paid you no heed.." Stepping forward, the Youth proved that ultimately all his politeness was just for show. "Now, get your filthy hands off my teacher, or don''t me me for getting violent!"

 Chapter 37 - Ireas Student

    "Excuse me?" Layn''s eyes opened in shock when he heard the young man''s words. After the disy of perfect hospitality and politeness, this was how he acted towards a clear guest of his teacher?

    ''And what''s with the two of them being teachers and elders? Could it be the reason¡­?'' Pondering over the situation in his head, Layn looked amiably at the kids in front of him. Initially, it was Layn''s shock that stopped him from flying into a rage. But in the end, it was just pity that held his fury.

    "Layn, please¡­" Before the youth could make the situation any worse, Irea intervened. Turning with a frightful expression towards the archmage, she looked at him with pleading eyes.

    "You know, this kind of hurts." Calmly reaching for the girl''s head, Layn rustled her hair before allowing the sadness to appear in his eyes. "I''m not some kind of monster that goes around killing kids."

    ''If I let them run their mouth, the situation will only escte. A small disy should be enough to keep them back.'' Even though Layn didn''t n to cause trouble for the girl, it didn''t mean the other party was willing to make things easy for him. But since Irea clearly didn''t wish for him to cause a scene¡­

    "The young lives ording to their own dreams of greatness." Recing the sad look with a gentle, amiable smile, Layn removed his hand from the girl''s head only to pick up her hand instead. "Isn''t this our role as adults to cut them some ck?"

    Going as far as sending a quick wink to the girl, Layn forced Irea''s fingers apart only to push his own fingers in the gaps. sping his hold on the girl''s hand down, Layn then looked at the youth in front of him with a triumphant look on his face.

    ''What are you going to do now, kiddo?'' Amused by the sheer fact that such a weakling dared to pick a fight with him, Layn could no longer feel any hostility towards the kid.

    "I said, get your filthy hands off her!" Contrary to Layn''s expectations, this kid turned out to be far more stupid than he hoped for. "Men, get him!" Pushing his hand forward, the youth ordered.

    In an instant, the ce turned crowded. As if half of the people walking on the street turned out to be assassins in hiding, a mass of people threw themselves to forcefully part the two.

    "Layn, I beg you." Incapable of tearing off the look of dread from her face, Irea grasped Layn''s palm with both of her hands. Looking at him with tearful eyes, she didn''t even attempt to hide the shaking of her body.

    "Didn''t I tell you?" Shaking his head in response, Layn used his free hand to pull one of the leftover stones from the recent fight. Given how all the enemies failed to conquer just the initial formation, Layn still had a few useful tricks up his sleeve. "I''m not some kind of monster."

    Contrary to his words, Layn''s mood turned vicious. Pressing the activator of the formation, the archmage threw the inscribed stone on the floor. Upon touching the ground, the air around the two seemed to stale for a short moment, before everything returned to normal.

    Then, the mass of people crashed right into Layn''s formative barrier. Completely see-through and devoid of any harmful parts, it only served to separate two parts of space. And this was where Layn''s vicious n to put the youngling down begun.

    "Hey." Forcing the girl beside him out of the daze she entered when her worries didn''te to fruition, Layn looked her in the eyes. "Since I epted the deal, that means I will be joining the academy you spoke about, right?"

    Ignoring the pain on his soul from the moments when she was clearly scared of him, Layn put on a genuine smile. With some of the long-dead emotions now returning to him, he was fully keen on pushing along the path they were directing him towards.

    "Yeah, what about it?" Genuinely surprised by Layn''s inquiry, Irea widened her eyes slightly.

    "From what I heard, it seems that you are some kind of teacher in that academy. And since that''s the case, then how about letting me live in your ce?" Moving slightly forward, Layn brought Irea''s hand up, right between their corbones. Still keeping his sight glued to the girl''s twitching eyes, Layn revelled in the intimate atmosphere created by the barrier.

    "I¡­ Huh?" Forced to answer such an unexpected question out of nowhere, Irea hesitated. With her eyes escaping Layn''s scrutiny, she noticed the immense crowd of practitioners failing to put even a single dent on the barrier.

    ''So that''s what he is going for¡­'' Despite all her ws, Irea wasn''t stupid or slow. Even though it was just a hint, she still managed to notice a faint echo of satisfaction on this strange expert''s face. Connecting the dots from there was fairly simple.

    "If you insist, then sure. Be my guest!" Answering decisively with all her hesitation from before now gone, Irea regained herposure. Freeing her hand from Layn''s hold, she moved both of her hands up to fix the outer part of his robe.

    "Great then!" Once again grabbing the girl''s hand, Layn brought it to his lips only to ce a gentle peck on the outer part of the girl''s palm. With sparks of joy appearing in his eyes, he then lowered his head over Irea''s ear.

    "How about we get to move right away?" Kneeling for a moment to pick up the stone he threw a moment ago, Layn sent another wink to the girl before pushing forward. With the centre of the barrier now changing ce, the veil of energy that shielded the two of them followed right after them. Pushing the men of this one annoying student to the sides, it didn''t take long before the two of them appeared right before the arrogant youth.

    "I will ignore what you attempted to do today since it ended up quite nicely for the two of us.. Just be sure to remember, cross my line in a situation when Irea won''t be there to hold me back," Smiling at the furious youth, Layn leaned his head on his shoulder before finishing, "otherwise you will learn why she was so desperate to stop me from taking action in the first ce."

 Chapter 38 - In The City

    "Thanks for going easy on them." Hugging Layn''s arm, Irea grasped his hand slightly tighter. "He went super overboard, and I will have him punished but¡­ If anything were to happen to him in my presence, it would be a huge pain in the ass."

    Exining the situation as they moved towards the academy, Irea didn''t let go of Layn''s arm even for a moment. Even when he took his barrier down, the girl remained glued to his side.

    "I expected something like that. But seriously, kids are stupid. If we take everything they say and do on face value, humanity would die off long ago." Shaking his shoulders, Layn still couldn''t be bothered with the problematic youth from before. The only reason why he didn''t like the guy was due to its clear advances towards the girl that Layn already set his sights on.

    "Yeah, for my reaction back then¡­ I apologise." Lowering her head as her hands tightened around Layn''s arm, Irea looked to the side. Noticing the uneasy look on her now hidden face, Layn couldn''t help but sigh over how adorable this girl was.

    "Not a problem. I was prepared for it ever since I killed off that entire group of vagabonds." Shaking his head to indicate that it really wasn''t a problem for him, Layn looked towards the direction they were heading to. "Changing the topic, is this the academy you spoke of?"

    Pointing his hand at a hugeplex of impressive buildings gathered within apound fenced off from the rest of the town. High towers stood guard over the two visible gates, and two more located beyond Layn''s field of view. Even though the fence didn''t look to be sturdy at all, the patch of perfectly emptynd surrounding a set of walls proper made it nearly impossible to approach the ce stealthily.

    "Yeah. It used to be a fortress on its own¡­ But as the city expanded, the former role of this ce became irrelevant." Looking at the sight with her eyes slightly widened in awe, Irea immersed herself in the history of the ce. "After all, what roads could that fortress guard, if it was already within the city itself?"

    Step by step, the three of them made their way towards theplex. With Sitra keeping up his appearances of a mute, Layn only had the girl to talk with during their leisure journey.

    "Okay, we reached the teacher''s quarters." As soon as the group got off one of the three huge bridges connecting the two sides of the town, Irea announced. Then, Sitra pulled on Layn''s robe.

    Still not speaking anything at all, he simply pointed his hand at the bigpound in the distance before bowing his head down.

    "Right, Sitra lives in the elder''s quarters. Since you decided you want to live with me for the time being, we will be parting our ways here." Nodding her head to the scout of the group, Irea promptly nudged Layn''s side to make him do the same.

    With their farewells silently exchanged, Sitra turned around before moving towards the bigpound, while Irea pulled on Layn''s hand, guiding him towards the smaller streets. Bit by bit, the shops around them turned into homes. What used to be a trading area, quickly turned into a calm settlement, filled with two-storey buildings.

    "We are here. Just don''t raise your expectations too much." Stopping the archmage before one of the buildings, Irea pressed her hand against the door before pushing forward. Sadly, rather than instantly entering the lodging, Irea actually moved to the stairs, quickly reaching the second floor. Only there, after choosing one of the two doors, she finally reached her home.

    "I don''t know what you meant before, this ce is quite nice!" Dropping the few bags that he had on himself directly on the floor, Layn looked around the ce. Divided into two rooms, one of which served as the living area while the other one had some rugsid out for a bed.

    "Stop it. I''m not an elder like Sitra to live in afortable house. This is all I can afford with my entry-level teacher wage." Putting a sour smile on her face, Irea moved to the other room. With a rustling sound of her robes sliding down her fair skin, the girl began to change her outfit.

    "Give me just a moment." Not daring to try his luck at all, Layn obediently remained in the living area, admitting the ingenious design of the kitchen and heating. While some of the engineering solutions were tooplicated for the archmage to see through in an instant, just the fact that a firece could be ignited with just a single pull of a lever only proved how sophisticated this system was.

    "Okay.. I need a few moments to go deal with my stuff. Take a short rest here, I wille to pick you up to get you registered once Ie back, okay?"

 Chapter 39 - What Is Love?

    (A/N baby don''t hurt me, don''t hurt me, no more)

    Once the girl left, Layn finally had some time that he oh so desperately needed for himself. Because ever since he managed to replicate the cultivation thing of the ancients back when he absorbed the energy from the mana crystal, he has yet to properly sit down and analyze it.

    Even though the archmage had plenty of time on his hands while the entire group was travelling, the fact that he was constantly surrounded by the keen eyes of his teammates made it impossible to experiment with his own cultivation.

    Only now, without anyone in sight and enclosed within a room, Layn could sit down and observe the situation of his own body.

    "Right now, about half of the energy from this rope goes into the trantion spell and reinforcing buff." Making a mental note, Layn made sure to cut all the unnecessary leaks of energy before focusing on the state of his body.

    Right now, the energy that he absorbed through the rope ever since its creation already reached a state of strange flow within his flesh. While part of the energy constantly umted in his aura, despite splitting the spare energy equally between his own magic and the magic of the ancients, the feeling that his inner power gave, was on an entirely different level.

    "Could it be¡­" After fixing several minor ws that the archmage managed to find in his inner flesh, the flow of his internal magic only strengthened even further. Whenpared to the weakass energy contained by his aura, it seemed that the ancient methods were actually far better!

    That is if someone wasn''t as knowledgeable as Layn. Because while cultivation appeared to be far superior in every aspect now that he was training it, Layn could already tell that the ultimate cap of how strong one could get seemed to be artificially limited by something!

    On the other hand, the normal magic that Layn knew and practised to absolute limits had no such thing as a limitation. Just like his slightly failed arcana, as long as one could properly amass enough energy, any feat would be possible!

    "Either way, the easiest way to get stronger right now¡­" Before Layn could finish his words, the cracking of the door could be heard. Quickly reced by the sound of steps, then someone climbing the stairs before the doors to Irea''s room opened up once again, with the girl herself casting a curious nce at the archmage.

    "Am I not disturbing you?" Prompted by the girl''s question to look around, Layn realised just what kind of position he has assumed. Sitting on the edge of the girl''s bed, he rested his elbows on his legs while holding up his chin in a small curve made by his hands. From the girl''s perspective, he looked as if he was sitting there and just judging her!

    "Ah, sorry, I was lost in my thoughts." Putting the girl''s question aside, Layn stood up from his seat before looking at the girl meaningfully. "Now that you are back, I assume¡­"

    Irea''s eyes twitched slightly when she saw how ready the archmage was to follow her. The surprise in her eyes quickly turned into mischief, as she stepped several paces forward, before putting her arms around the man''s neck.

    "What, are you going to tell me that this registration is so important¡­" Using one of her hands to pull down the piece of her robe, Irea went as far as to reveal nearly her entire cleavage in a random attempt at seduction.

    ''What am I doing¡­'' Partway through her move, Irea''s hand suddenly stopped, leaving Layn with nothing but the sight of the side of the delicious looking mound atop the girl''s upper body.

    "I hope you do not expect me to back off now." Completely dropping the idea of some kind of registration, Layn moved his hands forward before cing them on the girl''s shoulders. With her body already pressed tightly to his, the archmage actually needed to use quite a bit of strength to make the girl let go of his neck.

    "Huh?" Torn between Layn''s actions and words, Irea clearly didn''t know what to expect. Standing there with a confused expression, she simply continued staring at Layn''s face, as if it was the only source capable of answering her doubts.

    "You see, I don''t want to push my luck, so I will be frank instead." Rather than beating around the bush for the next few years only to ultimately get the girl with several buckets worth of someone else''s semen inside her, Layn decided to make his move directly.

    In the end, what was this new life of his if not an opportunity to fix the mistakes he did in his past?

    "Ever since you helped me out with cultivation back then, or rather, when you kissed me, I had my eyes set on you. To be perfectly honest, I was curious about you ever since we met, but with every passing moment, I became only more and more infatuated with you."

    Speaking his feelings directly, Layn entered a strange state of mind quite simr to how he felt during the siege of Azkernal. Just like back then, his consciousness appeared to leave his head, allowing his deepest desires to control his actions. Back during the siege, it allowed the younger version of archmage to survive the onught, right now, it gave him a chance to directly confess.

    "I''m sorry for being super frank, but I can''t tell if it''s love or not. As you know, I didn''t really know a lot of people in my life¡­" Referring back to the same backstory he was using so far, Layn smiled. In the end, this backstory of his wasn''t all that different to his earliest years.

    "So whether this attraction, this intense need to keep you all for myself can be called love." Suddenly raising his head, Layn looked into the teary eyes of the girl who was too shocked by the sudden confession to react in any way or form. "But I''m not going to just give up on it, because of myck of confidence!"

    Suddenly pulling on his hands, Layn brought the girl back into his embrace, before pushing his lips directly towards her mouth."

 Chapter 40 - Feats Of The Ancients

    "Umh, mhhhm!" At first, Irea didn''t offer any resistance. Happily epting Layn''s lips, she immersed herself in the pleasure. But after just a short moment, her face suddenly tensed up.

    "Umph. Oph. Stop!" Freeing herself from Layn''s arms, Irea leaned backwards before lowering her head and stabilising her breath.

    "You didn''t like it?" As soon as the first sign of resistance appeared, Layn backed off. Rxing his hold on the girl''s arms, he allowed her to escape from his direct reach.

    In the end, if he wanted a whore, there were bound to be some whorehouses around. If the girl was resisting him, Layn had no wish to push her any further.

    "It''s not like that¡­" Turning her head to the side, Irea avoided Layn''s curious stare. "It''s not the time for it." Pushing her hands forward, Irea forced Layn a single step back.

    "I had to enlist Sitra''s help to get you to the registration." The girl''s aura slightly changed. With her shyness reced by annoyance, she stared daggers at the man in front of her. "You are not going to waste this opportunity by beingte!"

    Grabbing the man''s hand, Irea swiftly pulled him outside. Not giving Layn any time to analyze the situation, she brought him back to the outside before forcing her way towards the fortress of the academy.

    "Wait, so does that mean¡­" Unable to catch up with the events, Layn got confused. And in this confusion, those words managed to slip out.

    "If it''s past the sunset and we are alone, back in my ce¡­" Despite pushing forward at a breakneck pace, Irea still managed to somehow clearlymunicate this message.

    "Great, let''s focus on the registration first, then." Rather than nailing down the point, Layn decided to give the girl some breathing room. In the end, whenpared to his previous, naive self, Irea would have to basically throw herself at him for his dense former self to notice her advances.

    But even if the archmage changed past Ortensia''s betrayal, it didn''t mean he knew the ropes of acting forward. That''s why, as much as he wanted to press the topic, his less proactive self made him wary of just scaring the girl away.

    Thanks to this mindset, the duo managed to reach the academy grounds in a rtively short time. Yet due to the pace ordained by the girl, by the time they were only passing the outer gate to thepound, Layn was already soaking wet from his own sweat.

    ''So much for improved body condition thanks to the ancient''s magic¡­'' Comining inwardly, Layn didn''t waste the chance to look around even before they moved past the inner set of the proper walls.

    ''As magnificent as it looks¡­ How would they defend against long-range attacks?'' As much as Layn wanted to shake his head over the naivete of the ancients, he couldn''t afford to act spoiled like that.

    Because judging from the situation yesterday, this ce had a chance to be filled with freaks, willing to curse one''s entire family line just because of a small, meaningless insult.

    "Wee to the academy." Speaking up for the first time since her intimate confession, Irea opened up her arms as if she wanted to embrace the whole ce. Even though this was obviously not the first nor the second time she entered the ce, a gleam of excitement in her eyes had yet to die out.

    "Seems¡­ nice?" Staring at a huge patch of opennd surrounded by the high walls, Layn refused to be honest for once.

    ''Paradise.''

    On the outside, the walls loomed over the city menacingly, giving testimony to the capabilities of the power hidden behind them. But on the inside, they only seemed to protect the happy locals from the constant noise of the city.

    ''It''s like a city within a city¡­'' Staring in awe at the cute roads connecting various gazebos sprawling around the ce, Layn felt that any attempt at voicing his amazement would end up stuck in his throat.

    "Yeah, yeah, pretend all you want. There is only one way to react when seeing this ce for the first time." Despite how hurried she was before, Irea still found the time to just stop and let the archmage have his fill of the sight.

    "Okay, I''m okay now. Shall we go?" Lying through his teeth, Layn looked a the cheerful girl beside him.

    Once again putting his legs to work, Layn continued to curse his own naivety. ''How could I be so arrogant! It''s not even the first time for this world to do me dirty like that!'' Internally screaming at his ownck of foresight, Layn could only make sure that the state of his spirit wasn''t reflected on his face.

    ''First that barrier, now this ce¡­ I greatly underestimated the ancients!'' For the second time ever since he moved in time, Layn noticed the discrepancy between his expectations and reality.

    With the arrogance of someoneing from a more enlightened society, he disregarded the fact that the people around him were not powerless either. And looking at this miracle of an architecture that didn''t appear to obey the naturalws that Layn knew off, he had no other choice but to admit to the sad truth.

    The feat of the ancients didn''t fall short even whenpared to what modern technology and knowledge could create!

    "Stop dozing off! We are almost there!" Noticing how this strange man beside her sunk into his own thoughts, Irea nudged him in the side. Forced awake by the sudden burst of light pain, Layn turned his eyes towards the girl.

    As little as this action mattered in the grand scheme of thing, Layn took it for the best sign possible. Back in his original time, whenever he wanted to be intimate with Ortensia, the princess would make a great deal about it. On the other hand, there was this girl on his side.

    Even though they didn''t reach the stage that Layn did with the future princess, Irea was already far more open to an actual show of gentle friendship, even if only in form of a gentle nudge.

    "Okay, okay, I''m all focused now." Lying once again, Layn didn''t even attempt to push the thoughts about the girl from his head.

    Taking Layn''s words for a good note, Irea nodded her head before pushing the doors of what seemed like a random building open.

    "This is where the registration takes ce. Just please¡­" Stopping for a moment, Irea turned her head around with worry.. "Don''t make a mess."

 Chapter 41 - Arrogance And Humility

    In contrast to the rest of the rtively open area, the registration room was built ording to the standard architectonical thought. Pretty simr to the buildings outside of the academy grounds, it consisted of a huge entry room, with roughly a third of the building hidden behind it.

    "Come closer." As soon as Layn made his way inside, he was met with a row of five people. Sitting across a long table on the other end of the room, they all glued their eyes to the archmage.

    Moving forward, Layn observed the group in return to the curious stares they were throwing at him. Suddenly recognising one of the faces, Layn froze in his steeps, about halfway from the group of elders.

    "Introduce yourself." Sitting in the middle, an olddy waved her hand without a care, as if she was swatting a fly. But it was Sitra''s encouraging smile to her side that helped Layn regain his senses.

    "I''m Layn. I am a disciple of the desert schr. I came here to learn about the foundations and details that my master omitted while teaching me." Gently bowing his head, Layn recited the story he created.

    "It''s just another stray dog. Don''t you guys know how soft this guy is?" A voice of dissatisfaction came from the utter left of the table. Sitting there, an old witch stared daggers at the archmage. "Can we just get it over with? I refuse to ept him. Move on."

    Shooting the words out of her mouth without even a moment of thought, thedy looked at Sitra with a triumphant smile.

    "Since Lady Serene disapproves¡­" As soon as the man sitting beside the old witch started speaking, something snapped in Layn''s memories. It was as if the memory of Irea asking him not to cause any trouble, suddenly disappeared.

    "Okay, since you don''t want to y nice, let me be straightforward." Speaking up before the man to his left could finish his words, Layn smiled viciously at the group. "I can take all of you one on one, or all of you at once. Let''s speed things up as I cannot be bothered to y around with lowlifes like you."

    Stepping forward, Layn forcefully stopped himself from smiling when he saw the elders rising up from their seats.

    "How dare you!" Instantly riled by the unexpected bout, the witch-lookingdy drove her energy, stepping at the table and kicking it back to move even faster.

    Unfortunately for her, Layn didn''t hold back at all. And dropping a pebble on the floor was quite a lot faster than jumping over the distance that separated them.

    WHAM!

    Exploding outwards, the formation inscribed into the stone forcefully repelled the reality, using the sheer force of aligning the natural currents of energy to bend the rules of the world around them.

    "Now that we have settled it, let''s speak about the matter at hand." After his encounter with Kerren, Layn could no longer be bothered to act amiably towards arrogance. Using most of his spare time on the journey to craft more formations for his own safety, the archmage managed to settle the fight before it began with the help of one of those formations.

    "What the hell is going on?!" Still raging, Lady Serene attempted to punch the curiosity away, only to be smacked right back by the equal force. But it wasn''t all.

    Whenpared to this one vicious woman, the other elders didn''t fare any better. Whileck of attacks saved them from hitting themselves, in this confusing space even moving around was extremely counterintuitive.

    "First off, there was a question. How dare I." After getting ustomed to the new physics of the world around him, Layn slowly trodded forward. Even knowing the rules of the formation didn''t make it any easier to move around in it.

    The trick was pretty simple and was based on the difference between slow and fast deploying formations. The slow deployment allowed the new rules to slowly align with the world, often permanently changing the reality in their core. With slow formations, once it would be deployed, it wouldst until someone would break it.

    The fast formations worked quite differently though. Compared to the slow ones, they didn''t require a long umtion period where the new flow of energy would slowly mould the local area into its own rules.

    Rather than leaving the job of amassing energy to the natural forces, one could supply the formation core with the energy necessary to snap the reality around into the one of formation itself.

    While there were several benefits to using quick formation, in Layn''s original timeline, people learned how to defend themselves against those. In such a setting, only the durable, longsting formation had any real military use.

    On the other hand, in this world, people didn''t appear to know a thing about formations, making the fast deploying ones a formidable weapon. A weapon that Layn had no intentions of ignoring.

    "I came here as a potential talented student. I came here because I believed I could learn some things that Ick. But when met with the opportunity to jab at someone you don''t like, you decided to ignore my potential value and vote against me." Slowly moving forward, Layn made sure to put a huge emphasis on each word he said.

    "In other words, despite being tasked with screening the people joining the academy, you sought your own merits, ignoring the potential loss of the academy atrge." Putting both of his hands behind his head, Layn looked down at the crawling witch with disappointed eyes.

    Taking a few moments to reorganise his thoughts, Layn then raised his eyes on the elder who was the only one to remain motionless.

    "Elder, I hope I managed to convey my message." sping his hands and bowing down, Layn acted respectfully for once. "I will take down the formation right away." Met with no response, Layn picked up the pebble from where he threw it at, before cing his finger over the life line of the formation, the one link that decided whether the formation was active or not.

    This was the gamble Layn was willing to take. From how this one elder managed to remain motionless within the formation, something that even Sitra failed to aplish, it was clear that although he knew not of the formation, he could feel how it changed the reality around him.

    And in such a situation, it would be too dangerous to let the man get ustomed to the feeling, making Layn opt for the safer path of humility instead.

 Chapter 42 - Decision

    "Your means¡­ No, that''s not it. If your power is already so great, how do you expect this academy to be qualified to teach you in the first ce?" Opening up his mouth for the very first time since the registration process began, the man who sat in the middle of the long table asked with an amiable smile.

    "Elder, it is like I said. I was taught the great mysteries of the world. The only reason why my master allowed me to roam the world freely was because he deemed my skills to be sufficient to protect myself." Answering the question no one said, Layn dug his backstory a bit deeper. "But that does not mean I know everything there is to the world. Heck, the very reason why my master advised me to go out and explore was to learn more."

    Shaking his head, Layn smiled gently. There was no need to hide the fact that hecked the knowledge about the fundamentals because that was the most important point in the entire fake story of his.

    Because if one were to think about it, what was the degree of fundamentals? What kind of basic knowledge andmon sense did those fundamentals include? Without specifying the range that this single word applied to, Layn could always push any of his idental faults on theck of fundamentals!

    "I understand. If that''s the case, then I hope our academy will allow you to learn all those things that your master wished for you to grasp. On the other hand¡­" Pretty quickly dropping the entire ruse of whether or not they were willing to ept the archmage into their academy, the apparent leader of the elders attempted to set up a trap.

    A trap that Layn couldn''t afford to fall into.

    "I''m sorry, but the things I know¡­ Not only they appear to be greatly ipatible with the local teachings that I already discovered, but they could very well upset the status quo in the entire world." Shaking his head, Layn took a face of concern and worry. "If I recklessly spread the teachings of my master, this ce would soon be a battlefield."

    This time, Layn spoke the truth rather than trying to create yet anotheryer to his story. Given how even the local experts were mostly powerless against formations, if the archmage were to spread the manual of setting it in this world, then the future would change drastically.

    Ancients knew formations. That one statement was true given how most of the knowledge that Layn''s future colleagues discovered about the ancient world came from the three cities that were protected through the endless expanse of time exactly by a set of powerful formations.

    But the period that Layn referred to as ancient, was long. How long exactly, no one could really say. ording to the rough estimates and guesses of the schrs of Layn''s time, just thest period of antiquity that they knew ofsted several times longer than the entire modern civilisation that sprouted after its fall!

    As such, even though Layn was sure that at least some ancients knew or would know about the formation, he didn''t dare to spread this knowledge around too much. After all, what would happen if those formations would allow the ancients to survive theing apocalypse? With their presence, would the future, modern civilisation take root just like it did in the original timeline?

    "That''s¡­ Well, since you decided to be sincere with me, let me tell you some of my own genuine feelings." Initially baffled by Layn''s exnation, the elder in the middle quickly came to his senses, before exining. "This reasoning is just as down putting as it is rational. I will drop the idea of forcing your knowledge out in exchange for what we can teach you."

    Stopping the other elders that instantly red up, the elder wanted to say something beforedy Serene finally managed to climb back up to her chair before using it to prompt herself upwards, casting an angry nce at the archmage.

    "Eh¡­ I guess I overdid it a little." Commenting on her own behaviour, thedy took down the vicious expression from her face that made her several times uglier than she actually was. With a new, calm expression on her face, one could even begin to find some hints of former beauty on it.

    "Little one, I do apologise. Given the urgent Sitra''s request to have you registered, I just couldn''t help but test you out. For that, I do apologise." Those words managed to take Layn by surprise. But what was even more shocking, was that the same man that instantly attempted to ditch Layn whendy Serene spoke unfavourably on him, didn''t appear to know thedy''s ns in advance.

    ''What an excuse of a man¡­'' From the looks of things, Layn hardly could have any doubts about the male elder''s reasons for acting the way he did. Be it the wish to wet his crotch or to curry some favours with the old female, it didn''t matter. The only effect of his actions was that Layn now disregarded himpletely.

    "It''s understandable. Given how haphazardly everything had to be preprepared given the short notice, I can hardly find any reason to me you." Forcing his own personal judgment of the situation deep into his soul, Layn smiled. "In the end, as the elders, you are bound to protect the academy. Be it by upholding its rules, or just by protecting it from various scum trying to make their way in here."

    With the situation now resolved, only a few more questions of mundane nature followed, before all of the elders jointly nodded their heads, allowing their leader to put a stamp on a paper lying down on the desk before him.

    "With that, you are officially a disciple of our academy. While your power easily ssifies you to enter the ranks of inner disciples or even elders, given your wish to learn and understand the basics, I temporarily assigned you to the outer district of the academy." Summing things up, the elder in the middle stood up before inviting Layn towards him with a wave of his hand.

    As the archmage got closer, the elder passed him the very same paper that he just stamped before pointing his hand at the doors. "Once you get outside, ask your chaperone to guide you to the quartermaster. You will be able to get your robes and basic utensils there. Also, "

    Taking a momentary break, the elder in the middle looked at hispatriots to the side. Then, his eyes returned on Layn''s face.

    "Just to make sure it''s said out loud, once you will be satisfied with learning everything there is to learn in the outer academy, just notify any of the five of us and we will arrange for you to join the inner academy. " Passing the information, the leader of the elders put a genuine smile on his face before waving his hand at Layn once again.

    "Now, get lost. We need to fix our pride that you destroyed so thoroughly!"

 Chapter 43 - Feast Your Eyes

    "Did I do something to you for you to torment me so much?!" Crying out loud, Irea hid her face in her hands. Even though she didn''t take a direct part in the registration process, she was more than weed to observe it.

    "They started¡­" Hearing what his lips formed in the first attempt to defend himself, Layn almost failed to stop his hand from pping his own face.

    "They started it? And what, are you some kind of kid who just can''t stay silent and polite for once?!" ring up with every word she spoke, Irea quickly reached her limit, past which all her anger disappeared, reced by helplessness and depression.

    "I''m so fucked, there is no way I''m not." Lamenting in a weakening voice, Irea refused to speak anything else for the rest of their trip towards the quartermaster office. Only once they passed by the threshold did she rise her head again.

    "Isn''t it young Irea! What brings you to our doors?" Noticing the girl, a burly man behind the counter stood up from his chair.

    "Yeah, it''s me. I came to vouch for the new student." At first, Layn thought that the girl wanted to point her hand at him, only to see her snatch the papers from the elder from his grasp.

    "I see that you didn''t forget about the formalities. Good." Grabbing the papers that the girl passed to him, the man scanned the content of a simple letter before giving it back to Irea.

    "A golden thread student, huh? You truly struck it rich this time!" Muttering under his nose, the master of the logistical quarters moved to the room behind the counter. Using the opportunity, Layn cast a nce at the shocked face of the girl.

    "What¡­" Unable to utter the right words through her tightened throat, Irea forced herself to take a deep breath before fixing her mental state. "What did you do to be assigned into the golden thread group?!"

    Met with the shocked and excited inquiry, Layn didn''t really know what to say.

    ''I threatened them?'' Without a clue as to what this golden thread could mean, Layn couldn''t even make a guess. ''No, that can''t be it.'' Even after a few moments spent solely on thinking, Layn couldn''t pinpoint the reason why he was assigned such apparently high rank.

    Was it his show of power? His logical reasoning? His potential backing? Maybe it was all an attempt to curry favour with him?

    With so many possibilities, it was impossible to pinpoint the one that was right. And with such realisation in his head, Layn decided to drop the topic altogether.

    "This golden thread thing, what does it mean?" Slightly shaken by a sudden realisation, Layn''s stare turned a bit colder. "And what does it mean that you struck it rich?"

    While it was clear that the girl was just as surprised by this golden threat thingy as Layn was, there was a chance that all of her affection and care so far was aimed at preserving him for this exact moment, when she could reap the benefits from the academy for bringing him in!

    With his outlook at the world twisted by his past - or future? - rtionship, Layn couldn''t stop those suspicious thoughts from sprawling all over his mind.

    "Basically, there are five kinds of students, outside of the outer and inner academy division." After releasing a long, exhausted sigh, Irea started exining. "Starting from the stone thread through bronze, silver, gold and crystal threads. The higher ssification one has, the better the resources the academy will invest in his or her education."

    Looking directly at the archmage, Irea admitted. "Since I''m the one who brought you in, I will be given the preference when choosing a teacher for you. That also means I will receive all the resource necessary for me to keep up with your growth."

    As she exined the situation, Layn finally understood what was actually going on.

    Just like in any rational society, resources were directed to those who could make the best use of them. Instead of wasting one''s wealth on those who wouldn''t make a difference for anyone, it was clearly better to invest it in those who will create something of value in return.

    When bringing him to the city, Irea likely even forgot about that possibility. Even if she did not, he forced himself to believe that she didn''t even think about him as a way to make a killing out of the academy''s back.

    But ultimately, she couldn''t know how high he would be scored. With even the archmage alone not knowing what were the criteria for the registration, he wouldn''t be of any help either.

    "Okay then." Returning back to the front desk of the office, the burly man came back while caring two huge boxes under his muscr arms. Dropping them right on the counter, he smiled towards the talking duo before opening the lids of the container.

    "Feast your eyes, as this is the only time you will ever be as impressed with them as you are now!"

 Chapter 44 - Markuss Plight

    "Don''t you feel like if there is something wrong in the air?" Walking beside the silent girl, Markus''s lips twitched yet again when the girl didn''t change her ways and ignored his inquiry again.

    "Eh, women¡­" Shaking his head with a slight annoyance at the situation, Markus decided to give up on the topic. For like seventh time today.

    Thisck of something was bugging him beyond any reason. As if the air he was breathing in had one less element in it that didn''t affect one''s ability to breathe, but just made it¡­ a different kind of experience to what the saint was used to.

    At this point, Markus could only regret the choices he made in the past. As rational and necessary as they were in the time of making them, the saint often came to regret themter on.

    Being a jack of all trades that he was, he couldn''t really use much of high-end spells or tricks. His magic, whenpared to geniuses like Layn or others of his scale, was worth nothing. His innate regeneration was nothing whenpared to Otto, the former tank of the hero party. His deadliness far worse than that of a hero herself.

    No matter how many times Markus attempted to change the way he thought about himself, he would only end up in even greater despair, once again convincing himself that there was no turning back from his shitty situation anymore.

    And now, another reason appeared for the saint to hate his situation. Unable to pinpoint the reason behind this strange feeling, he could only me his diverse yet not specialised abilities, once again putting another dent on not only his pride as a man but his trust in his own capabilities as well.

    "Stop thinking about it. It will help." From the length of Yelna''s sentences, Markus could tell that she was actually genuinely worried about him. With all the ws that this woman of his had to her name when it came to the rtionship between the two of them, she would suddenly turn observant and attentive, as if she was aware of her ws and was doing her best topensate for them.

    "I can''t. Trust me, I tried." As much as he hated the drawbacks of his set of abilities, Markus wasn''t as set on self-pity as to not notice their upsides. Given how the two of them continued to walk for over two days and nights straight, it was only thanks to how he had to practice his physical body as well that he didn''t copse due to Yelna''s deadly marching pace.

    But even with this, the apparentck of something still continued to linger atop Markus''s thoughts, no matter how hard he attempted to get rid of it.

    Maybe it was the exhaustion from the extensive journey.

    Maybe it was the stress from appearing in what looked like apletely foreign world, with no soul to consult about it outside of the girl who was just as clueless as was he.

    Maybe it was the amalgamation of all the small reasons that were a pain in the ass for a few years already but now turned into this huge clog on the saint''s soul, preventing him from thinking straight.

    It was hard to tell what was the true reason behind Markus''s current plight. But once a certain sound reached his ears, all his worries vanished, reced by diligence.

    "Someone is up ahead." Closing his eyes, Markus focused on just the sounds. WIth Yelna obediently stopping her steps as to not make any noise and turn Markus''s task even harder, it only took a moment for the saint to regain his senses.

    "It seems like there are about a hundred people there¡­?" Initially unsure about his answer, Markus continued to listen for a few moments more, before his face suddenly twitched in shock. "Wait, what?"

    As little as Markus knew about magic, he was still pretty sensible towards the changes in its currents. And a wave of magic so powerful that it almost managed to force the consciousness out of his brain washed over his body, it was only thanks to his weak magical sense that Markus managed to keep his sanity up and going.

    "What?" If anyone else were to repeat the same question, it would sound more like "what happened" or "what''s wrong." The fact that Yelna started to shorten her sentences so much meant that she also felt that something was wrong.

    Even despite not having any sense for magic at all.

    ''That''s a hero for you.'' Not daring to utter thisment out loud, Markus limited its reach to his own thoughts, before focusing on the sounds once again.

    "Wait, that''s strange¡­ It''s as if¡­" Rapidly rising his head, Markus looked towards the distant source of the sound.. His eyes widened as the man prickled his earlobes, unwilling to believe what his hearing was telling him. "It''s as if the number of people out there¡­ Just increased!"

 Chapter 45 - Mana Disturbance

    Puzzled by the strange urrence, Markus couldn''t really tell whether it was his senses or the reality around them ying tricks on him. Intuitively stepping forward, he attempted to get a bit closer to the source of the muffled sound, when Yelna suddenly grabbed his sleeve, only to pull him to the back with all her force.

    "GET DOWN!" Her scream instantly pushed the saint into action. Using the momentum from her grab, Markus wrapped his hand around the girl''s waist on the go, before pinning her to the ground below his own body.

    And then it came.

    For the girl, nothing happened. Being as magic-less as one could get, any disaster of magic nature couldn''t really affect her. Without the resonance to the magic within her own flesh, there was no way for the violent magic forces to inflict any injures on her.

    Regretfully, the same couldn''t be said about Markus.

    For a moment, the reality around him seemed to vanish. Warping into craziest geometrical forms that the human mind couldn''tprehend, the world appeared to gopletely crazy. The trees turned into rivers of wood. A small stream of water suddenly stood tall like some kind of imprable wall. The air itself appeared to turn solid, making it impossible for anyone to move in it.

    And all of that happened while Markus'' head nearly exploded from an agonal pain!

    Thankfully, as suddenly as this wave of magic disturbance came, it went away just as fast. With his headache still prevailing, Markus only could afford to roll off the girl''s body, still torn by the death that seemed to be reserved for the dying moments.

    "Aaaaath¡­" Attempting to say something, Markus voice suddenly muffled when Yelna covered his mouth with her hand.

    "Shh¡­ Just rest for now." For the first time since a certain battle years ago, the saint could see a hint of worry on the hero''s face. But rather than calming down or enjoying the moment of rare care from the girl, his mind dropped into even greater disarray.

    ''Am I injured so badly for her to show concern?'' Forcefully stopping himself from looking at his own physical state, Markus forcefully cut the pain transmission from his devastated flesh. For a moment, he managed to think straight once again.

    "Is this the source? Is this where the entire problem came from?" Still not any wiser about the reality behind what happened to them, Markus attempted to draw some sort of conclusion.

    "No, it''s not that." Starring daggers into the direction Markus heard the noises from, Yelna squinted her eyes before cing her hand on the handle of her butcher-styled knife. "People areing."

    Despite how his head threatened to just split apart even with just the gentlest of the moves, Markus forced his body to move up. Finally daring to look at his own state, he almost shook in shock.

    ''I''m not¡­ injured?'' From how pained his body was, the saint assumed that half of his limbs was gone, most of his skin was torn apart and at least a third of his guts was spilt to the ground.

    But all of that only happened in his head. His skin was in exactly the same state as it used to be before, his guts were where they should be and his limbs were still attached to his joins. At the same time as this realisation struck the man, the pain in his mind finally started to fade away.

    "One klik." Pulling out her dagger from its small scabbard to a special handle attached to her suit, Yelna then switched to her preferred weapon of choice. After making sure that the string was properly tense and the feathers of the bolts were intact. Cocking her small ballista that some mistaken for a crossbow, she stared into the dense foliage of the forest.

    "Half a klik." After several moments, the girl informed once again. Right now, with his mind still recovering after the damned mana disturbance, Markus was no longer able to sound the approaching people off. Right now, he was just a burden to the hero hidden in a small bush behind him.

    But at the same time, this was for the best. ''They will notice me first, giving Yelna the chance to shoot and reload before dashing to another position.'' Already projecting the fight to happen, Markus forced his pained body to stand up, before picking up a portable shield of his.

    With a few trained moves, a small package roughly the length of one''s arm and the thickness of one''s hand fell apart, only for the special hinges to force each of the parts to fall into a specific ce. In a sh, what used to be just heavy garbage, turned into a ted shield, with each of its parts locked between two of the neighbouring tes.

    "Three hundred meters." Informing in a low voice, Yelna didn''t dare to take any chances. From how the previous attack almost managed to render her husbandpletely useless, she wasn''t naive enough to assume she was stronger than the one capable of invoking such a force.

    Right now, staying hidden was her greatest ace card. While warriors preferred closebat, mages long-range, hunters like her opted to stay out of the fight, killing the enemies when they least expected the attack toe.

    "One hundred." ording to the procedures they came up with way in the past, this was thest message Yelna would utter. Speaking anything else even a momentter would already put her at risk of being heard by the approaching group.

    "Let''s do it then!" Cheering himself up, Markus closed his eyes for a moment. In a single second, he managed to cut all his pain, fear and curiosity off, leaving just the bare warrior spirit that carried him through all sorts of ordeals in the past.

    And then, from a dense thicket of woods, a small party of burly men d in thick, animal furs came out.

 Chapter 46 - Ancestral

    //AN: This time, as the other party don''t really know thenguage at all, they are only able to understand certain words. As such, there is no trantion.//

    ''The hell?'' Noticing the sight, Markus cursed in his thoughts, barely stopping himself from openly expressing his shock. Not because the clothes of those men were weird.

    But because they were familiarly weird.

    "Who *** ***?" Only the first part of the barbaric-looking man was understandable. A shiver travelled down Markus'' spine. Yelna fixed a bolt on her ballista.

    "We. Are. From. High. n." Speaking each of his words slowly and carefully, Markus gently brought his hands up to indicate ack of hostile intentions. Noticing his move, the eyes of the three burly men that came out turned into slits.

    "Hmm?" To the side, Yelna looked at her husband with surprise clearly written in her eyes. A single droplet of sweat on Markus'' forehead didn''t escape her attention.

    "High n? Did ***...?" A fast nudge to the side from one of hispanions quickly silenced the man. Bringing his eyelids together, he fixed his grab over a huge axe. "Where do *** **** from?"

    Changing his wording after the silent reprimand, the barbaric-looking man-made Markus job easier. Because this time, he understood a few words more.

    ''It''s as if¡­'' For a moment, Markus forced this inner feeling down. Just from the scale of the tremors it was already sending through his soul, the saint knew that allowing it into his mind would potentially break him. But after this short moment, the usual Markus returned.

    "It''s as if they came from the ancestral age." Speaking openly to his wife, Markus hands slightly tightened.

    "Age? Ancient?" Suddenly speaking out two words, the other party finally caught on. For some reason, either side could only understand certain phrases. To a degree, it was as if they recognised the melody of the words rather than their direct spelling. And that indicated something, that would ultimately shatter Markus hopes of easily resolving the strange situation they happened to be in!

    "Hmm¡­" As long as his guess was correct, Markus could attempt to solve the encounter peacefully. Making up his mind, he slowly lowered his hands towards his belt. Unhooking the mechanism, Markus snapped the scabbard away, only to use its tip to draw a line on the ground.

    "Ancient." cing a mark on the far left of the line, Markus waved his hand enthusiastically, emphasising something big, enormous. ying with his face and the rest of the body alike, he could soon see the looks of realisation on the unshaved faces of the other party.

    "Ancestral." Moving his scabbard to the middle of the line, Markus ced another mark. Looking up, he raised his free hand to point it at the group of burly men.

    "Wait¡­ What?!" For the first time in ages, Yelna reacted so strongly. For everyone else, she just uttered two words. For Markus, it was akin to a roar of a wounded and furious beast.

    Yet, he ignored her.

    "We, us¡­" Pointing his left hand at the two of them, Markus moved the scabbard''s tip to the far right of the line. With a grave look on his face, he then moved a free hand to his chest, heavily clutching at his heart.

    On the side, Yelna''s hands trembled. Her eyes teared up. The ballista fell out of her hands.

    Snap!

    Despite being the hero, despite being the greatest huntress to ever live, despite¡­ Despite everything that made her as infamously powerful as she was, she failed to notice her mistake. And when the synergy of the forces within the weapon broke, the inevitable happened.

    Thankfully, the shot went far above everyone''s head, right in the direction, the group of men came from. Despite the scare, nobody was hurt.

    But that didn''t mean everything was going great.

    "You¡­.!" This time, Markus could clearly understand the meaning of the words. And he didn''t hesitate. Instantly falling to his knees, he mmed his forehead on the ground.

    "We are sorry!" Screaming out with his face smashed into the dirt, Markus forced his entire soul to pray for a miracle. Right now, despite how great everything was going so far, they were on the edge.

    But not on the edge of a fight. That they could win easily.

    ''Damn it, damn it, damn it!'' Screaming in his mind, Markus continued to bury his head in the ground. For a moment, the situation remained tense. ''Fuck it, I''d rather die thanmit sacrilege!''

    Tightening his teeth, Markus waited. And then a small thump reached his ears.

    Bringing his chin up, he stared at the apparent leader of the group. The bottom of his axe resting on the ground, while the man rested his upper body atop the weapon''s head. His hand, pointing at the painting.

    ''Bless the miracle¡­'' Trembling from agitation, Markus brought himself up. Fixing his attire with a few pats, he suddenly looked around, turning his eyes high towards the skies.

    "Day. Time. Age." Using different words with simr meaning in hopes of the other party catching up, Markus finally found the location of the sun. Pointing his hand at the pair of giant and minuscule orb casting light upon the entire, he then moved his arm in a circr motion, tracing the movement of the twin sun on the skydome.

    As his arm started to revolve rapidly in the same, constant motion, his right hand once again pointed the scabbard at the line he drew before. And then, as his left arm continued to swing, he started to slowly trace the tip of his sheathed weapon towards the left.

    ''It seems like they got it.'' Breathing a slight sigh of relief, Markus cast a nce towards his wife. Finally oveing her shock, she clutched her hand atop her own chest. ''Right, for her this is¡­'' Moving his eyes back towards the barbarians, Markus stopped his act.

    Bit by bit, his hands and his expression started to change. Using the simplest gestures tobine them into moreplicated ideas, the saint proved why he was given the title. In just a few moments, two groups of people with several ages between their timelines managed tomunicate.

    And the message Markus passed exined it all.

    "You are our ancestors. You built our civilisation. You have our utmost respect."

    If their fortune would be good, this would be all. Even though he would have to spend hours calming his wife down, Markus almost managed to believe that the situation could be resolved peacefully.

    Then, a man who had to tread on the limit of how massive one could get appeared with a dead body hanging over his shoulder. The reason for death was pretty obvious, as the feathers of Yelna''s bolt fluttered along the wind.

    In a moment, everyone''s face soured. Markus and Yelna suddenly found themselves surrounded by legendary figures, one of which could easily rival their entire strength. Just a single look at the mark on the newly arriving barbarian gave away his legendary name.

    Name that everyone knew about even before receiving formal education. One of the High Twenty, the council established by the friends of the mystical, unnamed General, after his assassination. And it was their reforms and great foresight that set up the foundation for the explosion of the modern civilisation barely a thousand years past thest apocalypse.

    "I''m Ation, inter in the Gener n. Who are you guys?" The giant''s words soundedpletely different to how his brethren spoke. Out of nowhere, Markus found someone he could easilymunicate with. Someone who touched the real legend. One of the founders of humanity.

    But once he heard the man''s name, his eyes widened as his head instantly turned towards the girl.

    Only to see the girl moan silently in pain, before falling unconscious.

 Chapter 47 - Ancestor

    ''Just who the hell are they?'' After looking at the weird scene ying out before his eyes, Ation nced at the dead body he was carrying.

    Initially enraged by an unexpected casualty, just a single look at the situation that he had before even appearing was enough to understand it was the will of Spirits.

    Because the bolt wasn''t carried out by the ill intentions. Looking at how the female was too petrified to even speak up, looking at how panicked her malepanion was¡­ But despite how clearly disturbed they were, Ation didn''t dare to let his guard down for two reasons.

    ''First, we still don''t know what happened to all of us.'' Calmly analyzing the situation, he took a moment to stare deeper at the face of those strange foreigners. But more than their expression, Ation looked at how the world reacted to their presence.

    From the man, there was some kind of familiar feeling to his aura. While the Inter was pretty sure it wasn''t celestial power powering it, there was something far more gentle, far more natural to this man''s strength.

    But it was actually the female that forced him to be serious. Because around her skin, the air appeared to be constantly vibrating, unsettled by the innate strength behind even the tiniest of her moves.

    This level of pure strength, only a few ever managed to obtain.

    "Thank God that we can understand each other!" Raising his hands to the skies, the man uttered. His face rxed, allowing him to put a smile on his lips for the first time since Ation saw them.

    "Who are you, and what brings you here?" Now that thenguage barrier was broken, Ation also calmed down a bit. As soon as he asked the question, he lowered himself on the knees, only to gentlyy the dead body underneath a nearby bush. Closing the poor man''s eyes with a slow shave of his hand, he then raised his eyes back at the strange duo, clearly expecting an answer.

    "We¡­ Well, it''s just a ***** of mine, but I believe we are your ***********. Not direct," Ation slightly squinted his eyes. ''It seems it''s not the same, exactnguage¡­'' More feeling rather than noticing Inter''s confusion, the man stopped only to exin. "***********, Kids, Bloodline, Offspring."

    Hearing the news, even Ation wavered as his knees weakened out. A few days earlier, and he wouldugh at such an insane idea. But not after what happened two days ago.

    His host, among many others, was moved to a ce far away from their leader. After the initial confusion and cleaning up the ranks, they somehow managed to receive a mental message from the n''s sage.

    "Converge here." Even though it sounded ambiguous, everyone of the Gener n could feel the direction the order was pushing them towards. Rather than just words, it was an innatepulsion, but so slight that it could only show them the way.

    And for this reason, Ation and the people he organised under his wing travelled tirelessly through those dense forests, while constantly repelling the attacks of wandering celestials.

    ''It''s hard not to figure it out¡­'' ncing at the duo of the strangers before him, Ation shook his head before waving his hand. All at once, not only those already present in the clearing lowered down their arms, but all of the warriors in hiding just behind the tree-line rxed as well.

    "What is wrong with her? Go check her out." Pointing his hand at the unconscious girl, Ation even forced his lips to form a gentle smile. He could clearly see how anxious the man was to support hispanion.

    "Thank you, sir." That, for some reason, Ation could perfectly understand.

    ''Strange¡­'' While the clues were right in front of his eyes, the Inter of the Gener n simply refused to believe in how ridiculous the situation was. ''First, we appear in this strange ce, now those two iming to be our descendants¡­ Ah!'' Suddenly realising what the word he didn''t understand earlier could mean, Ation cast a sharp look at the duo struggling on the ground.

    Soon, the man managed to somehow pull the girl''s mind out of the abyss. In the instant her consciousness returned, her body sprang up.

    ''So quick!'' Almost retreating by a step from the sheer threat in such a speed, Ation tensed his muscled. In the end, he couldn''t be careless with them yet.

    Her head moved sharply. Her eyes instantly targeted the leader of the nsmen. ''No, not me in person, but my arm?'' Noticing how still her eyes were, Ation quickly calcted in his mind. Looking down at his own body, he noticed what could be drawing her attention.

    "Ah, this?" Bringing his right shoulder to the front, Ation pulled up the fur that covered it. Underneath, an image of a snake suckling at its own tail. "I just lost a bet while drunk, it''s nothing to be boastful about." Trying to ease the tension, Ationughed the topic off.

    But it made the girl tremble in agitation in return.

    "This¡­" Initially looking forward to Ation''s exnation, the man''s expression soured as he heard his words. Slightly to the side, the girl hung her head down. Bringing her trembling hand up, she caught the small hole of cleavage on her armour, before pulling it to the side.

    Bringing the hardened cloth down her right shoulder, she exposed the patch of her skin above the side of her chest.

    And the same crest that Ation had tattooed on himself, was haphazardly carved out directly in the girl''s skin. Covering the ugliness of the uneven scars, a faint, reddish pain.

    "What does it¡­?" Shaken by the revtion, Ation momentarily lost hisposure. Given what happened to them, he could believe that someone from the future came to this ce as well. ''But are they my actual sessors? And what''s with this ugly scar?!''

    "In simple words, she is one of the few remaining sessors of your n''s legendary bloodline." Rising from the ground, the man helped his femalepanion up as well.

    "This mark¡­" Speaking up for the very first time since the encounter started, the female raised her eyes at the man with all kinds of feelings mixed in them. "Is given to every remaining holder of the ancestral bloodlines."

    Taking a step forward, the female bit on her lips, before lowering her head down and eximing.

    "Junior Yelna greets the ancestor."

 Chapter 48 - Problem Of The Magic Stones

    Walking out of the quartermaster''s office, Layn wasn''t really sure what kind of face he was supposed to make.

    What was supposed to be a nice surprise to him, turned into a bleak excitement when the official presented the archmage with his stuff. Along with the identity of the student that his registration gave him, he was privy to the basic outfit, lodging and some standard manuals.

    For someone of this world, those items could be of great value. From the secret arts that one couldn''t find anywhere else, through high-quality clothing, at the free lodging ending. But for the archmage, who saw the pinnacle of luxury and wastefulness back in the royal pce, those items were something he wouldn''t pay any mind.

    "Tell me, where can I find some stones? You know, like the one that I found inside that beast, back on the desert." Walking beside Irea who was just as silent after the unexpectedly uneasy situation back in the quartermaster''s office, Layn asked.

    "Magic stones? They are a pricedmodity. Even small ones have their value, so before you reach the inner academy, you will have to forget about them." Scoffing at Layn''s question, Irea sent him the same look she would dress on her face whenever he would ask for something outrageous or strange.

    "Ah, so that''s the case¡­" The main reason why Layn was disappointed with his weing items was theck of the magic stones. A single one from the beast he hunted back on the desert was enough to help him kickstart the reconstruction of his power¡­

    ''But it''s nowhere enough!'' Screaming in his mind, Layn tightened his fists while dropping the topic. For now, this easiest way for him to get stronger didn''t seem to be usible.

    "Eh¡­" After casting a nce at the archmage''s face, Irea sighed before putting her hands behind her back and raising her chin a bit. "The desert we met at, is considered to be intermediate staging ground. Only those at the peak one-star or two-star cultivators can enter it."

    For her, it was bound to be obvious. Theziness appeared on her face as she continued to exin reinforcing this opinion in Layn''s head.

    "Yeah, but that''s about the desert, not about the stones, isn''t it?" Pointing up how the girl managed to derail from the main topic, the archmage only earned her angered nce in return. "Just keep listening and you will understand."

    Showcasing her own anger for the first time since the two of them met, Irena quickly managed to calm herself down, hiding this one face of hers from the archmage''s view.

    "Either way, as the intermediate staging grounds, that desert is filled with monsters that usually carry some magic stones in them. While this doesn''t apply to all of the monsters roaming the ce, unless you are unlucky, you should find about six stones in every ten monsters." This time, the girl delved into the topic even deeper than the archmage expected.

    Looking at the girl as she spoke, Layn couldn''t resist the feeling that she was simply lecturing him about the topic that wasn''t really all that interesting. But given how she insisted on him just listening to her, Layn pursed his lips before focusing on the following Irea''s words.

    "Let me put it in those words. Only about every tenth of the student''s body of the academy ever be strong enough to venture to that desert. You should understand now how hard it actually is to obtain a single stone for yourself." Sending me a scornful look, Irea shook her head before dropping the topic.

    But it didn''t disappear from Layn''s mind. After considering his chances, he brought back a piece Irea said herself.

    "You said that it would be impossible before I would manage to reach the inner academy, didn''t you?" Perceiving his inquiry as something rather smart, Layn swallowed a huge ball of his own saliva when the girl moved her head to the side, throwing him an irritated look.

    "If you can reach the inner academy within the next year, I will give up myself to you entirely." This time, Irea statement definitely cut the discussion up. ''Weren''t we supposed to pick this matter up once we get back though?'' Slightly disappointed by the girl''s decision, Layn ultimately decided not to anger the girl by bringing the matter of the inner academy again.

    "I''m sorry if that angered you, but I really need to get my hands on some magic stones. While I won''t die without them, the potential drawbackster on¡­" Cutting his sentence short, Layn implied something that he didn''t even have an idea what he was implying. Just by suggesting that there was something deeper about the topic of the stones, he could somehow cate the girl into keeping the topic up on the agenda.

    "Eh¡­ No, I''m the one who should be sorry. I apologise for allowing my emotions to get the better of me." Shaking her head as she spoke, Irea stretched the skin around her eyes with her nimble fingers. "Outside of entering the inner academy¡­ There will be a huge tournament for the outer academy in two months time. Besides that, you could work through a heck lot of requests in the favour system to get a stone from the academy¡­"

    Suddenly turning silent, Irea clearly stopped herself from uttering onest possibility. As the two of them never ceased to move, they already managed to reach their destination.

    ''If not academy, then who else? City lord? City hall? Maybe she meant the mercenary guild back there?'' Casting a quick nce towards the huge walls of thepound, Layn shook his head before following the girl inside the building she entered. Soon, the walls of the hugeplex blocked the view of the walls, finally putting a stop to Layn''s desperate wish of obtaining some stones.

    "Wee to the teaching pavilion.. While we are free to conduct lessons anywhere we like, I think it will be better if we get a private ss."

 Chapter 49 - Sprout Of A Plan

    The teacher pavilion of the academy wasn''t all that much different from what Layn could remember from his early days as a mage apprentice. Split between several huge rooms where massive sses could be conducted with a single teacher and many students at once, the pavilion still had more than enough room for several tens of silenced rooms, where private lessons could be conducted.

    Gawking at the intricate atmosphere of this ce, Layn didn''t dare to utter a single word. Following after the girl to one of the small rooms, he could see how much work has been put into its details, even though many markings on the walls of the ssrooms indicated that the lessons conducted here didn''t belong to the peaceful group.

    "Now, we can talk freely. Listen, I know you are hasty to try all sorts of things¡­ But man, you stirred the pot back at the registration." Lowering her head as if under the potential burden that Layn''s few careless words would put on her shoulders, Irea then looked scornfully at the archmage. "Do you want to bet how quickly the value of the magic stones will jump locally?"

    Hearing the girl''s words, Layn silently bit his lips. ''I fucked up.'' Summing his actions in his mind, the archmage lowered his head. "I do apologise. For me, everyone in this city is a small fry, so I made the mistake of underestimating them. I sincerely apologise."

    That was the truth of everything that Layn did so far. From the sh of words with Kerren, through the actual manughter with himter on, all the way to his behaviour in the mercenary guild and during the registration process. Ever since Layn appeared in this foreign world of the past, he failed to control his own ego, failing to respect the means of the locals.

    ''And it''s not like they are incapable of great feats either¡­'' The situation was simply too confusing for the archmage to just ept it as it was. Because it wasn''t the first time he caught himself disregarding the means of the ancients!

    ''Is this some kind of curse? Trick?'' Unable to find the answer on the spot, Layn ultimately only made a mental note of this problem for thetter before moving on.

    "But now that I think about it¡­" With his thoughts returning to the problem of his carefree words, Layn''s mind suddenly exploded with ideas. While there was no denying that the people of this time clearly had their own means to achieve great things, there were things that only modern society was capable of creating.

    Namely, scams.

    While something like those many financial maniptions that existed could be implemented on a smaller scale in a less interconnected world, without the shared marked for the entire world, it was hard for any swindler to get enough money and recognition for his method to grow popr enough. And without enough exposure, people wouldn''t be any wiser about the giveaway points of the popr schemes.

    And what was the better way to obtain the stones Layn desperately needed right now than making everyone disregard their value?

    "Think about what?" Unable to tell what was going through the archmage''s head, Irea looked at him with curiosity. But just as Layn directed his eyes on the girl''s face, her cheeks turned red as a certain memory appeared in her head again.

    "Ah, I didn''t mean to¡­" Backing off a few steps, Irea was unable to stop her blush from exploding on her face, quickly giving away just what was going on through her head.

    "Oh, right. There was a topic like that. But let''s drop it for a moment." As alluring as the idea of sleeping or even cuddling with Irea was, Layn didn''t reach his level of power, knowledge and status by focusing measly pleasures over the important topics.

    Releasing a sigh of relief, Irea shook her head to get rid of those useless thoughts of hers before refocusing her sight on the man in front. Sitting down directly on the soft padding making up the floor, she gestured at Layn to do the same.

    "Since you are epted into the academy now, let''s start our lessons. While this part might be boring to you given how I boosted you through those levels, you still need to understand what normally happens for the beginners." Starting her lecture, Irea instantly calmed down. Even though she was only at the starting levels as the academy teacher, it didn''t change the fact that it was her passion to teach.

    But contrary to the girl''s expectations, Layn appeared to fully immerse in her words. It didn''t matter to him whether she was giving himplex numbers to project the strength and requirements for each of the cultivation ranks or if she was bringing up some funny anecdote from her personal past. No matter what the girl would say, Layn appeared to just soak it all deep into his soul.

    For a passionate teacher like Irea, this couldn''t get any better. But Layn managed to prove that this lovely situation could quickly get way worse.

    "I''m sorry for butting in, but didn''t you just say that it''s the greatest hurdle for the beginners to gather enough energy to break through the initial stage? In¡­ Infusing energy was it?" Stopping the girl''s lecture, Layn suddenly brought up a question, proving that he wasn''t just passively listening to her wasting away her throat.

    "The first stage is body cleansing. But given how most of the younglings can reach this stage all on their own, infusing energy is what others consider to be the true first stage of cultivation." Fixing Layn''s little misunderstanding, Irea sighed. "And yeah, before you be at least a fourth stage cultivator of the first star, you don''t really have any means to earn enough money. That''s what most of the academies use to lure in potential talents."

    Hearing those words, Layn''s smile suddenly widened. But even after a moment, this motion didn''t stop, quickly turning the happy expression on the archmage''s lips into a creepy one.

    "Let me ask you this one, then. How much would you assume to be a reasonable price to spend an hour in an energy-rich ce?" With a n already blossoming in his mind, a strange aura appeared all over the archmage.

    As if his true self finally started to surface.

    "Since you asked about the early breakthroughs¡­ Normally it would take a grade one spirit stone to break through the energy infusion rank. Half of it would already be reasonable." Unsure how to answer, Irea connected her reply to the earlier question of her new yet umon student.

    "Great. Now, do tell, how many magic stones would your entire hunting group be able to procure with all their savings and all they could borrow?"

 Chapter 50 - Layns Scheme

    For a moment, Irea was unable to utter a word. Stunned by how direct the question was, the girl at first took a huge breath of air to her lungs, before slowly releasing it as she rxed her body.

    ''Can''t he just drop the topic of those damned stones for a moment?!'' All the good points that Layn earned over the course of the girl''s lecture, were now gone.

    "About a hundred or so? Mostly depends on how much Sitra would be willing to dish out." Unwilling to waste even a single moment more over the topic, Irea shook her shoulders as she answered. The number she came up with, was pure fantasy though. With her means, she could procure two or three magic stones at the very most. Even being the elder of the academy, Sitra could pull in another thirty or forty. Counting everyone else from the group, a hundred was already quite a positive estimation.

    "Well, I know that this will sound ridiculous¡­" Starting up, Layn took a moment to repeat all the steps of his sprouting scheme in his mind. ''For now, that should suffice¡­ The question is, how much I can reveal to thisss?'' Being attracted to the girl and trusting her with world-changing secrets were two entirely different topics. No matter how much he liked her, she was nowhere near as near to the archmage for him to just exin his ideas to her.

    "But let''s say I might be in possession of a certain treasure." This was aplete and utter lie. That is unless one considered knowledge and intricate skills a treasure. "If you manage to organise at least, let''s say, forty stones, I will be able to set up a business bringing in¡­" Taking a slight moment to recalcte, Layn recalled all the data he had.

    ''She said an opportunity to get enough energy to break through the first true stage of cultivation, would be worth about half the magic stone.'' That was the first bit that allowed Layn to formte his n. Because by diffusing the stones into a special kind of material, he could use just about forty of them to create a seemingly endless source of energy.

    But instead of using some kind of precious treasure, he would create one himself. Just like with the robe constantly wrapped around his upper body, Layn could use those forty stones to create about five spots with a constant output of the required energy.

    ''If my calctions are not off, that would mean five spots times twenty-four hours, times a fourth of a magic stone, sh it in half just for the good measure¡­'' It would be naive not to include the additional costs into the equation. From buying and maintaining a site, through administration and wages, Layn counted.

    "If you will be willing to help me just a bit, for the price of about a hundred stones, we could get around fifty magic stones in return." Finally revealing the number he estimated, Layn watched the changes on Irea''s face with delight. "That is, daily."

    Adding this one, simple information, instantly changed the atmosphere. From a potential enthusiasm toplete disbelief.

    Irea''s face soured when she heard the number. Because the proposition was simply too good to be true!

    Their entire group had to spend the entire hunting season in the desert to hopefully obtain a stone or two. And it just so happened, that theirst trip waspletely uneventful in that regard. That alone proved how precious those magic stones were. But all the challenges aside, it was the mostmon cultivation resource in the entire world!

    "I know what you think, but I really have a way to achieve it." Noticing the changes on the girl''s face when she suddenly curled her legs underneath her, Layn eased his previously serious expression. "Think about it, as long as I can prove it can work, wouldn''t your academy be interested in fully sponsoring it? That''s why I brought the forty stones before."

    During this discussion, everything that Layn said was perfectly nned toy a simple trap for the girl. By making her ridicule potential oue, he could force her to acknowledge how little they actually needed to do. But for that to work, there was one more question that the girl had to ask.

    "Sponsoring it? Sponsoring what, your delusions?" Irea snapped. There were some limits to just how much bullshit one could utter. But the charming smile that appeared on Layn''s face somehow managed to calm the girl down.

    "Oh? I thought the academy would be interested in a ce, where five people can get enough energy to break through the energy infusion stage." Starting the bombardment, Layn couldn''t help but smile. The joy of the victory he was iming with each of his words was just too great.

    "That is, five people per hour." Layn''s smile widened even further. "For the cost of a measly quarter of the magic stone."

    The bomb exploded. Widening her eyes, Irea looked at Layn''s face. "You are actually serious¡­?" Still unable to believe the numbers this strange man gave away, Irea swallowed a gulp of the saliva that appeared in her mouth.

    "What, did you think I was delusional?" Smiling to his own thoughts, Layn stood up from the soft mat before reaching his hand out to the girl. Helping her stand up, Layn sent the girl a taxing look. "So, how will it be? Can you organise forty magic stones?"

    Putting the girl into a moment of thought, Layn could only wait. After a moment of standing still, she suddenly blinked her eyes before casting a confident look back at the archmage.

    "Yeah. But we will need to talk with Sitra. Without his support, we won''t get the stones nor the approval of the academy." Nodding to herself, Irea finally resolved herself to this strange n of this strange man.

    "Without his support?" Layn shook his head with a polite smile on his face. "There isn''t anyone as dumb as to refuse it!"

 Chapter 51 - Surprirse

    "There is no fucking way." Given his aversion to speaking or real muteness, Sitra only continued to tap at the small tablet on which several runes marked the meaning he had in mind. With Irea quickly tranting the content for Layn, his initial guess was already proved wrong.

    "What''s wrong with the idea? Or maybe it''s not about the idea itself, but about me?" Squinting his eyes, Layn couldn''t help but suspect the man. Was it his revenge for losing in a duel? Or maybe his way to stop his advance, as to not let the archmage grow too arrogant with all the achievements he had so far?

    Hearing Layn''s words, Sitra only shook his head before releasing a deep sigh and scribbling a few more words on the wooden tablet.

    "Didn''t youe to the academy to learn the basics?" Tranting as she peeked over the academy elder''s shoulder, Irea proved to be of indispensable help when interacting with the scout of their party. "Even if this treasure of yours exist and can work, it would unnecessarily stir too much trouble."

    This time, Sitra took his time to draw the funny words of the ancient civilisation with a piece of charcoal on a special handle. Brushing the hard pen against the wood of the tablet, he finally revealed the reason behind his denial.

    "You do realise that if not with your help, I will obtain whatever I need with the help of someone else?" Turning serious, Layn squinted his eyes once again while looking at the man. Whether it was revenge for earlier, some real concern or actual worry about his well-being, it didn''t matter.

    Because from Layn already found out, whenpared to the pure magic he knew off, cultivation wasn''t all that great! Surely, it improved one''s physical ability and resilience, sure, it made one faster and one''s reflexes quicker, but outside of the mostly physical aspect of fighting, it waspletely and utterly worthless!

    From the creation magic, through maniption magic, elemental magic, formation magic and many other, different kinds of utilising the magic energy, the general term of magic was forged. And while Layn considered himself to be just an archmage, it only described his general standing, not the specialisation.

    "Is it a threat?" After scribbling a few words, Sitra actually went out of his way to turn the tablet towards Irea, making it easier for her to read. On the other hand, this small motion of his couldn''t be considered as anything else but a warning.

    "A threat? Don''t make meugh." While others would respect the man just because of his standing within the academy, Layn couldn''t be bothered with such antics If the two of them were topare their standings, then Sitra would appear like some provincial official attempting to threaten the king of the entire universe! "If neither you nor your academy is interested in this business, I''m not going to give up on it."

    Taking a few moments of pause to let those words sink in, Layn smiled. "I can bet that if I spread this offer to just a few correct people, obtaining the necessary funding won''t be a problem.'' Shrugging his arms, Layn exined his position over the topic.

    After taking a moment to inhale a mouthful of air into his lungs, Layn then slowly released the air from within, rxing his body along with the breathed out a sigh. With focus returning to his eyes, he turned back around and looked at the elder sitting behind his desk in the middle of his academy''s study.

    "Sure, you can refuse my offer right now. You are fully free to do so and I won''t hold a grudge over it. Just keep in mind¡­" Stepping forward, Layn focused his sight even more than before, starring daggers down the young elder''s eyes. "What will happen to you, if my project will turn out to work just the way I told it would? What will academy do to you, once they learn that I came with it to them first, out of my sheer sympathy to Irea, only to be turned down?"

    Straightening himself up, Layn added a charming smile to his otherwise unpleasant words. Turning around, the archmage was about to leave, when Irea suddenly tugged on his sleeve. Moving his head towards the girl, Layn instantly redirected his sight to where the girl was pointing at.

    "The thing is, what you proposed, is just too good to be true. And even if it is, before you could even get back the initial investments¡­" Irea''s voice wavered as she read the words aloud. Casting a quick nce at Layn''s face, she trembled before lowering her eyes and finishing in a low voice. ".... the disciples from the inner academy wille to im the treasure!"

 Chapter 52 - Looking For Support

    "Tell me, is there maybe some kind of family, that is known for its righteousness?" Asking up as the two of them left the lodging of Sitra, Layn clearly proved that he wasn''t going to give up. Even after the unexpected denial from the elder from their hunting group.

    "A righteous family? What kind of world did you live before to believe there are still some groups like that?" Shaking her head in disbelief, Irea sent a ridiculing nce to the archmage. "Everyone will be righteous if you pay them enough."

    Shrugging her shoulders, the girl clearly was intent on cutting the topic and leaving it behind. With a failure already marking the progress of Layn''s ns, her enthusiasm towards it only diminished.

    "I think I formted the words in the wrong way." Hiding the embarrassment under a wide smile, Layn ignored Irea''s attempt to change the topic. "Let me put it in another way. Is there some kind of powerful family or organisation silently helping the academy out?" With this wording, the picture of what Layn saught was much clearer. "They might be doing it out of own their interest, but they need to be powerful enough to shield us from other local forces¡­" Going way over the line with his words, Layn only realised that fact once his voice reached the girl''s ears.

    "So you want some kind of backer? That''s doable, but it won''t be easy at all." Seeing how all her attempt at moving this topic out of the agenda continued to fail one after another, Irea appeared to give up. Simply answering Layn''s questions without even a hint of further resistance, she proved to be actually a great help.

    "That would be perfect. Could you take me to them, then? If this idea will fail, I won''t bother you with this topic any longer." Layn would have to be an idiot not to notice how annoyed the girl already was with the topic of the stones. But he couldn''t me her either.

    For someone like her, magic stones were a treasure. Maybe not something she could never touch in her life, but still something she would have to work pretty hard to obtain. On the other hand, Layn couldn''t think less about the hardships he would have to ovee to obtain some of those treasures.

    Not because he was belittling the means of the ancients. ''Now that I think about it, I''m just arrogantly believing that nothing would be able to stand in my path, aren''t I?'' Some say that bing aware of the problem was the first step to oveing it. But Layn was as far away from such thoughts as one could humanly be.

    Because it actually wasn''t arrogant to think like that. Given his means and knowledge, it would actually be strange for him to struggle in this ancient world at all!

    Refusing to utter even a single word in regards to the stones, Irea pursed her lips before grabbing Layn''s hand and pushing him towards the gates of the academy. "Don''t act that surprised. What kind of family sponsoring the academy would live within the academy itself?" Shaking her head in what appeared to be joy caused by Layn''s misunderstanding, Irea smiled. "We are going to visit the third prince."

    Exining the matter in a way that rified absolutely nothing, Irea''s smile widened even further, proving that she had to be aware of Layn''s confusion. But even without knowing the details, the girl told more than enough for the archmage to draw some conclusions.

    "I will be in your care, then." Nodding his head in gratitude, Layn instantly submerged himself in his thoughts. Because even for a genius he was, forming up a usible n to fool not only the academy but someone who appeared to be of royal blood, wasn''t going to be an easy task.

    Unsurprisingly though, by the time the two of them reached the gates of an impressively huge mansion located right outside of the castle district, Layn already had his entire role devised in his mind.

    Leaving dealing with the guards at the gate of the mansion to the girl, the archmage soon walked through a beautifully decorated garden, all the way to a small patio. Shielded from the sun by a huge umbre, a man in the middle of his twenties was enjoying his leisure, resting on arge yet thin bed while handmaidens feed him some kind of stripes of meat.

    "Did you finally notice my charms, dear?" Ignoring Layn''s presence from the get-go, the man directed his head towards the approaching duo. ''Even though we didn''t make a single sound while approaching¡­'' Noticing this small detail, Layn''s lips widened a bit. ''What a curious man!'' Eximing in his thoughts, the archmage prepared for the scene that was bound to happen.

    "Your highness, I brought someone who wishes to have a word with you." Lowering her head in respect of the other party standing, Irea quickly exined after paying her respects. "While his words might sound insane, I can vouch for him. In fact, he saved my life on multiple asions, so I would be greatly pleased if your majesty could spare him a moment."

    Seeing the girl openly beg like that, Layn couldn''t stand it. Moving forward, he ced his hand on the girl''s shoulder, before forcefully bringing her up. "This is my business. I won''t allow you to lower yourself just for my sake." Reprimanding the girl sternly, Layn then moved his eyes on the prince''s face.

    In the middle of his twenties, this man could clearly take pride in his appearance. Despite acting spoiled right now, there wasn''t a single spare hint of fat on his body. Due to theck of any kind of shirt on his chest, Layn could only observe the ripped muscles dancing under the man''s skin with jealousy.

    ''I guess even being nearly omnipotent doesn''t save me from those simple feelings¡­'' Internallymenting on his own state of mind, Layn shook his head before speaking up.

    "Prince, I came to you because I believe you are the only person capable of making full use of my treasure." Stepping forward, Layn paid no mind to the handmaidens who instantly presented their weapons. The message was clear. Take another step, and you will die.

    "Oh? And what treasure could that be?" Catching the prince''s attention was the hardest part. Now that his curiosity was piqued, Layn could proceed without any real worries.

    "Prince, I''m capable of finishing the artefact, capable of outputting about two and a half grade one stone worth of energy. Per hour, without any breaks, without any time limit." Repeating the very same details that he already revealed to Irea, Layn smiled. "It''s both my, and the academy''s wish to make use of this treasure to establish an area, where young cultivators could use this treasure to break through the energy infusing stage."

    By lying about the silent support of the academy, Layn managed to achieve two things. First off, the topic instantly raised several levels of importance in the prince''s eyes. Secondly, Irea opened her eyes wide, putting a lovely expression of shock on her delicate face!

    But there was one more, unexpected factor to this situation. Noticing how Layn''s eyes instantly moved to the side, hunting for the adorable expressions of the girl beside him, the prince smiled widely. "I see that you are a man of qualities as well." Commenting out of nowhere, the young prince stood up from his strange bed before approaching Layn and reaching out with his hand.

    Just the sight of it was enough for all his handmaidens to hiss like some kind of angered cats.

    "You caught my interest. How about we discuss the details¡­ In a more secluded ce?"

 Chapter 53 - The Catch

    Following the prince''s steps, Layn felt as if both of the handmaidens that served him before were intentionally breathing on his neck. Right now, it was already their kindness not to poke him with their hidden weapons at all times just to remind the intruder what was his position in presence of a royal descendant.

    ''Thank God¡­ I don''t think I would be able to handle the drawbacks of actually defending myself if they were to attack¡­'' Looking at those pitiful girls with more of a pity than a hostility, Layn forced himself to drop their existence out of his mind.

    Even if they were to make a move, his instincts would alert him about it either way. Tuned towards rapid movements rather than a specific aura, Layn was long past the point where he would have to be wary of such small fries. And with this solution, he didn''t need to worry about those girls bothering his mind anymore.

    "Yuck!" Barely managing to stop himself from uttering a slight moan of pain, Layn instantly moved his head to the side. With an innocent look on her face, Irea pretended as if she wasn''t the one to send a painful nudge to his side for a moment, before whispering in a soft voice.

    "What are you nning? Didn''t you cause enough problems for me and my friends already?" Getting so close to the archmage that a random observer would already take them for a cuddling couple, Irea asked.

    ''I guess she''s still worried about this situation¡­ Well, can''t me her for that.'' Layn was perfectly aware that if his actions were to be fully revealed to the public before the first effects of his n would show, his life would turn miserable. Even if he could easily run away from this city, there was no telling just how far the influence of the local royalty reached, making it hard for him to even n for a potential escape.

    But rather than making the archmage falter, this tense situation he put himself in only served to reinforce his determination to pull the entire thing up without a fail.

    "Okay, it will be hard for anyone to listen up on our conversation¡­ But we need to remain on the move." Not daring to stop his steps, the prince casually informed the duo following him before turning his head to the back and sending a wink to the archmage. "Even being the third prince has its own drawbacks. Don''t you dare to think it''s all luxury and leisure."

    Turning his head back to face the direction he was going, the prince waited for a moment before turning his head again. "You may speak openly now. I''m all ears."

    "Your highness¡­" While the entire schematic for the discussion was long finished deep in Layn''s thoughts, it was still necessary for him to infuse some of his theatric talents into his words. "Right now, in order to fully activate the treasure, I need a hundred grade one spirit stones. It would be even better to just use two or three grade two stones¡­ But I dare not make such great demands."

    While attracting the prince''s attention was the potentially worst part of the entire scheme, borating on the price of the projects was the moment with the highest risk of the n falling apart. ''Well, there is no need for me to worry even if this spoiled kid refuses.'' With his eyes glued to the prince''s back, Layn could barely spark any amount of care for the matter. ''In the end, if not through the academy, I''m sure I could establish my business anywhere in the city¡­ which could actually be an easier feat than what I''m trying to do now.''

    Layn never bothered himself to think in a way that would please others. This quality of his was only reinforced when he managed to nail his attempt at moving through the expanses of time in the wrong direction. Right now, the archmage was only willing to pay his mind to actually practical stuff. And holding on to the academy in terms of establishing his business was caused by one, simple reason.

    By pushing the ownership of such a hot potato that his treasure would be, Layn could save himself some time he would otherwise have to spend on fighting off all kinds of powers interested in snatching his treasure for themselves!

    "A hundred grade one stones, huh? Can''t say it''s a low price¡­" Grabbing his chin with his right hand, the prince thought for a moment before adding. "But I can''t say it''s expensive either. What are your estimated returns?"

    Hearing the question, Layn openly breathed out a sigh of relief. If the talks somehow progressed so quickly to this point, he could fire off his main artillery somewhat prematurely. But what would be a disaster in the field of military, was actually a viable tactic in the field of negotiations.

    "Sir, it''s just like I said. By charging a quarter of a grade-one stone per person per a single session of using the treasure, we could get five fourth of a grade one stone in an hour." Exining the idea, Layn smiled. "And that rounds up to roughly thirty grade one stones per day of pure ie."

    As happy as Layn was with revealing the prospect of the n heid out, this was yet another crucial moment in the discussion. Right now, faced with such an unbelievable figure, the prince would have to decide whether to trust Layn''s words or not. And in the face of the royal might, Layn could already tell what kind of threat would appear to secure the case of him lying.

    "That''s pure ie. What about the actual profits?" Contrary to Layn''s expectations, the prince didn''t fall for the trap that most of the amateurs would. Because just like everywhere, operating a business came at a cost.

    "Your highness, I dare not to believe in my own calctions here. To be safe, I assumed that all the fees, costs and wages would amount to half of the profit. But¡­" Taking a short pause, Layn involuntarily managed to make the prince stop. Given how the young man himself already exined why they had to be constantly on the move, it wasn''t good progress in regards to what Layn had to add now.

    "But¡­ And here I was worried there would be no catches in it." Rather than flying into a rage or using the archmage of trying to do him in, the prince smiled amiably. "Tell me, what''s the catch of this n?"

    With more than half of his expectations regarding the prince''s reactions already broken, Layn only shrugged his shoulders before making a move as if he wanted to spit on the ground, only to stop himself in the veryst moment before his saliva would leave his mouth.

    "Your highness, I''m your average adventurer. I managed to chance upon this treasure of mine and wanted to use it for the benefit of fellow cultivators." Using the words that Irea already taught him, Layn braced himself before bringing up the most important point of all. "Though it appears that politics is more important than human prosperity and lives.. That''s why, there are two more things, small but annoying for me, that I will need your help with, prince."

 Chapter 54 - Priorities

    "Politics appear to be more important than the quality of human lives¡­ Those are some wise words, I will give you that." Putting his fingers on his chin, the prince fell into the river of his own thoughts for a moment. Then, his face tensed up as he brought his eyes back on Layn''s expression.

    "What are those two things? Given all the returns you have promised, surely it has to be something considerably challenging, isn''t it?" Attempting to sound off the archmage''s intentions, the prince put a small smile on his lips.

    "Whether they are troublesome or not, I will leave that to you, prince." Nodding his head in a rxed manner, the archmage approached one of the windows within the corridor, casting a longing look towards the academy.

    "Your highness, the academy was originally supposed to groom new talents, to grant people with the capability the possibility to reach greater heights. But is this still the same academy we know today?"

    Asking this rhetorical question, Layn suddenly turned around at such a speed that even startled the prince''s handmaidens. But before they could even pull out their weapons, the archmage simply stared at the prince with a focused expression.

    "No, it is not. What used to be a ce for growing the youth, now turned into another field for political y." Stating quite a huge statement, Layn didn''t even allow the possibility of stopping here. "Those at the top use their strength to oppress those at the bottom. And that means, we need your guarantee, Your highness, that once the treasure will be deployed, no one will have the guts to im it for himself."

    That was one of the major worries of the archmage. While he certainly had quite a lot of tricks up his sleeve, Layn didn''t wish to spread war and terror whenever he went. Given how he was only a temporary guest at this time, he didn''t really want to change the history all that much. Because of that, by making an influential figure donate the treasure under specific terms, Layn could prevent the incursions from the inner academy that he was already warned about.

    "There are people who are not happy to see such a great opportunity remain in the hands of outer sect, am I right?" Catching on the bait, the prince deducted the rest of the story manufactured by the archmage. And given how what the prince ''figured out'' and what Layn wanted him to think off was roughly the same, the archmage could celebrate yet another small sess of the negotiations.

    "That''s roughly the problem. Unless it will be you, your highness, to propose the deal, I''m worried no good woulde out of the situation at all. That''s why I hope it can be your highness, that will propose to rent this to the treasure to the academy¡­" Nodding his head low, Layn took a moment for the tension to build up, before bringing his face up and revealing a wide, charming smile on his lips. "As long as they will pay the daily fee of operating it amounting to what we discussed before, on the terms we discussed before."

    There was a reason for every single part of Layn''s n. He was shing the price of this kind of service by half because he wanted the business to quickly gain poprity. He was directing it towards the beginner cultivators because they were the most interested in finding a cheap way to learn whether they have talent or not.

    Just like there were people who would prefer to pay half a grade one stone to just sit for an hour under the influence of Layn''s treasure rather than wasting several months if not years of their life to achieve it the normal way, there were many uses of the treasure of the people with a greater level of strength at ie¡­

    The problem was, for them, such a treasure could be handly only by being their personal one. As great as it could be in terms of enriching the air with energy, for people on the higher stages of cultivation, the quantity of said energy was simply too small.

    Every Layn''s reason behind the specific terms he came up with could be exined both in simple words and by borating on its intricate influence on the city. But there was no need for that, as the prince appeared to be smart enough to see through those reasons as well. Meaning, this entire scheme and just how intricate it was, was nothing else but the rambling of the narrator unsure how to glue the two scenes together.

    "Either way," Shaking his head, Layn got rid of this weird feeling that randomly popped up in his head. Only once this strange echo of some godly voice etched with endless might and power disappeared from his thoughts did the archmage manage to focus on the topic again.

    "The other matter that we will need your help with, Prince, is the split of the profits. And what I suggest, is fifty-fifty, paid each week." Stepping forward, Layn nodded his head to the prince with respect. "Outside of the first seven days when we will im our part daily, we would like the prince to manage the financial side of the project."

    Stepping backwards as if to emphasise how he preferred the prince managing the purely profitable part of the entire scheme, Layn smiled.

    ''Even though I don''t n to stay in this ce that long¡­ At least I will be able to pay those ancient hunters back for helping me all this time!''

    For Layn, both the local academy and the city were of no value or importance. For him, those ces could exist or not and it would make no difference to him. But that didn''t mean he didn''t care about the business he was setting.

    And what was a better way to thank someone for help if not set up an endless source of extreme riches for them?

 Chapter 55 - Ireas Choice

    The sound of someone''s knocking on the doors forced Layn awake. Standing up from the bed, he quickly approached the doors before raising the knob that locked them.

    "You came back pretty quick!" Staring with surprise at the girl in the doors, Layn quickly moved aside. From the tense look on the girl''s face and how she constantly scanned the area around her, it was clear that she was quite anxious about being out in the open, even if it means being in the open corridor of the building.

    "Don''t you ever ask me for something like this again!" Barely holding herself back from shouting, Irea pulled off a ring from her finger only to throw it towards the archmage. "Here, this is what you wanted, isn''t it?"

    After taking a look into the storage ring and staring at a copious mountain of grade one stones Layn felt a tingle in his soul. Ever since he turned the one stone he managed to obtain into his rope, the avenues for the archmage''s growth were pretty limited.

    Without the source of energy to feed his aura or to help him cultivate, he was stuck at slowly amassing his power through the excess energy sucked from his rope. Yet, with more and more necessary spells stacking up, Layn was reaching the point when he started to consider learning the proper, ancientnguage just to save the magic necessary to power the trantion spell!

    "Yes, that''s exactly what I wanted. But now, you need to make a choice." Turning the ring on his finger, Layn raised his eyes on the girl''s face. Staring into her clearly annoyed eyes, Layn refused to look away no matter what.

    "Come on, just spill it out already. What do you want now?" Irea didn''t bother to hide her annoyance. While there was a good time and mood between the two of them before, after running errands for the archmage like some kind of servant, Irea reached the limits of her patience.

    "Right now, you have a choice. You can do me a favor and leave me alone here for a while. In about two to three hours, the treasure should be finished." Shaking his head, Layn retreated back to the bed before sitting on it and resting his back against the wall. "But if you want to stay and watch what I will do, you need to be ready to follow me till the end of your days or until the day where I will no longer be able to apany you."

    As great as this girl was as apanion, Layn had the minimal morals in himself to put thisst cause in the verbal contract. Given all his means, it wouldn''t be a problem if the news about the possible way of using the stones was leaked. The only problem that the archmage had with such a situation, was that it could possibly have some great repercussions on the future he knew about.

    That''s why, if the girl was curious enough to decide to stay and watch, she would have to be ready to truly follow him, if not for the rest of his days, then for as long as Layn would remain in the current time!

    "You do know that this is my house?" Asking this question more out of a reflex rather than in order to get a real answer, Irea shook her head before joining Layn on the bed. "You know how unfair you are with this question?"

    Watching how the girl lowered her head and refused to answer anything else, Layn released a tired sigh.

    "Listen. It''s not like I don''t trust you. But the thing is, creating that treasure¡­ It can only be done with theories¡­" Layn hesitated for a moment. "Let''s say that if they get out to the public if anyone were to learn about those theorems¡­ The entire civilization as you know it would fall apart."

    Those weren''t some empty threats. While the reason for thest apocalypse that put a decisive end to the world of ancient was unknown, Layn was fully aware of what followed after that. Looking at the entire situation from a point of view from the far future, he could tell that the actual reason for the apocalypse could appear several years, ages if not millennia before its real effects actually appeared.

    Just like with radioactive materials, if one were to just walk past a small amount of it, they would never know they were at risk. But once radioactive matter would find use in streetmps, it would be already toote to prevent many from sumbing to radiation poisoning.

    And given how the apocalypse resulted in all the magic stones in the world dissolving into the primal matter and mixing with earth and air alike, there was a chance that using the technique of dissolving stones was actually hastening the entire process of the apocalypse.

    "Aren''t you a little too arrogant to talk about destroying¡­" Starting off with amon-sense-born rationale, Irea then looked at Layn''s serious face. Then, her words stopped, as her soul understood that he was actually serious.

    "If this technique spreads, the world as you know it will fall into ruin in less than a year." Layn once again reached for the insides of the storage ring, before pulling a single stone out of it. Grasping it in his hand, the archmage closed his eyes before sucking all of the energy from the stone inside his aura.

    Leaving only the bare minimum required for the stone to keep its physical structure, Layn then poured all the other stones directly on the floor of the room. With several stems of a special, wet wood that he asked Irea to procure as well shing between the lightly shining stones, he now had all the materials to achieve what he wanted in ce.

    "So, what will you do?" As hurried as Layn was to start his work, he still didn''t receive the girl''s answer. Turning his head to the side, he looked at Irea''s face.

    "Can we do it like that¡­ If what I will see, will truly turn out to be so grave as you im it to be, I will be yours for the rest of my days, just as you requested. But if not¡­"

 Chapter 56 - Crafting The Treasure

    "First, goes the core." Grabbing a simple twig, Layn wrapped it around the emptied-out magic stone. But rather than covering it with three of four wraps, he continued to work on the stone until it waspletely hidden underneath a thickyer of a twig.

    "I''m only using half of the twig we have for the buffer zone." Cutting out the thin material into two, Layn raised his head to take a look at the girl. With her eyes glues to his hands, she didn''t even notice his movement, fully focused on his exnation.

    As reluctant as she was to go through with his ns to obtain magic stones, Irea was actually one of the few who were aware of Layn''s extraordinary capabilities. The experiences on their journey to the town, how he has in the monster back in the desert¡­

    ''It didn''t matter how much against the idea I was¡­'' A silver of thought appeared in Irea''s mind, as she dared not to utter a single word. ''He still got his hands on a hundred of stones.'' This single thought was the very foundation for the girl''s focus. ''If he was so obstinate about them¡­ Maybe there really is something to his words?''

    For Irea, thest few days were the most colorful in her entire life. Not only did she witness things she could believe to be possible, but the source of all her surprises never ceased to stop. It was as if he wouldn''t let her go until hermon sense would be fully shattered.

    Yet, as ridiculous and often arrogant as this man''s words and actions were, he was actually doing what he imed.

    "Now, we take the rest of the twig and about ten grade-one stones." Moving the materials around, the archmage forced himself to focus back on the craft. While he was easily capable of doing what he wished, it didn''t mean it was a simplistic process.

    ''I guess I will need a bit more magic to construct it¡­'' Even after infusing an entire magic stone worth of energy into his cultivation, Layn was more than aware that he was stillcking. Because what he was about to do, was a rather lengthy process, requiring a constant supply of mana.

    ''Or I can do it like this.'' Reaching for the pile of stones, Layn grabbed a few more of them before dropping them by his knee. Rather than giving up on his shield or trantion spell, something which could prove disastrous, he could simply waste a few stones to keep his craft going!

    "Right now, is the crucial point. You might not believe me, but I need to turn those solid stones¡­" Pointing his finger at the bunch of grade-ones that he prepared beforehand, Layn looked at Irea''s face. What he was about to say, was something that he doubted the girl would understand or believe. "Into dust as fine as possible. Dust with particles too small to be seen by a naked eye."

    There was no point trying to exin the principle behind this notion. For the girl, it was most likely akin to just wasting the stones away. ''I just don''t feel confident to teach her medium-grade math and physics¡­'' Recalling his own memories of his school years, Layn shrugged.

    ''To think I would still react like that¡­ Damn those girls¡­'' Not only thest years in the future were a source of grief in Layn''s life. While childish and not important at all in the grand scheme of things, a certain group of girls easily managed to leave a huge scar on the younger soul of the archmage.

    It was also the reason why he rarely brought his thoughts back to that ursed ce where his ordeals took ce.

    "I¡­ Understand." Irea replied with an obvious lie. Or was it? Looking at her face, Layn couldn''t actually tell. It was as if she was telling the truth¡­ but meaning something else than what the archmage understood.

    "Once that step will be done, I will infuse the stone powder into the remaining twig. But now, I will need to focus on the task. Observe." Exining the situation to his spectator, Layn focused his eyes on the stones before him. Taking the first one to his hands, the archmage ran his energy through the stone.

    Rather than absorbing the power that clearly resided within its crystalic structure, he infused it with the energy of his own. With the structure of the stone unable to hold the additional energy, the free mana flowed back into Layn''s aura. And during that process, a huge chunk of it disappeared, forcing the archmage to refill the missing part from his own strength.

    That was the reason behind the hardship of the process. Without sufficient strength and control over said strength, one wouldn''t be able to turn a solid object into particle-sized dust. Not even the greatest grindstone was capable of achieving such a feat. The only way to do it, was to disturb the inner structure of the magic matter, making it fall apart on its own instead.

    Pack!

    As if something broke inside it, the stone suddenly turned into dust. Falling between every possible gap, it seemed to diffuse into the air before even reaching the ground.

    Raising his hand to wipe the beads of sweat from his forehead, Layn weakly reached for one of the disposable stones. Quickly sucking on all the energy within, he allowed it to crumble before taking a look at the strange glow around his fist.

    Given how his aura was the only mana-rich presence in the entire area, the dust naturally gathered around it, forming the aforementioned glow. And now, with just a single thought appearing in his head, Layn directed all the stone powder on the twig below.

    The shine disappeared. On the other hand, if one were to look closely, he would be able to notice an insanely delicate glowing out from the twig Layn prepared.

    "One done, nine to go." After taking a moment to rest, Layn grabbed another stone. Taking one more moment to stabilize his energy, he repeated the process.

    A stone to regain his mana, a moment to rest, then the process would repeat itself. Yet, with each cycle, the breaks that Layn had to take only increased. By the time thest stone crumbled into nothingness right before Irea''s eyes, Layn was nearing the limits of his exhaustion.

    "Now that the twig is prepared, we wrap it around the core we prepared earlier." Passing both of the items to the girl''s hand, Layn fell to all fours, struggling to catch a breath. Instantly rushing to his side, Irea almost dropped the items she just received.

    ''What should I¡­?'' Between helping the man and taking care of what he made with so much effort, Irea was confused about which one to prioritize. ''What if I destroy one of those things?'' She saw with her own eyes just how hard Layn was working to create those two items. If she were to destroy them, wouldn''t his efforts be all in vain?

    "I''m okay¡­ I will just take a little¡­ rest¡­" Crawling forward, Layn showed the whites of his eyes as his head fell down.. The only saving grace was the fact that he managed to crawl to where Irea was sitting, saving his skull by making it fall on herp rather than on the hard floor.

 Chapter 57 - Im All Yours

    The first thing that Layn heard when his consciousness returned, was the sound of a material rubbing against other material. This gentle scratchinging from right above his head was simr to the sound treatment that some of the higher-ss brothels offered for those too tired to actively pursue other goals.

    Bit by bit, the archmage was returning to his senses. The next thing he felt, was the soft warmth underneath his chin, keeping the entire side of his head cozy. With his eyes slowly opening up, the peaceful sight of Irea''s hands continuing to carefully wrap the twig against the core filled his vision.

    Absorbed in her word, the girl failed to realize that Layn returned to his senses. Focusing all of her attention on covering the ever-growing ball of twig with more and moreyers of it, Irea''s face turned solemn as if she reached some sort of enlightenment.

    ''How cute¡­'' Staring at the adorable expression of the focused girl above him, Layn decided to enjoy his treatment for a little longer. Moving his eyelids down, he left his eyes only slightly open, with the gap of the squint covered by his eyshes. Sneaking a constant nce at the girl''s peaceful face, Layn soaked the atmosphere of the moment.

    And for the second time since he arrived in this time, he found some time to do some thinking.

    He was in an unprecedented situation. ''It was never my intention to go back so far. From today''s perspective, it matters not what I will do here at all¡­'' While that was the main line of thought that formed the foundation of Layn''s perception of his current life, his pragmatical nature made it hard to actually ept such a solution.

    The only good thing about the entire situation was how the return mechanism of his spell wasn''t perfectly in line with the part of the runes responsible for how far back in time was his gran arcana originally supposed to bring him. While the distance that this magnificent spell could traverse depended on the linear scale of the mana supplied, the ''calling back'' function was more of a logarithmic function.

    While still bound to the amount of mana infused into the arcana, given how it grew at a way slower pace, Layn estimated that he had between a single year and a century in his current timeline before the calling back would activate.

    ''And that''s another reason to be wary of what I''m leaving for the ancients to learn from.'' Given how he was the very first pioneer attempting to conquer the time itself with magic, Layn had no one to consult his doubts with. But ultimately, there were only two options.

    His actions could elder influence the future, or not. In the first case, every single action he would do right now wouldter reflect in the changes to the future he knew of, turning it into something entirely else. Given how the pace of technology and magic development only elerated at a greater pace the higher it reached, if he were to push the events of the history he knew forward just fifty years, the world he would potentially return to would have nothing to do with the future he knew about.

    On the other hand, there was a chance that his actions would provepletely futile, leaving the world exactly as it was. As unlikely as this theory was for the archmage, given how it would mean that the entire history as he knew it already incorporated his influence before he was even born, the archmage had no choice but to assume it as a possibility as well.

    ''In the end, it''s super risky. It would suck to return right into Ortensia''s hands, especially with all my mana drained¡­'' Just the thought of moving back to the time he initially escaped from was enough to send a shiver down Layn''s spine. And given the position of his head atop Irea''sp, this sudden shake of his muscles managed to pull the girl out of her focus.

    Her thighs twitched before her hand fell on Layn''s hair. "Are you okay?" Putting the item she was working on gently to the side, Irea used both of her hands to slowly massage the scalp of the man. Brushing her delicate fingers through his hair, she appeared to be way calmer than she was before as if all her doubts about Layn''s n disappeared.

    "I guess you felt it already." There was one obvious thing that Layn already figured out. It was also one of the reasons why he intentionally ''forgot'' to refill his strength with one of the stones, allowing the weakness to take over.

    ''To think that this trick would work even in ancient times¡­'' Amongst many things that Layn was interested in, psychology held a special spot in his heart. Although he never really dived deep into its possibilities, there were somews that the archmage was aware of.

    And as if he was in a casino den, he knew that once the girl would invest herself into the project, she would have a hard time suddenly giving up on it. Hence, it was no surprise to the archmage when he saw the girl picking up the treasure-in-making as he was losing consciousness.

    "I did. This twig¡­ How could it produce so much energy?" Casting a quick look at the treasure beside the two of them, Irea squinted her eyes a bit.

    "For now, it''s important that you realize what this twig is capable of. And I don''t think I need to spell it out loud how it be this way." Turning his head slightly to the side, Layn could feel the back of my skull rubbing against the fleshy thighs of Irea.

    "That stone dust, huh?" Still running her fingers through Layn''s hair, Irea seemingly didn''t mind letting him use herp for a pillow at all. Then, she suddenly shook her head, before putting her hands below Layn''s chin and leaning over his face. Stuck between the warmth of her thighs at the bottom, her chest over his forehead, and her face right above his lips, even being the archmage didn''t allow Layn to escape from Irea''s clutches.

    "Still, I still owe you an answer for earlier." While the treasure has yet to be finished, Irea clearly understood the value of what the archmage created. Because the most essential part of the entire treasure¡­ was actually the twig.

    As the only part enchanted with the stone dust, it was responsible for the entirety of magic production, or rather, magic suction. Once its own capacity would reach its limits, the mana would have no other ce to go but to the empty magic stone at the core of the treasure. The only thing left to do, was to create an outlet for this power, turning a mana bomb into a mana outlet.

    "This thing¡­" Looking towards the treasure for a moment, Irea smiled before moving her eyes back on Layn''s face. "This thing doesn''t leave me any room to hesitate. And just as promised, from today onwards¡­" Lowering her head a bit more, Irea pressed her lips against Layn''s for a moment, before bringing her head up a bit and smiling.. "I''m all yours."

 Chapter 58 - Almost A Bomb

    "As great as it is to hear it, I can''t really focus on you as much as I would like right now." Raising his hand, Layn ced it on Irea''s head before patting it. "Right now, this treasure has the potential to turn most of the academy grounds into a wastnd. I need to finish it before it will be toote."

    Tensing his abdominal muscles, Layn forced his upper body up, almost crashing foreheads with the girl. Escaping from the collision course at the veryst moment, a hint of displeasure and disappointment shed in the girl''s eyes.

    ''Figures¡­ No woman would be happy to have her advances put on hold.'' Despairing over the necessary action he had to take, Layn quickly brought a simple knife from the pile of tools and resources he prepared in advance.

    "Right now, this twig is¡­ How do I say it¡­ Sucking the energy out of the air? Sucking the mana from another dimension?" As soon as the archmage moved on to specialistic terms required to exin the matter, his trantion spell produced red shes in his vision to indicate how it was unable to convey the same meaning with the words it already learned.

    As great as it was to have a self-improving trantion spell working constantly, it was still just a low-grade construct rather than a proper and popr tool widely used in the future Layn came from. Thankfully, once Layn would get some time to turn all the remaining stones into his own power source, the situation would change.

    "Wait a moment." Quickly standing up, Layn ran to grab a simple mug from the kitchenpartment of Irea''s apartment before mming it down into a bail of water normally used for washing and cleaning. Pouring out the content to make carrying it around easy andfortable, he ced the half-filled mug on the floor before sitting beside it.

    "Listen. What you guys are doing right now, is akin to trying to suck the water out of the cup." To make the exnation even simpler, Layn leaned over the cup, leaving roughly ten inches between the surface of the water in the cup and his mouth. Then, after releasing all the air from his lungs, he inhaled with all the might his lungs offered.

    "See? Nothing much." Pointing his hand at his wet mouth, Layn then spat the dirty water back to the cup. "What we are doing instead, is using a tool to make drinking easier." Grabbing the leftover part of the unenchanted twig, Layn then moved it above the cup only to lower it down, allowing the thin strand of material to soak the water.

    Pulling the twig up after a moment, he brought it up before showing how the droplets of water quickly started to drip from the long strip of cloth directly at his hand below.

    "So it''s not like there is little energy in the air, but rather¡­" Even though she was initially annoyed by Layn''s refusal to ept her advances, Irea proved that she held the position of a teacher at the academy for a reason. With her eyes glued to the archmage''s lips, it seemed as if she was drinking his words directly from his mouth.

    "Yes, we can use the magic stone powder to¡­ extract? To pull the magic from a state where it''s hard for us to reach it. By using such a tool, in simple terms, we can force it to endlessly generate energy for our own use." In the end, Layn didn''t manage topletely convey the message. Thankfully, from the look of understanding on Irea''s face, she at least managed to understand the crux of the matter.

    "Tell me, is this how you are using spiritual energy in your world?" At first, Layn started to ponder how he was supposed to answer this question without triggering the problems with his trantion spell when he noticed it.

    "What the hell are you talking about? There is no such thing as other words, silly." Shaking his head in apparent disbelief, Layn brought the knife to the very treasure he and Irea spent thest few hours creating. Mercilessly stabbing the de right at the top of this roughly fist-sized, ovalish item, he then carved out a small cone from it.

    ''Thank God¡­'' As his eyes focused on making sure the shape he portrayed in his thoughts would be perfectly reflected on the item he was working on, Layn used his steady breathing to calm himself down.

    The fact that the girl asked about the world rather than the time, saved him. If she happened to strike precisely into the crux of the topic, even after everything he went through in his life, Layn doubted his ability to keep his face straight.

    "Ah¡­ And here I thought I managed to figure you out¡­" Shaking her head with a clear disappointment, Irea hid her triumphant smile before refocusing her attention on the treasure. "What are you doing to it right now? Destroying it?"

    Rather than calling out how she instantly went to change the topic when her initial guess failed, Layn only smiled before doing thest few cuts and passing the finished treasure to the girl''s hands.

    "Before this cut was made, the energy drawn by the enchanted twig would fill the stone inside, then the unenchanted twig in between¡­ But what would happen next? The energy would continue to flow in, without anywhere to be stored. In short words, this treasure causes the first and greatest mana disaster in¡­ in the entire world." Holding his tongue back from referring to the ancient disasters while exining, Layn quickly swallowed a mouthful of saliva before picking up where he left.

    "Right now, the unenchanted twig will serve as the outlet of the energy. As for the crystal inside, its only job was to add direction to the initial flow of energy that started when the enchanted twig was first wrapped around the core." Standing up, Layn offered his hand to the girl. At first surprised, Irea was quick to ce her own hand atop his palm, only for the archmage to help her stand up.

    "As for now, in about an hour or two, the innate capacity of the material will be filled¡­" The red shing of Layn''s vision alerted him about yet anothercking word for the trantion spell. "Once the cup will be filled with water to the brim, it will start to overflow."

    Still holding Irea''s hand, Layn took a step closer before wrapping his left arm around the girl''s waist as he looked at her lips before licking his own mouth.

    "And that means, we should have a few hours for ourselves."

 Chapter 59 - The Myth

    When their lips touched, Layn felt something that he didn''t experience in a few long years. This innate excitement on closing the girl''s mouth with his own while feeling how her body reacted to the kissing in his arms. For the first time in years, Layn felt a true excitement.

    "Or that''s what I would like to say." As their lips parted, a single strand of saliva refused to let go, still keeping them connected in this minuscule way. Only when Layn spoke up, the strand finally snapped, putting an end to the moment of pleasure.

    "Are you for real?" Snuggling forward, Irea rested her forehead on Layn''s chest. Squirming lightly in the archmage''s arms, she brought her arms around his waist, refusing to let go. "Can''t we¡­ just once again¡­" Raising her head up, Irea looked at Layn with passion brimming in her half-open eyes. Moving her head higher, her trembling lips went on the attack.

    Closing Layn''s mouth, Irea didn''t hold herself back this time. Pushing her tongue forward, she invaded Layn''s jaw, rubbing her wet muscle against Layn''s own tongue. Once their saliva started mixing up, Irea''s hands moved upwards, swapping their hold from archmage''s waist to his neck.

    ''We shouldn''t¡­'' Even though the treasure would take a long while to fully load and start operating, it didn''t mean the entire n was already a sess. ''We still need to get it to its location¡­'' All Layn''s internal breaks broke apart when Irea climbed even higher on him, resting her bottom high on the archmage''sp.

    Every time their tongues would touch or entangle, Irea''s body would shake a bit, squirming around in Layn''s embrace. With her robe riding up, only a singleyer of undergarment stopped her precious ce from rubbing against the peak that slowly grew in Layn''s pants.

    "No, we can''t." Before his instincts would sweep him away, Layn grabbed Irea''s shoulders before pushing her away. While still sitting atop hisp, she could no longer ensnare the archmage with the agile movements of her sweet tongue.

    "We can''t?" With her head hanging down and her eyes tearing up as he looked up at Layn''s face, Irea dealt yet another critical attack. Yet whenpared to the cuteness right within his arm''s reach and securing thest phase of his n, Layn had no trouble picking what took priority.

    "I''m sorry, but not yet. We will have all the time in the world for thatter. But now," Averting his eyes, Layn rustled Irea''s hair before shaking his head. "Now, we need to finish the job."

    For a moment, the two of them just continued to stare at each other, enjoying the intimacy stemming from how close they were. Every Irea''s breath, every beat of her heart was a glorious yet calming melody for Layn. The way her eyes traced every slightest movement on his face, the way in which she constantly attempted to snuggle back into his arms¡­

    "I get it. I really do." In the end, Irea gave up. She already bore witness to how obstinate Layn was when he set his mind to something. ''Just like back when he started the topic of those stones¡­'' Recalling how annoying his persistence was back then, Irea''s lips surprisingly formed a smile.

    ''But isn''t this kind of decisiveness, a good thing?'' Asking herself, Irea then shook her head before using Layn''s shoulder as a support to stand up. Once freed from the girl''s weight, Layn epted Irea''s hand and stood up as well.

    "What now, then?" Irea moved forward, resting her forehead on Layn''s chest once again. This time though, this act waspletely devoid of any sexual undertone, overflowing with exhaustion and affection instead.

    "We need someone to quickly build a rudimentary shrine. The simpler and cruder, the better." Moving his eyes a bit upward, Layn pictured his idea in his mind once again. He figured out the best way to market their new treasure when he first saw the academy grounds. Filled with dirt paths and gazebos, it was free of any sort of ''heavy'' architecture.

    ''If I were to build something detached from that naturalistic atmosphere¡­ It would do me no good.'' That was the single, stray thought that set Layn''s entire n in motion. And now, he had to somehow build such a thing on an academy grounds, without any permission from their elders, within two hours at most!

    "I know some stonemasons in the city, but you know¡­" Easily switching her mindset to the new topic, Irea moved her head away from Layn''s chest before rubbing her chin with her hand. "Stonemasons won''t do. The entire thing needs to be wooden." Before the girl could finish her words, the archmage already pointed out the problem.

    "Wait, wooden shrine?" Raising her beautiful, deep eyes at Layn''s face, Irea leaned her head slightly to the side in an adorable expression of confusion. "Won''t that invite people to steal the treasure from it? You know, wood is pretty easy to break."

    ''Well¡­'' For a moment, Layn didn''t know what to say. ''I can''t be naive to think she would know about this point¡­'' Given how Irea visited the prince with him, she was bound to know that they had maybe not his support and backing, but his investment. And while a hundred grade one stones might not be a fortune for that man, it was still a rather substantial sum.

    Rather than pointing out the obvious w in Irea''s worry, Layn suddenly sunk in his own thoughts. ''If she still disregards the prince''s influence¡­ This might work for far shorter than I hoped it would.'' Rather than despairing over a sudden appearance of a possible w in his n, Layn ended up just shaking his shoulders and smiling.

    "It doesn''t matter if someone steals it or not. To be frank, I was pretty aware this entire scheme could onlyst for so long." Amongst all the things that Layn always aspired to be, a pragmatic was the main trait he aimed for. And given how he never nned to remain in this one, particr ce for long, once he would set out to explore the greater world, it wouldn''t matter at all what would happen to the shrine he wanted to build.

    As such, while a w for others, Layn was still pretty happy with how his ns progressed.

    "Listen, the entire wooden and crude build is all to emphasize the name of the shrine. Rather than relying just on the Prince''s authority to shield this ce from the hands of others, its myth will be actually its main defense." Putting a wide smile on his face, Layn grabbed the treasure from the floor before hiding it in one of his pouches along with several grade-one stones.

    "Myth? What do you mean by that?" Surprised by the sudden revtion, Irea brought her eyes up at the archmage whilst grabbing a coat to cover her messy clothing.

    "What we are going to erect, will be a shrine of humbleness, where those willing to cultivate in peace will be rewarded with great benefits!"

 Chapter 60 - Second Clash With Ireas Student

    "First, we will start with some carpenters. If you are so keen at the entire thing being wooden, there is no better ce to look for them than their guild." Setting off from Irea''s home, the duo made their way forward while discussing the situation.

    Even though openly talking about their ns like that didn''t seem to be the smartest idea in the world, as long as they refrained from mentioning any of the vital parts, what could others derive from their wish to get something wooden done?

    "How much it will cost? I mean, in magic stones." More than a half of the hundred stones offered by the princes remained safely hidden in Irea''s ce. With the treasure consuming less than twenty of the stones, about thirty of the unused ones remained in Layn''s pocket.

    "Well, it depends on the size, the scale, everything. Since we need to get it done as soon as possible, even five grade one stones might not be enough." Shaking her head with annoyance mixing with disbelief, it was clear for everyone to see that the topic of the professional craftsmen''s wages was a sore spot on her soul.

    "You don''t like craftsmen?" Noticing the girl''s distraught, Layn stopped himself fromughing with only the utmost effort, before bringing his eyes up to the skies. "If it''s about how much they earn¡­ Then as conceited as it might sound, there should be no upper limits to it."

    Surprising the girl with such an outrageous statement, Layn instantly had to dodge a nudge sent his waist way. Stepping to the side to avoid the attack, Layn grabbed Irea''s hand while openlyughing up.

    "You see, no matter how great it feels to follow the path of power, how many great heroes can be out there? What will they wear if not for craftsmen? What will they eat if not for cooks? What will they fight with if not for the smiths?" As the corners'' of Layn''s lips moved up, his tone softened up a bit.

    "Every civilization is defined by the mastery of its craftsmen. A thousand years from now, no one will care about one''s personal exploits. But those who will leave behind a legacy, something tangible¡­" Layn didn''t finish. Worried that speaking out more could bring some light to his real past, he decided that it was better not to open this can of worms yet.

    "Either way, we are here. Would you like to go in or¡­?" Leaving the question open, Irea directed her eyes at Layn''s face.

    "No, I will be okay out here." Snapping open the small strap that held his pouch to his belt, Layn passed the bag with stones to the girl. "Obviously, the less you spend the better, but don''t be too stingy either. While we need it to be simplistic, it still needs to reach a minimal level of quality."

    Sending the girl off with a smile, Layn rested his back against some random wall that cut away the guildnds from the rest of the city. Stretching his hand forward, he pretended as if he was pulling out a smoke from his preferred box of choice.

    Even after all this time in the ancient world, he could still remember the delicate engravings on the sides of the small, metal container. For some reason, even when a new style of disposable carton boxes started circting on the market back in the past, Layn, still loyal to his traditional habits, opted to keep using his decorative box instead.

    Yet, right now, all that the archmage could do was to pretend he was pulling out a slim, round piece before inserting its phantom in his mouth and pretending to light it up.

    "Gosh, I would kill for a smoke¡­" Whispering to himself, Layn suddenly turned his head to the side when a rustling alerted him of someone''s presence.

    ''What?'' This time, his instincts failed to work properly. Turning his head around, he expected to see some random stranger just happening to pass nearby. But rather than a random stranger, the side of the street Layn was waiting for was filled with people he already saw once.

    "I finally found you." Grinning from ear to ear, the same kid that bothered Layn and Irea back when they first entered the city stared daggers at the archmage. And just like before, he was surrounded by people likely to be on his payroll.

    "Who are you again?" Pretending not to recognize the young rascal, Layn smiled kindly. In the end, he could understand the naivete of the youth as he himself had several stories he was too embarrassed to tell others. Yet, as amiable and lenient he was willing to be in regards to the youth, it all depended on whether he would be rational enough to back down when necessary. "You¡­ No, there is no need for me to rage up¡­" Contrary to Layn''s expectations, the youth managed to wrestle the control over his body from his emotions, putting a wide smile on his face instead. "Senior, this is the man that shamed me. This is the man that dared to touch my fiancee. This is the man that spat on our glorious academy honor!"

    Pointing his hand at the archmage, the young man started throwing curses at Layn while speaking to someone besides him. And surely enough, before the young man could even finish his outcry, an athletic-looking youth around twenty of age stepped forward from the crowd.

    "You, what''s your name?" With his chin raised high, this neer to the situation clearly didn''t know any better. Yet, the fact that he had the very same emblem on his robes as the elders that tested Layn out a few days ago forced the archmage to act with more tact than he intentionally wished.

    "Unless you are the elder of the academy, you are not qualified to know my name." Finally moving away from the wall he was resting his back against, Layn shook his head before standing up to the random youth. "That is if your¡­"

    Before Layn could finish his threat, a hand appearing on his shoulder stopped his lips from moving.

    "I didn''t believe it when I heard the rumors¡­" With her head lowered, Irea shook her head in disbelief. Then, as she raised them on the same youth that bothered them since a while ago, her eyes tensed up in an ugly expression.

    "I do not recall promising myself to you. You shamed yourself by trying to go against better than you. As for the academy honor," Irea shook her shoulders before staring daggers at the man and asking, "you spat on it when you dared to disrespect the direct orders of your teacher."

    For the second time, Layn could see Irea''s face truly darkening. Not in annoyance, not in exhaustion or boredom. Her eyes filled with anger, while her lips quivered in wrath.

    ''Woah¡­ She''s really pissed¡­'' Unable to get enough of this new face of the girl, Layn simply enjoyed the moment when the same youth that themon annoyance referred to per senior, stepped two paces forward, putting him dangerously close to both Irea and Layn.

    "I asked you for your name, vermin." As happy as Layn was to see Irea stand up for him even against her own students, the attitude of that ''senior'' was inexcusable.

    "And he is clearly not willing to give it to you." Before Layn could let the reins of his pride free, another voice appeared from behind his back. Yet, even when the archmage turned away and looked towards its source, he still had no idea who the neers were¡­ if not for their tattered uniforms, full of sawdust and wooden scraps.

    Stepping forward, the leader of the group couldn''t be bothered to act kindly. Stopping right in front of the arrogant youth, he calmly looked at his face. "You are in my way.. Scram."

 Chapter 61 - Insanely Important Place

    Neither of the two moved even for an inch. The middle-aged leader of the carpenters stood his ground and so did the senior of Irea''s student.

    "My, my, to think that guilds would fall so low¡­" Putting a vicious smile on his face, the youth dressed in clearly expensive robes looked down on the craftsman. "I didn''t know you were moving out personally for some second-grade teachers and outcasts!"

    Raising his hand up, the youth pointed his finger right at the middle-aged man''s face. A few paces behind, Layn pushed his hand to the side, firmly holding Irea in ce.

    "I don''t think you quite understand the situation you are in." Instead of flying into a rage, the foreman only shook his head in silent defeat. "You." He raised his head. "Are." With his calm eyes, he stared into the youth''s eyes. "In." As soon as he took a step forward, the senior student backed off. "My." With the push not ceasing, the youth lost his stability and fell down on his arse. "Way." Looming over the youth, the middle-aged man seemed to gain some kind of aura that pinned the youth down.

    "I¡­" Observing the situation with curiosity, Layn involuntarily leaned his head to the side. ''Still, that was a surprise!'' Secretly expecting yet another cliche development of the young master bullying, Layn couldn''t tear his eyes from the beautiful sight of his now trembling lips. "I''m sorry!" Rolling from his back to his knees, the senior student growled at the man''s feet.

    "Scram." Waving his hand away, the foreman quickly dispersed the entire crowd. Before Layn could even notice, even the haughty senior student managed to make his escape. "I''m sorry for the dy, let us go." Gracing the shocked duo behind with a kind smile, the foreman pushed forward, quickly followed by the rest of his group.

    "Meet Daniel." Pointing her hand at the middle-aged man, Irea whispered to Layn''s ear in a conspirative tone. "He is a true three stars cultivator." Her finger was slightly shaking as if the girl was scared the man would see her and feel displeased because of that.

    "I might be three stars, youngdy, but I''m just a carpenter." Laughing up, Daniel turned his head around, unbothered by the three huge logs he was carrying on his right shoulder. "A proper fourth stage two stars veteran could easily take care of me. I never had the talent to join the sect, so this rank holds no value to me."

    Exining his background for some weird reason, Daniel managed to astound the girl and put a cringing look on Layn''s face. ''What is this, some kind of stupid exposition by a third-grade author of an online novel?'' Ridiculing the situation in his thoughts, Layn shook his head to get rid of the memories of all the stories he used to read as a kid.

    Back when he still had time, when he could still pursue whatever fantasy he could imagine. Back when he still didn''t know how the world itself would restrict everyone in it. How the reality would push back against any attempt to change one''s fate.

    "Either way, that''s quite a nice project you guys have." Turning his head back towards the direction he was walking for, Daniel suddenly announced. "Is this some kind of stage? Memorial?" Rubbing his chin, the middle-aged man looked up. "Or maybe some kind of shrine?"

    Layn''s eyebrow moved up when the craftsman hit the bullseye. While that was only to be expected given all the drawings they passed to them as there were only so many uses for such a peculiar structure. ''Yet to figure it out right on the third attempt? This guys surely know his job.''

    In the end, there was one thing within the archmage''s soul that refused to change over the years. Ever since he saw a random cook on the streets derive immense joy from just flipping patties of meat, Layn became aware of how worthy of respect was one''s crafting skill.

    Onlyter on did the archmage learn how big of an impact all sorts of specialties had on human development. ''Just like if there would be no mages, there would be no magic, if there would be to carpenters, then we would never move away from living in the huts made from our own shit.'' This single saying that Layn liked to repeat back in the days perfectly emphasized on Layn''s approach to the topic of craftsmanship.

    And it didn''t matter what time it was. To a huge degree, even with all the modern technology that the kingdoms obtained during the height of the technological explosion that Layn saw happen with his very own eyes¡­ Modern humans would struggle to achieve the same feats the ancients did out of the back of their hands.

    "A shrine it is." Noticing the changes on Layn''s face or maybe in his aura given how his head still faced forward, Daniel muttered under his nose. Yet, before the talks could progress any further, their rtively short walk to the academy grounds have concluded.

    "Halt! Stay where you are!" Noticing the huge group of burly men all equipped with the tools of their trade and stockpile of wooden palls, it was only to be expected for the guards to stop them. Thankfully, before Layn''s could even think about a new fake story to convince them, Irea already rushed into action.

    As the girl rushed forward, Layn quickly became a witness to the frantic movements of her hands and extremely enchanting expressions she made. ''Seeing her like that, I guess she could force them to believe we are a group of grade-schoolers on our way to a pic¡­''

    Despite Layn''s ironic and internal remarks, Irea''s actions apparently worked. Instead of receiving a throughout checkout or outright denial of entry, she somehow managed to get the entire group right to the designated construction site. ''Thinking about it,'' Layn turned his eyes to Daniel. '' the looks the guards sent to this man may have something to do with how easily everything went¡­''

    By the time the group arrived at the spot, a huge number of people already noticed them. Yet, even though Layn made no arrangement with the academy at all, no one appeared to stop their actions.

    "If we just march in and do what we need to do, the academy will face a concluded event. And if we do it with confidence, no one will dare to think we are not permitted to build there!" That was the reasoning Layn used to convince Irea to the n. And from the looks of things, it seemed to work pretty well!

    Yet, the heavenly ignorance couldst for long. Thankfully though, by the time a figure with any sort of authority appeared, a small, roundish shrine was already finished.

    "Well, that concludes our deal. If I may ask¡­" Stepping away from the former construction site, Daniel smiled to Irea while reaching out with his hand.

    "Sure thing." Replying with a huge smile, the girl reached out to one of her pockets before pulling five grade-one stones. "Here is the second half. It was a pleasure." Lowering her head in a clear expression of respect, Irea''s eyes wandered to the silhouette of the approaching academy''s official. ''I guess that''s it for my teaching career¡­'' Silently epting her loss, Irea straightened up.

    Noticing a small look of distraught on his girl''s face, Layn stepped forward before surrounding her back with his arm. Unsurprisingly, Irea didn''t protest, opting to rest her head on Layn''s chest for a bit instead.

    "Layn¡­" Muttering silently, the girl managed to push the archmage into action. "I know, I know¡­" Pulling out the finished treasure, Layn smiled. ''They finished it right in time¡­'' Noticing the dim glow of the twig that the treasure was made off, Layn quickly stepped towards the build.

    Created on a base of a simple circle, it had five curtains rolled up to the low ceiling. By lowering them down, one could easily create five separate rooms out of the already small original insides. But the ce that Layn was interested in, rested right in the middle.

    "And you go¡­ here¡­" bringing the treasure up, Layn opened up a special hatch before inserting the energy-producing core into a special shelf. Hidden behind a cleverly roused entrance, it allowed for an equal division of the outflowing energy across the entire shrine.

    "And with that, the first project is finished." Wiping the sweat out of his forehead with a swing of his arm, Layn smiled before moving outside.. Because along with the silhouette of the approaching official, a storm was brewing about this insanely important ce.

 Chapter 62 - How To Deal With Officials

    "What is the meaning of this?!" The official''s first words instantly downyed the importance of the shrine. Staring down at the wooden building with a critical eye while noting something on a board he held in his right hand, the official proved that no matter the world, a certain group of people would look, think and act exactly the same.

    "Meaning of what? Life?" Not allowing the man to gain momentum, Layn smiled. "I''m sorry, but while this shrine is aimed at helping others to grow, we cannot really answer such meaningful questions."

    Spreading his arms out in the gesture of powerlessness, Layn managed to gain the little yet insanely important advantage. Now he was on the attack, with the official forced into defense.

    "That''s not what I¡­" Attempting to rify what did he came here for, the middle-aged man wasn''t annoyed, but stunned instead.

    "Ah, so a coercion it is!" Eximing as if he just understood the crux of the universe atrge, Layn winked to Irea. Standing just a few steps to the side, the girl didn''t dare to utter a word, passively observing archmage''s exploits. Yet, Layn had absolutely nothing against it.

    ''Well, she said she was a teacher at this academy, it''s understandable she''s not happy to stand against its authorities¡­'' Figuring the situation of the girl out in his mind, Layn''s smile widened even further.

    "What? No, I came here¡­" The official attempted to rify the situation once again, only to be stopped by a suddenly raised Layn''s hand. "Sir, I understand. I truly do. But no matter what, the academy has yet toe to a rental agreement, so I have no other choice but to ask for a grade-one stone in exchange for four entry tickets."

    Shaking his head with faked uneasiness, Layn continued the great fight within his soul not to allow his smile to appear on his face.

    "Agreement? Grade one stone?" Listening to the archmage''s words, the official''s eyes widened. A few paces to the side, Irea''s lips curved up. ''That''s a proper reaction¡­ At least now I know I''m not the weird one.'' For a moment, all three of them started or continued to shake their heads. Layn in pretended uneasiness, the official in shock and Irea with eptance of her situation.

    "Wait a moment." Feeling that he baited the official for long enough, Layn finally allowed the middle-aged man to finish his words. On the other hand, seeing how the intruder wasn''t going to interrupt him this time, the official cleared his throat before raising his eyes on the wooden building.

    "I''m an elder in charge with the outer academy development. Sir, even if you made some kind of deal with the brass¡­" As eager as Layn was to let the man speak his bit, just his introduction made most of Layn''s schemes pointless.

    ''Who would''ve thought that the man I wanted would appear here out of his own volition?'' Rejoicing at the rare stroke of luck, Layn smiled. "Sir, it''s my fault here. I didn''t waste my time on contacting each and every person on the chain, so it''s understandable that you knew nothing about this project."

    Lowering his head, Layn angled his head towards the girl only to put a wide smile on his face. "Sir, please forgive me for my earlier attitude. And obviously¡­" Straightening his back, Layn reached out towards the girl with his hand. Due to the distance, he didn''t aim to pull her close but rather to invite her toe closer herself. Once Irea let go of her reluctance and approached the archmage with an uneasy step, Layn turned his head back to the official. "Sir, it would be an honor to have you experience the benefits of this ''Shrine of Humbleness'' as our first customer!"

    Pointing his hand towards the entrance of the shrine, Layn smiled. With Irea finally reaching his side, he used his left arm to grab her waist and pull her directly to his body so that he could feel her warmth with his waist.

    "Sir?" For a moment, the official failed to say anything or to even react in any way or form. For a moment, he just continued to stare at the building, before muttering something along the lines of "Fuck it, might as well give it a try" and stepping forward.

    "Sir, standard sessionsts roughly an hour, but I believe you will be able to understand the value of this building in just a few moments." Advising the middle-aged man as he was about to step inside, Layn reluctantly let go of Irea''s side, following after the man into the shrine.

    "A shrine of humbleness¡­ That''s quite a¡­ provocative term, isn''t it?" As the two men moved around the circumvention of the building, they quickly reached the veryst of the spots.

    "Sir, I''m here just to manage this object, not to make any decisions about it." Responding with an uneasy smile, Layn reached up for the hook of the mobile curtain. Lowering it to the point just above his head, Layn threw onest look towards the official inside before smiling. "Sir, one important thing. As this object is sponsored and backed by the third prince, it would put me in quite a¡­ pinch, if something were to happen to it."

    Rather than waiting for the man''s reaction, Layn simply pulled the curtain down. As it was made with apletely magic-devoid material, it could serve as a separator for the slots within the shrine pretty well. And while magic could still freely pass through any matter, cloth and wood included, a simple veil of cloth at least allowed the future guests of the shrine to cultivate in peace.

    "How did it go?" As soon as Layn stepped outside, Irea rushed to his side. Speaking in a low voice, wary of letting the official hear her worries, she unknowingly pressed Layn''s buttons by squirming to his side.

    "I don''t know yet. He just entered¡­" Sending a single look towards the fake sanctuary behind his back, Layn finally allowed his true smile to appear on his face. Enclosing his embrace on the girl, he pulled Irea closer to his heart before enjoying this intimate moment for a moment. Yet, before long, a rustling noise could be heard from within the temple, putting an end to this pleasurable moment of leisure.

    "I guess we are about to find out soon." Distancing himself from the girl for a single step, Layn turned his face towards the entrance of the shrine. And just a momentter, the official rushed outside with a flustered look on his face.

    "What is this ce again?!"

 Chapter 63 - Kartans Struggle

    Life wasn''t easy for Katran. Already a permanent member of the outer academy students, he was a true veteran of the group. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much effort he made to advance beyond these limitations of his, no results would appear.

    Cultivating day after day, using every means possible to obtain more resources, currying favors with those who could potentially help himter on¡­ Yet, amidst all of his hard work and relentless pursuit of strength, there was only one bright element that shone upon his life.

    Irea, one of the few teachers that Katran truly respected.

    Even though Katran only ever had three or four personal lessons with her and maybe three more done in a group, he could easily notice the living energy in this woman''s eyes. Just from the fact that she managed to obtain a quasi-teacher position at the academy was a testimony to her capabilities.

    Once Katran caught the wind of this particr persona, his curiosity was piqued. He went from asking his academy friends to outright stalking her in just three days. Yet, just as he was about to make use of the rare opportunity to speak with her, to ask how to reach greater heights like she did, to offer her his life¡­ She disappeared.

    It was the moment when the young student of the academy learned about the outside world. So far, Katran only cared about the academy. Even since he learned about the god''s barrier and the desert beyond it, about all kinds of towns, outskirts, nations, and wastnds, a single wish appeared in his soul.

    ''I want to see it all.'' This naive delusion of being someone special pushed the youth into trying even harder. Over the course of the entire hunting season when his beloved teacher was away, he continued to push himself beyond his own limits. Pain, humiliation, and boredom became his friends. Because behind every bout of pain, behind every moment of humiliation, and behind every second of boredom, a potential to grow awaited.

    "I will kill this bastard¡­" Walking down one of the many paths of the academy, Katran continued to think about his situation. But no matter how much he wanted to focus on preparing his next move, the face of this arrogant fellow that upied his spot besides Irea continued to reemerge in front of his eyes.

    "I will kill this bastard¡­" Muttering to himself over and over again, Katran finally reached his destination. The office of the outer academy''s elder. Truthfully though, its name long changed to logistical center, something that everyone acknowledged outside the officials who forcefully kept the old name.

    "I will kill this bastard¡­" Pushing the doors open, Katran shook his head to get rid of those stupid thoughts. As for now, he had no means to infringe on that annoying man. During their first meeting, he already learned how little his entire strength could do in the face of that bastard''s might. Even the entire party of followers that just happened to be on an outing in the city back then proved to be insufficient to break through that man''s barriers.

    But Katran didn''t give up. Reaching the absolute limit of all the favors he could call and all the debts he could make, he managed to gain the attention of a single student from the inner academy. Given how even the elders of the outer academy were barely on par with the lowest of the inner academy disciples, he dared not to worry about the results of his small revenge and n to reconquer his teacher.

    Yet, as if to spite on all his efforts, on all the debts he made to get this single favor¡­ ''Just how unlucky am I?!'' The memory of the senior student that he managed to hire dropping ass-first to the ground without receiving even a single attack continued to induce nauseous thoughts in Katran''s mind. Recalling it even once was enough to upset his stomach, yet he was constantly gued with those memories as if the gods themselves descended to torture him like that.

    ''As for now, I''mpletely and utterly defeated.'' Despite all the ws that he had, Katran wasn''t an idiot. Even with all the desperation and determination, even after all his efforts and hard work, he could still tell when he was wholesomely defeated. His means no longer could oppose that bastard. And as heartbreaking as it was, Katran epted the demise of his first, true love born out of admiration.

    "This fucker¡­" This time, it wasn''t Katran''s voice that uttered this curse. This time, it was the senior Katran hired recently, returning to the inner sect with hate written all over his face.

    "Senior¡­" Bowing his head, Katran couldn''t care about his situation any longer. Right now, all that the young man could think about, was sinking his sorrows in the bottomless well of wine and booze. And for that end, he had to avoid the attention of the man who he hired, only to see him humiliated in front of the entire crowd that followed them a few hours prior.

    "Wait, it''s you!" Initially only leaning his head to the side, the inner-academy disciple froze on the spot when he recognized the youth''s aura.

    "Senior, I''m at your disposal." Bowing even deeper, Katran refused to reference the man''s words. ''As long as I remain respectful, there is a chance he will think I''m someone else.'' As stupid and naive as this hope was, Katran no longer had the willpower toe up with any better n.

    "It''s great that I found you. Come with me!" Ordering the defeated youth, Katran''s senior didn''t even bother waiting for his answer. Pushing forward right away, he only stopped after a few moments when he realized Katran didn''t follow him at all.

    "Senior, it''s a great honor to be invited by you, but I have to report to my master." Lowering his head even further, Katran tightened his lips. What was his master? An average elder of the outer academy. Whenpared to the senior in front of him, his master couldn''t even hold a candle. Yet, between momentary punishment of his dissatisfied senior and permanent drawbacks of opposing his greatest backer, Katran knew pretty well who to humor first. "He left me a note at the academy''s gate. As much as I would like to follow you, I need to take care of my own matters first."

    Katran''s head reached the lowest point he could possibly bring it to. Right now, all he could do was wait for his punishment to be served. ''In the end, I only can me myself. If I didn''t try to hire him¡­''

    The young man''s thoughts all stopped when a hand suddenly appeared on his shoulder. Raising his head in shock, he saw something that made his eyes widen to their limit.

    His senior was actually actingpassionate, trying to cheer him up? What was this, some kind of prank where a huge crowd would grow out from the ground as soon as a hint of eptance of the reality would appear in his eyes?

    "Don''t worry about it." Patting the young man on his shoulder a few more times, the barely older man pulled out a strange, shiny yet carved stone before passing it to Katran''s hands. "This is my personal token. When you will bring it to the inner academy''s gate, the guards will bring you directly to me." Exining the small token he presented, Katran''s senior smiled.

    "Today''s humiliation¡­ I won''t let it pass. I won''t let someone as insignificant as that group run their mouth the way they did." A hint of clear hostility if not killing intent appeared on the senior''s face. "Once I will get a few things done, I will use their blood to wipe off the stain at my honor." Once Katran''s senior released his anger out in the open, his face softened a bit. As his eyes turned to Katran''s face, the younger student could only tremble in anticipation.

    "And once I do, I will be sure to leave an honorable seat for you to watch it all!"

 Chapter 64 - Katran And His Master

    "Master¡­" Sitting at the veranda of his master''s lodging, Katran whined into the air. With his eyes glued to the bright, blue skies, one would be unable to tell in just what kind of plight his soul was in.

    "What''s wrong, little one?" Not expecting an answer to his whine at all, Katran nearly lost his stability when the familiar voice responded unexpectedly.

    "Master!" Instantly standing up from the cold tiles of the veranda, Katran''s face brightened up for the first time in a long while. ''Now that I finally admitted defeat¡­ Isn''t it a bit easier on my soul?'' Puzzled by the reason why his mood managed to improve a bit, Katran attempted to formte a thesis on this point in his mind.

    "Stand down, how many times do I need to tell you not to act like that?" Looking at the youth with a mix of scorn and friendly ridicule in his voice, the elder to the developmental affairs of the outer sect smiled. Ever since he had an extensive debacle with that random stranger behind the appearance of that treasure shrine, his mood couldn''t be any better.

    ''If I manage to paint the picture in just the right way¡­'' There was a proper procedure to dealing with Academy as an outsider. Even if some random Joe on the streets would be suddenly enlightened by one of the gods and wished to pass his teachings inside, it would still take a long time for the elders to decide how to profit off it. ''But now? With the shrine already settled? As long as I im it as my own initiative¡­'' With those slightly shady thoughts appearing in the middle-aged man''s head, his mood only continued to soar.

    "Master, what do you need me to do, now?" Given how all his attempts to conquer Irea were foiled, Katran suddenly found himself standing at the crossroads. From one side, he could continue to act like the abusive and authoritative veteran of the outer academy, one never capable to reach the inner academy or even a position of a quasi-teacher, not to speak about bing an elder. On the other hand, he could stop beating himself down due to how long he stood in the same ce and attempt to enjoy his situation any bit.

    ''Rather than bullying others into submission, why won''t I do something productive for once¡­?'' In the end, Katran still required to be beaten down so fully andpletely to understand this simple truth. Just a few hours ago, he could still consider bullying others as a viable way of expanding his influence. Right now, it was nothing but a waste of time and energy.

    "What do I need you to do? What, do you really think I need you for anything?" While his lips still were curved upwards, indicating just how happy his master was, Katran could tell from the utter confusion in his master''s eyes that he really meant what he just said.

    "Master, with all due respect, but I won''t ept the fact that you took me in as your direct disciple¡­ For no reason. With so many people aiming for your favor day and night¡­" Taking a moment to calm his own emotions down, Katran swallowed a gulp of saliva before looking directly into his master''s eyes. "Why me?"

    Ever since this great defeat broke the young man''s soul, he could find the answer to this simple question. Asked the same question just a few hours prior, Katran could im with confidence that it was his skills and personality that made this academy elder turn him into his disciple. But now? Katran could no longer make such a haughty im.

    "I¡­ I see¡­" Startled by the sudden change happening to his disciple, the middle-aged man finally looked at the youth seriously. ''While its easy to disregard the problems of the younger generation, it doesn''t mean they are meaningless. For a child, loss of candy is a big matter.'' Trying to figure out the best way to answer, Katran''s master took his time to sort out his thoughts.

    "What I will tell you is just a fraction of the truth but¡­ But it remains clear that you have a huge dose of charisma and dedication." Suddenlying up with such statements, Katran''s master somehow managed to pull the youth from the pits of desperation and depression by carefully stroking his ego. "If not for your wish to instantly see the fruits of yourbor, you could easily reach for heights far greater than you could even imagine."

    Shaking his head in confusion, Katran turned his head to the side, avoiding his master''s scrutinous gaze. ''Just be patient, huh?'' This thought alone was enough to reignite the sparks of annoyance within the youth''s soul. While not a positive or correct emotion to ride on for long, it still managed to put energy back into the young student''s life, even if it would be a lifepletely devoid of sense or direction.

    "Either way, I need you toe with me right away." Waving his hand away as if in an attempt to picture just how little he thought about Katran''s problems, the young man''s master only managed to put a greater rift in Katran''s former respect towards elders and adults in general. While not yet turning into contempt, it was all that far from it.

    "Yes, master." Obediently standing up, Katran quickly followed after the departing master of his. Thankfully the travel was short enough for him to just run its course. At such a short distance, Katran would bury himself in the ground in shame if he had as much as a slight problem drawing the next breath after such an easy exercise. Yet, as he raised his eyes towards the ce they just reached, Katran''s pupils widened in shock.

    "Listen well, as this ''humbleness shrine'' will soon be the center of the outer academy''s weight." Suddenly speaking up, his master didn''t intend to hide his own excitement over the matter. Yet, what Katran''s master couldn''t know, was that the duo loitering around the edges of the shrine was the reason behind the plight the middle-aged man saw his student in!

    ''Wait, what are they¡­'' This thought was powerful that it soon find its way out of Katran''s mouth. "Who are they?" Whispering softly, Katran didn''t even notice how his lips moved.

    "Them? They are the ones responsible for the appearance of this shrine. What''s more, they were even clever enough to organize a third''s prince name to vouch for this ce." Shaking his head in silent awe, the middle-aged man rubbed his chin before smiling even wider. "Well, that only means this is a serious business. Katran, for now, I need you to go inside and tell me what you think about the effects inside, okay?"

    Following his master''s words more out of momentum rather than own free will, Katran attempted to pretend he didn''t notice the shocked and curious eyes on the duo. He attempted to bother them just a few hours ago only to end up beaten without a single attack. Yet, right now, Katran who was behind the entire ordeal was about to use something they created?

    ''So the third prince is backing up this ce, huh?'' Stepping inside, Katran could feel his face suddenly turn hot, as if a wall of warm air suddenly mmed right into his face. But whether it was the effect of the shrine or the influence of this sudden realization that suddenly struck him, Katran couldn''t tell. ''That means, this project has to be huge¡­'' As soon as this thought appeared in Katran''s head, he suddenly realized where did this strange heate from. Because right now, just by standing inside the shrine, he could feel all the pores in his body opening only to suck energyparable to an entire damned grade-one stone directly from the air!

    Yet, instead of rejoicing and using this opportunity to cultivate, Katran just stood on the spot, frozen. ''With everything about this ce¡­'' His eyes suddenly turned to where Katran imagined the gate to the inner sect to be. Then, his fingers clutched against the token his senior offered him.

    ''I''m no match for that man, nor for the prince himself.. But for those seniors¡­'' With a genuine smile finally appearing on Katran''s lips, his hold over the token released as he sat down and started to cultivate. ''No, they won''t be able to do anything either¡­ But it wouldn''t hurt to tip them off about this ce!''

 Chapter 65 - We Dont Want To Spook Them (r18?)

    "Mhmm¡­ Just a little more¡­" Muttering heavily through her teeth, Irea refused to wake up. Squirming closer to Layn''s chest, she hid in his embrace, trying to convince the archmage with the warmth of her body of just how bad an idea it was to move out of the bed.

    "Dear¡­" Rubbing the girl''s scalp with slow yet steady motion, Layn gave up. Over thest few days, nothing happened to the shrine. Thanks to the insane deal that Layn offered from the get-go, the developmental elder of the outer academy didn''t even bother to negotiate the price down, nearly instantly epting all the terms Layn set. And with all of that in mind, Layn could finally rest easy¡­

    As if.

    During the first day, he had to stand guard beside the shrine to stop any dissent and make sure everyone would know it was sponsored by the third prince himself. Although boring, with Irea on his side to talk with him whenever the boredom would set in his mind, it wasn''t nearly as bad as the next two days were.

    Right now, it was the fourth day since the establishment of the shrine. The ie from the academy buying out all the slots for several weeks in advance was more than enough to pay back the third prince''s investment without even eating too much into Layn''s profit margins. Yet, as it was something he did just to get some influence and recognition within the academy, the archmage couldn''t really care less about the entire project.

    Because from the very beginning, the entire ruse with the treasure and sanctuary was all aimed at making it impossible for anyone to guess how many stones he actually used to finish it all!

    "Hey, why don''t we just stay like that¡­ for the entire day?" Changing her position a bit, Irea climbed a bit higher on the bed so that her sleepy face would reach the same height as Layn''s head. Leaning it forward, she graced the man with a gentle yet sweet peck on his lips. Or so was her intention.

    Feeling the warmth of her mouth, the sweet taste of her saliva sticking to her lips, the heat of her body right within the reach of his arms, Layn couldn''t hold himself back all that much. Enclosing his hold over the girl''s waist, he pulled her even closer before pinning her to a ce and focusing on her lips. While his hands started to slowly roam freely over the girl''s body only pretending to be hidden under some sort of a light nightgown, his mouth enjoyed the deep kiss that Irea eagerly responded to herself.

    Knock, knock, knock.

    Pulling away, Layn couldn''t get enough of the dreamy expression on Irea''s face. Wiping the strand of saliva that stuck between their mouth, he caressed her cheek. "I guess I need to see who it is." Reaching this conclusion and actually leaving the bed were two different matters altogether. Pulling the cover away, Layn couldn''t help but adore the beauty of Irea''s body only pretending to be hidden under the thin material of her nightgown.

    Her hair coated her adorable face in a stormy manner, falling all the way through her corbone to her respectable chest. With those two perky mountains outlined pretty clearly underneath the girl''s cloth, with her slim waist gathering together right when her legs begun, with her long legs reflecting the sparse light that made its way through the curtains in the windows¡­

    Right now, Layn could barely think about anything else but just ravaging the girl on the bed.

    Knock, knock, knock.

    Sadly, the time didn''t wait for anyone. Throwing onest look at the beauty he was leaving behind, Layn sighed before grabbing a huge wiping cloth from a chair beside the pail of water before wrapping it around his hips and approaching the doors.

    "Yes?" Pulling the door open, Layn made sure to stand in the one exact spot where he would block the view of the further part of the room where Irea was half-asleep.

    "Sir, I was sent here by the third prince. Apparently, the inner academy students wish to purchase your treasure." Bowing lightly down and passing a note, the messenger quickly excused himself before leaving the building.

    "Who was that?" Asking with a weak, still sleepy voice, Irea made Layn look at her. Bringing the sheet up to her corbone, she hid her charms underneath the thick material of it while gracing the archmage with a lovely smile. For some reason, she still was quite reserved about allowing Layn to see her in her entire beauty during the daytime, even if she had no qualms about cuddling together while practically for all means and purposes naked.

    "A messenger iming toe from the third prince himself. Apparently, the inner sect wants to buy our shrine." Returning to the bed, Layn sat on its edge. Hurriedly scurrying forward, Irea rested her head on his shoulder while making sure to cover Layn in the bedsheets as well. Even though the weather was warm, the morning still introduced an element of cold to the entire city.

    "Isn''t that bad news? If we refuse¡­" Grabbing the piece of paper that Layn passed to her hands, Irea scanned the text. Yet, rather than putting the paper away, she froze in her position even though her eyes no longer were directed towards the strange markings making up the local, ancient alphabet. "They are offering a thousand grade one stones and twenty grade two stones." It took Irea several moments to actually spell that out loud.

    "I guess for her, it''s a fortune.'' Giggling in his thoughts, Layn finally went on the offensive. Grabbing the edge of the bedsheets that still covered the two of them, he pulled it away in one, decisive move. Still frozen by the shock of the value offered for something she saw created on her own eyes, Irea was just a bit too slow to react, ending up shyly covering her crotch and chest with her hands.

    And at the same time, she lost her only limbs she could defend herself with from Layn''s advance. ''It doesn''t look like she had any intention to be on guard, though.''

    Even since the shrine was created, Layn forced himself to hold back. While he slept with the girl, while he cuddled and even kissed her, for as long as it would take for his n to fully finish, he decided not toy his hand on her. But now, with the inner sect making a move, there was no stopping him.

    "I hope you are prepared." Attacking the angle between the girl''s right shoulder and neck, Layn sucked onto her skin while pushing the girl down on the mattress of the bed. Squirming under the onught of his kisses and twitching whenever Layn''s hands would find one of her sweet spots, Irea quickly reached the point where all her defenses turned into meekness, making her wee any sort of pleasure that Layn was offering her.

    "Ah. Eh!" Soon, Irea''s moans of pleasure filled the room as Layn continued to relentlessly molest her body. Even though it wasn''t the first time for him, Irea softness, warmth, and eagerness to drown in pleasure just couldn''tpare to the Ortensia who justid down like a log and waited for the deed to be done!

    "With this offer, they are about to make their move soon." Whispering his exnations directly to the girl''s ear, Layn could feel under his hands how Irea''s entire body trembled. "And that means, we need to leave them alone, in order not to spook them." Lifting his upper body up, Layn rested his weight on the hands he set on both sides of the girl. Right now, her nightgown was riding up so high that it realistically no longer could serve a function of a cloth. With the girl''s bare skin exposed and illuminated by the daylight, Layn felt like drowning in her cuteness right here and now.

    "And that means, you will finally have the time and wits to act like a man and take me?" Reaching with her hands up, Irea wrapped them around Layn''s neck before pulling his lips in for a kiss. Soon, her legs moved up, making her rub her thigs against Layn''s back. With Layn''s junior already on the standby, the two of them reached the line they could never go back to once they would cross it.

    Yet, not bothered by it at all, Layn pulled his hips back a bit, took aim, and then pushed forward with all his might!

 Chapter 66 - Adorable Intimacy (R18/wholesome)

    "Argh!" At first, Irea''s entire body tensed. Even though her lower mouth was already wet from all the kissing and hugging they did over thest few hours in bed, it was clear that her body has yet to know the man.

    "Let''s take it easy." Whispering those words to the girl''s ear, Layn didn''t dare to move his hips at all, opting to just rest atop the girl''s body for a moment. Lowering himself down, he instantly went for the girl''s lips, attempting to fight her pain with the pleasure of kissing.

    With her mouth enclosed by Layn''s lips, Irea couldn''t even utter a single word of protest. Immersing herself in the sloppy intimacy, she continued to rx under Layn''s care. Bit by bit, her muscles stopped tensing, shyly attempting to give in to the pleasure and rx.

    Keeping his hips perfectly still, Layn made it a point of honor to make sure Irea would remember this moment with happiness rather than with fear and repulsion. Moving his right hand towards Irea''s right breast, he stopped right as he was about to immerse his fingers in the soft flesh of the girl. Bit by bit though, his hand continued to climb up towards the sweet mountain before he finally reached the position and turned his fingers into ws, sinking them into the meaty tit.

    "Ah¡­" Freeing her lips only to release this single moan before pulling on Layn''s neck to resume this simple act of intimacy, Irea''s lower lips finally stopped tightening around Layn''s cock. While it was clear that the feeling of pleasure has yet toe from this part of her body, her inner wraps finally started to caress Layn''s junior instead of trying to crush or at least repel it.

    "Can you feel it?" Stopping the kiss, Layn moved his lips toward''s Irea ear. After whispering the question though, he instantly nibbled on her earlobe, sending a powerful wave of pleasure through her body that instantly sparked the chain reaction. Her pussy tightened over Layn''s junior, her head leaned to the back as she gasped for air. For the first time since they began, Layn could tell that the girl was starting to feel the pleasure of procreation.

    "Y-yesh¡­" Answering with an adorable yet silly look on her face, Irea focused her eyes on Layn''s lips. Taking the hint, the archmage didn''t wait for no reason, option to reunite their lips once again. Yet, after just a few moments of mixing their saliva and rubbing their tongues, Irea''s legs moved a bit up, as if to make it easier for the man to fuck her.

    "P-please¡­ T-take me¡­" As their bodies started to move on their own, Irea was only barely able to whimper those words. With her eyes already tearing up in anticipation, with her nipples already hard enough to seriously poke Layn''s palm, the archmage couldn''t hold himself back any longer.

    "Then, be mine." Lowering his head once again, Layn pressed his lips against Irea''s mouth before shoving his hips so far that his balls sped against the girl''s soft ass.

    "AH!" Not expecting such a decisive movement from the get-go, Irea released all the air from her lungs, only to instantly start gasping in order to regain her breathing. Yet right now, Layn was well past his limit. For over three years he didn''t sleep with any woman in a true sense of the word. For over three years, he had to bear the knowledge that the woman he once loved was fucking around with many different men while going as far as to deny Layn entry to her bedchamber.

    ''Thinking about it, it ended up serving me well¡­'' Recalling the moment when he was first refused ess to the spot between Ortensia''s legs, Layn felt a silent rage boiling in his abdomen. Yet, rather than letting it run his body, the archmage quickly cleared his mind. After ying around with Irea''s right breast for a while now, he finally moved his hand on her back, before pulling both of them up to a sitting position.

    "Aaaaa¡­" Falling powerlessly on his shoulder, Irea couldn''t utter even a single word. As she fell under the force of gravity and pierced herself all the way with Layn''s manhood, her entire body tensed up only to rx in the very next moment. Finally, it appeared that she could start enjoying herself.

    "Let''s take a short rest." Running his hands up and down the girl''s back, Layn felt the delicate trembles that shook Irea''s body. At first, she took her time to properly regain her breath. Then, her hips started to rock up and down slightly only for Irea to raise her face and look at Layn with a clear plead in her eyes.

    "I won''t know what you mean if you won''t tell me." Moving his hand from Irea''s back to gently rub her cheek, Layn smiled. As silly and confused as this girl was, with every new experience, she was learning how to pleasure Layn as well. Adding how adorable she was in every move of hers was enough to bring Layn to the limits of his endurance even though they only just started making love to each other.

    "Don''t be such a meanie¡­" Irea no longer had the look of someone sane in her eyes. Even though she was still pretty much an amateur in terms of intimacy, for some reason, her movements continued to be more and more sophisticated, more intense, as if her own body was discovering some kind of skills that she never knew she had.

    "Meanie? What do you mean?" Layn''s blood nearly boiled from how cutely the girl was acting when teased just a little. ''I might get addicted to it¡­'' Rubbing his cheek against the side of Irea''s head, Layn wrapped his hands against the lower part of Irea''s waist before cing both of his hands on her buttcheeks.

    "FUCK ME!" Screaming out in desperation, something appeared to snap in the girl''s soul.

    "As you wish, my dear." With another wave of warm pleasure spreading through Layn''s abdomen, he sunk his fingers into the soft flesh of the girl before raising her up a bit, only to m her decisively down, pushing the tip of his manhood as deep as he could. With his slightly improved body due to the little shenanigans he did while projecting the gran arcana, even though he had nothing to be ashamed of in his original body, the natural drive of a man to get bigger took the better of him back then.

    And right now, when Irea''s pressed her lips against his shoulder as if to muffle her moans making the sound vibrate through his flesh and bones rather than the air, Layn could tell that it was actually a good idea. Yet, as much as he wanted to just keep going at it until the end of the days when Irea''s inner walls started to strongly suck on his manhood it didn''t take long at all for the archmage to reach his absolute limit.

    "I''ming!" Tightening his hold over the girl even harder, Layn mmed her down on his cock a few more times, before he could no longer hold it in. With the girl''s arms surrounding his neck as she pressed her bust right against Layn''s face, he could feel pretty well that as soon as the first drop of sperm rushed forward, Irea''s body powerfully tensed up before her back arched making her throw her head to the back.

    Seeing the light droplets of sweat lingering on her neck, Layn instantly pressed his lips against it only to suck at her skin with all his might. This element of a delicate and arousing pain only made Irea climax even stronger, making her pussy wring thest drop of juice from Layn''s penis as a result.

    As the peak of the pleasure finally concluded, Layn fell to his back, pulling the girl with him. Falling on his chest, Irea breathed heavily as if she was reliving the moment of absolute pleasure she just experiences.

    "That was¡­ Amazing." Uttering weakly, the girl somehow found the strength to push her upper body up, exposing her full breasts to Layn''s eye before her face covered his vision as she got closer for another kiss.

    "I''m d to hear that. It felt insane for me too." Once their lips parted, Layn added while slowly running his fingers through the girl''s soft hair. In this ''post-nut'' rity that suddenly overwhelmed him, the archmage couldn''t help butpare the first time he had with Ortensia and the first time he had with Irea right now.

    And with how Irea was still hugged closely to him rather than escaping the room while desperately attempting to keep his sperm inside her¡­

    ''No, there is no pointparing. I guess Irea is truly interested in me, rather than in what she can achieve by being on my side.'' Shaking his head to get rid of those painful memories, Layn rested his head against the bed only to raise it when Irea sent him a slight nudge.

    "You are¡­ not tired yet, right?" Asking while a blush covered her entire face, it was already a miracle that she somehow gathered the courage to keep her head straight and eyes glued to Layn''s pupils.

    "Tired? With such a lovely girl showing me this kind of longing expression?" Saying this, Layn wasn''t overestimating the effect of the adorableness.. Right now, even though he has yet to go soft enough for his cock to slip out of Irea''s soaking wet pussy, he could feel that his manhood was already well on its way to recovering its full might. "No way!"

 Chapter 67 - Layns Solace (r18/wholesome)

    In the end, Layn was a man of his word. Once he imed to be all right, even hourster where that statement no longer held true, he still forced his body to act as if his earlier im still held. And Irea proved that in the heat of a moment, she didn''t mind taking advantage of such a situation at all.

    "Come on, I know you can still keep going!" Moving her hand up and down while gently tightening her fingers around the shaft of Layn''s manhood, she graced the archmage with her lovely,scivious smile. Licking his tip whenever her hand would turn too dry for the man''sfort, she soon swallowed Layn''s entire cock, pushing it so deep that her lips kissed Layn''s balls.

    "Ah! If you do that¡­" Initially, it was Layn who held the initiative, guiding the girl through her first steps on the path of carnal pleasure. ''How could I know that she would be so natural at it?!'' Despairing in his thoughts, Layn couldn''t even tell whether he just felt the anguish of overexerting his strength several times beyond what he should be capable of or if he was so drowned in pleasure that he could no longer think straight.

    As his hands tightened in fists, with his entire body tensing up, yet another harvest of his seed splurged forward, filling Irea''s mouth and throat. Yet, rather than spitting the slimy content away, she kept Layn''s cock buried deep in her mouth as she allowed his cum to slowly trickle down her throat all the way to her stomach.

    "Slurp!" Adding yet another sensation of sucking all the residual cum from within Layn''s shaft, Irea finally brought her lips up, instantly raising her hand towards her mouth to keep the cum on her face and lips from wasting away. Gathering all the slime with her fingers, she then licked them clean all the while sending lustful nces to the man below.

    "I''m sorry¡­ I don''t think I can keep going anymore¡­" Contrary to the girl, it wasn''t Layn''s first time. While taking the fact that his body was freshly formed from magic energy alone into ount, one could argue whether he was a virgin or not, Layn refused to have such thoughts. Given how he had the memory of sleeping with a woman already he couldn''t just wipe that painful memory from his mind.

    Yet, as if such things didn''t matter at all, Irea quickly proved that Layn didn''t have even nearly enough experience and endurance to fight off against her youthful vitality. ''I guess she wouldn''t mind going at it like rabbits for a few hours more¡­'' While his manhood was beyond exhaustion, the rest of Layn''s body was more or less in a good state. Moving his upper body up, he reached for the girl''s arms, before pulling her down on top of him.

    "Can we just stay like that for a moment?" Hugging the girl closely to his chest, Layn felt a shiver traveling down his spine. For some reason, just being able to cuddle like that was enough to fill his soul with happiness. ''So that''s what it was all along¡­'' Back in the past, Ortensia would chase him away from her bed as soon as she would be satisfied with the amount of seed he poured inside her. At first, she did it gently, excusing herself with the weakness of the maiden body and a need for rest, yet it took only a few months for her true colors to appear.

    Kicking Layn out of her bedchamber noter than the moment his first ejaction would conclude, she refused to offer him any affection. And right now, holding this soft and warm girl in his arms while listening to the stable pace of her breath was the greatest sce to all those unpleasant memories that Layn could find in the entire world.

    "I¡­" For a moment, Irea clearly wanted to say something. Her lips parted and a single sound came out of her mouth, only to be followed byplete silence. Rather than finishing her sentence, Irea hid her face on Layn''s chest before taking a moment to calm down. Then, climbing up on the man''s chest a bit, she brought her hands behind Layn''s head before pushing his face into her supple chest.

    "I don''t know what you went through in the past. I don''t know who hurt you, but I can feel it in you. I can feel how with all the pleasure we shared, there was always a hint of extreme pain in your soul, in your eyes, and in your body." Caressing Layn''s hair, Irea tightened her embrace on his head. Yet another moment of silence ensued.

    "I''m not going to tell you to forget about your past. If you don''t want to tell me what happened¡­ Then so be it." Brushing moving her hands on Layn''s back, Irea gently moved them up and down his spine. Tears started to squeeze out of Layn''s eyes, wetting the skin of Irea''s breasts.

    "T-thank you." Muttering in a voice muffled by the delicious skin pressing against his mouth, Layn wrapped his hands around Irea''s waist before pressing his face even harder against her bust. Coated from all sides by this weing warmth, his tears quickly ceased to flow as if Irea''s bosom had a healing effect on his soul.

    "But yeah, I hope one day you will deem me trustworthy enough to open up this part of yourself to me. Just like I promised my all to you, I hope that someday, you will let me share your burden as well." Swaying her body to the left and right, Irea acted as if she wanted to lul the archmage to sleep.

    ''To think that a kind word of an affectionate woman could be so powerful¡­'' Hidden in the girl''s breasts, Layn allowed the sweet, rosy scent of her skin to calm his senses riled up by all those unpleasant memories that were bound to surface during the intercourse. Surrounded by Irea''s affection, those dark memories of his didn''t appear as sharp as they used to, as if her warmth shielded Layn''s soul from their impact. ''It''s as if her words, were some kind of magic¡­''

    "Thank you. It really means a lot to me." Finally pulling away from the delicious bust of the girl, Layn brought his hand to the girl''s chest only to gently flick her nipple. "Ah!" Instantly responding with a lovely moan, sparks of happiness appeared in Irea''s eyes.

    "I''m d I could help, then." Moving her own hand towards Layn''s face, Irea paid him back for earlier by flicking her finger at his nose. Escting the yful conflict like that, the girlughed with joy when Layn suddenly pushed her down on the bed, once again hiding his face in her bosom.

    "Listen, we will need to go and deal with that inner academy folks." Rubbing his face against the velvet skin of the girl, Layn suddenly brought his face up only to steal a quick kiss from Irea''s lips. Yet, despite his attempts to pull back right away, Irea quickly shot her hands up, locking Layn''s head in a hold and turning the quick peck into yet another deep and affectionate kiss.

    "And that means we can go at it just onest time, for now, right?" Her wide and excited smile, the way in which she pulled her legs up to give Layn a better angle of approach, the way how she held her breath up in anticipation of what was toe¡­ Even a single of the actions mentioned above would be enough to rile Layn to a point where his crotch would regain its vigor.. And all of thembined, resulted in an instant rush of his blood to his lower member which in turn hastily made its way towards Irea''s wet and weing insides.

 Chapter 68 - Layns Response To The Offer (r18 In The Background)

    "Okay, I guess we need to take care of the daily matters as well." Falling back onto the soft mattress of their bed, Layn exhaled a mouthful of air with satisfaction. The moments he just shared with Irea were iparable to what he knew from those few times he slept with Ortensia. ''If I were to be forced to draw aparison¡­ It would be a difference between making love to one''s woman and just fucking with a brothel''s whore, I guess?''

    "You stand up first. I might need¡­ a few more moments to rest." Gracing the archmage with a gentle yet uneasy smile, Irea curled up on the bed while moving her hands towards her crotch. Yet, rather than pleasuring herself or doing anything else that could pull Layn back into her embrace, she simply started to massage her abdomen, as if all the times the two of them went at it resulted in a residual pain in her crotch.

    "Sure, it''s not like we need to get out of the room to deal with them in the first ce." Smiling widely, Layn stood up from the bed and approached the desk where the message from before was resting. Even though the trantion spell Layn was currently using had nothing to do with reading, surprisingly enough the numbers appeared to be written in roughly the same way as they would be used in the future.

    "A thousand grade-one stones and few hundred grade-two stones¡­ If I were to ask you, do you think it''s a fair price for that treasure of ours?" Putting the piece of paper back on the table, Layn sunk deep in his thoughts as he asked.

    "Well¡­ Given how that treasure outputs roughly two and a half grade one stones worth of energy per hour, it equals about sixty grade one stones in a day. If we talk only about the grade-ones they offered, then that treasure produced enough energy to cover it in less than seventeen days¡­" Turning silent for a moment, Irea moved her upper body up, turning from lying on her back to a sitting position where all the charms of her body were in a full disy. Unable to stop his eyes from wandering all over her body, Layn shivered when he noticed a small bit of his sperm still flowing out of her secret garden.

    ''It''s as if just this sight alone was enough to put me in a heaven¡­'' What could be obvious for others, for Layn was still a pretty new experience. Even though he wasn''t a mental virgin when he firstid with Irea, being able to see the proof of his conquest still made a thrill of joy travel down his spine.

    "The same cannot be said about those grade two stones. The thing is¡­ I highly doubt some random disciple or even a group of disciples could procure such an insane wealth on their own." Shaking her head, Irea rubbed her chin when she suddenly noticed where Layn''s eyes were glued to. With her smile only widening, she moved her legs even further apart, allowing the archmage to stare at the effect of his hard toil in its full glory.

    "Come on, I know I shouldn''t stare like that, but right now you are outright provoking me!" Theatrically moving his head away, Layn protested only to hear a joyous giggle in response. While it wasn''t anything much, it only proved that Irea was finally starting to rx in his presence, something that she had trouble with ever since she saw a small portion of his capabilities.

    "As for the topic on hand, that''s just what I expected. I guess they are not actually trying to buy the treasure from us but do us in instead." ording to the usual ratios, a single grade two stone was worth roughly a thousand grade one stones. While the ratios depended on the size, intensity, and many other aspects of both types of stones, this was themonly agreed turnover back in the past where humans had precise tools to measure the energy within each of the stones.

    "While it''s just a guess¡­ I think they didn''t believe I would know the value of a grade two stones, hence the thousand of grade ones in their offer. But just to confirm, what they proposed should equal roughly two hundred and one thousand grade one stones? Roughly, ten years'' worth of the treasure output, right?" That was the result of Layn''s calction. ''To think that they would be so shrewd¡­ Thinking calmly, that''s about as much as I would offer if I didn''t know how to make such treasures in the first ce¡­''

    "Yeah. Not perfectly like that, but roughly yeah." Finally done with teasing Layn by showcasing the attributes of her body, Irea managed to stand up and grab the clothes she previously threw to the side. Moving carefully towards the bail with water, she quickly washed all the residual sperm from her crotch before dressing herself up. Yet, as she made her way towards the table when Layn was sitting, her legs suddenly gave up, prompting Layn to rush forward and help her regain her stability.

    "I''m sorry, I¡­ It''s quite hard for me to walk yet. Unless we can wait a few moments for me to get used to it, I won''t be able to go out with you yet." Lowering her head as if she felt responsible for her temporary weakness, the only thing that Irea achieved was putting an even wider smile on Layn''s face as he patted her head in an encouraging manner.

    "Don''t worry. We are not going anywhere yet." cing a quick peck on her cheek, Layn guided her towards the chair he was previously sitting at before approaching the window of the room all on his own. Opening it up, he pushed half of his still naked body outside while holding the frame of the window as to not fall out of it.

    "HEEEEY!" Shouting from the bottom of his lungs, Layn quickly caught the attention of a random passerby. "Do you want two grade one stones?!"

    While this no longer applied to Layn and Irea duo, a single grade one stone was still quite a treasure for any random citizen of the city. While initially startled by the shout, once the potential reward reached the random''s ears, he quickly rushed towards the building, only to stand directly underneath the window.

    "Sir, two grade one stones? What do I need to do?" Seeing how the random man didn''t bother multiplying problems, Layn smiled once again. ''Thinking about it, aren''t I smiling quite a lot over the recent days?'' Pushing this thought to the back of his head, Layn shouted. "I need you to do two things. First, bring someone else here. All he will need to do is to make sure we are not leaving the building at all for as long as it will take you to fulfill your own job. I would say, a single grade one stone for roughly a few hours of doing nothing. As for you¡­"

    Taking a moment for the random stranger to process his words, Layn gestured at the girl before pointing at the remaining grade one stones haphazardly thrown in the corner of the room. Noticing his intention, the girl quickly stood on her legs, only to take her time to get towards the pile of treasure and bring a grade one stone to Layn''s hand.

    "Take some rest now, you shouldn''t walk freely yet." Rubbing Irea''s head, Layn grasped the grade-one stone before throwing it out of the window, right to the random''s hands. "This is the down payment. I need you to find the third prince''s location and invite him, or at least one of his trusted retainers to this ce. Once you finish both of the tasks, I will give you the other stone. Deal?"

    To say that the random stranger was lucky would be a gross understatement. A job that would normally be paid with less than a few silver coins now turned to one lucrative enough for the man to live at least a few years of his live in luxury! As such, Layn wasn''t surprised in the least when the man only nodded his head before rushing out.

    "Are you sure about this? While I''m not judging your n here, do you really think he wille back?" Taking note of how reckless Layn was with their wealth, Irea''s sight turned slightly tense.

    "All he needs to do is to find someone free and pass a message. I doubt he will ignore the opportunity to double his earnings." Layn smiled. ''It seems as if she still didn''t notice this one peculiarity.'' Normally, the archmage would keep his thoughts to himself, aiming to get an even better payoff of a reaction from the other party once all his schemes woulde to fruition. But for some reason, right now, there was not a single thought or feeling that would stop him from revealing his n to the girl.

    "Tell me, don''t you find it strange that the offer was given to us, rather than to the prince? Especially when he is the only one to have his name written on the walls of the shrine?"

 Chapter 69 - Scheme To Counteract The Scheme

    "Well¡­ It''s indeed strange. But what are you trying to suggest?" Slightly startled by Layn''s words, Irea leaned her head to the side while sitting on the edge of the bed. Judging how she had trouble moving from the bed to the chair and back, it was simply reasonable for her to give her body some time to recover.

    "It''s pretty simple. You said yourself that there are low chances that some random group of inner academy disciples could afford to make such an offer. That''s why, rather than bringing it to the prince who would be able to punish them for faking an offer, they brought it to us. The question is, what would happen if the prince caught the wind of us trying to make a deal behind his back?" Once again, Layn''s lips formed a satisfied smile. It wasn''t the first time for the archmage to deal with this kind of stupid scheme, yet the fun of turning said schemes around was still quite nice.

    "Ah, so they want us to ept the offer¡­" Irea started only to stop when Layn shook his head. "Then I don''t know. Don''t they want to take the treasure for themselves?"

    "Listen, why¡­" Before the archmage could finish his exnation, a shout passed through the barrier of their closed window. Nodding to the girl to indicate a short pause in their discussion, Layn approached the shuts before opening them up and leaning outside.

    "Sir! I brought a friend of mine. He can stand watch just as you requested!" Standing roughly six meters below the bottom frame of the window, the same stranger as before was pointing his hands at an averagely-looking female standing beside him.

    "Great. As the job is pretty simple and given how I can''t split a grade one stone into two, she will be paid once you bring an envoy here." Nodding his head, Layn was about to retract his body back to the room when a sudden idea shook him, twisting the look on his face into a vile grimace. "There is one more thing. I''m not sure if that already happened, but there is a huge chance someone will try to pay you more than I offered so that you could bring someone else in ce of the prince''s envoy."

    Layn had many ways to terrify the other party. He could use his killing aura he obtained over the long years of fighting in the hero party to scare them, he could threaten them with formations he still held as hisst-ditch effort in case of a real danger¡­ But there was no need to uncover his cards yet, especially given how his current rivals were bound to watch him even now.

    "I need you to remember one thing. Whatever price they offer you to lie, will mean nothing if you dare to go against the third price''s wishes. And that''s who we are cooperating with right now, and that''s also who that other mysterious party might be interested in scamming." Putting a wide smile on his face, Layn looked with pity at the man below. "Whatever they offered you, ask yourself if it''s worth to make the third prince your enemy."

    Pulling himself back into the room and closing the shuts on the window, Layn looked at the confused face of Irea beforeughing out loud. "I guess you should now understand what I''m aiming for."

    "Roughly¡­ But tell me, if you just wanted proof that we didn''t leave this ce, why not use a recording stone?" Standing up from the bed and reaching for the pile where all of her clothes were thrown, Irea pulled out a storage ring before pulling a small, reddish crystal from in. "I even have one on me!"

    In a single moment, Layn froze in ce. As little of importance as this stone was to him, the meaning behind its appearance right now was insane. ''Weren''t they discovered like fifty years before I was born? What is the meaning of this?!'' Finally managing to make a few, slow steps forward, Layn took the stone from the girl''s hand before closely inspecting it.

    At first, he was so shocked that he inhaled a lungful of air, refusing to believe what he was seeing. ''It''s impossible for two different people, at least several tens of thousand years apart, toe up with exactly the same, damned design!'' Back in his times, a recording stone was no longer in use. Thanks to the discovery of its simpler designs, video stone, audio stone, and even temperature stone were created, all far more sophisticated than the original item that started the film-making revolution. But what was even worse, was that soon after other types of stone appeared, many designs of recording stone appeared all over the world, many of which were even simpler and more intuitive than the original one!

    "Layn? What happened? Are you okay?" Noticing the distraught on her partner''s face, Irea forced herself to stand up and rush to him, ignoring the fact that she almost fell to her knees while attempting to reach him. Only when noticing Irea''s wobbly step Layn managed to pull himself out of his daze, instantly reaching out to catch the girl before she could fall.

    "I''m sorry¡­ I just didn''t expect to see it here¡­ To see it now." At this moment, Layn was simply too shocked by what he saw. Because there were only two ways, outside of luck on a damned cosmical scale, for such a thing to appear in ancient times. ''Aren''t I the only time-traveler in the history of this world? Or is there someone watching over this world and giving the ideas to random people?'' Moving his chin up, Layn took an illusory nce at what was above him. In reality, there was a roof. In his eyes though, Layn was already traversing the vast distances betweens and stars, attempting to logically uncover the presence of someone who could be hiding in the vast expanses of the universe above.

    "Won''t it work for us right now though?" Unable to understand the source of Layn''s worries, Irea did the only rational thing she could think of. She attempted to bring the man''s attention back to the topic they were discussing a moment before.

    "It will. It will work pretty well." Guiding a small strand of his mana towards the stone, Layn could see how it shone a bit more bright than it did before. With its aura changing a bit, the recording was now started.

    "Test, test, I hope everyone can see us. Right now," speaking up towards the stone as if he was ying in some kind of recorded prank, Layn approached the window before pushing the shuts open and exining, "the girl waiting below, was my original way of proving that we didn''t leave this ce. Sadly, we couldn''t record what was happening earlier, as neither I nor my beloved girlfriend has the quirk of showing others how we make love to each other."

    As Layn started to utter those pretty embarrassing words, the faces of both Irea herself and the girl waiting below turned bright red.

    "Yet, at least for now, we can prove that ever since this recording started, we are not leaving this ce at all." As soon as he said his piece, Layn brought both sides of the shuts together, before putting the stone between them, with its sharp, recording end directed outside. After making sure that the shuts were holding the recording stone properly in ce, he then quickly escaped the area where the stone could record his voice.

    "Now that we have to wait for the envoy, let''s prepare for the fight." Not bothering to exin what kind of fight he had in mind, Layn moved a few paces forward before sitting beside the pile of the leftover grade-one stones. After moving five of them away for any and all possible costs, he then divided the pile into two batches. Looking around, he then pointed at a rope that made up a primitive hammock in the outer corner of the room.

    "Can you pass this rope to me? I already have mine for myself, but we still need to equip you with the same treasure that we put to use earlier." Pointing at the rope he usually wore tightened around his waist, Layn couldn''t smile any longer. Even though it would give both him and his woman a great edge over everyone else in the world, creating the mana-sucking treasure was still a pretty taxing job.

    "What are you going to do with it?" As her inability to walk properly was slowly fading away, Irea quickly dismantled the simple hammock before passing it to her partner.

    "Heh¡­" Unable to stop this simple expression of joy and pride from surfacing, Layn smiled at the girl before looking up. "You know, you gave me your first time and your whole self." Lowering his head and looking at the girl with affection, Layn leaned his head slightly to the side.. "Don''t treat it as a payment by any means, but I think you should receive some kind of gift from me as well. How about a treasure¡­" pausing once again to let the anticipation build up in the girl a bit, Layn''s smile widened "Several times greater than the one we installed in the shrine?"

 Chapter 70 - Unexpected Visitor

    "You see, there is hardly any difference between that shrine''s treasure and what I was wearing ever since we first met. You should remember that rope I kept wrapped around my body at all times?" Pointing his hand at the very item he was speaking about, Layn smiled when Irea''s eyes obediently followed after his hand.

    "Yeah. It was strange, but I thought it was just a quirk of yours. May I¡­ touch it?" Strangely reluctant to do something so simple after touching the man''s body all over, Irea asked.

    "Sure, just keep in mind that it''s pretty weak whenpared to what I''m going to craft for you." Gracing the girl with an approving smile, Layn moved on to the work. Grabbing one stone to each of his hands, he absorbed the energy from the one to destabilize the physical structure of the one. Given how he wasn''t wearing his rope right now, all the mana he had saved in his aura had to be saved for the trantion spell.

    Once the hard stone turned into a mist, Layn grabbed the dismantled hammock before infusing the stone dust into its structure. Yet, rather than stopping there, the archmage instantly reached for the other stone, keeping up the process. In the end, a single stone''s worth of energy was sufficient to dismantle only three stones to dust. With this calction in mind, Layn split the remaining stones in his mind, before speeding the process up a bit.

    "Incredible¡­" Running her hands down the mana-sucking rope, Irea was astounded. Even though she saw the creation of the previous treasure, by the time it started to produce energy as it should, it was already safely hidden within the shrine. As such, this was her first time experiencing the full effect of such a tool. "Something like this¡­ It could be easily worth thousands if not tens of thousands of grade one stones¡­ And you created it with just a single stone you got from that monster on the desert?!"

    Moving her eyes, erged by a shock, on her man, Irea clearly couldn''t digest the truth.

    "You just wait for me to finish your own rope. Just keep in mind, do never meddle with its structure. While it''s possible to obtain an enormous power by¡­ hmm¡­" stopped by a suddenck of a simple word that would portray what he had in mind, Layn had to take a moment before a correctparison appeared in his mind. "One can burn through the dust contained within the treasure. By doing so, you can obtain an unimaginable power¡­ but the drawbacks are just too damn huge to do so. That is unless your life will be at stake, do not meddle in the structure of this rope, okay?"

    Looking at the girl with a clear worry written all over his face, Layn allowed yet another stone to crumble in his hand before infusing the dust into the rope. At this point, what used to be just a group of linen strands bound together was now slowly turning blueish due to an overwhelming amount of mana leaking out of it. The only reason why the rope didn''t outright explode in Layn''s hands was due to him constantly sucking on the energy that it produced.

    "Okay, it''s done. Come here." Noticing Layn''s gestures, Irea quickly ced the archmage''s own rope back on the ground before trodding towards him. "What are you doing? Undress. You need to wear it directly on the skin."

    There was no deeper intent behind Layn''s order. Just like he had his own rope wrapped around his upper abdomen and lower part of the chest, the girl had to do the same.

    "Hmm? You didn''t have enough of the sights yet?" Squinting her lovely eyes, Irea grabbed the thin cloth of the robe she was currently wearing before slowly, slowly pulling it up. At first, her long, slim legs came into the archmage''s view, only to end up at her still moist precious ce. But as her robe continued to ride forward, her toned stomach came into his view as well, her lower ribs, then her delicious chest¡­ By the time the girl fully took her robe out, she just stood there naked as she was born while Layn''s eyes greedily savored the sight in front of them.

    "Trust me, this time it''s not like that." Reining in his own desires that returned to his mind as his body regenerated after the nightly endeavors, Layn brought the rope before cing one of its ends directly above the girl''s belly button. "Hold it in ce and start turning around."

    Clearly not willing to let go of her flirtiness, Irea heeded Layn''s orders¡­ But she did so at a much slower pace than Layn expected. No matter how hard he tried, it was hard to focus on setting theyers of the rope one above the next when thisss was clearly intentionally brushing her nipples against his face, only to turn around and gently lean forward, giving him a great angle to look at her shapely ass.

    Thankfully, this torture of holding himself back didn''tst long, as Layn started to have doubts whether he could manage to hold himself back about halfway through the process. With the rope finally reaching its end, Layn turned the girl around once again, before grabbing the initial end of the item and binding it together.

    "With that, you are set. Can you feel the energy flowing around you?" pping Irea''s soft buttchecks once he was done, Layn could see how the girl jumped away in surprise. Even though his attack wasn''t hard, a sudden burst of sharp although delicate pain was still more than enough to startle her.

    "I¡­ Yeah¡­ Can I just absorb it¡­ like that?" Raising her charming eyes up at the archmage, Irea put a confused look on her face.

    "I know it might feel weird for the first time, but that''s right. You won''t be able to affect the structure just by absorbing the mana it produces. Just keep in mind, that there is a chance that changing locations might result in fluctuations of the mana produced by this treasure." Grabbing Irea''s robe only to pass it to the girl''s hand, Layn reached out for his own rope when a sudden shout stopped his actions.

    "Sir! Sir! I brought the envoy!" Looking towards the window enclosed with shuts, Layn cursed under his breath before shoving all the remaining stones aside and wrapping his rope around his chest.

    "Invite him in!" Shouting towards the window, Layn quickly finished dressing himself up. Just in time, as just when he was pulling his pants up, a knocking sound announced the arrival of the envoy.

    "Come on in!" Shouting towards the doors, Layn stood up. Noticing how tense the situation became in a blink of an eye, Irea stood beside him, enclosing her hands around archmage''s arm.

    The doors opened up.

    "I didn''t expect you to call me so soon. What seems to be the problem?" Looking at the visitor, Layn swallowed a gulp of saliva. While it was for the best to talk with the prince directly, the archmage didn''t expect that this damned royalty would bother to make the trip himself!

    "Your majesty, there is a recording stone between the shuts of the window. What''s more, the girl that waited below the building was tasked to make sure we didn''t leave the building at all. Regretfully, there is a time window without any recording at all, as I was busy taking care of thisss." cing his hand on Irea''s head, Layn rustled her hair for a moment before turning serious.

    "There is a letter on the table that we received while busy with each other.. I believe you should read what it entails, your majesty."

 Chapter 71 - Born With A Silver Spoon In His Mouth But Not Stupid

    "Huh? That''s quite¡­ Interesting, isn''t it?" Following Layn''s gesture, the third prince quickly reached for the piece of paper before scanning its content. Yet, instead of flying into a rage, his lips slightly curved forming a gently vicious smile. "Tell me, brother, why are you showing this to me?"

    As the prince turned his eyes towards the archmage, Layn was already standing beside the window, carefully plucking out the recording stone from between the shuts. Once that was done, he then moved towards the prince, only to end up on the opposite side of the table as a member of royalty.

    "Your majesty, here is the recording stone I spoke about." cing the reddish gem on the table, Layn ignored the convenience and sat down without a care in the world. ''I wonder if the rituals of interacting with royalty are the same as they would be in the future?'' Giggling in his mind over the prospect of insulting the prince by daring to sit when the other party was standing, Layn smiled.

    "While it''s just my guess, I''m inclined to believe that you received some kind of warning. A report maybe?" Leaning his head to the side as he brought his hand towards his chin to slowly rub it, Layn smiled to indicate that he didn''t wish to exin his words any further.

    "That''s¡­ That seems to be the case." Releasing a long sigh from his lungs, the third prince fell onto the chair. Yet, rather than continuing with the topic, he looked towards the still standing Irea only tough up gently. "You may sit. In fact, I would prefer if you acted as daring as your partner did."

    Waving away all the unspoken words of protests of the girl, the prince pointed his hand at the alchemist. Then, as if this momentary addition was nothing but a short interruption, his face turned serious once again.

    "Your guess is right. As of now, the entire shrine was reported to be snatched by the inner academy disciples." Confirming the archmage''s guess, the prince looked around the room before his serious face changed to a sour smile. "Assuming from how you repeatedly brought up the matter of the recording stone and a lookout outside¡­ Well, given how I can''t see a huge pile of stones anywhere in the room, I assume you refused the proposition written on the letter."

    Hearing the prince''s reasoning, Layn couldn''t stop his smile from appearing. ''At least, this guy is not an idiot. And that opens up a whole world of possibilities.'' Pushed by his thoughts, Layn abruptly stood up from his seat before approaching the ce where his grade-one stones were left in waiting.

    "Prince, those are the stones remaining after finishing the treasure. I hope to have your understanding that I asked for a bit more stones than I actually required to kickstart that treasure of mine." Pointing his hand at the small pile of valuable stones, Layn grabbed two of them before approaching the window.

    "If I may excuse your majesty for a moment, I need to pay the people I asked for the favors." Nodding his head with respect towards the royal, Layn leaned outside of the window''s frame before smiling towards the duo waiting below. "Your reward for fulfilling my request. Go and enjoy yourself!" Dropping the stones towards the duo, Layn didn''t even linger for long enough to see whether they managed to catch it or not. Rather than that, he retracted his body back to the room before closing the shuts.

    "Let me ask you this, then." Noticing the rxed look on the archmage''s smile, the third prince''s lips twitched a bit. With his eyes moving on the girl who followed his order and sat anxiously on the edge of the bed, his eyebrows moved down a bit. ''She is acting just like expected. Just who is this guy¡­?'' Alternating his sight between the two strangers, the prince finally rested his eyes on Layn''s calm face. "What do you suggest to do now? Keep in mind that if you do nothing, it will be easiest for me to just ept their narrative." Shaking his shoulders, the prince looked away as if this matter didn''t bother him at all.

    ''Poor execution.'' Commenting on the severalpses in the prince''s acting, Layn shook his head before resting his back against the backrest of his chair. Going as far as to lean on the chair so far that only two of its legs remained on the floor, Layn smiled at the prince as if he was some kind of naive child.

    "Your majesty, forgive me for asking." For a moment, Layn''s hands trembled. ''Heck, I would kill to have something to take a sip from¡­'' Despairing over theck of proper requisites to reach the pinnacle of acting on his part, Layn could only give up on this small gimmick of his. "But do you really believe I would let go of such an insane treasure if it held any value to me in the first ce?"

    Unable to resist his temptation, Layn stood up from his chair, almost causing this piece of furniture to fall t on the ground. "Just one moment¡­" nodding his head towards the prince as he excused himself, the archmage then rushed deeper into the room only to bring a random cup from Irea''s cupboard only to fill it with the water directly from the bail.

    Bringing it back to the table where he sat before, Layn ced the cup on the table, fixed the chair to a proper position before sitting back down and taking a sip from the small mug.

    "Ah, that''s¡­ Dear, I already washed my¡­" Before Irea could even finish the words of her warnings, Layn realized his mistake born of hastiness. Turning his head to the side, he instantly spat all the water that he already had in his mouth directly on the floor, before cleaning his mouth from the contaminated water.

    "Unnecessary theatrics¡­ But I get your point." Watching the archmage''s show with his lips trembling from joy, the prince stood up from his chair. "The fact that you gave such a treasure away so lightly, means that it is well within your powers to recover it if necessary. What''s more, I assume that if you didn''t bat an eye for such a constant source of spiritual energy, you have your own means to obtain even more of it." Summing the situation up, the prince once again proved that he wasn''t just a clueless part of the local royal family.

    "But the question stands. What are you going to do about this situation?"

 Chapter 72 - Slaughter In The Forest

    "Al, are you really sure about this?" Pulling out his axe from the head of the celestial, Uffer looked at the general. Squatting down, the burly man tore a piece out of the corpse''s robe before wiping the blood out of the de of his weapon with it. While nearly half of the head of the deceased was split in half and bloodied beyond recognition, the gentle and underdeveloped hair above the corpse''s lip reminded the man of the guild that he attempted to hold back.

    "They are celestials. That all we need to know and care about." Not showing even a hint of remorse or guilt, Al reached for the handle of his short-sword before pulling it out of the chest of a young woman. "They might be young, but it doesn''t matter at all."

    ''As if¡­'' Putting up the tough front before even before his most trusted friends, Al cursed his fate under his nose. "You might feel bad about killing those kids, but this world no longer treats them as such. If it wasn''t the case, they wouldn''t venture out to the forest on their own." After cleaning up his de in the same was as his enormous friend, Al threw the patch of cloth at the face of the girl''s corpse. "Just look at them. Would they bear weapons if they didn''t wish to fight?"

    Turning his head away from the motionless body, Al sheathed his weapons before picking up the pace. In the end, this was just one of the many fights that they had to prepare themselves for. ''That''s the burden only I should care¡­'' Sending a quick look to his two friends, Al could breathe a sigh of relief when he noticed how unperturbed Lessen''s face was. ''At least he is just the same as always¡­ If only it was a good thing.''

    Shaking his head, Al refused to allow the fearsome killing intent of his younger brother-in-arms to shake hisposture. Ever since they went to the battle before all of this chaos happened, Lessen bore the same look on his face. The look that would only disappear after hours of him cuddling with his wife. And given how only the expedition army appeared to be affected by this godly ploy they were all subjected to, Al could only hope that someday, Lessen would manage to find peace on his own.

    "I know we are the scouting party but still¡­ Didn''t we have the baseline agreement? I thought you to be a better man than to break it so easily¡­" Before Uffer could even ent the end of his sentence, Al''s main weapon already glistered below his chin.

    "Tread your words carefully, brother. You are my friend, but no one will ever doubt my honor like you just did." Lowering his handy axe, Al sent a heavy look to his nmate. "I will forgive you this once because of the history we share and how strange this entire situation is. But don''t forget that by putting my decision into doubt, you are doubting the will of the entire n!"

    Back before Al was elected chief, he couldn''t care less about honor and other silly stuff like that. Even if he always strived to keep true to his words and decisions, he had no qualms about breaking them if necessary. Yet, ever since he was chosen to lead the entire tribe, he could no longer afford such aidback attitude.

    "How about you actually respond to my words, rather than threatening me? Once again, I thought you to¡­" a slight rustle of the leaves alerted the trio in an instant. Whatever problems they had with each other could wait.

    Dropping low on his knees, Al rxed the grip on his axe before pointing it down. As the handle slipped out of his hand, the burly warrior only tightened his grasp when the weapon was about topletely fall out of his hand. Doing everything in a one, fluid motion, he then threw the axe towards the source of the sound, aiming it right above the perceived head of the enemy.

    Swiss!

    The sound of the rotating weapon cutting through the air was music to the Gener''s warriors. For a moment, this single sound made them feel like they were back in the world they were already used to.

    "AH!" The sound of a young person shouting in fear and surprise quickly brought them back to reality.

    "I''m on it!" Shouting his intentions, Uffer rushed forward. Yet, even with his reflexes worthy of the second in themand of the entire tribal army, he was too slow.

    Thump!

    Just as Al''s axe lodged itself into the wood of a nearby tree, Lessen appeared out of nowhere behind the bush where the rustling originally came from. "Should I kill it?" With his hand grasping the long, dark hair of yet another young woman in the easily recognizable clothes, he brought her up, out of the bush.

    "Please, I will do everything, please, don''t kill me!" Tears of terror trickled down the face of the girl. Her eyes appeared as if she lost all her sanity, not even attempting to retaliate against the tribesmen.

    "I will do it. Keep her still." Ordering the youngest of their group, Al released a tired sigh before pulling out his short sword once again. As he moved towards the bush, Lessen pulled his hand even higher, keeping the girl''s feet above the ground in order to make her unable to wrestle her way out. Even though the difference in their physical ability was as clear as the bigger of the twin suns on the sky, Lessen was perfectly aware how someone backed against the corner could struggle.

    "Al! The baseline¡­" Bringing the same topic as before up once again, Uffer attempted to protest, only to be met with a furious re of hismander.

    "Are your eyes hidden in your ass? Or are you just outright stupid?!" Barely keeping his emotions in line, Al stopped in his tracks. Canceling the noise of the struggling girl in his mind, he pointed the de of his sword at their surroundings. "The great spirits are enved. That I believe you noticed. Now tell me, when was the baseline deal agreed upon? WHEN FOR THE MERCY OF THE GREAT SPIRIT HAVE WE SIGNED IT WITH BLOOD?!"

    As he spoke, Al''s emotions started to take better of him. Noticing the problem right before he wouldpletely lose his control, Al took a few breaths to calm himself down.

    "Do you really think I didn''t notice it?!" Snapping as well, Uffer mmed his gianormous axe at the unfortunate tree nearby. ''That''s it for the stealth¡­'' Commenting on his friend''s behavior in his thoughts, Al didn''t even flinch under the disy of anger. "But does it matter? Even if we somehow moved through time, do you really believe our promises are voided?! Is that all your word means to you? Is that all to the dignity of our blood?!"

    For a moment, Al stopped. Not even his chest moved as if he stopped breathing at all. Then, he opened up his eyes, darkened even further than they were before their routine of murdering everyone they crossed paths with started.

    "And you just signed her death sentence yourself." Resuming his march towards the girl struggling in Lessen''s hold, Al ignored the voice of his friend. ''Now that she heard it, only the great spirits themselves could intervene to save her life. And given how they are still enved in this world¡­''

    "No! Please, please! I have a little sister, I didn''t hear or see anything! Please, no!" The girl''s efforts to free herself only intensified when Al took a swing. His sword rushed toward''s the girl''s chest, aimed right above where her third rib should be. ''I will make sure you won''t feel any pain.'' Even if he hated it, Al had his own responsibility as the chief of the n. The most he could do for this pitiful little one was to make sure her death would be easy.

    "CHIEF!" Out of nowhere, a new voice entered the fray. Initially rmed, everyone halted their moves and prepared for a sh. Even Al''s hand stopped in its tracks, redirecting his weapon to a guarded position. But instead of yet another group of enemies, a familiar face appeared from between the woods.

    "Ation?" Al leaned his head to the side while his eyes widened. "How could that be? Weren''t you stationed at the northern fort?" So far, everyone Al sawing out from this strange rift in the world belonged to the expeditionary army or the forces that shed with it. ''Could it be¡­'' Just as Al was about to at least attempt the reason behind this unexpected reunion, his eyes turned into slits as he lowered on his knees. Yet, before he could rush forward in an attack, Ation raised his hands and gestured his chieftain to stop.

    "I know how it looks like¡­ But it''s not the case. Those two, are not celestials, that I''m sure off." Pointing his hand at the duo of mixed genders, Ation made sure to stand in the way of the potentially iing attack.

    "If you say so¡­" Still not rxing his stance, Al slowly returned to his senses. ''Is this the mission that wore me out so much?'' It wasn''tmon for something so simple to tire the veteran warrior so much. And outside of physical tiredness, only the corpses of the many kids he ughtered during their scouting venture could wear his mental state down so much.

    "I know how it looks like, but they have some really interesting things to say." Seeing how there was no imminent threat of hismander attacking the two he took on himself to protect, Ation released a sigh of relief. But after this moment of rxation, his entire body tensed up as he stood up straight and reported.

    "While I have little to no means to confirm it¡­ They appear to note from our time, nor from the time of the celestials. What they appear to be, are our descendants!"

 Chapter 73 - I Dont Know!

    "Descendants? But I have yet to have kids on my¡­ Oh." Still riled up by the conflict with Uffer from before, Al surprisingly required a moment to digest the meaning behind Ation''s words. "What are your names?" Turning his face towards the silent duo, Al squinted his eyes a bit.

    ''Now that I look at them¡­ They really don''t resemble celestials¡­ but they do not look like one of our own either.'' This observation was pretty simple. The celestials were surrounded with the stench of the energy that they robbed from the enved spirits. To a degree, it made up for the easiest way of detecting them at close range. On the other hand, though, while it didn''t seem to be the case for the female, the man that Ation brought was different than anyone Al saw so far.

    ''Could it be that they are lying?'' Even though the exnation that Ation offered was pretty interesting, there was a chance that it was a false one. ''I guess I can only wait for the situation to develop furt¡­ eh?'' Al''s thoughts went into disarray when one thing happened to both of the strange visitors at once.

    As soon Al just twitched, his massive body no longer concealed the girl still hanging by her hair from Lessen''s hand. And once those two caught a glimpse of that person, their eyes widened in excitement. ''Are they enjoying this kind of thing or what?'' In a moment, all the positive emotions he felt towards those strangers instantly disappear. But it didn''t stop there.

    "Incredible¡­" Uttering under his breath without even realizing that his voice leaked out, Markus took a step forward. Then another. Then, after lowering his head to a clearly important figure of the n of his ancestors, he passed by the burly man before taking a closer look at the whispering girl. "Yelna, is she who I think she is?"

    "It seems like it." Following her husband, Yelna also ignored the burly man. Once she appeared in front of the girl, her hands twitched. Even though she wasn''t a sword-user, her long knife was more than enough to cut through the hair that another one of her ancestors held.

    "Ah!" As the girl fell to the ground, she uttered a short shout of surprise. Even though thenguages they were using were most likelypletely different, simple sounds like that were easily understandable to anyone. "Go and make sure." Summing the situation up in her usual, short manner, Yelna sheathed her knife.

    "What the hell are you doing?!" Only now oveing his shock caused by the duo''s audacity, Al shouted while fixing his grasp over his short sword. ''Even if they really are our descendants, that doesn''t mean they are worthy of our attention¡­'' Al stepped forward¡­ Only to stop in his tracks right away.

    "Al?" Noticing the unusual behavior of his leader, Ation asked before looking to where Al''s eyes were directed at. And then, he froze in ce as well. With her eyes only gently squinted, this strange girl didn''t even pull her weapon out. Just her intense stare alone was enough to make him feel as if he was an insignificant worm, standing up against the beings from legends.

    "Yelna! Stop." Before the tense situation could turn hostile, Markus'' words shook the girl''s intense stare, making her revert to her usual, barely noticeable self.

    ''What was that¡­?'' Even though this peculiar moment has passed, Al was still unable to move even a muscle. Even though this strange petrification was quickly fading away, just the sheer power that was necessary to stop someone like him with just a gaze finally forced Al to reevaluate the worth of this strange duo.

    "What do you think?" Ignoring themotion that she caused, Yelna looked towards her husband. Kneeling on one knee in front of the terrified girl, Markus reached towards her head with his hand. Grabbing her chin, he forcefully pulled it down before ncing at the shaking teeth of the girl.

    "There is no doubt." After a moment of thinking, Markus let go of the girl''s head before standing up. Shaking his head to all sides, he looked around before his eyes finally fell on what he was looking for. A simple, straight stick like many in any given forest.

    "Oh, I think they want to exin something." Unable to understand more than just a few words out of what those self-proimed descendants of his were talking, Ation could only recognize the patterns in their behavior. And it wasn''t the first time when the man paid quite a lot of attention to find something as simple as a stick.

    Markus moved towards a rtively more open area between the threes before kicking away most of the wet forestbed. Pulling out a simple knife only to sharpen his stick with a fewckluster moves, he then pointed his sharpened stick towards the ground he just exposed. Then, his arm made a simple move from right to left, leaving a long, straight scar on the ground.

    "This is something like¡­ A line of time?" Unsure how he was supposed to exin it, Ation rubbed the side of his head. "Whenever they point at something at mark it on this line, they will mean something about time period¡­ I guess."

    Markus''s hand didn''t stop. cing the first mark on the line he made a moment earlier, he raised his hand only to pat himself on the chest before pointing his finger at the girl he came with. Then, once again focusing on the stick, he moved his hand to the left over the initial line, cing another mark on it and pointing his hand at Ation, Al and all the others gathered in ce.

    "That''s what they already exined to me. That''s also why I call them our descendants. They came after us." Doing his absolute best to squeeze everyst drop of juice from his muscle brain, Ation continued to trante Markus'' actions to a human tongue.

    Then, the strange man moved his hand a bit to the left to ce another mark, then he ced another mark even further left then another¡­ As his moves became more frantic, the marks no longer appeared directly on the initial line, but only in its general direction. Then, once he was done with putting simple marks, his sharpened stick made a circle as he circumvented all the marks outside the first two.

    "Ancient." Pointing his hand at the girl his female partner freed earlier, the man started tapping his stick at the roughly middle of the circle. "Ancient." Repeating his words, he didn''t point at the girl with just a finger as he did to everyone else before, but this time, he used his entire hand.

    "I have no idea what he is saying right now¡­ But I think he wants to imply that we came after this girl. Or rather, that she came before us. Al¡­" Taking a few steps closer to get a better look at the doodles of the man, Ation saw how the man stopped tapping at the circle in general, but started to tap at all the marks within it in a random order¡­ before suddenly shaking his shoulders.

    "I don''t know." That was one sentence the two of them already established that was the same in theirnguages. As his stick continued to tap at the marks he left on the ground, the man only continued to repeat as clear frustration started to grow in his eyes. "I don''t know.. I don''t know. I don''t know!"

 Chapter 74 - Getting The Girl To Talk

    "They want the girl?" Looking at Ation, Al couldn''t hold his confusion back. Even thoughmunication between his group and those two people iming toe from the future was based mostly on gestures rather than words, he could still see that the two of them were together. ''Are they into threesomes or what?'' Even though his head was filled with doubts, this kind of oue, as surprising as it was, allowed him to save himself from the burden of yet another young soul.

    "It seems to be the case. For some strange reason, they are really interested in celestials, as if they no longer consider them enemies to humanity¡­" Shaking his head, Ation took a moment to figure out the exact way of putting it. "It''s like¡­ They no longer care about spirits."

    While the conversation between the two burly men continued along the same tones, Markus approached the whimpering girl before kneeling in front of her on one knee again. Even though his treatment of this poor little one was heavens apart whenpared to how Al andpany acted towards her, the eyes of this young girl were still filled with terror.

    "Markus." Patting himself on the chest, Markus said while making sure the girl was following his movement with her teary eyes. "Yelna." His hand pointed at the silent wife of his, keeping her distance from themotion. ''To think that she would still be wary of everyone¡­ Or maybe I''m the one being stupid for acting so rxed?'' Pondering over this topic in his thoughts, Markus shook his head before pointing his hand at the girl.

    "¡­" Clearly, getting that unfortunate child to speak wasn''t going to be easy. As if speaking up would be akin to acknowledging the dreadful reality that surrounded her, the girl simply refused to open her mouth.

    "This is gonna be hard. I only know a few words in ancient, only what Layn taught me back when we were bored at camp, so if she won''tmunicate herself, I don''t think she will be of any use to us." Markus wasn''t merciful towards the girl for no reason. Even though they entered the situation right before the girl was about to be executed, it was pretty easy to guess what was the reason for her sentence. Yet, even though it would mean possibly antagonizing their ancestors a bit, Markus just couldn''t give up on this chance to learn more.

    "It will be hard." Nodding her head to the words of her husband, Yelna looked at the rest of their now expanded group. "We need to go."

    Just like the former hero said, it was the nigh time to depart from their ce of momentary rest. With Ation already done talking with the man he called Al, it was only a matter of seconds before he would finish his greetings with two of thepanions of his leaders.

    And just like that, the group moved out. Even though the girl refused to talk, everyone also refused to just let her stay back in fear of the girl alerting the local authorities of the suspicious group. Yet, rather than moving further in the direction Al was originally intended to scout, the entire group turned around and moved their steps back to the Gener''s n temporary camp. After all, a scouting mission only had some sense if it was done with a limited number of people. With Ation luckily happening upon his leader before actually reaching the source of the call, their group of few was now reinforced by all the men that the officer of the n''s army brought with him.

    "Did they give up on that girl after all?" A few moments after their departure, Al finally couldn''t hold his curiosity back and asked.

    "Doesn''t seem like it. Did you saw that girl''s speed?" Even though he was usually silent, Lessen had no qualms against joining the conversation if it was about anything that caught his interest. "It''s not the level one can reach just by training. At least for the girl¡­" taking a moment to figure out the right words to exin his thoughts, Lessen shook his head, "she spilled a lot of blood in her life. I don''t think she would have any qualms about cutting that celestial if necessary, or even if she grew tired of keeping up with her pace."

    ''Huh?'' As rare as it was for Lessen to speak openly about something, to hear him praise someone else was even harder toe by. ''If she''s really that strong, does that mean that man is also quite powerful?'' Taking his turn to shake his head to clear it from all the doubts and questions that suddenly appeared in his mind, Al refocused on the topic. ''Wait, that''s a wrong question. If she is so strong, why did she follow Ation in the first ce?''

    Turning his head around, Al sent a nce towards the strange duo¡­ Only to see their eyes be fully clouded as if they managed to somehow fall asleep while walking. Yet, whenever a bush or leaves on a tree would rustle, their pupils would instantly rush in that direction, proving that while they looked to be rxed, they kept their vignce at a maximum.

    Soon, the entire group managed to cover the entire distance that took nearly a day for Al to traverse with just the two friends of his. Even though a bigger group meant it was way harder to remain undetected by potential stragglers and passersby, it also allowed Al to set some people as guards and individual scouts.

    Once at the camp, a sobering report was brought to themander.

    "Sir, during the return, we encountered seven groups with twenty-three people in total. While two of them escaped, we managed to inflict heavy injuries on them so it''s likely they won''t get out of the forest." Lowering his head in shame for the failure of his mission, themander of the scouts clearly expected a reprimand. Yet, rather than that, Al ced his hand on his shoulder before patting it gently.

    "It''s okay. Even if they escape, it doesn''t change a thing." Casting a quick look to the tail end of his group where the two of his alleged descendants continued to pester the unfortunate girl. "With the various forces of ours responding to the call to arms, it was only a matter of time before this world would learn about us."

    Ignoring the debate between Ation''smander and one of Ation''s underlings, Markus shook his shoulders before releasing a deep sigh.

    "I just can''t. Why can''t she as much as to give us her fucking name?!" At first, the saint gave the girl some space given the circumstances she suddenly found herself in. Yet, as his continuous attempts to make her speak up continued to result in nothing but failure, even his holy patience continued to run dry.

    "Let me." Taking a step forward, Yelna finally took the situation into her own hands. pping her moderate bust with her hand, she uttered slowly while looking the girl in the eyes. "Yelna." Then, her hand moved towards the girl''s chest, pping her in the exact same way as she did p herself.

    Maybe it was due to Yelna being female, or maybe the girl finally managed toe to her senses and realize that just ignoring the reality around her was the shortest way to forfeit her life. Encouraged by the expressionless face of the female in front of her, she finally opened up her mouth before uttering.

    "Valk."

 Chapter 75 - Lap Cultivation

    "Are you ready?" Running her fingers through Layn''s ck hair, Irea whispered softly.

    "Is there any reason to be in a hurry?" Keeping his eyes shut, Layn answered while moving his head around a bit. Even though it was resting on the divine pillow of Irea''sp, her perfectly athletic body also meant that what was supposed to be the greatest cushion humanity was riddled with the hardness of her bones.

    "Well, we are kinda at silent war with the entire upper echelon of the academy, aren''t we?" Moving her hands away from Layn''s head, Irea moved them to the back in order to support herself when her torso also angled towards the ground a bit. "While I know that you don''t really need to get any stronger at this point, I still believe it wouldn''t hurt to obtain even more power before the push wille to shove."

    Their talk was absolutely fake and had nothing to do with what the two of them was actually doing. Ever since their talk with the third prince concluded, a single conclusion was drawn.

    All three of them had to prepare. While the prince continued to y the entire situation with his political means, preparing a suitable ground for the confrontation, the two of them was tasked with something way simpler on paper, yet way harder ording to localmon sense. Because the two of them was tasked with reaching a level of strenght sufficient for them to be epted into the inner academy right away.

    Irea poked Layn''s left side. With a small cut right above her knee pressed tightly against a simr cut on Layn''s back, she had a clear and perfect view of Layn''s state of cultivation. Even though her personal strenght was below that of an archmage, in terms of cultivation, she still reigned supreme, allowing the girl to guide the man through the oftenplicated processes of growing his strenght.

    "Sorry, my bad." Focusing on his inner state once again, Layn slightly adjusted the flow of his inner energy. Constantly sucking copious amounts of mana produced by his improved rope, his rate of progress was only slightly faster than the pace at which Irea grew. In the end, the number of stones that Layn''s own rope was infused with was only a single piece greater than the one that Irea was using¡­ But her slower growth could also be attributed to the fact that she started from a higher position than the archmage.

    "Don''t worry about it." Prompting her torso back to a straightened position, Irea once again moved her hands on top of Layn''s head to y with his hair. ''Who would''ve thought that training could be so pleasant¡­'' Smiling to his own thoughts, Layn once again focused on the cultivation.

    ording to the girl''s words, even though his strenght was close to the middle-rank two-star expert, his actual cultivation was only in the middle ranks of the one-star. But rather than just limiting herself to using those terms that Layn was foreign to, she actually took some time to exin it to him before they started yet another session of cultivation. Thankfully, from the strange feeling that filled Layn''s mind whenever he attempted to push the flow of his inner energy even stronger, it was clear that he was finally reaching the limits of his current stage.

    Pop!

    As if something snapped in his insides, Layn''s flow of energy stabilized. But that wasn''t the most interesting part. As if his entire insides turned into a big hole of a void, the energy Layn constantly sucked into his flow¡­ started to overflow. Rather than condensing within its path and increasing the speed of its cirction, every single bit of energy he consumed started to fall into that void¡­ Only to disappear as if to never be seen again. Yet, contrary to what Layn could feel in his body, it appeared as if the aura he always used as an archmage¡­ suddenly appeared in his insides as well!

    ''Could it be¡­?'' In the end, even though the world worked in a slightly different way than it would in Layn''s original time, thews of magic were roughly the same. And as more and more mana continued to pour into the void confined by the drive of Layn''s cultivation, he could feel that his inner aura¡­ Was actually exactly the same as the aura he grew as a mage!

    "Congrattions." Stopping her hands, Irea pushed her torso forward and down, moving her head above Layn''s face only to ce a gentle kiss on his forehead. "You managed to reach the next cultivation stage."

    As her fingers stopped moving around, Irea didn''t cease to caress Layn''s scalp. With her lips moving down Layn''s face from his forehead to his own mouth, her fingers started to massage his earlobes, as if the girl was really keen on rewarding Layn''s small achievement.

    "Now that I think of it, how many stages higher you are than my current self?" Suddenly overwhelmed by curiosity, Layn set himself to automatically push all the energy he was consuming through his flow into the void before focusing his mind on the face of the girl above.

    "When we started, I was right at the stage you are right now, at the beginner phase of filling one''s potential. Ah, the potential itself refers to how much energy can be stored within one''s cultivation." Realizing that Layn could still be confused about the ins and outs of the cultivation that Irea understood as something obvious, the girl made sure to exin the situation. "But the truth is¡­ Ever since you gave me that treasure, I forcefully repelled all my potential to recultivate the amassing drive stage."

    Finally lifting her head due to how hot of a day it was and how ufortable the two of them were when their own body heat only increased the warmth of their faces, Irea shook her head in an attempt to drive all her sweat out. "As for now, I''m about to reach the awakening¡­"

    Just like in Layn''s case a moment earlier, something snapped in the girl''s body. Able to feel this qualitative change only because their real flesh was touching where they both intentionally injured themselves, Layn instantly focused his eyes on the girl''s face.

    "Oh?" Feeling the energy coursing through the girl''s veins, Layn forced himself to move up his head from the girl''sp, freeing her from the role of his pillow.

    "Go and test it out. I can tell how eager you are to do so." Rewarding the girl''s progress with a kind smile followed by a short moment of patting her head, Layn''s smile became even bigger when the girl instantly stood up before starting to stretch her body. Soon, her opening exercise turned into a sprint, several boxing spars with an imagined opponent and a few jumps¡­ Before the girl suddenly fell on the soft grass beside the archmage with a satisfied look on her face.

    "Yeah, I''m quite sure. I somehow managed to reach the awakening stage." ording to what the girl exined before, once a cultivator would fill their potential to the brim, they would reach the merging flow stage. Once at that level of cultivation, one would have to forcefully add motion to all the energy amassed inside the void created by his or her initial flow of mana, so that every single bit of their energy would follow the same, circr pattern.

    "Do tell, what does reaching that stage mean?" After taking a quick look at his own inner stage only to confirm that the void inside his cultivation was just as bottomless as it was before, Layn quickly turned his attention to the girl instead. ''There is no need to hurry. I''m still cultivating way faster than anyone in this world could imagine.'' Reassuring himself with this simple thought, Layn couldn''t be bothered to feel any rush.

    "Ah, right, I stopped my exnation on the cultivation on that stage." With her lips turning into a wide smile, Irea leaned to the back before releasing a deep sigh. As her muscles rxed, she grabbed Layn''s head only to sneak her knees underneath his back and once again allow the man to rest on thefortable softness of herp.

    "Once one''s manage to coordinate all his energy and merge the flows, one finally reaches the awakening stage." This time, Irea didn''t just focus on her inner state. Once she moved her right hand to the side, a huge me suddenly appeared out of her palm, making the heat of the day even harder to bear with. "Right now, I cannot assimte all the energy this treasure produces. That would be quite dangerous, hence why I''m wasting it away on this stupid technique."

    Shaking her hand, Irea quickly exined the source and even the reason behind the fire appearing above her hand. "Right now, I need to make sure the aura of my energy will build up slowly but steadily. Only once it reaches my mind¡­"

    Pop!

    Before the girl could finish her words, something strange happened in Layn''s magical core. As if all his external aura he cultivated on his own was suddenly sucked inside, the void that wouldn''t give any hints of filling with energy at all, suddenly appeared to be filled to the brim. And as more energy constantly added to the equation, unable to hold even a single drop more of static mana, Layn''s inner energy within what used to be a void hole of his potential, suddenly started to move.

    "Ugh¡­" Already ustomed to the cultivation being quite arduous and time-consuming, Layn momentarily wasn''t sure what he was supposed to say. "It seems like I broke through the filling potential stage.. And that means¡­" Moving his eyes on the girl, Layn removed the shocked expression from his face only to put a smile on his lips once again. "I''m once again just a single stage behind you!"

 Chapter 76 - Stirring The Pot

    "So? Are you going to tell me what are you doing or will you keep me hanging like that?" With her arms crossed over her chest, Irea stood above the archmage while her right foot continued to rhythmically tap against the stones of the floor.

    "Sorry, but this¡­" Layn shook his head while putting a small smile on his lips. "This is going to be a surprise for you as well." Not daring to move his eyes away from the stone he was ying with, Layn drew onest line before pulling a goose''s feather away from the stone. Even though it would be normally used to write, thanks to driving his energy through its tip, Layn managed to make it hard enough to use it as a carving tool.

    "So it''s nothing important, am I right?" Noticing how carefree her man''s attitude was, Irea simply waved her hand at the topic before her face turned slightly sour. "Are you sure about it though?"

    ''Huh?'' Raising his eyebrow a bit, Layn raised his eyes at the girl. Putting the feather away, he then made sure to close the bottle of ink that was sitting almost unused on his side. "What do you mean?" Leaning his head on his right shoulder, Layn feigned ignorance.

    "Can you stop ying around? Or are you trying to disrespect me? Am I really that untrustworthy?" Irea''s eyebrows moved down as her eyes turned into slits. Even though they shared some intimate moments, the gap of how little time they spend with each other was still hard to fill.

    "Eh, don''t you see where we are?" Looking around as if worried that someone was eavesdropping on their conversation, Layn only managed to keep his ploy for a short moment, before the twitching of his lips turned into a full-blow eruption ofughter. "No, you are right. It''s not like we can hide anything from them so I might as well be open about it."

    ''With that said¡­'' Even though a smile was decorating his lips, Layn''s mood was far from being joyful. While the treasures they constantly wore allowed him to break to the beginning stage of merging flows while pushing Irea all the way to the awakening stage, the time just didn''t want to y in their favor. ''I guess you can''t have everything¡­'' Looking down at the stone he just finished carving, Layn stored it in a pouch with several others he made before. Standing up, he dusted off his pants before moving his head up and closing his eyes.

    "I¡­" Still keeping his eyes shut, Layn started speaking only to turn silent the next moment. Taking a few breaths, the archmage calmed himself down and purified all the spare thoughts and doubts that lingered in his head. ''So I''m still susceptible to this w, huh?''

    Having doubts before the battle, being unsure about one''s ns, was all a part of being a free man. At least, that''s what one of the very few people that Layn was full of respect towards once said to him. ''I wonder what happened to them after I cast that spell¡­'' Layn''s thoughts momentary moved towards the adventures of his past before his determination finally washed them away.

    "I think it''s time for me to enter the inner academy." With his outfit now free from even the smallest speck of dust or dirt, Irea could finally see how one thing changed about Layn''s clothes. Ever since he was epted into the academy, he wore the standard robes of the students. Despite the fact that he only participated in a single public lesson, Layn strangely refused to ever wear anything else.

    "I get it¡­ But what''s with those clothes of yours? Aren''t they¡­ grey?" Even though it was only a small detail, Irea still decided to ask this question, ignoring the way heavier in consequences revtion of her partner.

    "That''s¡­" Bringing his hand up to his mouth, Layn ced just a single finger of his on his lips before smiling mysteriously. "That''s a surprise forter. And I won''tpromise on exining this one in advance."

    "So how about at least telling me why the sudden change of mind?" Given how Layn refused to enter the inner academy right away, Irea finally decided to ask this question. As someone who valued the opportunity to raise within the academy above everything else up until the moment she met this strange man, she no longer bothered to even guess his reasoning rted to his potential rise in ranks.

    "You see, they took the treasure to the inner sect. For now, they can im that they paid for it or whatever¡­ But what if their very im about why they took it would be proven to be false?" Smiling to his own thoughts, Layn stepped forward, only stopping right when he reached the very middle of the peaceful za. "Everyone! What has be of this great academy? People are robbing others while spouting nonsense and they still have the guts to im it''s for the betterment of those in need?!"

    Shouting those words, Layn would have to be blind not to notice a smallmotion in one of the gazebos nearby. Forcefully pulling down the corner of his mouth that wanted to rise in a satisfied smile, he turned around and faced the girl instead.

    "Tell me, what do you think would happen if the core academy were to learn about the actions of those who stole the treasure? What would the elders do if they were to learn that some disciples of the inner academy took such a valuable thing for themselves while iming to just move it to an inner sect?" This time, Layn didn''t even bother hiding his smile from his partner. On the other hand, though, the girl fell into deep thought, seriously trying to figure out the answer to the question he posed.

    "If the core academy were to learn about it¡­ Oh boy¡­" With her eyes suddenly expanding, a vicious smile appeared on her lips as well. "It would make for a pretty good show, that I can say for certain!"

 Chapter 77 - Shady Deal

    "Argh, that was so damn annoying!" mming her fist into the stone wall of the central building of the outer academy, Irea released her pent-up emotions.

    "Still, you did a great job." Praising the girl while cing his hand on her head, Layn rubbed her hair for a moment before retracting his hand. As much as they liked each other, given the importance of the ce they entered right away after the scene they made in the za a public show of affection would be in a bad taste.

    "Thanks." Clearly satisfied with the man''s praise, Irea''s face brightened up a bit. Happy to the point where she started to gently hum some kind of tune, she followed after that archmage without any further protests or questions.

    Reaching the corridor where most of the elder''s quarters were located, Layn confidently stepped forward, not paying any mind to the surprised looks of the random students that happened to see himmitting such sacrilege.

    ''I guess this part is the same, be it the ancient world or the modern one.'' Noticing the shocked, expectant, and terrified looks on the faces of those strangers, Layn was pleasantly reminded of his time in the mage academy. Back then, there were no elders or inner nor outer academies. Yet, the attitude towards the rector and high brass of the academy was roughly the same as it was towards the elders at this time.

    "Quite daring of you to step into this corridor¡­" Before Layn could even knock off any of the doors, an olddy stepped out of the room. It was the same female elder that was initially heavily against Layn''s admission to the academy, only to prove that she wasn''t as conceited as she initially appeared to beter during the hearing.

    "Well, weren''t you guys the ones to say that I should seek a hearing with one of the elders whenever I would decide to ascend to the inner academy?" Putting a wide and rxed smile on his lips, Layn cracked his neck by leaning his head heavily to both sides before raising his left eyebrow and lowering the right one. "Should I take it that I''m not weed here?"

    To say that the face of that elderly woman turned white would be a gross understatement. Yet she quickly proved that she bore the title of an elder not only due to her edge, oveing her initial shock and recing it with an amiable smile. "Surely, you jest. I stand by the decision of the council. Come to my room, I will deal with all the paperwork there."

    Turning around on her heel, the female promptly returned to her quarters while leaving the doors open in an act of an invitation. Following the female, Layn grabbed the hand of the reluctant Irea behind him, pulling her along.

    "I invited you in, but I don''t recall extending the same invitation to that girl¡­ Aren''t you a semi-teacher in the outer academy? What do you think you are doing here?" As soon as the female elder noticed Irea in her room, her face turned just as awful as it was when Layn first stepped into the room for his examination.

    With just this, Irea''s expression sunk all the way to the point where Layn couldn''t tell whether she was desperate or already depressed. But rather than trying to cheer his girl up, he simply reached out to his pocket only to pull out one of the stones he was patiently preparing just this morning.

    "This stone here allows you to open up a defensive formation. Once you smash it apart, no one will be able to make as much as a single step for a single minute in a radius of twenty meters around you. Obviously¡­" Sending the elderly woman a wink, Layn added, "this doesn''t apply to the one crushing this stone. Now tell me because I apparently forgot, what are the requirements to join the inner academy?"

    cing the stone on a random table that just happened to be near the entrance, Layn smiled while keeping just a single finger of his on the stone, keeping it from falling to the side and rolling away.

    "The inner academy? While you are an exception, usually one would have to be a two-star beginner at the very least and have some kind of exceptional contribution to the academy¡­" Leaving the exnation open, the elderly woman clearly could understand what Layn was trying to suggest.

    "Two stars? That means people who broke through the awakening rank?" While Layn already had a small picture of how the entirety of cultivation looked like, or at least its early stages, he had yet to discuss whatid beyond the realm of awakening. ''Judging from its name, that guess should be correct¡­'' Keeping his eyes glued to the face of the elder, Layn''s finger continued to y with the formation stone.

    "That''s correct. Of course, if there were to be some special circumstances¡­" Not willing to openly state her wishes, the olddy dly epted Layn''s roundabout way of talking about the topic.

    "This girlfriend of mine just so happened to reach the pinnacle of the awakening stage. What''s more, she was behind the recent appearance of the shrine of patience on the grounds of the outer academy. With that said¡­" Taking the smile down from his lips, Layn retracted his finger before flinging it forward, pushing the stone to roll over towards the elder, "I assume Irea just came here to confirm that she indeed has caught your eye and was promoted to the inner academy."

    Seeing how the elderly woman instantly snatched the stone the moment it entered the range of her hands, Layn''s smile returned to his lips. "With that said, I believe the two of us should already consider ourselves as the disciples of the inner sect, am I right?"

    For a moment, the lips of the female elder twitched in displeasure at the arrogant attitude of the archmage. But as if a wave of pleasure was spreading from the stone she held, improving her mood, she quickly ended up nodding her head and smiling as well.

    "It will be my pleasure to guide the two of you to the advancement gate."

 Chapter 78 - At The Threshold

    "Here, grab those robes." Instead of just leaving them be, the olddy moved to the back of her room before opening a small box hidden in the corner. Not even attempting to pretend that she wasn''t prepared for the current situation, she pulled two sets of long, red outfits.

    "Outer academy disciples are wearing whites, inner academy wears¡­" Before thedy could finish, Layn nodded his head before snatching the clothes from her hands. Passing one set to Irea, he rolled his eyes while nodding his head. "Inner academy wears reds while the core disciples parade in blues." Finishing the exnation on his own instead, Layn quickly pulled the cloth on top of his back.

    "You look quite handsome in them¡­" Rather than panicking over the problem of changing out in the open, Irea waved her set before swinging it to the side and allowing the cloth to wrap itself around her shoulders before falling on her back. With a strangely deep smile, she admitted while keeping her eyes peacefully closed.

    ''This girl¡­'' Prompted by the wide swing of the cloth, Layn reacted out of reflex. Using a tiny bit of his aura, he held several expensive-looking pieces of furniture in ce, denying them the right to fall. ''If those people were any smarter, they could easily detect it!'' Gnashing his jaws while keeping a calm smile on his face, Layn wailed to the heavens.

    "So do you. But now," As dangerous as her act of dressing-up was, there was no denying how well the colors of her new robe ented the elegant beauty of the girl''s face. Vivid and focused back on the desert, the tomboyish feel that Irea had around herself now turned into a thoughtful grace.

    ''What a single piece of cloth can do¡­'' Pandering over this sudden enlightenment for a short moment, Layn shook his head before finishing. "Now, we should go to the inner academy. I just can''t wait to see the great use those fellow disciples of ours put our shrine too!" Proudly eximing, Layn felt the corners of his lips twitching.

    As grand as his statement was, he just couldn''t hold his amusement back.

    "Yeah, yeah." Waving her hand at the incessant duo, the olddy hid the grimace of annoyance from her face. As the wrinkles around her eyes somewhat ttened, the female elder waltzed out of the room. Shaking his momentary joy off, Layn grabbed Irea''s wrist before pulling her along.

    "Mind exining just what kind of mischief you are up to?" Somewhere halfway towards the center point of the outer academy, the elder couldn''t stop herself from asking.

    "Mischief? It''s nothing of that sort." Putting up a troubled look on his face while still devoting most of his attention to the younger girl cutely trodding beside him, Layn stirred his mind up to figure out a proper response.

    "It''s more like¡­ The very reason why I wanted to start in the outer academy is now void. This lovely girl here," moving his hand up, Layn let to of Irea''s hand only to pat her gently on her head. "she helped me to find out what I was looking for." Rubbing Irea''s scalp to the rhythm of her silent, satisfied moans, Layn dressed up his enlightened face type three.

    ''Just how can she be so cute?'' Keeping only the strayest of her thoughts to maintain the conversation, Layn was fully encharmed by the simple motions of Irea body. The fluttering of her short hair, the glister on her slightly sweaty, porcin skin¡­ Every element from the swaying of her hips through the wiggling of her chest all the way to the gentle and warm smile on her lips was trapping the archmage in a box far more formidable than even the worst of prisons.

    "So that''s the case¡­" Seeing his expectationse to reality, Layn didn''t even bother to hide his smile. ''Right now, it fits in my act rather well.'' Moving his hand down Irea''s head, he snuck back into the girl''s palm. Reacting to his invitation, the girl turned her face towards him a bit before sentencing him with yet another charming smile of hers.

    In a sudden motion, her fingers curled up, oveing the bounciness of Layn''s hand''s muscles. Turning even the simple act of handholding into something pretty intimate, Irea fully ascertained dominance over the archmage.

    "Gotchya!" Whispering in an excited yet low voice, Irea almost jumped while doing so.

    "Hey, are you listening to me, you brats?" Snapping the two from the inner world they silently immersed themselves in, the olddy managed to regain their attention. "This is it, I may be an elder, but I''m not allowed to make even a step further." Pointing her hand, all in wrinkles, at a nearby gate, she used her other hand to pull out two rolled pieces of paper sealed with five wax seals.

    "Those here are the certificates. You will need them once you get in." For a moment, the face of the old elder soured turned serious. As if her entire naggish and annoying attitude was just an act, an honest worry filled her eyes as she looked at Archmage and the semi-teacher beside him.

    "Past that gate, it''s thew of jungle. If you ever want to grow there, be it by participating in lessons or by acquiring cultivation resources¡­" Shaking her head, the olddy lowered her eyes as if reminiscing something. "In the inner sect, only your merits matter. That''s why the crux of my advice."

    Raising her eyes, the olddy looked deeply into Layn''s pupils. "Whatever feud brought you to this ce, obtaining merits is enough to settle it." Speaking this single line with a strange, deep voice, the appearance of the elder momentarily changed.

    Rather than a weak and ugly female who lost everyst hint of her former beauty yet failed to ept it, rather than a desperate woman at the end of her line, a powerhouse stood before them.

    Irea froze. From how her pupils dted, she clearly was facing something like that for the very first time.

    ''It''s hard to believe¡­'' Squinting his eyes, Layn epted the stare of the olddy. For a moment, the power behind her words seemed to turn her into a ferocious and experienced beast, a huge mass of violence that saw hell and managed to return from it.

    And then her smile once again took the tone of the pestering elder, removing everyst trace of the might she revealed just a moment ago.

    ''A killing intent¡­ To think I could see it so soon.'' Standing still, Layn looked at the scrolls he held in his hand, before moving his eyes back at the gate nearby. His other hand tightened around Irea''s palm. ''If the elders of the outer sect can already exhibit this power¡­'' Staring in the direction the olddy left, Layn''s eyes squinted even further.

    "Hey, stop ring at the flowers like that. They will wither." Pushing her forefinger against Layn''s cheek, Irea puffed her own cheeks out. Her slightly lowered eyebrows only spelled trouble.

    "Right, right. Let''s not bother our thoughts with this event all that much." Scoffing at what just transpired, Layn fixed his grip on Irea''s warm hand before marching towards the gate.

    Even though it wasn''t the first nor the second time he had to y all sorts of scenes to get something done, Layn was getting annoyed by it only all the more. ''So much time wasted on some stupid rituals¡­'' Rolling his eyes, he passed the sealed scrolls to the silent guardian that appeared right before the huge wooden doors of the gate as soon as the two of them took the first step.

    ''Five seals, huh¡­ So they already knew I would bring her with me¡­'' Throwing onest look at the scrolls, Layn then moved his eyes at the girl beside him, yet the sound of something snapping returned him back to reality.

    "Wait, what?" After leisurely snapping the seals in half, the guard took a look at the content of the papers. And in a sh, his face changed from a bored to a shocked one. Raising his eyes at the guests in waiting, he took a good, long look at the two of them.

    "In the middle of the year¡­" Whispering under his nose, the man shook his head before snapping back to reality and moving aside. "You may enter. " Pointing his hand at the gate, he encouraged the duo to step forward.

    "And good luck." As Layn passed by the guardian, he suddenly noticed something. As if the world stopped in its tracks for a brief moment, the archmage noticed the hostile and satisfied smile of the guard. As if he was a hunter watching his prey voluntarily step into a trap. Yet this moment also passed by super quickly, not giving either of the men a chance to act on it.

    "Thank you for your good word." Smiling to the guard, Layn stepped forward. Only stopping when he stood right in the gate, Layn turned his head to the girl before smiling and bringing his hand up. Caressing Irea''s cheek for a short moment, Layn''s face visibly rxed. And as if he suddenly lowered his guard, right in the middle of the home ground of the society he was baring his fangs again, Layn spoke.

    "This time, the acting will be even harder. Just trust me and go with the flow." Speaking out in the open, Layn was perfectly aware of what he was doing. With the gate''s guard obviously directing his ear towards them, it was given his words would quickly spread through the entire inner academy.

    ''Well, the bar is set, now it''s just to wait for the fishes toe..'' Smiling to his own thoughts, Layn tightened his grasp over Irea''s hand before stepping into the Inner academy.

 Chapter 79 - Illusions

    "This is the inner academy?" Barley after making a few steps inside, Layn suddenly stopped in his tracks, unable to ept the reality that was sprawling before his eyes.

    "Well, it''s not famous for the sights but for the opportunities, it gives to those talented enough to enter it." Irea attempted to cate Layn''s mood, only making the situation even worse.

    "But this? You people really have no sense of beauty at all¡­" Shaking his head, Layn sighed before picking up his pace. With the girl trodding right beside him, Layn originally intended to just scan the entire area with his eyes before directing his steps towards the fake sanctuary of patience that he expected those who snatched it to a position somewhere visible¡­

    Sadly, the high-rise buildings reaching tens if not hundreds of floors turned his view to be quite obstructed. At first, Layn was stunned by the sheer scale of the buildings, something that he didn''t expect to see for the rest of the time he would spend in this timeline. But after just a moment of thought, Layn had no other choice but to acknowledge one simple thing.

    Even in the modern times, he came from, creating such insanely huge structures like the one that filled the entirety of the inner academy would be a challenging task.

    ''Just like that saying went, huh?'' With unlimited resources, unlimited time, and manpower, as long as one wouldn''t be shackled by human and civil rights, no feat that remained from the ancient civilizations would be impossible to be finished by modern means. Yet, contrary to what this saying presented at first, only those with at least minimal brains could see the sad truth hidden underneath the direct message of this saying.

    Even after wrapping his head over this topic for a long while, Layn simply couldn''te up with any way or procedure that the modern humans could build such things as the buildings he was staring at just now.

    "What now?" Irea could follow Layn''s steps only for a short moment. Not because something was stopping her from doing so, but because the archmage himself had no other choice but to stop and stand down when the open area by the gate gave way to the dense grid of the inner academy.

    "Well, I intended to look for that shrine so that we can report the fraud to the prince¡­ But I don''t think there is any point in looking for it in a ce like this." Spreading his arms to the side, Layn smiled before pulling on the girl''s hand. Suddenly shaken out of her stable position, Irea wavered, unable to resist when Layn pulled her closer into his embrace.

    "The alleys are tight. Stay close." Letting go of Irea''s hand, Layn covered her shoulder with his arm as they set on and moved forward.

    As soon as the two entered the urbanized area, the feeling that this ce gave changed a lot. Rather than the eerie peacefulness that was ever present in the outer academy, in here, it appeared as if everyone was rushing towards their tasks, unable or at least unwilling to pay the two of them any mind.

    "Wait, something is wrong¡­" As they continued moving forward, Layn suddenly stopped in his tracks. Standing still, he threw one more look at his surroundings only for his face to suddenly pale.

    "This is actually great¡­" Letting go of Irea''s hand, Layn allowed for his killing intent to start seeping through his usually perfect guard. "Irea, don''t you find anything strange about this ce?"

    Initially impressed by the insane architectonical capabilities of the ancients, Layn no longer held them in any special regard. After this one, a small observation he made, his respect turned towards those who were responsible for this entire, fake world.

    "Well, I never saw buildings like this in my entire life. But seeing how you were just surprised but not shocked, I assumed that it''s somethingmon in the ce you came from." Shaking her shoulders, Irea didn''t seem to be as perturbed or excited as the archmage was right now.

    "I see¡­" Turning his face back towards the huge buildings that filled the entire area around, Layn reached towards the bag he recently added to his belt. "Well, I won''t keep you in the dark. Right now, we are in the middle of an illusion. A test of sorts, I presume."

    With one look, one would be unable to notice it. Only when Layn actually started to tune in to the details of what he was looking at did the reality dawned upon him.

    ''If this ce is so hard to reach for your average person, howe there is such a crowd here?'' This single question that appeared in Layn''s mind was the first reason for the doubt to appear in his brain. And once it settled, more and more unreasonable things started bing obvious to him.

    In the end, the world was simply inconsistent. With such a crowd of people in such a hurry to go somewhere, there was bound to be some kind of mass transportation. Be it a magic broom, flying vehicle, or even a magic coach, there was absolutely no way someone wouldn''t use this opportunity to profit himself. And this was just a single of the things that ultimately proved how fake this world in Layn''s judgment.

    "An illusion? Well, it wouldn''t be that hard to ept. After all, the elders can invite anyone they want to the inner sect, so they are bound to have some means of testing the newbies here." Not even bothering to refute Layn''s words, Irea simply took them at face value, instantly switching her mindset from ''is he actually right'' to ''what should I do if he is right?''

    "Well, breaking the illusion should suffice as proof, don''t you think?" Finally managing to pull out the correct stone from his pouch, Layn made sure to confirm that it was the right one for one more time, before smiling openly. "In the end, I only have one worry."

    Stepping forward and intentionally leaving the girl a few steps to the back, Layn looked up before taking a long breath, holding it in and releasing it a momentter. With all the tension now gone from his flesh, his eyes turned into slits as he started channeling his energy into the stone.

    "I never told you, but there are several types of formations." Up to this point, Irea was already rxing, unwilling to be bothered by such a simple test. Especially with Layn''s assistance, she could hardly imagine any trouble capable of stopping the man, and thus, in extension, herself. But once the archmage brought this rtively simple and meaningless word, her entire body tensed up as the critical emotions she felt when he first used that word once again reappeared in her soul.

    "First off, we have the passive formations. Once set in ce, they will operate for as long as thend around them won''t change." Taking another step forward, Layn took a closer look at the stone in his palm. "Obviously, they are pretty robust and hard to set. In fact, being theyman I am, I don''t think I would be able to set even a simple one withoutmitting quite a lot of mistakes."

    Step by step, Layn moved further away from the girl, constantly changing the vector of his journey. But once the exnation of the first type of formation concluded, his movements came to an end.

    "Then, you have the active formations. Due to how specific they are, they are often called burst formations. In contrast to the passive formations, they are super easy to set, yet extremely hard to prepare materials for." Raising his hand, Layn shook the small pebble he was busy carving before they even went to visit the olddy.

    "What you saw back on the desert, when I killed all those so-called experts, was the actual simplest form of formation. Its name is just as simple - a mixed formation." Leaning his face upwards, Layn allowed a smile to surface on his lips. Perfectly aware that every single word of his was most likely recorded by more people than he would ever have a chance to pursue, the archmage wasn''t going to stop. Rather than that, he was set on pushing the situation to an even greater extreme.

    "While itbines the features of passive formation - extreme power and huge burden to set it up, it also uses the benefits of the burst formation to make up for the shorings of the passive one like slow activation or rtively low output of power within a timeframe set."

    Lowering his head, Layn looked at an empty square that opened up right at the mouth of the alley they were in. Just a single step more, and he would enter it. Yet, the Archmage didn''t move even an inch.

    "As I said, I''m unable to set the passive formation and there is no point to go out of my way and set a mixed one here when we just need to deal with the illusion." Shaking his shoulders, Layn rubbed his thumb against the carved side of the pebble, before gently tossing it towards the middle of the square in front of him.

    Snap.

    The pebble broke in half. Then its halves broke in two again. From four pieces, it split into eight, then sixteen, then thirty-two. With each division happening with every Layn''s heartbeat, the parts of the pebble quickly became too small for anyone to be able to spot them.

    And right at that moment, Layn pushed his hand forward before opening his up just a bit.

    "Break." Following the flow of the magic energy etched into every single atom of the pebble when the spell structure was first carved into it, each of the minuscule parts suddenly started to suck on the energy from their surroundings as if there was no tomorrow.

    And as if someone turned up the most powerful vacuum cleaner in the world on, the entire area around them suddenly rushed into the square, leaving nothing but a barren in with some spare huts here and there.

    And right in the middle, right where the pieces of stone were now brimming with all the power they consumed, a huge group of people dressed in the same kind of robes that Layn and Irea received from the olddy a few moments ago, was waiting.

    "So you managed to break through the illusion¡­ Not going to lie, it''s a great feat. I think it will be around two hundred years ever since¡­" Not surprised by his presence suddenly being revealed, an old man supporting himself with a crane spoke up.

    "Huh? Anotheryer of illusion?" Ignoring his words despite knowing that the illusion was now gone as there was no delicate magical interference that he could feel before, Layn smiled before putting up the most devious expression he could on his face. "I guess I need to bring out the heavier ammunition then!"

 Chapter 80 - Not An Illusion After All

    Despite his words, Layn didn''t reach to his pocket for yet another stone. Not because his words were empty, but because there wasn''t any need to do so.

    With the magic enriched formation stone splitting into myriad parts, its very internal structure started to dissolve. And in this process, was a special kind of power, that Layn utilized back when casting gran arcana.

    Sadly, instead of this strange, greenish stone that he used back then as one of the auxiliary sources of energy for the spell, he had to do with its very primitive imitation, not reaching even a hundredth of its power.

    But that hundredth was fare more than enough to rip anotheryer of illusion with ease¡­ Just like it was more than sufficient to tear through the bodies of the people standing in front of Layn.

    "Son, this is not an illusion. This is¡­" Seeing how the elderly man dared to interrupt his show, Layn looked at him while painting surprise all over his own face. "An illusion with people talking in it? Irea, I have to say, this inner academy has some really monstrous masters to set such an illusion up!"

    Ignoring the looks of surprise and terror that appeared on the faces of onlookers, Layn moved his eyes towards their figures before extending his hand towards the group. "Well, since this illusion is so powerful, I bet they imnted some kind of charming spell so that those talking spells would have a shot at convincing us to something." Sending a silver of his aura to the vtile energy amassing throughout the area permeated by the stone dust, Layn smiled. "It''s better to be safe than sorry."

    Muttering to himself, Layn created a single fireball. Appearing atop his palm, it was the size of a pebble, yet it housed quite a considerable strength in it. Judging by the standards of what he already saw in this world, Layn estimated that this ball of fire would have as much energy as one needed to consume in order to move on from being a normal human to nearly half of the journey towards the awakening phase of the first stage of cultivation.

    "STOP IT!" Finally acknowledging the fact that the strange visitor wasn''t joking, the elder shouted while conjuring something with his hand.

    Right in time for Layn''s fireball to fly off his palm, striking into the stone dust hanging in the air where he stood.

    PAC!

    The sound of a powerful shockwave sting against the old man''s frail body was truly peculiar. Leaning his head to the side, Layn opened his eyes wide, pretending to be surprised. "Wait, could it be that''s not an illusion?!" As if he only now noticed that fact, the archmage watched how the old man who flew back only to have his body smashed against the ground¡­ Was actually standing up now.

    "Listen here, you little son of a¡­" Just as the man attempted to return while driving his internal energy, Layn smiled again. "No, there is no way a respectable elder like that would act in this way. This is bound to be an illusion!"

    Conjuring another fireball in his hand, Layn pulled out yet another formation stone. This time though, its marking were far more intricate and covered its entire surface rather than just a fragment of one of its sides as was the case with the previous item.

    "Okay, that will be enough." Suddenlying from behind, Irea ced her hand at Layn''s shoulder in an attempt to calm him down. "I know you don''t like those people, but that''s not the reason to kill everyst one of them, is it not?" Cutely hanging her head to the side, Irea managed to dispel Layn''s killing intent with just a few words and a smile of hers.

    "Well, that''s actually true. The thing is, this can''t be a real world." Shrugging his arms, Layn shook the girl''s hand from his shoulder before pointing his finger a bit above the heads of the group in front of them. "Wasn''t my shrine taken to the inner academy? If this is the inner academy, howe I can''t feel it at all?"

    Putting a vicious smile on his face, Layn suddenly turned around before hiding the stone back in his pocket. "But since you im this is reality, then let''s give it a test." Smiling to Irea, Layn suddenly plummeted down, sitting in a cross-legged position directly on the ground. "Let''s wait here for a while. I will try to decipher whether our surroundings are an illusion or not while searching for the hints of the shrine''s presence."

    Spreading his arms to the side, Layn looked at Irea with a strange glint in his eyes. "A fair deal, don''t you think?"

    In reaction to the man''s words, Irea rolled her eyes before stepping forward.

    "My dearest here is a man of focus,mitment, and a sheer fucking will." Pointing her hand at the archmage, Irea stood fast while looking at the greeting group with a look of disdain in the corner of her eye. "He once killed three men in a tavern¡­ With a pencil." Stepping one pace closer, Irea kept going with her fantastical story.

    "WIth. A. Fucking. Pencil." Putting an ent on each of the words, Irea squinted her eyes before putting a huge smile on her face. "Feel free to test him out like you are doing it right now. I''m giving you some time only because of my respect for the academy. But once he will be done with waiting¡­" Taking a short pause, Irea nced over at the sitting archmage, allowing the look in her eyes to soften as she did that. "Well, it''s up to you whether he will get angry or not."

    With that said, Irea turned around on her heel, not caring for the people now behind in the slightest. Approaching the archmage, she calmly sat on the ground before gluing her eyes to Layn''s focused face.

    At first, nothing of importance happened. Outside of some disciples in red robes holding back the elder that clearly wasn''t satisfied with the situation, one could say that nobody even moved all that much. But after just a few whiles, some kind ofmotion arose deeper in the city.

    "Do you think it will be enough?" Only once the square finally cleared did Irea open up her mouth. Despite appearing to be in deep thought, Layn reacted instantly, raising his own eyelids and taking a long look at the girl.

    "I have no idea." Not holding back from admitting to ignorance, Layn smiled gently. "Whether they will find out where our treasure is kept or not, doesn''t matter at all. Because even if they do, I don''t really need it back." Shaking his shoulders, Layn lowered his head before closing his eyes once again.

    In the middle of the inner academy, Layn''s cultivation was no longer something he could take pride in. Even if he could make far better use of its means than anyone else in this world, it didn''t mean everyone else in the inner academy would understand or even acknowledge it. But the same couldn''t be said about the possibility of someone figuring out what Layn was doing with his cultivation.

    As such, there was only one tool that Layn could use to prepare a surprise for the people of the inner academy. And it wasn''t cultivation.

    It was magic.

    It was a precise methodic of using the magical energy without all those bothersome steps that cultivators had to go through. Or in other words, it was an art of using the unrefined magic to one''s own purposes, contrary to cultivation, where one had to refine the energy first in order to use it for any means or purposes.

    "Layn, they areing back¡­" After a few more moments has passed, Irea suddenly notified her partner. Standing up from the floor, she instantly stood in front of the archmage, as if willing to act as his shield if necessary. But soon, her determination proved to be absolutely pointless.

    "Sir, Miss¡­ We found out about the culprits. As much as it pains me to admit, it appears that some of our students¡­ Have stolen the entire shrine that young master provided the academy within a good faith." Still using his crane to support himself, the elder this time appeared to actually really need to rely on it in order to walk.

    "Obviously¡­" Seeing apleteck of reaction from Layn or Irea, who in turn just decided to follow whatever Layn''s initiative would be, the old man started speaking once again, clearly unwilling to taste the wrath of what Irea already foreshadowed, "the entire structure along with the holy relic inside will be transported back to the academy grounds post-haste!"

    Only now did Layn''s eyes twitch. After releasing a small sigh, he stood up from his spot before taking a taxing look at the elder.

    "That''s fine with me. Since you speak about real problems of the real world, I guess this is the reality after all." Looking up, Layn ignored the tense look on the elder''s face, contemting the beautiful, blue hue of the skies above. "On that matter, there is one thing I will need to trouble the elder with."

    Finally turning towards the old, fragile-looking man, Layn smiled before making a few steps forward, as if he was worried that the old man would have problems with hearing him from the initial distance that separated them.

    "The group that decided to buy this shrine from me under the terms of keeping it in the academy¡­ They have yet to pay what they are due to me." With his smile only widening, Layn looked deeply into the elder''s eyes.. "I hope they are not going to default on this debt now."

 Chapter 81 - What Next?

    "Aaah, that was tiring!" Now that the problematic matter with the weing party of the inner academy was over, Layn had no qualms against mming his body against the bed and stretching all his limbs at once.

    "Tiring? I believe there are other words to describe what you did out there¡­" SHaking her head in disbelief, Irea gently sat on a nearby chair. With her legs closing together, her back perfectly straight and her hands cupped above her abdomen, even her sitting pose was oozing feminity.

    "Huh? What kind of word would be more fitting to describe my actions back then?" Turning his head to the side, Layn looked at the girl. From the wrinkles around her eyes, the archmage could tell how tired she was despite not doing anything much at all.

    "Frivolous? Arrogant? Reckless? Insane? You went against the top brass of the inner academy. I wouldn''t be surprised if even the core academy echelons will now learn about you!" Suddenly erupting, all the wrinkles on Irea''s face disappeared all at once, when her face twisted in fury she was bottling for a while already.

    "What do you mean? Is it something we should care about?" Squinting his eyes in surprise, Layn even went as far as to push his hands to the back and probe his body up a bit.

    "Are you for real?!" Hearing Layn''s response, Irea''s muscles lost their power making her fall back on the chair. As heated as she was before, now she appeared not to have any willpower to discuss with the archmage at all.

    "Listen here, you little shit." Even after taking several long and deep breaths in an attempt to calm down, Irea didn''t be any more peaceful than she was before. Rather than that, it appeared as if every Layn''s word only brought her closer to another limit of what her mentality could withstand.

    "You went around, flexing your strength, means, and lethality. Any of those points alone would easily doom you if you were to be any weaker. But if you think that limit to how strong one can be is at what you saw already¡­" Shaking her head once again, Irea spat out her next words as if each of them contained a fair bit of poison.

    "What I saw already? I fought with several grade two cultivators at once and managed to kill them all without any effort." Retorting Irea''s words, Layn riled up a bit. ''I know that I''m constantly pushing both my limits and my luck, but there is hardly anything better I could do¡­'' With the conflict inside his thought between just ignoring the entire scheme against him or scorching the entire city to make sure no enemy of his would remain, Layn remained silent rather than building upon his arguments.

    "Like I said, you are like a frog in the well. I know that being two stars expert is an insane achievement already. But keep in mind, there are three-star cultivators in this world. Some of which¡­" Looking up, Irea suddenly turned silent as if just mentioning what she had on mind was enough to bring a disaster forth. "Some of which may or may not reside in the core academy."

    After this outburst, Irea suddenly turned silent. Hanging her head low, she sat back down on the chair she jumped up from several times in just thest few moments. After yet another moment, her shoulders started to shake.

    "Listen, I know that after advancing through so many ranks at once, you might feel invincible. Heck, with all your skills, tricks, and knowledge, you might fall not that far away from that mark." This time, Irea''s voice was light, as if just the slightest noise could easily make it unrecognizable. She brought her knees to her chest before wrapping her arms around her long legs.

    "I know that you are strong. I know that even the strongest of the cultivators could find themselves in a pinch when pitted against you." Shaking her head violently, Irea suddenly raised her teary eyes before openly staring right into Layn''s eyes. "But I don''t want to learn whether this guess is correct or not. I don''t want to see you defeat those monsters if there is even the smallest chance that you could stand to lose against them!"

    The change from her previously silent voice to the scream she used to convey thest part of her troubled soul was monumental. Even if her words failed to make a huge impression on the archmage, the desperation hidden behind this change to her tone seeded in doing so.

    "Okay, I understand." Knowing that there was no point in trying to speak his way out of the situation, Layn raised both of his hands before nodding his head. "I won''t act as cocky again. I mean, not unless it will be necessary." Given how a huge part of Layn''s attitude was just his preference rather than a strict method to achieve something, Layn stood to lose nothing by altering his behavior a bit. And as long as it would put Irea''s mind at peace¡­ "That''s¡­ great!¡­?" This time, her voice started at a loud and furious shout, only to devolve in a slight whisper on her second world before her question could only be conveyed by the look in her eyes. ''You didn''t expect me to be so agreeable, huh?'' Taking note of the girl''s surprise, Layn smiled a bit before turning his head to the window. Staring at the rtively empty street below, the archmage seemed to separate himself from the real world, entering the abyss of his own thoughts.

    "Well¡­" After several moments of ufortable silence, Irea couldn''t hold it in any longer. Given how raging her emotions were before when she was suddenly awakened from her stupor by Layn''s unexpectedly mild response, all those bottled emotions of hers failed to find an outlet. As such, it was even harder for her to keep calm when this awkward silence appeared between the two of them.

    "I''m sorry, I don''t really know what to say right now¡­" Lowering her head as if embarrassed by her intention to speak so soon after an argument, Irea couldn''t handle the pressure and turned her eyes away. "What are your ns for the future?"

    Now that the topic changed, Layn''s eyes gently moved away from the emptiness of the street back on Irea''s face, only to linger on her lowered eyes for a moment before returning to the monotone sight on the other side of the ss panel.

    "For now, we wait. They need to bring us up to date with all the schedules, rules, and customs, don''t they?" Keeping his head still, Layn spoke with an indifferent expression on his face. "And we need to wait to see what they will decide themselves. Whether to pay us what they offered or not¡­ But honestly speaking, they have no correct choice right now."

    Shaking his head, Layn finally escaped from the embrace of his thoughts. In order not to fall into the traps of overthinking stuff again, he stood up from the bed, moving away from the window that drew him into this internal state before.

    "What do you mean by that? Can''t they just pay up?" With the surprise hidden behind Layn''s words washing away her other emotions, Irea quickly joined the discussion again. "I know that they offered pretty little for the worth of that treasure, but it''s still a substantial sum. Taking your craftiness into ount¡­" Suddenly turned silent when she realized what she was about to blurp out, Irea quickly raised her hands and shielded her mouth with them.

    "Listen, right now, they have two options. If they attempt to pay up as advised, they will prove they didn''t pay it before, or in other words, that they actually stole the shrine in the first ce." Drawn by some strange impulse, Layn returned to the window before staring at the dark street on its other side again. "On the other hand, if they won''te with money, they will stand in open defiance to my wishes and words, incurring my wrath for the entirety of the inner academy." Shaking his shoulders, Layn once again moved his eyes away from the window before resting them on the anxious face of his lover.

    "Didn''t you just im you won''t act over the top like that?" Shaking her head, at this point, Irea didn''t even have the energy to move away from her chair. Averting her eyes, she refused to listen to any more of Layn''s exnations. "You will do what you will do. It''s not like I have the power to stop you."

    Hearing those words, Layn suddenly stopped. Frozen in ce, he just looked at the girl with a certain, deep shock hidden deep underneath his pupils. Then, as if a sudden idea suddenly entered his brain, he opened up his mouth.

    "Tell me, what do you want to do then? If you want, we can just take the stones they offered and ditch this ce. With those stones, I could craft a new treasure that would bring us to the peak in just a few years!"

 Chapter 82 - Make It Double

    "Here, we have the main study hall. As long as your problems are of the usual nature, this is the ce you will go to seek advice." Pointing her hand at a spacious building in the middle of an otherwise low-rise area, the guide smiled. Appearing to be in her middle twenties, her brown skin coated with insanely white hair made her truly a marvel to look at.

    ''I guess they changed the strategy, huh?'' Smiling to his own thoughts, Layn ignored the building the girl was presenting just like he did with the entirety of this trip. ''After all, we are here to show ourselves to everyone else, not to learn about theyout of this ce.''

    Satisfied with the current course of the events, Layn decided to focus on something far more important and urgent. Holding up Irea''s hand, they were actually supposed to enjoy this trip before going for a meal and then a romantic date somewhere in the meadows!

    "Junior, I don''t think you are appreciating the wonders of the academy at all." Suddenly attacking, the guide pressed on with her brightest smile. What she didn''t know though, was that the intensity behind this expression killed all of the cuteness that would show otherwise.

    "Oh, don''t mind me, senior. I''m not going to stay in this ce for long, so I just can''t feel the need to learn all this stuff." Putting on not an arrogant, but sheepish smile, Layn refused to act in line with what he just said. "You see, the one thing that I regretfully remember is one of my friends iming that the world isn''t actually t, but round!" Suddenly striking a pose, Layn covered his face with his hand. "Can you believe it? For me to remember that such a question even exists¡­ I would much rather learn more about local wines or good ces to eat!"

    ying the role of a slightly dumb, happy-go-lucky persona, Layn perfectly enjoyed himself. With the added sugar of Irea constantly losing it fromughter and desperately attempting to hide it, the guide quickly turned into another type of leisure.

    "You little¡­" Muttering through her clenched jaws, even their guide was slowly losing her patience. "That''s why I hate normies¡­" Adding yet another unexpectedment, the girl turned around, allowing her long, white hair to flutter on the wind. And smack both Layn''s and Irea''s faces by ''ident''.

    Despite all the fun they had, the guide continued. From the main teaching hall, through themon quarters for the disciples, vi za where elders and more prominent teachers lived¡­

    ''I wonder¡­'' There was one thing that was obviously wrong with this ce. Something so obvious and so out in the open, that Layn actually had to take his time to notice it. ''This ce is way bigger than it should be¡­''

    The location of the academy was in a fortress atop a small hill. ording to Irea''s lecture, onlyter the growing city swallowed the outpost, filling the gaps between the old town and the vanguard fortress. But while outer academy was fitting that space perfectly¡­

    Just where did the space for all those massive buildingse from?

    ''Teleportation? No, that''s super hard even for the modern magic¡­'' Pondering over this topic for the greater part of their trip, Layn asionally even lost awareness of Irea snuggling up to his side. On the other side, while some signs of anxiety asionally appeared on the girl''s face, she appeared to grow used to Layn''s antics.

    ''A condensed space? That''s possible even with their level of knowledge but still¡­'' Puzzled by this problem, Layn continued to look around with curiosity. Beside him, the blonde guide took it for a good sign. As a result, rather than keeping up the slightly hostile nature from before, her instructions and lectures turned a bit more inspired and engaging.

    In the end, Layn could only give up on trying to figure out the answer to his problem. Without proper samples, testing, and discovery learning, he would be unable to determine the variables of this space. As such, even if he could somehow prove that this indeed was abnormal space, not knowing what kind would make the entire scientific endeavorpletely useless.

    "And here you have the market. Most of the goods that our fellow disciples and teachers obtain will circte through this ce. What''s more," for the first time since the trip started, a true passion appeared in the eyes of the blonde, as she turned her hand towards the open area covered with primitive rain shields, "once in a while, a treasure from the core sect will make its way here, granting great opportunities for anyone lucky enough to obtain one!"

    Just from the way in which the girl exined the possible event one could clearly tell how big this matter was. Even if only for the disciples of the inner sect, the fact that some goods circted from the core academy to its inner division managed to score a few points for this ce in Layn''s mind.

    "Oh, I believe this group is here to talk with you¡­" Suddenly, the voice of the guide changed. Clearly unhappy about the development, she pointed her hand towards the approaching group, ''identally'' standing in the position where the entire side of her body was fully exposed. With her robe consisting of two straight patches of cloth bound by several straps on her side, not a hip nor a side of her chest escaped Layn''s attention.

    "That''s right, I just wonder what kind of development they will choose." Averting his eyes from this as alluring sight as it was dangerous, Layn looked towards the group. In it, two familiar faces of the young student who pestered him a few times and the man who brought the message back to Irea''s house.

    And obviously, they held the backline, with two older and clearly more powerful disciples treading forward at the front.

    "Esteemed senior, it''s our pleasure to finally meet you." As soon as the group of five approached them, the trio at the front bowed deeply, pping their hands together to pay their respects. Even though this form of greeting was something new for the archmage, the intent behind this motion was obvious.

    "I understand that you came here to pay me the offered amount?" Smiling gently, Layn took a step forward while pulling Irea to the side. As a result, half of her body was hidden behind the archmage.

    "Yes, obviously." Noticing the actions of the archmage, the disciple leading the group only smiled apologetically before lowering his face and bringing out a simple, silver ring to the open.

    "One thousand grade one stones and two hundred grade two ones, am I right?" Passing the ring on his open palm, the leader of the group smiled in order to diffuse the tension.

    "Just tell me one thing¡­" Lowering and then shaking his head, Layn then looked sharply at the leader of the group. "Why did you assume I would agree to such disgraceful price?" Shaking the side of his robe away, Layn locked his hands behind his back before raising his chin a bit. "Five hundred grade two stones. You have two days to gather the money. Once two days pass, every next day will increase the price by twofold."

    Squinting his eyes, Layn looked with a rxed smile on the shocked group before suddenly turning around.

    "Come, dear. My mood turned foul." Grabbing Irea''s hand once again, Layn''s smile finally rxed to its usual form.

    "We¡­" Attempting to say something, the leader stopped before a real sentence woulde out of his mouth. Swallowing his saliva, he lowered his head for a moment as an expression of extreme focus appeared on his face. "We will bring the money tomorrow!'' Raising his head only to shout after the leaving group, the leader of the inner disciples could only bite his lips in frustration.

    "Five hundred grade two stones?" After a moment when they walked sufficiently far away, Irea asked. "That''s a really serious amount of money. Even for an inner disciple¡­ Even for them, gathering so much can be challenging."

    Speaking up as if she wanted to defend the other party, Irea quickly realized it herself. Pursing her lips, she didn''t try to speak for them anymore.

    "You see, what I did was just a letter of challenge." Smiling to his own thoughts as if unbothered by the entire encounter, Layn freed his hand from Irea''s hold only to gently pat her head. Already used to this hobby of her man, Irea only hummed slightly when Layn''s fingers rubbed her scalp.

    "If they bring me the money as requested, I will take the deal and leave. Five hundred grade two stones is about how much I would price that shrine for." Exining this simple reality, Layn suddenly stopped before turning around. With the guide not daring to follow them after the scene he caused, they had the luxury of being all alone, surrounded by nothing but the gentle breeze.

    "On the other hand, if they refuse, then I will just let the shrine decay." Shaking his shoulders, Layn brought his hand up before pointing at the building in the distance. "It''s the teaching hall thatss shown before. If the treasure that our shrine is based on will decay, and it will, then an explosion around the size of this building would consume it."

    With a vile smile appearing on Layn''s lips, even Irea trembled under the immense pressure of his killing intent. "I just can''t wait to see how they will respond.. I love it when people unknowingly seal their fates with their own sins."

 Chapter 83 - What Say You?!

    "Listen up, everyone!" Standing atop a small, wooden stage specially prepared for the asion, Ation did his best to hype the entrance of the star of the show. "Regarding our situation, I think everyone is already aware. While it''s not certain yet, all the evidence proves that we were forced against the natural flow of time!"

    Shouting to the gathering of the entire Gener n that was affected by the fissure in the world''s structure, Ation tightened clenched his jaws. Even for him, it wasn''t easy to openly confirm everyone''s greatest worry.

    "As such, we are back in the world where great spirits have yet to regain their freedom!" Plunging the mood of the entire crowd to the lowest it could get, Ation pursed his lips again. Only after the murmur of whispers and small shouts of shock died down, did the high officer of the n offer some hope.

    "That''s why, our great leader andmander, will now address the current direction of our n." Even though Al could handle doing the entire thing by himself, by splitting the bad and good messages and using different people to convey it, the crowd already reacted in a different way as to what Ation initially expected.

    ''It''s hard to admit, but their methods are actually quite smart¡­'' Casting a quick nce at the duo observing the events from the back, Ation shook his head. Walking down the stage, he noticed Al''s movement¡­ just a bit toote to react.

    "You did a good job." Smacking his loyal friend in the back, Al smiled when he saw air escaping from Ation''s mouth. As brutal as this expression of friendly skinship was, there was a reason behind this aggressive affirmation. "Now let me do the rest."

    Jumping on top of the stage, Al looked down at the massive crowd gathered below. ''To think that so many went through those fissures,'' not even attempting to count the heads of his people, Al took a breath before staring right ahead.

    "Brothers, sisters. I''m not here to talk about what happened. That I don''t really know yet." Hiding the vengeful spirit of annoyance deep in his soul, Al focused on the words he was supposed to say. ''Acting like a marite feels awful, but I guess that''s the best solution for now.'' Despite all the doubts the leader of the Gener n had about this entire situation, he knew just how important it was to keep the unity of the n right now.

    Even if he was about to break the news that would shock all his brethren.

    "What I know though, is that whining andining about our situation won''t change a thing. There is one thing that might do just that thought." Releasing an exhausted sigh, Al gestured at two of his personal guards.

    With a little bit of struggling, two of the burly men carried the leader of the enemy n to the stage. ''He fought fiercely, but when he realized what was going on around¡­'' Looking at the man, Al involuntarily squinted his eyes. ''Damn those guys, if they didn''t ask about him¡­'' Tightening his lips a bit, Al swallowed all his grief along with his saliva.

    "Right now, we are back to the world where we are oppressed. What might be even worse, we might be in times before our n appeared, before even the oldest of our legends came to be." Shaking his head for a moment, Al lowered it down. Pressured by the responsibility of his decision, even such a great man could waver.

    "Brothers, sisters¡­" Supporting his forehead with his hand, Al attempted to break free from his burden. "Right now, those guys are our closest family in the entire world. I believe we can no longer afford to naively ughter each other for some scraps ofnd¡­ Especially when all thend around is no longer ours for grab."

    Pulling out his knife, Al raised his head. Turning to the side, he approached the man bound with thick ropes. Somewhere in his middle twenties, the leader of the enemy n didn''t have the aura of a seasoned warrior¡­ Because a different type of air surrounded him.

    Then, AL cut the man''s ropes, setting him free.

    "This man is not even an officer. He just happened to assume that role right before we appeared in this world." As little as everyone knew about this specific guy, just the exploit of raising in the ranks through honest effort and dedication was enough to win a bit of sympathy in the eyes of Al''s nsmen.

    "Right now, he is of the highest rank among all our enemies that survived the battle. He is also the one who helped us to bring an end to that pointless hostility." Speaking only the facts about the man''s action, Al distanced himself a bit to give the man some space. Being just as clueless about the entire scene as everybody watching from below, his clear eyes constantly followed each of Al''s movements.

    "I''m not asking anyone to forget about all the blood our ns spilled against each other." Stepping forward, Al''s tone changed a bit. "I''m not asking anyone to love them as your kin either. We don''t need to even like each other." Lowering his head, Al took a breath to calm himself down.

    "Allow me to introduce one of our few friends that we encountered recently. Just like we were thrown into our past, the same happened to them. I urge you, listen to their words." Finishing his part of the show with a confident, determined voice, Al suddenly turned around before walking off and then jumping down from the stage.

    In his ce, Markus appeared.

    "Everyone, we don''t need to be friends overnight. We don''t need to be allies. But we do need to work together." Speaking in a calm voice, Markus used a simple spell to transmit it to every single nsman below the stage. "In other words," turning to the side, Markus looked at the enemy leader in captivity, "the entirety of Gener n deres a war on you. A war, over who will be able to produce more weapons, who will bring more food, and create greater fortresses. We challenge you to a fight, at who will be better at killing the celestials and contribute more to freeing the great spirits with our very own hands!"

    Starting with a calm, peaceful voice, Markus gradually built up the emotion behind his words, shouting thest sentence from the very bottom of his lungs. "We won''t fight, but we willpete. Yet, when a time of trials wille, we will stand as one to face it."

    Standing on top of the stage, Markus breathed rapidly. This moment was the pinnacle of the show he nned. This was his only chance to prove his worth to that Al man. ''Still, it''s hard to believe we would meet the General. It''s funny how his name turned into amon word in our times, though.'' Smiling towards his own thoughts, Markus looked for a reaction from the young leader in front.

    "We¡­ I ept this challenge. But I need to ask, what times did youe from?" Suddenly changing the topic like that, the young leader passed the first small test that Markus prepared. With only one, a short mention of their circumstances, Al prepared the bait. And now Markus was going to pull it without any hesitation!

    "For us, you guys are the legendary founders. The ns that took over and shaped the world after the ancients, the celestials, were struck by the apocalypse." Only a few who were actually smart would understand those words. For a simple muscle brain, those words were tooplicated to add together. But those people didn''t matter. And those who did understood the message behind Markus'' words.

    "We know everything. Compared to you, we are almost like Gods. Wee from the pinnacle our civilization achieved, wee from the times when the world no longer has any question for us." Raising his hand, Markus used a simple spell to invoke an ember of me. Once enough of his mana gathered, he tightened his fist before throwing the condensed ember forward.

    "Move away." With a stern tone, Markus managed to send waves through the crowd. While no one attempted to escape in panic, people were clearly wary of this strange me. By the time it slowly fell to the ground, a circle around three meters wide appeared around itsnding spot.

    SWOOSH!

    As if the ember suddenly turned into an inexhaustible source of mes, a pir of ze rose up to the skies. Yet, before anyone could react, it suddenly shrunk all the way down, stopping only when the mes turned around a half of a man''s height.

    "Those mes will continue to burn forever unless someone will intentionally extinguish them." Pointing his hand at the mes, Markus breathed with relief. ''So I was right!'' Earlier, he could conduct any tests to confirm his hypothesis due to their rtively shy nature. But from the looks of it, this world really operated along with the same rules as before!

    "I know it doesn''t look impressive, but let me ask you one thing. How many men did your n usually send to collect the firewood, just so you wouldn''t freeze to death or let you cook your meals?" Given how low the technological awareness of those ancestors of theirs was, Markus had troubleing up with a way to convey its power. In the end, rather than relying on science itself, he still had to use the magic to exin it.

    "With fewer men working to get the wood to burn, more men can go and hunt." cing his hands behind his back, Markus looked down at the crowd. As expected, while some appeared to be already on the verge of sweet dreams, others paid their utmost attention to every word he said. "But what if we can make hunting easier as well? With more men and more time, we can train. We can get richer. We can beat the celestials in a way they won''t expect."

    Stepping one step forward, Markus''s eyes fired up. "We can carve a piece of this world for ourselves. If the spirits are still enved, we will free them ourselves." Suddenly calming down, Markus stole a nce at Yelna, who silently watched the events from afar.

    "Now," once again starting with his calm voice, Markus'' aura suddenly exploded. Allowing all of the killing intent he obtained on his journeys to rage freely, Markus pulled all stops on his might, "WHAT SAY YOU?!" Instantly turning his words into a shout, Markus brought his fist up.

    "AYE!" The entirety of the crowd instantly responded. Trickled gently by the rallying tactical spell Markus used with thest of his strength, a sea of fists rose above, almost to the level of the stage.

    But his job wasn''t over yet. Turning to the side, Markus moved towards the leader of the other n.. Stopping right in front of his face, he asked softly. "What say you?"

 Chapter 84 - Planning And Logistic

    Walking down the stage, Markus momentarily stopped to look back. ''After such an effective speech¡­ Back in the Kingdom, I could take the rest of the day off¡­'' With his eyes gravitating towards a gathering of the officers and other influential figures of the Gener n, all Markus could do was to release a long sigh before hunting his head down and approaching the group.

    "Great job at the stage." Already focused on a diagram Yelna continued to carve with a stick in the ground, Al praised his far descendant. ''Well, it still doesn''t feel real.'' Constantly gued by his inner denial to ept the fact that he was interacting with one of the most legendary figures of his nation''s history, Markus only nodded his head before looking down at the simple schematic.

    "Forward camp?" Raising his eyes on the girl, Markus only received a nod in response. Just like he recognized from the mundane, square-basedyout of the lines and blocks, what Yelna was drawing on the ground was one of the basic tactical structures adopted by the military engineers.

    "Should I ask about it or¡­?" Noticing how immersed in the drawing Al was, Ation turned his head to the side before inquiring. Yet, as strange as his question could be, it was a consensus he worked with Markus as they tuned their respectivenguage to a butchered mix that they both could understand.

    Yet, that didn''t mean Markus could suddenly share his knowledge of physic, theorem of matter, unified measuring metrics¡­ Even though he had the proper words to do so, unable to exin the concepts themselves properly put a huge dent in their ability tomunicate.

    As such, whenever a problematic matter would arise that Markus ancestors would fail to understand, they would ask whether it was suitable for them to even receive the exnation. In the end, in the middle of nothingness while surrounded by hostile cities and possibly nations, confusing the top brass of the n wasn''t the greatest idea.

    "It''s fairly simple. In the future, the scale of the wars would grow to an unimaginable degree." Pointing his finger at the drawing on the ground, Markus exined. "A need arose to create secure camps for moving the foodstuffs and munition. This design is one of the universal ways of turning an empty plot ofnd into a secure outpost."

    Taking a step back, Markus looked around before picking up a rtively straight stick from the foliage. Moving back to his spot, he started creating simple marks besides Yelna''s diagram.

    "Each of those marks means something. The small dot refers to living quarters, the cross means military areas, circle refers to economics and so on." After drawing five distinctive symbols, Markus then moved his stick above Yelna''s diagram. "Do you have any set on mind?"

    Even though the entire diagram consisted of squares of various sizes and ced under different yet repetitive angles, the true magic of this schematicid in the usage of all the open blocks. In other words, how one would fill the spaces between the lines marking the road was a true challenge in pulling out the most of such structure.

    "We don''t have our technology." With her hand suddenly stopping, Yelna just stood in her ce while staring at her own picture. Only after a long moment her hand moved again, pushing the tip of her stick into the soft earth again. "I think we should go with a two-seven-three-one-one scheme."

    Each of the numbers Yelna gave referred to a type of structure Markus outlined before. Three spaces for living, seven spaces for food, three spaces for military, and one space for economics and utility each.

    "Still, it''s hard to figure out such an unusual scenario." Brushing his hand against the short hair on his beard, Markus continued to calcte different possibleyouts. As regretful as it was, there was no specific algorithm that would output the perfect solution for any given set of numbers. One had toe up with concepts on his own, always checking if the proposed setup fulfilled the requirements that the structure enforced.

    "With so much space just for food¡­ There is no other choice, we will need some sort of barrier." Staring down at the diagram, Markus bit his lips. As they were right in the middle of a huge forest, finding a rtively secluded spot where one of their future settlement nks could rest entirely on some sort of natural barrier¡­

    To say that it would be a challenging task would be a gross understatement.

    "Guys, are you done speaking in your own circle?" Suddenly interrupting, Al reprimanded the two. Just like he pointed out, ever since the problem of the new vige design appeared, they sunk into their own world of calculus and projecting.

    "Ah, sorry. From what we see, we need some kind of barrier. A huge mountain, sea¡­ Something that''s too hard to cross for anyone desperate enough to attack a small vige." Still rubbing his chin, Markus started to draw a slightly different diagram. Starting with a long, thick line, he then added a gridded structure in form of a pyramid growing from the baseline he drew first. Past this step, Markus added nine angled squares, evenly spread across the entire outer ridge of the nned vige.

    "This thick line needs to be perfectly secure. Forest, small ravine, or even a river won''t do. Once we find such a ce, we can get a safe camp done within less than a week." Even with all the manpower that Al could operate with, settling a new vige wasn''t a simple task. From building all the necessary shelters and warehouses, through setting up the roads, dividing the farnds, creating watchtowers, resistance chokepoints, and outposts¡­

    ''It''s just like in the future. The more people are involved in something, the greater its scale will have to be.'' Perfectly aware of this problem, Markus could only swallow a gulp of saliva. The problem of the logistic and evergrowing scale was something that he noticed all the way back in the academy when he just so happened to have history lessons right before the tactical adaptation course.

    It was back then when Markus first realized that the armies equipped with swords and bows¡­ Actually managed to move far quicker than modern forces equipped with cargo nes, trains, and eight-wheeler trucks.

    The mirage of putting out fresh, well-fed, and disciplined troops on the frontline haunted almost every strategical office across the world. In theory, such a problem was simple. mming several trucks to each unit would be enough to allow them to move fast¡­ But every truck required fuel. Every truck also needed a driver, who in turn had to eat, wash himself, drink¡­

    As more and more means would be used to provide for all the auxiliary forces, it wouldn''t be umon for millions of people to work down the line just for a group of hundred soldiers could throw themselves at the enemy.

    And while it didn''t appear to be directly rted, their current problem was actually exactly the same. If one were to dissect the reality of the logistic choking problem, it actually proved that sometimes using borate means to ovee a problem could consume more effort and resources than dealing with the said problem in a normal way.

    "Well, you guys proved the value of your words back on stage, I guess we can leave the design of the vige to you as well." Suddenly speaking up, Al managed to pull Markus out of his tsunami of thoughts, memories, and ns. "In turn, I hope you can leave the scouting to us. In the end, we can''t rely on our descendants to do everything for us, can we?"

    As serious as the burly man usually was, this time Al presented Markus and Yelna duo with a surprising sight of a gentle smile.

    "Sir, with all due respect¡­ I wish to tag along." Before anything else could be said, Markus stepped forward. Hearing a series of gasps, the man quickly realized that in his hurry, he actually stepped on top of the diagram, destroying a sizeable portion of it. "Ah, dear, sorry, I didn''t mean to do it." Lowering his head in an apology, Markus quickly regained his wits.

    "Tag along?" Repeating Markus''s question, Al raised his brows. "It''s going to be a scouting mission, not some leisurely trip." From the slightly concerned look that appeared in Al''s eyes, Markus could tell that it wasn''t going to be an easy task to convince the man. In the end, he wasn''t asking for a favor from some random warlord, but the very man who gave birth to the word General!

    "Well, as long as you are okay with the dangers and you are sure you can pull your own weight, that''s okay with me." Shaking his shoulder, Al proved that not all of Markus'' guesses would end up correct. "Just keep in mind, once we will be out there¡­ Mercy will no longer be an option. Whoever will be unlucky enough to encounter us¡­"

    Hanging his speech right on thest word, Al sent a curious nce to the saint. Yet, rather than protesting or trying to deny the reality, Markus simply nodded his head.. "I understand. When do we depart?"

 Chapter 85 - The Storm Is Comming?

    Sitting at the window, Layn stared at the streets outside. With the greenery still making the most of the entire inner academy just like in the outer academy, the archmage could just stare at the trees and vast patches of grass for eternity.

    ''I wonder why we didn''t have anything like it back in the academy¡­'' Now that Layn thought about it, outside the time when he wandered the world with his teammates, the moment he joined the magic academy was the day when hest saw the beauty of nature.

    From the countryside estate of a lesser noble epassing just three viges and a small town, he moved to what was considered the center of the civilized world and magic research. But as great as the academy was to pursue his interests and grow his talents, as it was located in the very middle of the second district of the capital city, even when standing at the very roof of the massive building of the magic university one couldn''t see any undevelopednd.

    "Humans are always at odds with nature. For our ownfort, we destroy the ce that cradled our race." Muttering to himself, Layn felt a strange sting of mncholy. ''I know that mying to this time was nothing but an ident¡­ I don''t think it would be too bad to just remain here for the rest of my days.''

    Looking to the side, Layn saw Irea sitting cross-legged on the bed and diligently cultivating. With her rope being the only thing that covered her body right now, she would look like a girl who failed to obtain a thin, red wrap for Love Holiday (A/N Valentine''s day, but its not earth sooooo) and covered herself in a crude string instead. Yet, just the sheer amount of focus reflected on her tightened jaws and eyelids made it impossible for Layn to feel attracted to her at all.

    ''I guess old habits die hard.'' With his thoughts already osciting around his past in the academy, it wasn''t that hard for Layn''s memories to force one of the least enjoyable memories he had of that time.

    Yet, as strange as anyone else could take it to be, the memory of being surrounded by oiled beauties all sticking their bodies to his naked skin, wasn''t something that Layn liked to recall. Because contrary to what others would make of such memory, it was actually one of the greatest tortures Layn ever suffered in his life.

    ''Yuck.'' A shiver traveled down Layn''s spine. Just this single memory was enough to bring forth all the agony he was going through whenever he allowed his mind to wander from the wonders of magic to the wonders of the flesh that surrounded the young him. Yet, as devastating as that experience was back then, there was no denying how effective it was for everyone who went through it.

    "Are you okay?" Most likely sensing the changes in the atmosphere caused by swings in Layn''s mood, Irea opened her eyes and sent him a worried nce. Yet, rather than justmenting over her partner''s thoughts getting darker, she raised the corners of her lips in a mischievous smile before lowering the wraps of rope that covered a part of her chest. "Won''t this make you happier?"

    Casting a nce at the mischievous actions of the girl, Layn only sighed when yet another bout of extreme pain resurfaced in his brain.

    "Don''t try to tempt me when either one of us is working. It will only work in the opposite way to what you would expect." Shaking his head, Layn stood up from his seat before turning around. Yet, before he could even make a single step away from the window, his head turned to the side so fast, that it seemed as if Layn was keen on snapping his own neck.

    "Irea¡­" With his eyes glued to the dim outside on the other side of the window, Layn''s voice turned grim. "It''s starting. Dress up." Spotting the dark shadows flying by the streets and merging with the darkness of the several spots shielded from the setting sun, Layn didn''t even need to guess who they were.

    ''But I can''t let them stare at my girl while she''s naked, can I?'' Asking himself, Layn stopped his absorption of energy from his own rope, before using all its potential to refill his aura. ''In the end, I still can''t put myself to rely on this cultivation thing¡­'' Slowly applying all sorts of reinforcement on himself that his now increased pool of mana allowed, Layn tightened his fists. ''I guess it''s just a matter of getting used to it. Let''s just hope I won''t be forced to rely on it.''

    Back in Layn''s time, there was a certain saying that was born from the records of the life of the greatest swordsman to live at the dawn of the age of cold weapons. His form was pathetic, his moves were slow and anyone was more than capable to kill him. Yet, the saying went in a slightly different way.

    "Even a child with a mascot in its hand could kill him¡­ If it killed as many men as he did beforehand!"

    Back in Layn''s past and in the future of the ancients, this saying referred to the value of experience, something that even raw talent and years of training couldn''t equal. But right now, when Layn repeated those words to himself, they bore a slightly different meaning.

    Back then, it implied the importance of experience. Yet right now, Layn could only think of it as an encouragement to grow. ''Was his form pathetic? It was. Was his grasp of swordsmanship poor? It was. And so is my form and grasp over cultivation.'' Just as Layn was about to discard the option of relying on his cultivation, he suddenly changed his mind.

    With his means as a damned archmage, he could dispose of those lurkers with just a single thought. Even though his mana was nowhere near to what he wielded at his peak, he was now more than capable of operating on the middle-tier spells freely. As such, creating a vortex of air that would suck all the oxygen before either repelling it or burning it away only to then attach it to the mouth of unsuspecting future victims of suffocation and ''burnout'' was well within Layn''s means.

    But he opted not to do so.

    "I''m ready. What''s going on?" Looking to the side, Layn squinted his eyes in satisfaction seeing Irea already in her full gear. Outside of the rope that was still gently outlined underneath Irea''s shirt, she switched her usual shirt into simple pants. With a single coat-like robe covering it all, she had more than enough space underneath her outer robe to hide the motions of her hands from anyone attempting to guess her next move.

    "I believe the price I asked for¡­ It was a bit too much for them to stomach." Moving back to the window, Layn observed how some of the shadows moved from the dark spots on the other side of the street to the blind spot of his window, blocked by the protruding wall of the Inn they were staying at.

    "Are we going to kill them?" Looking to the side, Layn took a long nce at Irea''s resolved face. From her clear eyes, the archmage could tell that this question had no deeper emotions or meanings underneath. As if asking if she should go and get some salt from the neighbors, Irea didn''t seem to be perturbed by the idea of killing her fellow inner disciples at all.

    "Well, that''s one way to go about it, but also it''s something I assume our real enemies want to happen." Shaking his head, Layn reached for the knob before opening the window all the way out to the point where the hinges the shuts were hanging on started to creak, only to break free from the wooden wall when enough pressure was applied.

    "If we kill them, we will lose our lead to where the sanctuary is held. What''s more, we won''t be able to obtain any leads as to who actually sent those meatshields at us." Speaking with a perfectly normal voice as if not bothered by the fact that the very people he treated with scorn and disregard were listening to him, Layn winked at the girl. "I will keep them alive in order to figure out who is the leader. Then, once we will get rid of the bodies, I will take my sweet time to pick his brain out."

    Sitting on the frame of the window, Layn threw his legs to the other side before jumping down from the second level of the inn their room was located at. Landing right in the middle between the group of shadows that still hid on the other side of the street and those who already managed to push further, the archmage hid his hands underneath the same, spacious robe that Irea was wearing while conjuring a set of simple spells under its cover.

    "Excuse me guys, but the training of stealth and assassination was scheduled for tomorrow, not today." With two orbs of light containing a precise set of orders making up the middle-tier spell brimming around his hands, Layn pulled them out from underneath his robe.

    "Dear, leave some for me." Quickly following suit, Irea jumped down andnded right beside the archmage. Yet, even though they apparently did the same thing, hernding was far more graceful and soft whenpared to the murderous thump Laynnded with.

    "Sure. Just make sure to leave one alive." Turning to the girl and giving his order in his usual voice, Layn then turned towards the group he was going to face before putting a wide smile on his lips.

    "Guys, we cannot let such a mistake to pass. How about you will let us apany you all to the elders'' headquarters so that we can figure out who made the mistake of mixing up your schedules?"

 Chapter 86 - Unexpected Outcome

    "KILL THEM!" To say that this kind of reaction was expected would be a little understatement. Given how they came here with a clear purpose, only a madman would expect those people to surrender willingly and go to meet the elders. And Layn wasn''t a madman, at least not by his own standards.

    "So you have chosen death." Layn shrugged his arms. It wasn''t the first time for him to fight with other humans, nor it was the first time for him to fight the ancients. This time, however, it was too good of an opportunity for the archmage to test the prowess of his cultivation to just end the entire thing with the use of formations.

    They attacked.

    First, one of the shadowy figures approached from behind, most likely either believing or at least hoping that this kind of sneak attack would still work.

    "What an idiot." Layn''s hands were the core around which his magic revolved. While the spells that he prepared had absolutely nothing to do with cultivation, it didn''t stop Layn''s actions at all. "Right, release." Using a simple form of activating the spell, Layn smacked his hand against his shoulder while extending his middle finger.

    BOOM!

    The magic imprisoned within the orb around Layn''s hand instantly erupted, turning physical. With the air around Layn''s hand mmed by a sudden force, the vibration of its particles instantly spread out from Layn''s hand, smashing the initial attacker away.

    For a moment, a silence ensued on the deserted street. Seeing one of their fellow assassins sted away to some farawaynds, others clearly hesitated. And Irea quickly made sure to make the most out of the situation.

    Leaping forward, she reached for the shoulders of one of the attackers, as this masked figure was a long-lost member of her family she could finally reunite with. Yet, as soon as her hands touched the assant''s shoulder, her eyes shed as the energy she continued to gather in her hand before sparked.

    Activated, Irea''s internal mana surged forward, attempting to establish a new pathway for her cultivation. With the two flows of her energy attracting each other, the man who was unlucky to be right in between those forces could feel pain only for the slightest of the moments. Then, under foreign energy coursing through his body, his body was set alight as Irea simply kicked him away.

    "Woah, that was a nice one!" Not treating this situation as anything serious at all, Layn gave the thumbs up to the girl. Then, he moved a single step to the side, avoiding a wide sh of a sword executed by yet another of the attackers.

    "Who the fuck brings a sword to a close quarter''s fight?" Shocked by the sight, Layn allowed the de to pass by him before pushing his hand forward and grabbing the leading wrist of the enemy. With the control established, the left hand of the archmage surged forward while the magic covering his palm suddenly condensed¡­ Only to rapidly expand back to its original size as soon as Layn''s fist buried itself into the attacker''s stomach.

    "Three out, five more to go." Letting go of the lifeless body of the man he just smacked, Layn gently jumped away to avoid the stream of vomit, saliva, and blood that his unlucky opponent splurted.

    This time, none of the attackers dared to just rush forward and try their luck. With Layn and Irea watching each other''s back, the remaining attackers formed a circle around them, moving around as if in search of a weak spot in their crude formation¡­ Only to suddenly disperse in all the possible directions, the further from the duo the better!

    "No, since you came to y, you shouldn''t leave prematurely!" Just as Layn''s blood started to boil under the course of the battle, his enemies suddenly decided to ditch. ''I guess I don''t have much choice now, huh?'' thinking to himself, Layn reached to his pocket before pulling out all the formation stones he had.

    After running his eyes through the marks he left on each one, the archmage picked up the one he was looking for. As soon as the rest of the formation stones was safely stored in his pouch, Layn closed his hand around the remaining stone before throwing it right at the one assant that was unlucky enough to be still within his eyesight.

    Poof!

    Layn''s throw wasn''t the best. Rather than smashing in front of the escaping enemy, it crashed into the road slightly behind him, instantly turning into a mist of powder. ''Huh?'' not expecting this kind of result, Layn''s eyebrow moved up. But his miss didn''t matter, not with how the formation stones worked.

    Pac!

    From how he looked to his rear, it was clear that the man thought Layn missed. Whether he believed it was a purposeful miss or just ack of proper aim, Layn could only guess. But by turning his head to the back, the pitiful attacker failed to notice a barrier that instantaneously appeared around the ce the stone crashed.

    Smacking headfirst into the barrier, the man bounced away from it, only to fall on his bottom. The barrier itself didn''t deal any damage to the man¡­ But it reversed the vector of his momentum. Crashing into the ground at exactly the same speed as he had while running away, a cultivator like him should quickly get back on his feet¡­

    Yet the body of the man remained on the ground.

    "What happened to him?" Seeing that all the enemies either groveled on the ground in pain or already managed to escape, Irea lowered her hands before looking at her partner.

    "That''s aw of inertia for¡­" Layn''s mind twitched. With a thinyer of magic coating his body suddenly exploding, Layn used its momentum to lean to the back.

    SWOOSH!

    Just in time to avoid a massive de cutting at him from above!

    "It''s not¡­ OVER!" Before Layn could even finish his words, some kind of strange master managed to swing this enormous weapon two more times as if the gravity and weight of this insane de didn''t apply to him. Yet, just as he was uttering the third word, Layn allowed his magic to augment his fist before he smashed it right into the side of the lengthy sword!

    Cracks appeared all over the de, not designed to withstand such a force at such an angle.

    "WATCH OUT!" Just as Irea shouted her warning, the sword, barely a hand-width away from Layn''s body, exploded. With the sharp pieces of metal ruptured from the sword instantly filling the air, even the archmage had to back down.

    Thump!

    Smashed away by the force of an explosion and punctured by several small pieces of debris, Layn crashed into the wall of a nearby building. Coughing a few times to get rid of the blood that filled his lungs, he fell to his knees.

    ''What the hell was that¡­'' Even while injured, Layn didn''t allow himself to lose the track of the ongoing fight. With his eyes scanning the area in search of the one who executed such a devastating technique, Layn tapped his body all over, using the pain to indicate the location of his wounds¡­

    Or rather, theirck.

    Surprised by such an unexpected oue, Layn tore his robe into two, revealing his naked, ripped chest. And while there were a few violent and grey spots on it indicating the ces he was hit¡­ It appeared that the feeling of his body being punctured was just his brain giving the feedback of what would happen¡­ if not for his cultivation.

    ''In the end, it still proved to be quite useful¡­'' Raising his eyes back at the scene, Layn finally noticed what was the actual intent behind the attack that just smacked him apart.

    The pieces of metal from the shattered weapon didn''t fly in his direction at all, as if someone reached the level of being able to control all the entangled vectors of the explosion. Surely, a few pieces mmed into him, but given the size of the weapon¡­

    "So that''s what that fucker was aiming at¡­" Weakly standing from where he fell before, Layn cast a single nce at the bodies of the men he and Irea defeated just a moment ago. Then, he turned his eyes away. Even if his years of fighting and adventuring made him generally immune to the sight of gore, their bodies no longer looked human.

    Not with an insane amount of metal pieces protruding from every single centimeter of their skin.

    "Wait, they are all dead?" Only when Irea noticed the dejected look on Layn''s face did her lips utter this question.

    "They did us dirty. I failed to foresee this." Taking a few steps and lowering himself over one of the bodies, Layn closed his eyes for a moment before gathering the energy in his right hand. Then, with a gentle movement, he brought his hand above the deceased man''s eyelids, before lowering them down. At the same time, his body jolted slightly, as if he was about to start weeping over those unnecessary deaths.

    Yet, before the tears could start flowing from his eyes, Layn stood up. Moving towards his girlfriend, he pulled Irea into an embrace, as if seekingfort from her warmth.

    "I know who sent them." While still ying his role of a man struggling to deal with the notion of death, Layn whispering those words into Irea''s ear, while holding her just strong enough to stop her from reacting to those words.

    "What did you¡­" Allowing her body to be controlled by the man, Irea whispered in response.

    "There is a lot more to magic than you would ever want to know," Layn replied in a low voice while looking towards what appeared to be a random direction.

    A direction, where the subspace of the core academy was located.

 Chapter 87 - Deception And Proposition

    "I''m telling you, it''s a bit too drastic to talk about it right now." Shaking his head, Layn refused to divulge into the details of what he did. With the information already at hand, there was no greater meaning in sharing the method the archmage used to obtain in.

    "Are you trying to hold secrets from me? Are you sure you are capable of it?" Snuggling up to the man''s arm, Irea giggled lightly. "You should know that it will never work!"

    If someone were to look at the two of them, it would be impossible to tell that they just participated in a battle.

    All the marks that the only attack that actually reached Layn left on his clothes were now gone as if his outfit magically regenerated after the fight. Even his bruises were nowhere to be seen as if some kind of miracle cleared them out from the picture of his face and body.

    Only after a closer look, one could notice that something was amiss¡­ But not with the two of them. Contrary to Layn, Irea''s outfit and health weren''t fixed to the same, insanely high degree, leaving some of the minuscule wounds on her skin.

    "It''s not about hiding stuff from you." Layn shook his head in denial. "This topic is just too heavy,plicated, and depressing to discuss now." The archmage''s refusal didn''t stem from his unwillingness to talk about this topic. While they were both as rxed as a couple walking under a starry sky could be, it didn''t change the fact that they were on their way to exact vengeance.

    And at a master whose strength and abilities managed to surprise even someone as experienced as Layn.

    "Okay, okay, let''s not argue about this then." Shaking her head as if to prove that she cleansed herself of those thoughts, Irea pressed her cheek against Layn''s arm. "On the other hand, what are we going to do now?" Pulling him to a stop, Irea looked into Layn''s eyes with curiosity. "Kill them all? Invade the core academy?"

    Irea shook her head once again. From the changes appearing on her face, Layn could tell that she quickly realized the problems of the ideas she proposed. "No, that won''t do. Even if this matter is already big, it''s on the scale where any random core-academy disciple would justugh it off rather than taking it seriously."

    Exining her train of thought, Irea moved her eyes back at the archmage''s face. Yet, there was no hesitation or doubt in Layn''s eyes.

    "Did you notice a small detail of when I was¡­ working on that treasure?" While they were walkingpletely alone on the surface, Layn couldn''t discount the possibility that they were in fact some prickly ears hidden in the darkness of the night.

    "Detail? What detail?" Even though surprised, Irea didn''t protest when Layn pulled her forward, opting to regain and keep the momentum of their stroll.

    "You should remember how it worked. Core in the middle, ayer of normal rope around it and then the crux of the treasure as the outeryer, am I right?" Taking the tone of a teacher schooling an unruly student, Layn smiled.

    "Yeah, that''s what you¡­ that''s what we did back then." Hearing the change in Irea''s way of forming her sentence, Layn''s smile only grew. Even just a few days ago, she would have trouble with adding herself to the equation, yet now, she was fully acknowledging her involvement in the matter.

    ''Sadly, I can''t really enjoy this moment right now,'' looking to the side, Layn took a deep breath before slowly releasing it out. ''Just as expected.'' While it was just a hint, Layn clearly spotted a glint of moonlight reflected on something. Given how they were in the middle of the inner academy, it wouldn''t be surprising for some trash to be lying haphazardly around¡­

    But the shine disappeared too quickly. There were no clouds in the sky and Layn was moving too slow for the flicker to be that rapid. And since the forces of nature couldn''t exin its appearance, Layn''s previous suspicion that people were following them suddenly appeared to be the most probable exnation.

    "Didn''t you notice that one part of the outer shell of the treasure¡­ Wasn''t made with the treasure rope in the first ce?" Smiling to his own thoughts, Layn made sure to modte his voice to make it just barely bearable to anyone listening. "Consider it my own fail-safe. Unless they will fix it, the treasure will soon overload and well¡­"

    Suddenly stopping in his tracks, Layn pulled Irea into his embrace. Turning around, he looked at thendscape of the inner sect spreading below their feet. "If I were to roughly guess, about a third of this entire academy would be wiped out in an instant? Or rather, will be."

    Passing this insanely important information, Layn didn''t appear to be perturbed by it at all. On the other hand, hearing the news, Irea instantly wrestled herself free from his embrace only to stand in front of the archmage and stare with her eyes wide-open at Layn''s face.

    "A third of the academy will disappear? What do you mean by that?" Even though the message was simple, the implications behind it were just too great for the girl to digest them calmly.

    "Exactly what I said." Squinting his eyes, Layn moved his hand forward, cing it on Irea''s shoulder. Pulling the girl back into his embrace, he then brought his other hand towards her eyes before forming it into a fist.

    "You see, the treasure does not produce mana. It just makes it more essible to us. But you could also say that it makes it more vtile for us to be able to ess it." Tightening his fist to the point where the whites of his bones shoved underneath the skin of his knuckles, Layn continued. "There is only so much power than the treasure can hold. With the w I mentioned earlier, it''s not perfectly stable either. That''s why once the mana will permeate through the w¡­"

    Suddenly opening his fist and stretching his fingers out, Layn breathed out into Irea''s ear.

    "Woosh¡­ And then there will be nothing." Painting the picture of what he was talking about, Layn brought his lips directly into Irea''s ear. "Everything I just said is a lie¡­ outside the power of the treasure. As long as they start meddling with it, they will break the delicate bnce inside, resulting in exactly what I said."

    There was no w in Layn''s product. While it would be an easy job to implement some if he wished, the archmage simply failed to think so much into the future when he was crafting it. Yet, given how both his knowledge from the future and the experiences from his time in this period confirmed that locals knew nothing about the magic particle theory, he was the only one in the entire world that knew how to work around those things.

    ''But they don''t know how little they know.'' Smirking openly, Layn turned silent for a moment. With the eyes of his imagination, he could already see the thieves who stole his treasure trying to fix it. He could see how hard it would be for them to force even the tiniest element out of bnce upheld by the mana constantly coursing through the item. And he could also see the beautiful explosion that would happen as soon as they would somehow seed.

    "Either way, there was another topic I wanted to talk with you about." Rubbing Irea''s head as he said it, Layn attempted to diffuse the mood a little. Not for the girl, as it would be nothing but an interesting proposition for her, but for himself, asing out with such an idea meant that he would no longer act freely in this timeline.

    ''Well, I need to take a stance sooner orter. And in a current situation¡­'' Thinking about all the unwarranted aggression that he saw in this ce, about all the troubles and schemes he had to partake in just in order to stay afloat of the situation¡­

    ''No, there is no need to hesitate at all.'' Reassuring himself in his mind just as Irea started to notice that something was amiss, Layn moved his hand from the top of her head to her cheek before caressing it gently.

    "What would you say to the idea of just leaving this city as it is?" Starting with the big guns for the girl and small guns for himself, Layn quickly borated. "I know you were a teacher here before I appeared. What would you say to the idea¡­" Finally reaching the most important conjunction in his next n, even Layn stumbled a little. "To the idea of creating apletely new academy, when my own understanding of magic would be taught?"

    For a moment, an eerie silence hung between the two of them. While Layn was anticipating Irea''s answer, the girl just stood in ce, shocked motionless.

    "In other words, what would you say to the idea of me hiring you as a teacher in the academy I''m going to establish?"

 Chapter 88 - Blob Of Magic, Free For Anyone To Take

    "That''s¡­" Irea said in an exasperated voice, unable to form an entire sentence. Shocked and surprised by the question, she could only stare at her partner as if he was some kind of monster. "Are you seriously thinking about teaching others? But even with everything that I know, what could I teach under you?" Once the girl finally managed to utter some words, she instantly swarmed Layn with her doubts.

    "Don''t worry, dear," said Layn while rubbing Irea''s shoulder. "Nothing is going to happen overnight. There is no need for anxiety yet." Smiling to his own thoughts, Layn turned silent. Then, after just a few moments, he suddenly stopped in his tracks before turning around and gazing at yet another view of the inner academy.

    "It''s so beautiful here," said Layn while admiring the view. ''It''s a pity I won''t be able to see anything like this if I will go through with this idea.'' Even though the proposition of creating a new school had long-reaching consequences, Layn just couldn''t help himself when imagining it.

    While he was calling a ce where he would convey his teachings an academy, it would be actually no different from a seat of power, where more and more modern mages would propagate his influence to the outside. And in order to properly teach his future students without constantly striving for resources¡­ There was no better ce to set his academy at than the nefarious dessert he first appeared on when moving back in time!

    "Okay, okay, you can tell me your n now." Suddenly breaking the silence, Irea didn''t even bother to look at Layn as she said it. Snuggling to the archmage''s chest, she poked his side with her finger. "I can fell how giddy you are. Just spit it out already."

    Layn moved his eyes down, at the hair of the girl. With how cuddled she was to his upper body, that was all he could see of her right now.

    "You know me better than I do myself. What a fearsome woman." Patting Irea''s back, Layn smiled before turning silent for one more moment. Then, as there was no need to hold back at all, he started.

    "First off, if we want to create an academy, we are not going to start with a building itself. We need to start with students." Presenting a view that appeared to be in direct opposition tomon sense, Layn failed to surprise the girl in his arms. After all the training of ignoring whatmon sense was when near him, Irea could no longer be shaken by such small news.

    "For that step, we could simply hire a huge party of adventurers, some weak and some strong, before taking them with us to the desert." Finally acknowledging his own feelings, his own wish to remain in this time, Layn could, atst, pour his intellect into working this problem out. "Once there, we could see how each of them behaves, and pick the suitable ones to follow us even further. Once we will be down to a manageable number, we could offer them to join our idea."

    Layn''s eyes glistered at the sheer idea of creating a ce in this world that he could call his own. And given how every other spot ofnd was likely to be already upied by another force, there was only one ce where he could look for some free room.

    "Wait, are you going to let all those less-talented die out?" Suddenly pushing herself away from his arms, Irea moved her head up before sending the archmage a threatening re. ''She''s so fierce,'' only enamored even further in the girl after her act, Layn smiled in response to her true feelings.

    "Don''t worry. While that would be obviously the cheapest and easiest way to go about it, it would cast a shadow on the morale of those who I would like to follow us." Shaking his head, Layn grabbed Irea''s shoulders before pulling her back into his embrace. Yet, instead of just remaining standing, he pulled the two of them to the ground, using the slightly wet grass as the sitting pillow.

    "Good. I don''t want to ever feel like you are the bad guy," turning herself around on Layn''sp, Irea grabbed his chin before pulling his face down and nting a gentle kiss atop his lips, "mkay?"

    Her soft voice was enough to cause Layn''s spine to shiver in excitement. But while this feeling was pleasant, Layn was already too deep into his nning mindset to pay much of his mind to such small details.

    "Okay, okay. But listen to this," allowing the excitement to take over him, Layn continued to boast about his n. "Once we will have the core disciples recruited, we will impart to them just enough to make them as strong as the powerhouses of this world. Then, with another batch of new recruits under each of the disciples would go to the desert again. This way, we will create several seniorship groups in our small society, allowing to inducepetitiveness between the new recruits."

    Now that Layn was in his full, nning swing, nothing could stop him. Not when he finally had a chance to project his long-standing wish of creating his own academy and a mage''s tower inside of it coulde true in this world of the ancient!

    "Wait a moment," stopping the cuddle for the third time in short session, Irea once again looked Layn deeply in the eyes. "isn''t that desert appearing in your ns a bit too often? What are you, trying to set the academy in the middle of it?"

    "Huh? How did you know?" Fully immersed in his own nning, Layn was unguarded when Irea''s unexpected prediction came.

    "So you really do n something like that¡­" Falling back into Layn''sp, Irea''s body fully rxed¡­ or rather, lost all its strength.

    "What''s wrong with that idea?" Puzzled by the girl''s reaction, Layn stroked her cheek. "Out there, no one owns anynd. Out there, all we need to do to get the stones is to fight those weak monsters. Oh," Suddenly recalling one element, Layn''s lips curved upwards. "have you ever wondered over how I defeated that monster back then?"

    ''Thinking about it, for her, that desert is a scary ce.'' Finally realizing what might be the source of Irea''s worries, Layn patted her head. With the two of thembed together as they were right now, ying around with her hair, picking on her ear, or even patting her head were things that Layn just couldn''t stop himself from engaging with.

    "What, are you going to tell me it just decided to give up and die?" Irea rebuked, clearly annoyed by her worriesing to the light.

    "Nah, it was actually far simpler. You see, when I first appeared before you, I wasn''t a cultivator. I was a mage." Not giving away his real title of archmage just in case if it had some kind of meaning in this world, Layn gently hugged the girl to his chest. "In other words, I simply stole all its energy before using it for my own purpose."

    Shrugging his arms, Layn lowered his head before attaching his lips to the side of Irea''s neck. Sucking on her delicate skin for a moment, the mage could feel when a shiver shook Irea''s body, only giving testimony to how this little caress was enough to fire up the girl''s instincts.

    "You see, for me, that dessert is nothing but a yground. Back in the ce where Ie from, the monsters are protected byw as they are just too few." Releasing a huge amount of air through his nose, Layn used this substitute ofughter to keep his lips on Irea''s delicious skin. "There is a real threat of eradicating every singlest one of them, so some righteous idiots took up the cause and enforced the limitations¡­" It took a long while before Layn realized that he was actually speaking a little bit too much. Pursing his lips, he decided to follow the call of Irea''s smell instead.

    "If you say so¡­" Leaning her head to the side to give her man even better ess to her neck, Irea clearly no longer had any intentions of keeping the discussion up.

    "In fact, I n to set the headquarters right in the middle of the desert. And yes, I wish to keep everyone there during the periods when it will be closed off from our world." While Layn still continued his caressing, that news were a little bit too much to the girl.

    "Wait, just wait for a moment." This time, Irea decisively separated herself from Layn, even going as far as to stand up and move a few steps away. "You do realize that no one who has ever ventured to the desert and failed to return¡­ No, maybe there are some rare exceptions, but that''s not the point here." Unable to calmly gather her thoughts, Irea''s hands were trembling, as if someone just sentenced her to a dreadful type of death.

    "You only have any problem with fighting those monsters, because you guys are challenging them where they are strong. If you hit them where they are weak¡­" Layn couldn''t me the girl for such a reaction. He was in the desert only once, but he already experienced a death of an ally there. Given how diligent Ayda was, she was bound to participate in a huge number of trips like that, making it only more likely that she was already traumatized by that ce.. "If you hit them when they are weak, they just turn into a huge blob of magic, free for anyone to take."

 Chapter 89 - Breakthrough

    ''I think we have strolled for long enough,'' thought Layn while turning his head towards the girl. ''It''s great to cuddle with her like that,'' his thoughts strayed for a bit, only to return with double the force. ''It''s not the right time. It''s not why we are here in the first ce.'' Regaining hisposure anding to a mature decision, Layn gently pushed Irea away before grabbing her hand.

    "You know what, how about we go to see the city?" Layn smiled endearingly to the girl. He then tightened his grasp over the girl''s hand. "It just urred to me, that ever since I came to this ce, I was confined to the academy grounds." Layn entangled his fingers with Irea before bringing her hand up to his lips and cing a gentle kiss atop her palm. "How about we go for a city date right now?"

    Layn''s suggestion wasn''t rational. It wasn''t the modern era when life in cities never went into slumber. As great as exploits of the ancients could be, without electricity and production-based magic, achieving the towns of eternal light was simply impossible.

    Yet, even though it was currently the middle of the night, Layn still proposed it.

    "Well, it''s not like we are not allowed to leave. But what''s the hurry?" Irea leaned her head to the side while sending a questioning look to her man. "Wouldn''t it be better to walk around the city during the day?"

    Layn sent a wink to the girl instead of giving her a proper answer. Only when she stabbed him in the side in retaliation did words started flowing out of Layn''s mouth.

    "During the day¡­ it will be busy. Streets will be crowded, the air will be full of shouts, talks, and other noises." Layn shook his head. "I think the atmosphere will be better¡­"

    Just as Layn wanted to finish his opinion, a strange, subliminal feeling coursed through Layn''s veins. It took someone with the sensitivity of archmage like Layn to even notice it. But once this urrence caught Layn''s attention, he had no problems analyzing it.

    "You know what, you are right. Let''s not go right away, but aim for your home first." Layn instantly started walking, pulling the girl along. "I actually would love to change my clothes. As fancy as they are, my old stuff is way morefortable." Layn sent a wink to Irea once again before focusing on his movement.

    If someone were to watch them from a distance, then they wouldn''t be able to notice anything strange about the duo. Just a man and a woman enjoying each other''spany during a nightly stroll. But if one were to calcte the distance they conquered and divide it by the time they required to do so, the true marvel of Layn''s speed woulde into the light.

    While acting as if he was just strolling, Layn was actually using his magic topress the space in front of him. ''It still is as taxing as ever,'' thinking to himself, Layn gritted his teeth as his entire pool of energy continued to dry at a worrying rate.

    ''I never thought that it could be useful, so herees theck of optimization to bite me back in the ass,'' given how Layn''s method ofpressing the space was useful only¡­ at parties, he never paid any mind to improve it. And what made for a great way to show off while apanied by fellow mages, was a surprisingly good way to move around without attracting too much attention.

    Before long, the duo left the confines of the inner academy. Now alerted as to what to look at, Layn could feel how something washed over him when they crossed the gate of the inner academy, reaching thends of the outer part. From there to Irea''s house it took them just a few moments even though Layn ceased to use his costly spell.

    "Why are we in such a hurry?" While Irea noticed that something was going on, she wisely decided not to pry into it out in the open.

    "They started cracking the treasure," Layn said as soon as he made sure that the doors closed behind him. "Grab all the important stuff and we are out of here. While I could make great use of it, there is no way the core members of the academy won''t notice it. It''s too dangerous to stay in the academy right now."

    Layn didn''t waste any time. Out of everything, the remaining stones were the only thing that he was pressed to secure. And thankfully, they were right in the ce where he left them.

    "Okay, I''m done." Irea''s hands were¡­ empty. With just a single coat hanging from her shoulder, she didn''t seem like someone holding all her valuables.

    "Are you sure?" Layn raised his eyes to the girl, only to shake his head when he saw her eyes. "Never mind, let''s go."

    Getting out of the house, Layn directed his steps towards the central part of the town. ''Given how the academy will be going down¡­ I guess I should at least inform him.'' As much as Layn wished to just get away from this ce and start working towards his first real project in this world of ancient, there were still some things that held him back.

    "Oh." By the time the two of them reached the inner city only to be stopped at the gates, Layn suddenly stopped. "I just broke through to the awakening rank¡­" Staring down at his hands, Layn moved his fingers around to test their strength.

    With the cultivation of merging the flows of his inner energy now done, it felt as if the aura that he was used to as a mage¡­ Now became something tangible. ''It''s as if I could touch the mana itself¡­'' Bending his fingers in a failed attempt to grasp this strange something, Layn ultimately shook his head before looking towards Irea.

    "You are a monster¡­" Staring wide-eyed at her partner, Irea only managed to whisper. But soon, her immunity against Layn''s everyday breaking ofmon sense kicked in, allowing her to shake her shock away.

    "Ignoring the part of me being the monster, would you like to tell me what should I do next? I''m still pouring my energy into my flow like before but well, should the new rank look somewhat different?" Raising his head properly this time, Layn looked at Irea.

    "I didn''t expect you to catch up to me so quickly¡­ But well, the awakening stage is also called an empty stage. In other words, it doesn''t matter how hard you try to be even stronger. As of now, you have reached the absolute limit of what you are capable of." Irea was quick to pour cold water on Layn''s excited soul. "It''s not like the energy you are pumping into your cultivation is going to waste¡­"

    This time, Irea took a lot longer to finish her words. As if conflicted over something, she even went as far as to rub her chin while thinking.

    "You could say that all the cultivation you did so far, only applied to your psychique. While you infused a lot of energy into your own body, this energy refined your muscles, cleansed them from all the ws and impurities, and allowed them to live off the mana alone." Pulling up her sleeve, Irea pointed at her own, slim arm.

    "You can say that by reaching the awakening stage, your body is improved beyond the point of what your mind is capable of controlling. And this is where the hardship begins." Biting her lips, Irea looked away as if ashamed of something.

    "Hardship? What kind of hardship?" Seeing how troubles Irea was over this matter, Layn couldn''t help himself but pry a little deeper.

    "You see, there are some manuals that allow one to learn how to kickstart the cultivation of one''s mind. But they are all mediocre without exception. If you want to truly stand on a path that only strong will tread on¡­" Irea paused while looking up to Layn''s eyes. "then you need to find your own idea of what mind cultivation is. You know, since it will be your idea, it will be perfectly aligned with your mind, making it the most fitting and wholesome technique of cultivating you could ever use."

    Shaking her shoulders, Irea turned around only to mutter something that actually escaped Layn''s ears. But as he looked at her distraught face, the archmage was pretty sure he could guess what was guing Irea''s mind.

    ''Still¡­ To cultivate one''s mind¡­ It''s no different from cultivating one''s brain and guts, isn''t it?'' Asking himself, Layn attempted to recall everyst detail of what he knew about brains. And surprisingly, it wasn''t limited to just the brain alone!

    ''How was it? ording to some scientists, while one''s brain is responsible for one''s actions, it''s one''s gut that is responsible for one''s character?'' In that theory that Layn just thought off, a certain genius of his age put forward simple reasoning.

    And it outlined how the body itself determined what was its preferable course of action¡­ by pushing its owner to situations where it deemed it the most likely to obtain the food it was ustomed to. Just by eating a certain type of food over long periods of time, one was supposed to develop an internal craving for it, which would alter his decision whenever its oue would affect the essibility of given food.

    And ultimately, while the brain required to take action to fulfill its role, the gut was doing its part just by being here in the way it was developed so far.

    ''Does that mean that I only need to reinforce my brain with cultivation, or should I do both?'' For a moment, Layn was confused. Then, afterparing the profits of conscious choices and ones he would be unaware of¡­

    He didn''t hesitate any longer.

    POP!

    As if some kind of barrier suddenly broke, the mana in Layn''s body suddenly surged upwards, infusing itself into his brain.

 Chapter 90 - Mercenary Guild Once Again

    "Huh?" Layn''s vocabry momentarily limited to just this single world. While infusing energy into his brain tissue was the solution the archmage figured out based on the knowledge of the rules andws of the world he knew, there was still a hint of doubt whether it would work in the first ce. .

    And from the looks of it, it did.

    "Wait," noticing Layn''s uneasy look, Irea backed out with shock appearing in her eyes. "Are you for real? Did you already reach the second stage?!" Irea almost dropped the few things that she took from her home upon realizing the truth.

    "Well, I would lie if I were to im otherwise," Layn turned his eyes to the side, unwilling to let the girl look into his eyes directly. "But let''s stop with that. How about we hit the guild on our way out?" Layn didn''t bother to wait for Irea''s response, instantly pulling her back the way they came from. "I hope it''s still open even sote in the night. I seriously didn''t expect for everything to close so quickly here."

    Layn was aware that there was no point in looking for the quality of life that he was used to in his original time in this city. ''But to think that the entire city would be as good as dead,'' thought Layn while shaking his head.

    The road to the adventurer''s guild was rtively simple. As it was located near the outer end of the city, all they had to do was to basically return to the gate of the outer academy before doubling the distance they traveled within the city¡­ just by changing the direction of it.

    In less than an hour, Layn and Irea stopped before the thick doors leading to the guild. The bright light seeping from underneath the windows'' shuts only proved Layn''s hopes right this time.

    "Okay, now that we are here, are you going to tell me what we are here for?" Irea let go of Layn''s hand before moving in front of him, blocking his path to the building''s doors.

    "Isn''t isn''t it obvious?" Layn looked at Irea as if she was some kind of clueless child. "I thought that you would prefer if we grabbed your friends from that party, how was it called¡­ Wild wolves I guess?" Rubbing his chin to recall this small detail, Layn then looked directly into Irea''s eyes. "Or could it be that you no longer consider them important?"

    "Ah!" After a moment of silence coupled with a truly angered look on Irea''s face, Layn realized how did his words sound like. "Don''t get me wrong, I''m not trying to say you are heartless or disloyal. I just thought that it was something like a permanent team you would always join forces with rather than just a makeshift group organized for the shared purpose."

    Layn looked back at the memories he made back in the desert. With how everyone reacted to the death of one of their own, with how the entire group appeared to be indebted to that bastard Layn cut himself¡­ It just felt as if the ''wild wolves'' were a group consisting of permanent members, with permanent agenda.

    "Well, it''s not like I don''t care for them¡­ But you want them to join us not only to save them from what''s going to happen nearby but also to have them as the first batch of disciples for your academy, am I right?" Irea took a step forward before cing her forefinger under Layn''s chin, only to pull it up a momentter.

    "I won''t ask how did you know. But yeah, that was the idea," answered Layn while feeling the pressure from the position this girl put him in. With Irea''s finger probing Layn''s chin upward, even despite her smaller posture or personal power, she was able to exert dominance over the man.

    "Then we cannot ask them to join us. I know them far longer than you." Irea shook her head while moving her eyes towards the lit windows of the building nearby. "They would never allow anyone to put their beliefs into doubt, so your teachings would likely fall on an unfertile ground."

    "Even if I were to show them the prowess behind them?" asked Layn while leaning his head over his shoulder.

    "Yes, even then," Irea replied while hanging her head low. "Don''t underestimate how obstinate people can be when someone will challenge what they believed in for their entire life," added Layn''s girlfriend in a muffled voice.

    "Howe you didn''t have any problems like that, then?" asked Layn while looking at Irea''s cute expression.

    "Well, you didn''t really leave me with any option not to ept it," Irea replied while growing a small smile on her face. Yet, before the discussion could develop any further, the noiseing from the building beside them finally alerted both of them about their purpose in this ce.

    "Ugh." Layn moaned while a shiver traveled down his spine. The same feeling from before appeared, yet this time, far stronger.

    "What was¡­ that?" Irea asked, proving that she was also able to sense this wave of magical disturbance.

    "They are getting closer. If they use about four times as much strenght, they might be able to crack the treasure," answered Layn before stepping forward and grabbing Irea''s hand. "We don''t have much time. Let me do the speaking this time."

    Pushing the doors open, Layn lead the two of them inside. And just as the faint aura of light and constant noise hinted, the insides were pretty lively. About half of the seats in the main room of the guild were upied by people enjoying their drinks and meals.

    ''This ce is just as rxing as ever,'' thought Layn to himself before approaching the counter.

    "Hello, I would like to post an urgent job offering. Would it be problematic if I announced it out in the open here?" Layn asked the receptionist that barely even bothered to raise his eyes on the neers.

    "The guild takes ten percent of the quest''s worth asmission. As long as you deal with it, you are free to do whatever you want." the receptionist answered in a tone that clearly hinted at his intention to just get rid of the annoying people. ''It seems that the night-shift workers are just as positive here as they were back in my times,'' Layn ridiculed the situation in his thoughts as he stepped away from the counter and reached the middle of the huge room.

    "Everyone! I''m sorry to bother you sote in the night, but I have a pretty profitable job for anyone interested!" shouting from the bottom of his lungs, Layn instantly managed to gather a tiny bit of attention¡­ before it diffused back into the merrily chatting that filled the guild as background noise.

    "I''m looking for twenty people of any level, willing to brave dangers and follow me to my destination." Adding even more exnation, Layn no longer had any audience bothering with him. Focusing on their drinks, food, and talks, the mercenaries didn''t seem to take him seriously at all.

    "I''m paying one grade one stone for this month-long mission for anyone I will ept. Right off the bat." Layn pulled out one of the stones from his pocket. And despite how everyone in the building ignored him so far, by the time the archmage raised the stone high in the air, he was already surrounded by a small group of burly men.

    "It''s not wise to pull out such a wealth in here." Layn only managed to blink his eyes when he heard the advice. ''They are not here to snatch it?'' Surprised by the unexpected oue, Layn could only smile. "Don''t worry. If I''m pulling it out, it means I have my own means of protecting it."

    In the end, Layn simply shrugged his arms in response. At the same time, Irea peacefully took one of the seats before ordering two mugs of beer.

    "If you say so¡­ WATCH IT!" Turning around, one of the men who surrounded Layn before instantly reverted his movement, turning the swing of his body into a swing of his fist. Directed squarely at Layn''s face, the man didn''t give the archmage any chances.

    Snap.

    "ARGH!" The man who attempted to attack Layn ended up backing a few steps while moaning in pain and holding his broken arm close to his chest. Layn didn''t even need to use magic to deal with this kind of brute force. By employing the help of one of the close-quarters techniques that the hero herself taught him during their journeys, catching and then breaking an arm of a random stranger posed no challenge to Layn at all.

    "You¡­ Fight nicely!" Once the man finally calmed down, he raised his hate-filled eyes at Layn, only to allow his anger to diffuse beforeughing out loud. "I guess you are really qualified to hold such wealth. My bad, go on."

    Backing off, the man proved that his brain still had its usual structure rather than turning into yet another muscle on his enormous body.

    "As I said before, I''m willing to employ twenty people. A grade one stone is a down payment for all the chosen ones, while those who will pass my evaluation at the end of the mission, might obtain another reward, one far greater than anything ever offered in this guild." Layn repeated his words from before and even built upon them a bit.

    "What is the mission?" A random voice asked. Looking towards its source, Layn saw a young man in the middle of his twenties calmly sipping on the bear he had. Surrounded by a party of seven other people, he looked just like any random protagonist of the books andics Layn would read in his spare time back in the future.

    "In short words, we are going to the desert. To its exact middle to be precise." Layn exined before putting a wide smile on his lips.. "That''s the ultimate goal of the mission¡­ and where the second part of the rewards will get distributed."

 Chapter 91 - Layns Test

    "Do you really think it will work out?" asked Irea while leaning her head to her shoulder. Yet, despite how cute her expression was, Layn was focused on the surface of the drink.

    "It doesn''t matter. It''s not like this is the only city where we can look for people," said Layn while shaking his head a little. He then raised his cup before chugging down nearly the entire content inside.

    ''Gosh, there might have many redeeming qualities, but the taste of this beer is no better than piss,'' angered by the quality of the drinks, Layn was quickly reaching the limit of his patience.

    ''Just why did I have to give them so much time?'' thinking to himself, Layn lowered his eyes.

    At this point, the waves of magic disturbance only continued to grow stronger and more frequent. That could be directly tranted into more and more force being used in order to ''fix'' the treasure that the archmage left behind, while in reality, the thieves that dared to go against it were doing their absolute best to obliterate the academy.

    ''But it doesn''t change the fact, that if we don''t ditch this ce soon, we might be affected as well,'' though Layn while downing thest few drops of his drink. Then, he stood up before mming the y mug against the table so hard, that it shattered right in his hand.

    "Okay guys, time''s up. Whoever is interested, rally on me." Layn ordered while looking sternly across the entire hall.

    And to be fair, some people stood up and approached him. Yet, just as expected, there wasn''t a single powerful person willing to go for such a strange mission even despite the high reward.

    "Okay, guys. I can only bring twenty people with me, so go outside and figure it out by yourself who will get the slot." Layn instructed before sitting back. With his hand rocketing up as soon as his ass rested on the chair he added, "and give me something better to drink. One cup of this horse''s piss is more than enough."

    Layn''s mood was already spoiled by the beer and the dy. And thankfully, some of the potential recruits managed to notice it, quickly urging everyone else to get outside.

    "Wouldn''t it be better if you were to handpick those with the most potential?" asked Irea with a confused look on her face. "You know, for someone of your level, discerning one''s talent shouldn''t be a problem, shouldn''t it?" she added while once again leaning her head to the side.

    This time though, Layn noticed it. And through the cloud of anger covering his face, some sparks of happiness appeared once more.

    "It''s not that simple. But yeah, if it was only about the talent, I could just approach them one by one. The truth is," twisting his lips in an ugly grimace, Layn averted his eyes, "only one or two of them have any talent worth mentioning. That is if we are speaking about their natural inclination towards magic."

    At this point, Irea was more than aware that Layn''s abilities came from a force way different than cultivation. While he was following the steps of her and her fellow brethren while trying to grow stronger in their own way, it was clear as a day that it was nothing but a side gimmick for the archmage.

    "If not a talent for magic, then what else are you looking for in them?" Irea asked, giving away her curiosity.

    "Curiosity, for once," replied Layn before smiling to his own thoughts. "For example, look at yourself. When faced with the unknown, you were drawn to it rather than shriveling in fear. Rather than protecting your ignorance, you actively sought to ovee it." exined Layn. With his voice set on a perfectly normal level, it was no wonder some of the customers of the guild that earlier refused to volunteer were now prickling their ears and soaking every single word the archmage said.

    "Don''t tell me you got me only because I was curious," rebuked Irea while pushing her chest into Layn''s arm, "or are you sure there were no other merits to knowing me?" she whispered those words directly into Layn''s ear.

    "Let''s not cuddle here." Layn refused the girl''s advance, gently pushing her back on her seat. "We can save that for when we will be alone. And no," Layn said while looking Irea deeply in her eyes, "as alluring as your charms are to me, this kind of rtionship was never a factor for me when I decided to share my knowledge and abilities with you."

    Layn shook his head before standing up from his seat. At the same time, the waiter of the guild finally finished her task, cing yet another cup of the same horse''s piss as before him.

    "That will be¡­" noticing Layn''s intention to leave, the young girl attempted to ask for the money he was due for everything they ordered today.

    "Here, I hope it will suffice." before the girl could even finish, Layn already pulled out one of the few remaining stones before throwing it her way. "Can you confirm that it''s a legit one?"

    At first, the waitress struggled to grab the stone Layn thrown. Then, after staring at it for a few seconds, she raised her wide-open eyes before slowly nodding her head.

    "Good. Then we will be on our way," said Layn as he pulled Irea out of the building. He had no intention at all to sully his insides with the worthless garbage the locals somehow used for a drink.

    As soon as they walked outside, a truly disastrous scene presented itself to their eyes. Even though it was around the middle of the night, the lights seeping from the guild''s windows allowed the two of them to see what happened.

    "A battle royale?" asked Layn while looking at the pile of unconscious people surrounded by a group of roughly ten men still on their feet.

    "battlu rojal?" Irea asked while raising her eyebrows.

    ''Right, I''m still on that low-level trantion spell!'' noticing his mistake, Layn cleared up his throat before exining.

    "In short, thest man standing. You start with a huge group and the only one who will be left alive at the end, wins," exined Layn while raising his eyes from the pile of motionless bodies on the faces of those who prevailed.

    "Good job, everyone. With that, you earned yourself a spot to join the mission." Layn smiled. While there was a bit of sour hint to his smile when he noticed that both of the people he saw some talent in were stuck in the pile of bodies, the oue of the situation ended up more or less as he expected.

    "When will we get our stones?" One of the men stepped forward.

    "As soon as we will get to the middle of the desert," replied Layn without a second thought.

    While it wouldn''t be a problem at all to just distribute every singlest stone that he had amongst the recruits, it would prove absolutely nothing. Rather than just wasting his money away and them wasting a lot of time to take revenge on those who would take the payment and just leave in a hurry, it was better to distribute the pay once they would reach the ce where nothing would hinder a potential chase.

    "Weren''t there supposed to be some kind of down payment?" spoke the man who stepped forward. "Are you telling us that we beat our friends for no reason whatsoever?" as his words flew, a rage started to appear on his face.

    "Beat up your friends? I guess you really take me for an idiot," said Layn while pulling his out of his pocket. With a single snap of his fingers, a small yet insanely hot ball of fire appeared above his palm. "If they are all unconscious, then they won''t react when I burn them?" asked Layn while smiling at the leader of the group. "Don''t worry, though, this girl here," Layn''s other hand rested on top of Irea''s head, "is really great at healing others."

    Not waiting for any response, Layn took a step forward. Pushing his right arm to the back, he then hurled it forward, as if throwing the ball that continued to stick just above his hand.

    "NO!" In an instant, the entire pile of bodies dposed, with every single one of them rolling away from the spot. Only when almost all of them managed to escape, a sign of two bodies appeared underneath.

    And only those two didn''t move, even though only one of them was actually unconscious.

    "That''s it then. The test is over. You," Layn moved forward before squatting before the two lying bodies, "I''m not interested whether you figured it out by yourself or was made to do it. Do you want the slot?" asked Layn while poking the man''s chin with his finger. At this point, the fireball that he used to threaten the group was still floating above his hand, gently warming the body of the man Layn took an interest in.

    "Stop pretending. I know you are aware of what''s going on," added Layn before moving his eyes upon the face of the man with who he spoke before. "As for the rest of you, begone. I have no interest in cheaters like you."

    "Do you really think that we will leave it at that?" the man replied with anger appearing in his eyes. "Boys, take him! We will get his stones in our own way!"

 Chapter 92 - They Fu*king Did It

    "And here is your reason why I never considered you a good material for my group," said Layn while calmly observing the approaching group. For anyone else in his shoes, seeing a group of nearly twenty men rushing at him with their weapons brandished would quickly force them to either escape or seek help.

    But Layn was a damned archmage.

    ''I survived on the greatest battlefield humanity will see in the next tens of thousands of years if not millions of years. And you expect me to get scared by you?'' ridiculing the attackers in his thoughts, Layn simply waved his hand.

    The air turned stale.

    "DIE!" shouted the same man who tried to coerce Layn into paying up before. His sword made an arc above his head before striking down at Layn''s right shoulder. Yet, the archmage did nothing to stop it.

    "What?!" muttered the same man. His sword was stuck in the air, barely an inch away from Layn''s face.

    "What an idiot," said Layn while shaking his head in pity. Then, without any regard for mercy, he swatted his hand through the attacker''s face.

    BOOM!

    Both the air and Layn''s hand were infused with a copious amount of his mana. Due to the man letting go of the sword and attempting to dodge, Layn only managed to brush the attacker''s face with his fingertips. But for the basic battle reinforcement spell, that was more than enough.

    CRASH!

    After flying past his confused teammates, the man crashed heavily into the ground. From what Layn could see, the power of hiszy attack was still enough to cause the cracks in the stone road where the body of the attacker fell.

    "Anyone else wants a beating?" asked Layn while raising his head high and squinting his eyes. There was no hint of worry or anxiety in his eyes. Even though he was still facing nearly the entire group that attempted tosh at him just a moment earlier.

    "I want no trouble¡­" said one of the men while putting down their weapon.

    "What are you waiting for, boys! He is just a single¡­" another man attempted to encourage others, only to be swatted to the ground by Irea''s hand.

    "Who said that he is alone?" asked Irea while retracting her hand. While her attack was clearly several times weaker than Layn''s, it wasn''t weak by any means.

    At that point, even the bravest of the failed recruits understood their situation. After lowering their weapons, they quickly dispersed and diffused into nearby alleys in an attempt to escape justice for what they attempted to do.

    "Now then, are you going to stop pretending now or should we forget about the mission?" asked Layn while lowering his head over the motionless body on the ground once again.

    "I¡­ I''m awake!" stuttering, the man answered. From the terror on his face, it was clear how terrified he was, unable to evene up with a proper way to respond to being called out like that.

    "Then, what''s your choice? Do you still want to have a shot at earning this stone?" asked Layn while allowing his lips to turn into a gentle smile. What''s more, he even reached with his hand down, with a clear intention of helping the man to stand up.

    "Thanks," said the man while epting Layn''s hand. Once back on his feet, he looked at the two bodies still on the ground, one of which wasn''t there when the entire rouse was devised. "Also, I didn''t take part in what they nned. That''s the reason why I turned the way you saw me. I''m sorry for not being able to help or even warn you." The young man looked to the side while his face turned beet red. "Not like you needed any help or warnings in the first ce, though."

    The young man rubbed his cheek with an uneasy expression stered all over his face.

    "Well, this situation was more or less what I expected. In this shit of a town, how could people react in a different way when blinded by such wealth?" asked Layn while shaking his head. "With that said, here," he said while pulling out one of the spirit stones from his pocket and throwing it the young man''s way. "Consider this the advance payment I spoke off before. Now, what''s your name?"

    "It''s Pavrien. You can call me Pav¡­ sir," the young man introduced himself, raising his eyes to Layn''s face only to avert them the very next moment.

    "Great. I''m Layn and this is Irea. From now on, you will be in our care," announced Layn before sending a wink to the new addition to his party. "As for now, we should leave this city post haste. It''s only a matter of time before," turning his head around, Layn looked in the direction of the academy, "before the shit will go down. Let''s not get involved in it."

    Not wasting any time, Layn patted Pavrien''s before picking up the pace. For a moment, the young man simply stared at the back of the archmage before lowering his eyes at the stone he held at his bosom. Then, as if something snapped inside him, Pavrien finally rushed forward, catching up to the duo.

    Even though it was already nighttime, with Layn''s means it wasn''t any trouble to cross the gate. Or to be more specific, to cross the walls.

    ''Now that I have no idea how to cultivate any further, there is no point pushing all the mana into this cultivation at all.'' thought Layn before casting a simple yet extremely energy-consuming spell to lift everyone. Just like any spell that directly went against the fundamentalws of the world rather than slightly bending them, by the time the trio reached the upper level of the walls, Layn''s forehead was already filled with fat drops of sweat.

    "I need a little break," announced the archmage as soon as the small group set foot on the upper part of the massive wall circumventing the entire city. ''I forgot that I''m not as conductive as I was before,'' thought Layn while panting heavily and even using his hand to support himself against the stones of the walls.

    "Are you okay?" asked Irea, noticing the state of her partner.

    "Yeah, just give me a moment," answered the archmage while struggling to regain his breath.

    While at the very basic of using magic one would simply facilitate the mana gathered in one''s aura, once a spellplicated or taxing enough woulde to a y, more and more limitations would appear. Just like when Layn used all the resources he managed to hoard over several years just to circumvent those limitations to cast his gran arcana, using the levitation spell not only ate away at his energy but also strained the limits of how much energy he could output over time.

    ''If not for this body¡­'' raising his hand to his eyes, Layn closed them for a moment before striking himself squarely in the chest. With a bout of pain acting as a stimnt, Layn''s heart rate finally stabilized, allowing him to take a proper breath. ''It would take me far longer to actually recover.''

    Layn straightened himself up before casting a fleeting nce at the two of hispanions. "Okay, let''s go," he said while grabbing their hands. ''It should go like¡­ this.'' Even for an archmage, a spell fighting against gravity was tooplicated to invoke it at will. And as short as it was, a proper image of the spell''s structure still had to appear in his mind before he could set his mana in exactly the same shape.

    "Jump!" ordered Layn just as the sound of footsteps reached his ears. At this time, in this ce, only the gate guards would be free enough to make a trip to this remote corner of the walls. As such, it was wiser to disappear from the ce before they would take notice of the strange trio.

    So they jumped. The levitating spell, intentionally choked by an insufficient amount of energy feed into it, only managed to slow their descent down rather than allowing the trio topletely defy the gravity. Just like Layn intended for it to happen.

    CRACABOOM!

    Just as Layn''s feet were about to touch the ground, the entire world shook. The moment Layn managed tond, he was instantly swept aside by a furious wave of raging mana, spreading in all directions from the point somewhere in the city.

    "They fucking did it,"mented Layn as he attempted to stand up, only to be pressed tightly to the ground by the ongoing onught of energy.

    "Didn''t you say you can make use of it?" asked Irea while struggling to stand up as well.

    Pavrien didn''t say anything, most likely praying to all the gods he ever heard off in the face of this invisible disaster.

    "If I do so here, they will be able to detect me!" protested Layn in response. "We need to get moving. The further away we will be, the easier it will be to hold our own against the waves."

    Layn gave up on his attempts to stand up, opting to just crawl as far away from the walls as he could. Soon, both Irea and Pavrien followed suit, gritting their teeth and brushing their arms against the ground.

    In the next thirty minutes or so, the mana continued to rage in the air while the trio kept crawling away from the center of the disaster. By the time it was over, they already reached a forest near the town, a ce that would take just a few minutes to reach on foot.

    "What the hell was that?" Pavrion''s whitened face proved how scary the situation was for those who didn''t expect it.

    "Just a little trick of mine," answered Layn while finally standing up on his feet. "But it doesn''t matter now.. Right now, we need to hurry and leave this ce."

 Chapter 93 - He Is Behind Everything

    "Dang, I would never think that we would be back to this kind of lifestyle," Markus said while crushing the tree branches blocking his path.

    "Yeah," Yelna replied in her usual, short manner. As she moved forward, anyone could see the stark difference between how she was traveling and how her husband went at it.

    Rather than cutting the branches with powerful yet graceful shes of a knife or an axe like Markus and their ancestor apanying them, she moved swiftly around the obstacles as if she was in some kind of race.

    "Silence. We are nearing the end of the forest," Ation ordered. As one of the three Gener nsmen apanying them on this scouting mission, he was named as the leader of the squad, despite both of his fellow nsmen outranking him.

    "Look how much a little authority can change a man," Al giggled while poking Lessen''s side.

    "¡­" As usual, there was no reply to his words. But this was just the nature of the original scout of their group and the deadliest member of the Gener n.

    "Strange," said Markus while looking at the events in the distance. While the ce that they ended up scouting was selected at random from the pool of locations they had to secure in order to create up the settlement he nned, it appeared as if they stumbled into something pretty interesting.

    "What''s going on?" Al asked, keeping himself in the slightly deeper part of the forest. As much as he wanted to take a look himself, his massive posture would make it too dangerous to approach the less dense part of the forest''s thicket.

    "It looks like they are in a hurry?" guessed Markus whileying t on the ground and only allowing his head to protrude above the forest''s vegetation. "It''s almost as if they were preparing for some kind of war¡­"

    Even though Markus was a saint, the deeds that hemitted, the things that he took part in were often unbing of someone named a saint, those events from his past gave him an invaluable experience. An experience that allowed him to figure out a bit more details from themotion in the distance than one could see just from observing them.

    "Do you think they are¡­" before Al could even finish his words, Markus started to crawl to the back before standing up and shaking his head once he was hidden in the deeper part of the forest. "No way, " he protested, "They can''t know about us yet. What they are preparing for," nodding his head towards the outside of the forest, Markus lowered his head while buried in his thoughts, "has nothing to do with us."

    Tingle.

    For a moment, all thoughts dissapeared from Markus'' mind. With his eyes only pretending to fill their role of providing him with vision, he just stood there while staring nkly ahead.

    "Markus?" Noticing the strange behavior of her husband, Yelna crawled to the back as well before standing up and taking a closer look at her man''s face.

    p.

    "SNAP OUT OF IT." Yelna didn''t shout. Her voice was no louder than any of the words she said so far in this strange situation of theirs. But the powerful force hidden behind her words still made a whole world of difference. That, and a crispy bitchp to Markus'' face allowed the man to regain his senses.

    "Ah, sorry. I just felt something a bit out of ce. If¡­" Once again, Markus turned silent mid-sentence. This time though, Yelna simply ended up watching the slight changes appearing on his face, not daring to force him out of his sudden focus.

    "Impossible¡­" Markus whispered. After a moment, his face suddenly turned red. Then, falling to his knees, he starter vomiting all the content of his stomach on the forest''s floor.

    "What happened?" asked Yelna in a perfectly calm voice. Yet, while her voice appeared calm, her face proved that she was pretty anxious.

    "What''s going on?" Al asked while taking a note of the situation. ''Weren''t they supposed to be even stronger than us? Why is he retching right now?'' Confused by the situation, Al attempted to make a sense out of it on his own.

    "Something happened. The spirits cried out." Suddenly, Lessen finally revealed his voice to the duo that imed to be his descendants.

    Only now Al realized that something huge was actually going on. But being the brawler he was, without even a shred of connection to the spirits, he had no other choice but to rely on reports of others to figure out just what was going on.

    "Spirits my ass!" Suddenly eximing from all fours, Markus had no fear of getting on Lessen''s bad side. "I know this feeling. I already experienced it once. In ab, but still."

    Slowly gathering himself up, Markus used a bit of his water to clean his mouth before raising his face and looking at everyone.

    "My wife didn''t feel anything because she knows no magic whatsoever. But I''m pretty sensitive towards it. And now it all makes damned sense!" said Markus while smashing his fist in a nearby tree.

    "Markus, calm down," Yelna said while getting closer to him. But rather than pping his face again, she slipped her hands underneath his arms before giving him an affectionate hug.

    "There is no other way. It has to be his job. Otherwise, it wouldn''t make sense at all. Not in the world we are in right now." Refusing to make any sense to those unaquiatanced with their knowledge, Markus continued his ramble.

    "Would you be kind enough to exin what''s going on?" Al asked as the irritation slowly started to get better of him. As the leader of the most powerful n that surfaced after the great spirit revenge, he was used to getting reports on everything, often before the people involved in it would learn about them. But right now, it appeared as he was the only one being left out of the understanding of the situation.

    "Markus, can you speak?" Yelna asked her husband after casting a furious nce at Al. A furious nce that was so filled with power, that even the very founder of the civilization that Yelna grew up in had to step back under the influence of the innate, animalistic fear in him.

    "Yeah¡­" after taking a long time to calm himself down, Markus finally returned to his usual self. With his hand gripping the handle of his sword, he finally started to speak.

    "As we already told you, we used to travel in a group of seven. While we were called a hero''s party from the role that my dearest held, Yelna was actually the third most powerful person in the entire team." Allowing his knees to cave in, Markus slid down the tree, sitting down directly on the ground while resting his back against the bark.

    "The strongest of them all, Victor. Regretfully, ever since the party disbanded, I have no idea what he was up to or what he was doing. But that''s not the point I''m trying to make here. The second most powerful person and the greatest mage of our time, Layn. I have a lot of reasons to believe that he is the one responsible for what just happened¡­" Markus suddenly ceased his words while turning his head away.

    For a few moments, no one dared to utter a word, hoping to hear the rest from the mouth of the man.

    "I think you can tell them. We still don''t know almost anything at all about our situation, so its nothing more than a guess. It''s better if they know." After a few long moments, Yelna finally attempted to encourage her husband to share what he had on mind.

    "Dear¡­ He is my friend. MY FRIEND!" Momentairly forgeting the purpouse of their mission out there in the forest, Markus shouted. The onught of furious nces that followed quickly helped him to regain his wits.

    "I know. So let''s do it like that." Yelna said while standing up and turning around to face the three ancestors of theirs. "He will speak, but before that, you need to understand one thing."

    Yelna didn''t even need to ce her hand on the handle of her dagger. She didn''t even need to change her possition. Her dissposition just changed.

    In one moment, she was just a simple, nible woman following after her husband. But in the next moment, the aura around her changed to that of an unimaginable monster.

    "If any of you dare toy hand of Layn before the two of us will decide that''s necessary, then I will see to it myself that all your nsmen will be eradicated from this world." Openly threatening the Gener nsmen, Yelna didn''t seem to be bothered with how it would weight on their still fresh rtionship.

    "I understand." Before the situation could turn any more tense, Al stepped forward. This time, he didn''t pay any mind to hiding his presence. Yelna''s aura was so strong, that anyone capable of percieving it would already know about their presence at the edge of the forest, renderind all the attempts at remaining hidden,pletly and utterly pointless. "The camraderie of brothers in arms¡­ It''s something sacred to us as well."

    As soon as Al nodded his head with respect to the thing he just mentioned, Markus'' face rxed a bit.

    "You see, this was my guess since a while ago. From the very moment we appeared in what looks like a distant past, Layn was the primary suspect. But now, I''m almost certain." Still not making much sense, Markus started his exnation. Then, as he raised his head, his eyes glued to Al''s pupils.

    "What just happened, was mana diffraction. Something that was a new theory that was only starting to get tested in our times. And Layn was the one pushing forward the experiments on it. In other words, its a situation where the world''s energy itself, the power of the spirit, mana or whatever name you use to call it, is pushed to such insane limits, where it simply cpses on itself and turns into a wild outburst on unstable mana, mana that dissapears from the world forever."

    Not giving any mind to the fact that his ancestors had no way of understanding thoseplex theorems and setnences, Markus continued.

    "But less about that. The fact that the mana diffusion happened in this time, is the greatest giveaway that Layn also is somewhere in this world, in this time." Squinting his eyes, Markus turned around before walking out of the forest. With his sword leaving its scabbard, he turned around and finished his words.. "In other words, he is most likely to be behind everything that happened to you, and to us as well."

 Chapter 94 - Return To The Warcamp

    "It''s been a while, wasn''t it?" Layn said once their small group climbed a sandhill, allowing them to finally see the huge camp in the distance. Or rather, the walls that surrounded it from the south, barring anyone entry.

    "Don''t tell me," Irea started, snuggling to Layn''s side even more than usual, only to let go of his hand the very next moment when her smirk turned into a pained expression, "HOT! But don''t tell me you are feeling nostalgic!" The smirk returned on her lips, signifying how carefree the girl could be in the vast stretch of sandy nothingness.

    "Nostalgic? I would call it like that." Layn replied while closing his eyes for a bit. With the scorching sun of the summer not only scorching their heads but also reflecting from the sand and warming their entire bodies, even uttering just a few words was a challenge worth its price in water lost by sweating. "It''s more like, I''m returning to my roots?"

    Layn smiled at his own memories. ''Thankfully she doesn''t realize how urate that sentence was. In a sense, the desert behind the camp was a ce where I was born in those times.'' Pondering over the events of the past and their consequences today, Layn shook his head.

    "Sir, madam, why are we going to the warcamp so soon? If my calctions are right, it will take at least a month or two before the barrier will open again!" Pavried asked while leaning his head over his shoulder.

    "We are not going beyond the barrier just yet." Layn didn''t mind exining the situation at all. While revealing the entirety of his n and purpose for his action was obviously impossible as it would foil the n itself, exining some of its skeletal structure was more than possible. In a sense, it could allow Layn to encourage his potential students to work harder once they would get past the barrier. "Do you remember the day you were chosen?" Rather than going on a fully-fledged lecture mode, Layn decided to force Pavrien into participating in a discussion instead.

    "Sir, it''s only been two weeks, how could I forget?" Pavrien protested against the passive aggression that he got subjected to.

    "I''m not trying to im you already forgot it. I just wanted to bring that memory back. Tell me, why do you think I was looking for about twenty people to follow me?" Layn asked while barely managing to hold his smirk from appearing on his face.

    "Uhh¡­" Pavrien only stuttered in response before taking his time to try to figure out the answer. "Because the actual mission requires manpower? Maybe we are going to attempt some kind of puzzle that once unlocked, would give us ess to some ancient treasure?" Pavrien asked while his eyes glistered with excitement.

    "Hold your horses, boy. It''s far simpler than that." Layn smiled upon hearing Pavrien''s desperate attempts toe up with a proper answer. "I announced I wanted to recruit up to twenty people because I need twenty people to follow me into the desert. As simple as that." Unable to hold his smirk any longer, Layn allowed his lips to form it at the expense of Pavrien''s face turning from excitement to sulking.

    "Layn, don''t bully him like that!" Irea was quick to reprimand her partner. "Don''t mind him, he just likes to make fool out of others." She said while patting the young man''s back. "I guess he is just so full of knowledge he can''t share with others, that he always looks for ways to showcase it in a safe way." Adding her own opinion, Irea looked at Layn with her lips forming a smirk on her own. "Isn''t that true, dear?"

    Soon, the entire discussion, albeit serious in the beginning, dissolved into a series of nitpicks, jokes, and lightly bullying each other. While thest sounded pretty wrong for such a small group, as it was done in a pristinely friendly manner, no one could feel insulted by any of the remarks someone else would throw.

    "Stay where you are!" Still focused on their fake strife, Layn almost failed to notice that they approached the closed gates of the warcamp. The same gates that he crossed when he first left this ce, only to be assaulted by that bastard''s group a few dayster.

    "Ah, sorry for that, mister guard." Layn apologized while raising his hand to his forehead to shield his eyes from the sun as he looked up the walls. "I was too immersed in the folly with mypanions. Can get inside now?"

    It was pretty obvious that crossing the gates could pose a small but real challenge. Given how Layn never obtained any sort of verification that he could use to pass the gates, it was now all up to Irea to figure out how to get them through the security.

    "Wait, aren''t you with the wild wolves?" The guard asked as soon as Irea raised her head in an attempt to vouch for the other two. Hearing the guard''s words though, her smile instantly soured before turning wry.

    "Well, that was the case for a long time¡­ But not anymore." Irea answered while shaking her head before casting a long nce at Layn''s face. "You see, I thought of them as my dear friends andpanions¡­ But who would''ve thought they would ditch me as soon as they learned a found a boyfriend!" Irea suddenly threw a fit, stomping her foot on the sands of the desert.

    "Ah," the guard gasped for air, as his face filled with both enlightenment and a distant echo of regret. "I see¡­" His eyes moved to Pavrien, "and who is the lucky guy?"

    "Not him? Come on, you only had two to chose from and you still picked wrong!" This time, Irea''s anger wasn''t faked. As it appeared, the guard''s mistake actually managed to hurt her.

    "Ah, sorry, sorry. My bad!" The guard instantly spurred on to apologize. "Either way, you guys sure are early here. Looking for some more members for the team?" the guard asked while tinkering with some kind of mechanism hidden behind a small, wooden shack atop the walls.

    Then, with no more small talk, the massive gate started to slowly open, as the guard atop the walls continued to do something inside his shack.

    Walking through the huge area between the two sets of walls, Layn couldn''t help but reminiscent of everything that happened to him ever since he appeared in this time. From how he was learning the basics from Karter and his group while waiting for their turn to pass through the gate, through the first moments of his visit to the actual ancient city¡­

    ''Looking back, I think I already changed quite a bit,'' Layn thought as Irea quickly managed to deal with the guard securing the secondyer of the walls, getting their entire group to the warcamp proper.

    "It''s kinda¡­ empty?" As soon as the group crossed by thest set of fortifications, Layn froze in ce. While it was obvious that this ce wouldn''t be as crowded as it was at the peak of the exploring season, the scale of the difference still managed to be beyond what the archmage expected.

    "I told you. Outside of the skeletal staff of the various businesses, there are only a few mercenaries and adventurers here." Irea said while shrugging her arms. "At least we won''t have any problems getting a room in the inn." She added after a moment, trying to find some positives in their current situation.

    ''If this entire ce is just as empty as its outskirts are¡­ No, let''s not waste time thinking about this.'' Layn shook his head, trying to get rid of those depressing thoughts. ''In the end, it doesn''t matter if this ce is empty right now as we won''t be able to enter the desert proper before the barrier changes either way¡­'' thought the archmage while looking towards the very same phenomena that astounded him in the past.

    "I will lead the way." Noticing the thoughtful look on Layn''s face, Irea took the lead of the group, guiding the three of them into the deeper parts of the camp.

    ''Is it¡­ fluctuating?'' Following after the girl, Layn couldn''t stop himself from observing the minute changes in the mana flux of the barrier. While by themselves they were already a great topic of study that could give him some insights about the inner workings of such a powerful usage of magic, Layn was more than aware of how hard it would be to approach the barrier in the first ce.

    ''Especially given how it stops any force from the other side from inviting this warcamp in the first ce. I guess they would treat any attempts at studying it as sacrilege,'' Layn thought while clenching his firsts. ''To have something so impressive yet being unable to as much as touch it¡­'' Layn could feel the feeling of powerlessness creeping up in his soul.

    "Excuse me, are you Irea Astartes and Layn?" Just as the group was about to step inside one of the more centrally-located inns, a stranger approached them while asking.

    "Depends on who is asking." Irea took the lead to answer, not willing to break Layn''s focus for some small reason.

    "I''m Antion, the prefect of this ce. And I will need you guys to¡­" as soon as the man finished his introduction and wanted to order them something, he finally noticed that there was a third person in the group. But that only resulted in a smallpse in his words.. "I need you guys to follow me."

 Chapter 95 - Talk With Prefect

    "A Prefect? What kind of job that is?" Layn asked his girl while obediently following after the man. While others might deem it stupid to just ept the orders from some random stranger, Layn didn''t want to stir up the trouble in this ce as well.

    With his schemes back in the academying to fruition, there was bound to be some people that would pay everything to catch him. Be it for the sake of revenge or just for the sake of learning how he created the treasure, it didn''t matter. The explosion of his treasure, although not made by his hands, effectively made him a fugitive.

    And by causing trouble and making his name and face well-known in the warcamp was the shortest way to ensure that once the hunting season would start, someone from the academy would surely recognize him!

    "A Prefect? Well, how do I say this¡­" Irea got caught off-guard by the question, raising her hand to her chin to think about the proper answer.

    "Basically, he is the man responsible for keeping order andws in the warcamp." Pavrien got ahead of the girl, exining the situation to Layn right away. "He is not from the military so there won''t be any voices using the military of tyrannical conduct in this ce¡­ But it doesn''t mean he doesn''t have ties with them."

    Layn raised his eyes at the man''s back. Given how they willingly followed after him, he had no reason to arrest them or limit their freedom. ''From how Pavrier phrased it, they are quite wary of crossing the borders of their responsibilities.'' Layn noticed before shaking his head.

    "We are here,e, have a seat." The Prefect said while pointing his hand at a set of small, outdoor tables hidden under the shadow of huge umbres shielding them from the sun.

    "With pleasure." Layn nodded his head with respect to the man before following his next order and taking a seat.

    "Now then, let''s not make this any longer than necessary. You must be wondering why I invited you for an interrogation, are you not?" A smirk appeared on the prefect''s face.

    "No? Not really." Layn countered without a second thought. From the moment a word interrogation appeared, the archmage instantly set himself for the simplest tactics of dealing with the policing forces of any kind.

    The rule of denying everything.

    "Then it''s too bad for you because I will tell you anyway." Prefect''s lips trembled a bit, momentarily disfiguring his smirk. Yet, he was a man with enough experience to keep his face rtivelyposed. "You guys are suspected ofmitting murder on Kerren and the entire party he hired before departing this ce for thest time."

    Pulling out a stack of papers out of nowhere, Antion mmed them on the desk. ''His message is rather clear, those papers have something to do with that case,'' thought Layn before raising his eyes and looking the Prefect directly in the eye.

    "Sir, with all due respect, but if your only evidence of the murder of¡­ wait, what was the name?" Layn asked while turning his head around to Irea.

    "Kerren. Don''t ask me for his team''s name, never bothered to remember it." Irea shrugged her arms as she answered.

    "Right, Kerren." said Layn as a wide smile blossomed on his lips. "I remember that bastard. What about him?" the archmage asked with a smirk appearing on his lips.

    "He is dead. They found his body, along with bodies of several experts that he hired, cast aside on the northern road." The Prefect said before cing his finger on the fat stack of papers. "The same road you guys were reported to take while retreating from the war camp. Or was the report wrong?"

    As if it was some kind of game of chess, the smirk appeared either on Layn''s face or on the prefect''s. Whenever one would speak, he would im the right to smirk at the other, only for the situation to reverse once the other side got a chance to put it''s own five cents forward.

    "Were we the only ones who took that path? Heck, didn''t you remember all that crowd between the walls when the season ended?" Asked Layn while widening his eyes and obviously, regaining his smirk. "What then, maybe are you going to tell me that they all ended decapitated and their weapons had no signs of struggle?"

    Pushing the irony behind his smirk to the limit, Layn turned his head to Irea. "Well, if that''s really what you are going to say, then I can onlyment it in only one way," said Layn while rubbing his forefinger against Irea''s cheek. Then, he moved his eyes back on the prefect''s face. "Serves him fucking right."

    For a moment, the policeman of the ancient world turned silent. Then, rather than putting a smirk on his lips, he looked sharply at the archmage. "Decapitated and their weapons had no sign of struggle at all. It''s funny because that''s exactly what I was going to say."

    ''Pff, that''s why I said it in the first ce!'' Layn thought while doing his best to hide the smirk that relentlessly wished to appear on his lips. "I bet that if I were to tell they were all hanging up from an invisible rope from the skies, that also would be exactly what you wanted to say. In other words, what I said, has no meaning or weight whatsoever." Layn said while shrugging his arms.

    "Oh? And why do you think I brought all those papers with me, then?" The smirk returned on the prefect''s lips as he pointed his finger at the stack of papers once again.

    "Like I care. It''s not like I can read in the first ce." Layn rebuked. But rather than getting annoyed at the fact that the man indeed got one better on him, his eyes sparkled with vivid curiosity and interest.

    "Oh, but your partner surely can read, doesn''t she? Miss quasi teach of the academy to the north?" asked the prefect while turning his smirk to a genuine, kind smile. "I will understand if there are some reasons why you don''t want to speak the truth, but I need you to make sure you understand two things."

    Raising his hand, the prefect extended his forefinger up.

    "First off, no matter what kind of threats this man is using to control you, we will protect you from him and his means if you give us a testimony." the Prefect exined before raising his second finger. "And if you decide to keep your lips pursed, I will have no choice but to consider you a coborator to the crime." This time, Prefect shrugged his arms as he lowered his hand as if to showcase that he didn''t really care which route would the girl pick.

    "Before that, a simple question." Layn decided not to give Irea any time to respond. Not sure what kind of respect she would have for that man''s position, the archmage didn''t want to let the girl fall into that man''s trap. "If I were to attack you right here and now," Layn said before making a pause, just for the sole sake of making the man a bit tense, "and you would end up killing me in self-defense. Would that make you a murderer in your book?"

    Prefect squinted his eyes. "Do you wish to suggest that you actually killed them all but you did so in self-defense?" he attempted to repeat Layn''s words in a more suiting manner.

    "I do not wish to suggest anything. But I believe you are smart enough to understand the meaning of those strictly hypothetical words." Layn exined before allowing his true smile to surface on his face. "The truth is, I wanted you to take a look at this situation from another point of view. Rather than focusing on whether I did what you are using me or not, isn''t it pretty curious how I was supposed to kill not only a two-star expert like Kerren, but also his entire team as well?"

    Layn pushed himself up, refusing to sit on the chair any longer. Noticing his movements, Irea quickly followed with Pavriengging behind them.

    "That would¡­ make you a pretty dangerous person, to say the least." Prefect admitted through his teeth.

    "Well, let''s leave it at that. Irea, go first. We still need to secure enough rooms in the inn." Layn ordered. At first, the girl stood still as if she had the intention to refuse his request, only to shake her head after a moment, turn around and leave.

    "Good. Now that I don''t need to be kind and nice, let me exin one thing." Layn said while turning his eyes back on the prefect''s face. "Kerren and his group attacked us as we were traveling on the road. And yes, I witnessed his demise.. But to admit that I killed him?" Layn shook his head, "no, I would do no such thing. After all," his eyes drifted to the side, as an ugly expression appeared on his face, "it''s not a murder when you squash an ant, so it''s not a murder when you kill this kind of piece of shit, isn''t it?"

 Chapter 96 - Rice Gruel? Rice Porridge? Or Maybe Rice On Rice?

    "Was it necessary to be that harsh on him?" As soon as the three of them were freed from the custody of the local prefect, Irea was the one to pick up the mantle and start sitting on Layn''s head.

    "Yes," Layn answered, refusing to argue with his girl. "If I were to go too soft on him, he would think that we are easy to push around." The archmage exined while shaking his head. "I know that it wasn''t a nice feeling to sit and watch how we threw verbal assaults at each other, but it was pretty necessary."

    "At least we can go and finally get our rooms, don''t we?" said Pavrien while noticing how the atmosphere was slowly turning denser and denser.

    "Rooms? That''s actually a good point." Layn agreed, taking the simple way out of the pointless argument. For him, the local Prefect was nothing more but another random trying to flex his social standing and muscles at him in hopes of obtaining some benefit. And with his experience of working near the very top of the government of a huge nation back in the future, Layn knew perfectly well how to deal with this kind of pests.

    "Yeah. Let''s do that." Irea agreed while stomping her head and pushing forward all on her own.

    ''I guess avoiding the topic doesn''t mean she will ignore it as well¡­'' Layn thought while shaking his head before casting a look at the girl''s back, ''I should talk with her a bit,ter on¡­''

    Even though the atmosphere wasn''t all that great, the objective of Layn''s group didn''t change at all. First, to get the rooms.

    This kind of task was pretty simple, especially during the off-season. From what it seemed, the entire warcamp was as good as abandoned. While the military district that was closed to the visitors like Layn was bustling with life due to the constant presence of the small army tasked with defending the ce in case of an invasion from the desert, this didn''t mean the rest of the city was the same.

    "Can you believe it?" Irea asked with excitement filling her voice. As it appeared, rather than talking things through, distracting her was an even better idea. "I managed to get us room for less than a third of what I would have to pay during the season!" Layn only nodded his head while hearing the girl praise their situation.

    "That''s great!" Layn praised his girl while gracing her with a small smile. "I hope it won''t mean a worse service, though," he added after a momentary pause.

    "As if that would ever happen, sir!" Before Irea would even have a shot at answering, a new voice entered the fray.

    Layn instantly looked to the side, following the habits he attained back when traveling the world with his friends. Even since those times, whenever an unexpected voice would appear, Layn''s head would instantly drift towards the source of the sound.

    "At our Inn, we always do our best to provide the best service possible!" A young girl, around fifteen of age imed while approaching the group.

    "And you are¡­?" Layn asked by ending his sentence prematurely.

    "I''m the head waitress of this Inn!" The girl eximed with passion while pridefully raising her chin up. "Whatever is it that you desire, sirs, I will do my best to provide for!"

    ''Ugh,'' Layn suddenly turned his head to the side, refusing to look at the girl whose words momentarily invoked his old-man nature. "How about we start with a meal? I know we just got the rooms, but all that talking got me hungry." Rather than allowing his mind to y out dirty jokes whenever he would look at the girl, Layn decided to focus on the more pressing tasks.

    "Meals? That might be slightly problematic," the girl said while turning her eyes away. "But it''s not my fault! It''s all my pops fault! He should be the one doing the cooking¡­" The girl started, clearly not intending to acknowledge thepse in the service of the inn.

    "Don''t worry. We understand that without many guests, the Inn will operate in a slightly different way." Layn said to calm the girl down. "Could you tell us where to look for some food then?"

    There was no need to bully the teenage girl only because she couldn''t handle all the jobs of the Inn on her own when likely every other servant and owner himself was out of the ce.

    "I didn''t say we don''t offer anything! I can make a rice gruel, rice porridge, rice on rice¡­" The girl started from a high note, only for her voice to turn lower and lower with every abbreviation of the rice porridge that she spelled out loud.

    "Well, rice on rice might not be bad, but we would use some meat with it as well," Layn answered while shaking his head. Then, he put a gentle smile on his lips before rustling the little girl''s hair. "You go and make us that porridge, and we will go procure some meat ourselves, okay?"

    "Yes! Right away!" The girl didn''t dare to miss such an opportunity. She instantly took off, rushing behind the counter of the Inn before disappearing into the kitchen hidden behind it.

    "Was that really necessary?" Irea asked as she looked in the direction where the girl ran off to. "We could find get a proper and full meal from one of the stallspletely on our own. The prices here¡­ Are bound to be higher than on the stalls," Ireamented while casting a dissatisfied nce at the archmage.

    "I know. But try¡­ No, that''s not how I should phrase it." Layn attempted to say something, only to stop in the middle and correct himself. "Look, for us, spending a few more coins means absolutely nothing. But for that girl¡­" Layn once again looked in the direction where she escaped to, "for her, this will serve as not only a good memory, but also a positive introduction."

    Layn winker at Irea before moving out of the building. With how deserted the town was, it didn''t take him long to reach the direct middle of the warcamp, where the very few visitors and local staff spent most of their time.

    "Anything catches your fancy?" Layn asked Irea, turning his eyes around to cheek what she was looking at.

    "Not really. Let''s just get some meat." Irea replied in a tone that clearly suggested she couldn''t be bothered with the topic.

    "Oh, don''t be like that!" Layn suddenly eximed, just loud enough to make the point of him being angry, yet silent enough to not attract too much attention from the few men who actually lived in this ce.

    "Like what?!" Irea asked in a harsh tone, clearly unwilling to let herself be pushed back.

    "Tsk, that''s not what I meant, not like that." Layn clicked his tongue before lowering his head and taking a few breaths to calm himself down. "Dear, listen. Eating properly is one of the basics of growing stronger. I asked if you fancied anything because that would mean your body was craving for something specific." Layn lectured the girl in a soft voice before turning his eyes to Pavrien.

    "This is a small bonus you will get for now. While it will be only one of the factors, you should remember this as well. Whenever our body craves for something, it usually points at the best thing to nurture the body as well." Layn exined as he approached one of the very first stalls that he noticed.

    With just a small cart, a manid it out with rtively t stones on the insides, before covering it all with some kind of fire-resistant fabric. Inside, thick pieces of wood were burning, heating up the meat located on the grill directly above.

    "Would you like some skewers, sir?" The stall owner asked as soon as Layn appeared in front of him. From his bored face, there wasn''t all that much traffic for his business today either.

    "Yeah. Give me all of them." Pulling out a coin worth about thrice as much as all the meat that the man was frying, Layn threw it to the owner. "You can keep the rest."

    "Sir¡­ I¡­ Thank you for your patronage sir!" The owner profusely thanked while ignoring the mumbling Irea to the side. On the other side, Layn ignored them both, too busy snatching all the skewers from the grill to bother with either.

    "Now that we have some meat, how about we head back? By the time we will be back¡­"

    Grumble.

    Layn''s face turned slightly red. "I said it already, I''m hungry, there is no point making a big deal out of it!" exining himself while turning redder and redder from embarrassment, Layn finally, although unintentionally, managed to get Irea to smile again.

    "Yeah, let''s go back now. With how happy that girl was to get that rice for us¡­" Irea shook her head as a smile blossomed on her lips, "it would be rude not to show up in time!"

 Chapter 97 - Burrying The Hatchet

    "I can''t believe I did it," Irea muttered to herself as she sat down on the edge of the bed.

    For the entire week, she was trying to convince Layn to make up with the prefect. Not because she wanted to spread love and friendship wherever she went, but because that prefect was one of the highest civilian authorities in the entire warcamp.

    ''And with his ns to create his own school,'' Irea thought. Her lips quivered before forming a thin line. ''If he wants his school, then he needs to start learning how to curry favors!''

    After a few moments, Irea stood up from the bed. Even though there was still some time before the people would start to return to the warcamp, she already had her hands full with preparations.

    ''We stocked on food, water, and weapons, we have the camping equipment¡­ I guess I will start with dinner then!'' Irea recounted in her mind before grabbing her pouch and moving outside.

    ''Right now, he should be heading for the meeting I arranged,'' she thought while looking towards the lodging district. Far behind the entire area homes of the entire staff was located. On the other hand, her destination was right in the camp''s center.

    "Hello, young miss!'' One of the stall owners called out to Irea as soon as she appeared on the square.

    "Hello," Irea said while nodding her head. ''This leecher,'' she added in her mind, as soon as she passed by the man, hiding her face from his sight. ''Do you think I don''t know you are looking at my ass whenever I''m here?'' Ireained to herself while beating the man down in her mind.

    ''Sadly for you, this ass is for Layn and Layn alone!'' she added. Only a momentter, the daringness of this thought caused a slight blush to appear on her cheeks.

    "Oh, hello, little miss," another shop owner greeted her. This time, it was a sizeabledy managing a food warehouse. ording to what Irea heard, this single warehouse supplied most of the Inns and stalls in the entire warcamp, making it the best ce to look for ingredients.

    "Hello, auntie," Irea replied with a smile. "Would you be so kind to get me some chicken andmb?" She asked. "Oh, and the spice mix of yours would also be nice."

    "Sure thing." The sizeabledy answered before turning around her own axis, approaching the doors behind the counter, and shouting. "You heard her! Bring some chicken,mb, and our mix!"

    Thedy moved her head back and smiled at Irea. "Dinner for the two?"

    "Yeah," Irea replied while blushing a bit. Before thisdy, she was as good as an open book. It only took two visits to the shop for the auntie to notice Irea''s and Layn''s rtionship. By the third visit, she pulled Irea to the back of the shop before forcing her into a several hours-long interrogation, falsely named gossip-sharing.

    "If that''s the case," the sizeabledy rubbed her chin for a moment, before suddenly smashing her right fist into her left palm. "Give me just a moment, I will prepare something special for you!" the auntie ordered, before rushing to the warehouse hidden behind the front of the shop.

    ''Just what is this with thisdy,'' Irea asked herself in her thoughts before shaking her head and pping her cheeks a few times to regain the rity of thoughts. ''Either way, there will be dinner, daily lesson, some cultivation and then,'' Irea''s cheeks turned red once again.

    ''To think that doing that would be a part of my daily routine,'' Irea thought as redness overtook her entire face.

    "I''m back, honey!" Before long, the auntie returned with several bags hanging from her hands. She ced them on the counter before opening each of them and exining the content.

    "Here is your meat, chicken, andmb. This bag here has spices, this one has some vegetables¡­ And this one is the special gift from me." The sizeabledy said while epting the money from the girl.

    "Special gift?" Irea asked. While it was obvious it had something to do with the thing she mentioned earlier, but that didn''t make it any easier to guess what this auntie had in mind in the first ce.

    "Listen here and do it carefully because I won''t repeat." The auntie changed her tone while leaning over the counter in order to sound like someone conspiring. "You take this bottle and feed it to your sweetheart''s drink. I guarantee," the woman sent Irea a wink, "that you won''t regret thister on!"

    "Alright!" Grabbing up the backs, Irea cut the small talk and left the ce. With the ingredients in ce, preparing the dinner wouldn''t be a problem anymore.

    "Let''s make it the best dinner I can cook!" the girl motivated herself, casting yet another nce in the direction where Layn went some time ago.

    In the meantime, Layn finally managed to reach his destination, fully ignorant about Irea''s n for after his return.

    "Well, let''s get this over with," Layn said to himself, putting the huge bottle of booze in his other hand before knocking on the doors.

    "Wait a moment!" After a short moment, a voice sounded from the insides of a small but tidy mansion. A few momentster, the doors suddenly sprung open, revealing a bare-chested prefect.

    "What do you want?" The prefect asked after the momentary confusion when he realized who just visited him.

    "Don''t judge. My girl forced me to have a drink with you." Layn answered before lowering his head in anguish. "Help a brother out. I may be powerful but there are things¡­ Things that even I fear." Layn intentionally increased the dramaturgy of his words, turning the entire thing into a silly act.

    "A¡­ ah¡­" Stunned by the unexpected appearance and even less expected exnation, the prefect took a step back before mming his forehead with his hand.

    "I understand. Come on in." He said as he took yet another step to the back before turning around in order to let Layn pass.

    Stepping inside, Layn looked around the ce. Even though the house stood in the desert where every resource was scarce, there was no hint of poverty or anyck in it. The walls were covered with pictures, the floor had a nice rug on it. In other words, at least the entrance to the prefect''s mansion was on the same level as what Layn said in the middle of the city he saw in his current timeline!

    "Come on, take a seat," the prefect invited Layn in. Yet, noticing how the atmosphere continued to thicken, he sighed before lowering his head a bit. "Listen, I won''t try to interrogate you now. In fact, there is no point in interrogating you in the first ce." The man said while shrugging his arms. "I believe you already know this, but we never recovered their bodies. I was just simply following the only lead we had¡­"

    ''What the hell is going on?'' Layn asked himself while taking upon the man''s offer and sitting down. While his hands busied with uncorking the sizeable bottle, his mind continued to spin at its maximum speed. ''Why does he reveal those kinds of secrets to me? Is this another trick?'' Layn took a longer look at the man, before realizing that his initial guess was wrong.

    "Wait, you were that desperate?" Layn asked as soon as the realization struck him. ''He just had to solve some kind of case! He is not after me in particr.'' This thought instantly changed the way that Layn looked at the prefect.

    "Desperate? Yeah, that''s a pretty fitting description." Grabbing the neck of the bottle, the man didn''t hesitate to take a huge gulp of the strong liquid. He hesitated as soon as he swallowed it.

    His cheeks turned red, his entire face started to sweat.

    "Uhuh¡­" The man whined before taking a few long breaths to calm himself down. "That''s a strong one!" He said in a praiseful voice.

    "Why were you so desperate then? And why my testimony doesn''t matter anymore?" Layn asked for rification. Even if he knew the motives behind the man''s decision, it didn''t mean he knew what that decision entailed.

    "I initially went after you, because you got rid of Kerren. Without him around, there is hardly any crime during the off-season months, here." The prefect hugged the bottle as he exined. "Without him around, I could no longer ramp up my achievements so I kinda wanted to take revenge on you."

    For some reason, the man didn''t mind admitting to abusing his authority a bit. But for some reason, Layn just couldn''t bring himself to hate that man.

    "But there is no way for me to prove that you were involved in his death. For all the governor knows, he could lose his life to some stray monsters." The man shook his shoulders before turning his eyes away. "And here I am, with my jobpletely pointless, bothering the few customers that the shops of the camp could have in this dead period."

    Listening to the man''sints, an idea suddenly appeared in Layn''s head. A smile blossomed on his lips as he leaned over the table and looked the prefect in the eyes.

    "Tell me, since you are dissatisfied with the current state of things at your work¡­" Layn gulped down his saliva, before taking a breath and calming himself down.. Only once his emotions returned to their usual state did he finish his offer. "How about working for me?"

 Chapter 98 - Welcome Abroad

    "I''m all ears," Antion announced, slightly changing his position on the sofa.

    "Let me start from the beginning." Layn smiled. Without the outright refusal, there was some room for negotiation. It was now all up to the archmage to find just what exactly this man wanted.

    Antion''s abilities¡­ Didn''ty in his strength. In fact, while he was a two-star expert, Layn could tell how weak he actually was.

    ''No, his strengthsy in his head,'' Layn thought, smiling to his own thoughts. "Let me start from the very beginning, then," he asked while sitting on a chair.

    "First off, the purpose. As for now, I''m gathering people that will venture with me to the middle of the desert. A reward for everyone who managed to apany me all the way will be one grade one stone." Layn decided to start with the smaller information.

    In this warcamp, a single or two grade one stones weren''t that coveted as they were back in Irea''s former city of residence. Just by being the middle-man between the mercenaries and the outer market, the city officials could easily get their hands on those stones¡­ But that didn''t mean those stones were cheap here.

    "But that''s not all, isn''t it?" Antion interrupted while putting a bored smile on his face.

    "How did you know?" Layn smiled in response, sending a taxing look at the prefect.

    "Please, let''s stop ying games. I believe you are intelligent enough to notice this is not enough to even get me interested." Antion protested. His expression changed from bored to an agitated one.

    "Right, let''s not drag it for too long, then." Layn couldn''t stop smiling. ''This man resembles him a lot,'' Layn thought when a momentary memory disturbed the peace of his mind.

    The face. The face of one of his most staunch followers back in the future. The man who made his revenge and time heist avable in the first ce.

    His first and most devoted student.

    And now that Layn noticed this simrity, only more and more of them continued to appear.

    Their faces were simr. Their builds were almost the same. Even their voices were nearly identical!

    "Hello?" Antion said, staring at the archmage immersed in his thoughts.

    "Oh, right, my bad." Layn apologized as he shook his head to regain the rity of his thoughts. "The spirit stone is just a bait. The real rewards await those who will choose to follow me once we reach the middle of the desert." Layn exined with a smile on his lips.

    "Wait, follow you?" Antion suddenly asked, "Are you going somewhere further, or are you trying to¡­" his words stopped, as his eyes widened with understanding.

    "You are trying to create a permanent group, a host? A following? A warring party?" Antion covered Layn with questions as soon as he got as much as just a glimpse into the archmage''s ns.

    "That I cannot tell you yet. But I can already tell you, that once the world will learn of what I''m going to do, there will be no end to the people willing to join me." Layn said with confidence. Then, his smug smile was reced with a kind one. "It''s up to you to decide whether you want to have a headstart. In my ns, I would have a great use for someone with brains like you."

    Layn wasn''t trying to praise the man in order to get him to agree. His value wasn''t big enough for Layn to turn subservient and start begging the man though.

    ''In the end, he only has my word for it. And I can''t give him too much too early, to not make him dependant of my help!'' Layn thought, trying to figure out the best way to deal with the situation.

    "I might surprise you here," Antion started, before his cheeks turned red. Rather than trying to fight his embarrassment, he reached for the bottle of the booze Layn brought before taking a huge sip. "It might be surprising, but I''m actually interested."

    Layn raised his eyebrows. To say that this were surprising news wouldn''t be an overstatement.

    "To be honest, you got me." Layn quickly admitted. Even in his most positive estimations, he still didn''t expect the man to agree to his proposition so readily! "Seeing how easily you epted the proposition, I''m starting to have doubts whether you really have the brains to be useful for me," Layn spoke his true feelings while looking at the prefect with curiosity.

    "I know how it might look like," Antion said before making a short pause and biting his lips, "but its something I was always ready to do." He shrugged his arms, as if aware of how his actions made him look like. "Listen, I''m nearing the middle of my twenties. If I won''t take some risks, I can''t expect for something exciting to happen in my life anymore, don''t you think I''m correct here?"

    Suddenly revealing this kind of drive, Antion managed to take Layn by surprise for the second time. Not only because of what his motivation was. Layn was stunned by the fact that his beloved disciple from the future had exactly the same kind of spirit in him!

    "I understand. What should I say now," Layn said, panicking slightly. With how unexpected Antion''s reaction was, the timing of the entire discussion was destroyed, making it hard for the archmage to find himself back in the talk. "Wee aboard, I guess?" Layn said while leaning his head over his shoulder.

    "Well, let''s not be in such a hurry!" Antion shouted, raising his hands high above his head. From the gentle flush on his cheeks, Layn could tell that the man was already smitten by the booze.

    ''Maybe that''s the reason why he is so open?'' Layn thought, suddenly feeling how the guilt filled his soul. ''I will need to ask him again once he sobers up,'' Layn''s thoughts turned depressing as he realized how little of value this entire meeting would have.

    "What do you need to know then?" As surprising as it was for an objection to affect the talks positively, Layn cheered up a bit when he heard it. In the end, it meant the man was just sober enough to notice some problems with settling the matter on such short notice.

    "I won''t ask for details," Antion took another sip before cing the bottle away and moving to the other end of his couch so that the drink would be outside of his reach. "I know you won''t answer any of my questions, so I won''t ask them in the first ce. I just want you to tell me one thing."

    Antion took a few moments to calm himself down. Then he took a few more to figure out exactly what he was going to say. A few momentster, he was doing the mock attempt of speaking his question out loud, moving his lips yet not producing any sound.

    "I need you to tell me, whether I won''t regret it. Whether I will regret dropping this job with stable pay and basically holidays during the off-season time." Antion asked. The way in which he pronounced his words gave away just how wasted he was, but the same couldn''t be said about his eyes.

    "No, you won''t," Layn answered without even a shred of hesitation or doubt. ''In the end, if you are going to follow me, you will only end up cursing on howte you joined my rankster in your life!'' Tom thought with pride, actually nearing the limits of arrogance.

    But a justified arrogance.

    In the current times, Layn''s knowledge was worth more than any treasure. Because no matter how great a treasure would be, it would have a limit to how much one could profit from it.

    On the other hand, Layn''s situation was different. As long as one followed him, such a person would be granted with insights into an entirely new world of magic.

    And Layn''s various exploits in those ancient times so far already proved just how effective the means of a true mage could be when pitted against the measly power of the cultivation!

    "I believe in you," Antion announced after a few moments. "No, it''s not that. I don''t believe you at all," he suddenly changed his words around, "but I want to believe in you. I want to believe that someone willing to offer mana stones as just the bait, won''t be as pitiful as to mess with me for no reason."

    Antion stood up from the sofa. He took a few uneven steps, almost losing his bnce three times before he reached Layn''s seat. Then, he brought his hand forward.

    "I believe in you." Antion said one more time.

    ''Here we go,'' Layn thought to himself, following the prefect''s example and standing up from his chair. He then epted Antion''s hand, before shaking it.

    "Wee abroad." He said.

    "I will be in your care," Ation responded.

 Chapter 99 - Entering The Desert

    Only two weeks passed by the time Layn and his small group arrived in the city before the warcamp started filling with people once again.

    From the early birds hoping to find some other like-minded mercenaries to form parties and go explore the desert once the barrier would switch open, through merchants sensing the gold in servicing all those adventurers, all the way to people like Layn, who saw this ce as nothing but an opportunity.

    "Guys, I know I was vague with the objective of your mission, but now it''s up to you," Layn said, standing in front of a group of roughly twenty people. Irea stood right behind him, to propagate the image of the two of them being different from everyone else in the now greater group.

    Amongst the recruits, early birds got the worm. Even though he was just lucky to be selected, Pavrien tookmand of one-half of the mercenaries, while hand-picked Antionmanded the rest of them.

    "Once we enter the desert, there will be no going back. Or rather, if any of you will go back, I won''t detach anyone to help you make your way back to the safety of the camp," Layn announced, before looking at his people with scrutiny.

    ''Well, that was only to be expected,'' Layn thought depressingly, despite putting up a cheerful front. Out of exactly twenty-three members that his new group consisted of, only three or four had some talent that Layn could feel.

    "At least no one backed off yet,'' Layn encouraged himself before his lips started to move once again.

    "I can''t give you the estimated time that this mission will take. But there are a few rules that I believe I should mention before we set off." Layn said before taking a nce at the situation behind.

    The massive barrier that separated this anomaly-type desert from the warcamp was fluctuating. While it still has yet to go down, one only needed to look at how the entire entryway was filled to the brim with people to understand that it would be down any moment now.

    "First off, whatever you find, whatever you obtain, and whatever you win over the course of this mission, is yours to take," Layn announced the most important incentive for the trip.

    ording to Irea, a seasoned adventurer of this ce, the spoils would be usually pitched into a single pile, turned into money, and only then would the members of the party take their share each.

    On the other hand, for people hiring escorts for their desert explorations, just the payment alone had to suffice, as the hiring party was entitled to all the spoils they would obtain during the trip. In essence, this simple agreement was the only reason why people continued to invest in various parties, hoping that the returns of the trip would be greater than its costs.

    Yet, Layn turned those traditions all on their head, instantly giving away his rights to the spoils.

    "Secondly, I want to repeat again. If someone decides to drop out, they not only won''t receive any payment, they also won''t receive any help in going back." Layn added, looking for the hints of displeasure on the faces of his hired mercs.

    "What if someone will get injured to the point of being unable to continue?" A voice from the crowd sounded. Even though Layn had over twenty people to watch out for, he still managed to notice who had the civil courage to ask this question.

    "You don''t need to worry about it, there won''t be any injuries during this trip for as long as you travel with me," Layn answered, shrugging his arms impatiently.

    As important as this question was, for the archmage, asking it was no different than stalling for time.

    And there were many possible reasons why one of the mercenaries would want to do so.

    The desert was the same for everyone who wished to explore it. As vast as it might be, there was always a huge risk that once the barrier would shift, monsters far stronger than average would appear early on.

    That''s why, as many benefits as there were for entering the desert early on, a lot of adventurers and mercenaries preferred to give way to the locally strongest parties, as they were the only ones capable of dealing with such threats.

    "So you are going to kill everyone injured?!" Another voice said before the gestiction allowed Layn to spot who was speaking. With his arms wildly moving around, the man shook his head before turning around. "It''s pointless. I''m leaving, and I would advise everyone to do the same, ha!"

    "Hey!" Pavrien who was unlucky enough to be in charge of the group with that man in it attempted to stop him from leaving.

    "Cut it out, let him go. We have no need for cowards." Layn said without a care, even though one of the few talented people just decided to leave.

    "Cowards? Did you just call me a coward?!" The man instantlyshed back when he heard Layn''s rebuttal.

    "How else would you call someone who didn''t even have the guts to ask what I meant by no injuries?" Layn asked with a smile on his face before waving his hand at the man. "Pavrien, Antion, could you get rid of him for me?"

    Now that the man took his stance, Layn wasn''t going to bother with him any longer. Given the endgame of creating a group of powerhouses that he had in mind, allowing anyone who dared to challenge his authority was a strict no-no.

    "You¡­ Oh, fuck you!" The man insulted Layn, before turning around once again and leaving the ce altogether.

    "Good, now that there are no more disturbances," Layn started, only to make a short pause as he turned his head back towards the barrier. The fluctuation was getting stronger with each passing second. It was only a matter of time before the barrier would fall.

    A very short time at that.

    "Guys, any questions? We are running out of time." Layn asked before nodding his head towards the barrier.

    "Good," He added after a moment, seeing how no one was stepping up to ask or stepping back to leave.

    Tingle.

    It was as if a herd of fairies, each no bigger than a grain of dust, suddenly washed over Layn''s soul. A shiver traveled down his spine.

    ''It started,'' Layn thought, quickly turning himself around.

    The barrier was no more.

    "Okay, then. Let''s not waste this opportunity!" Layn shouted as he turned his head back to his mercenaries. "Let''s get past the initial monsters so that we can reach the middle of the desert as soon as possible!"

    Rather than pushing his people forward and waiting for them to cut him a path, Layn nodded at Irea before rushing forward on his own. Rather than following after his people, he preferred to be followed.

    But as rushed as he was, Layn''s group still ended up stuck at the gates.

    A day before the barrier was scheduled to open, a huge za before said gate would be emptied out, with the sole purpose of housing all those awaiting the opening of the desert. It was on that za where Layn had his little rallying speech. And as close as he was to the gates in the first ce, some of the adventurers still managed to beat him to the line.

    "Dang!" Layn eximed roughly an hourter when his group finally made its way to the no-man''snd on the other side of the warcamp''s walls. "It took a while," he said, looking around the ce.

    The signs of fighting were all over the ce. Just fifty meters to the side, a group was dismembering arge carcass of a monster. A bit further to the other side, another group was standing over the corpse of their formerpanion, unable to digest what just happened.

    And amidst all this chaos, Layn stood.

    "We are going to push forward. Everyone, we run!" Layn ordered, not even bothering to look at the people he was ordering around. Rather than wasting his time on the recruits, half of which were doomed to fail his test, it was better to just lead them with actions instead.

    Soon, Layn managed to get outside of the cramped areas, on the path that no other group seemed to take so far. Irea followed right behind him, ready to intervene if anything were to happen¡­

    That is, ready to help if Layn would somehow find himself overwhelmed. And an opportunity for such thing appeared rtively soon before even a single hour could pass since their entry to the desert.

    "MONSTER!" Antion shouted, stretching his arm in the direction of a threat.

    "Great!" Layn said while rejoicing. He then rushed forward, pushing his cultivation-improved body to its limits.

    And from how he managed to cross a rtively long distance in just a moment, it seemed that reaching the third stage of mind cultivation before entering the desert was going to pay off!

    "I''m sorry," Layn mumbled under his breath, dodging the sh of the monster''s ws. Even though this magical being towered over him with its enormous mass and height, Layn wasn''t scared at all. Rather than that, if someone were to look in his eyes, he could see an excitement mixed with guilt in them.

    Excitement, because monsters were nothing but a source of free magic power for the archmage. And guilt, because he knew how the world was bound to curb the entire poption of those monsters as soon as the method of farming them would be publicized.

    But that didn''t mean he was going to give up on this opportunity he waited so long to get.

    "Die," Layn whispered, appearing below the monster and pushing his fist directly into its flesh.

 Chapter 100 - Small Show

    For everyone else who just entered the desert, monsters like the one Layn faced were dangerous. Many of them saw monsters like that one kill theirpanions. Yet, for Layn, this was nothing but a source of fresh and clean energy!

    For the outsiders, the events took a quick turn. After a momentary standstill when neither the monster nor the archmage moved even an inch, the massive body of the monster simply started to fade away¡­ Before it actually faded away.

    Thump.

    The sound of the monster''s core falling on the sands of the desert was the only sound that announced the end of the fight.

    But that was only an outsider''s perspective. And the reality wasn''t as simple as the observers could imagine.

    As soon as Layn touched the flesh of the monster, he focused his own energy before forcefully pushing it inside the monster. Rather than starting the fight by frantically absorbing the energy to consume the monster, Layn''s energy drilled itself into the monster, all the way to its core.

    Then, as if a flow hitting a rock, it washed over it, splitting into two streams beforeing together behind the core. At that moment, when the connection between the magical projection of its body and the source of its power was cut, the monster was already dead. And only then Layn could start extracting all the energy its body had to offer.

    ''Woah, the cultivation surely is taxing!'' Layn thought, looking at how the energy of the entire monster barely sufficed for him to push halfway to his next breakthrough. ''But well, it would be naive to believe that what was great when I was beginning, would still have the same efficiency once I reach some kind of strength.''

    Layn approached the area where the monster used to be to pick up its stone.

    ''A miss, huh?'' Layn thought, confirming that it was a simple, grade one mana stone.

    The main reason behind Layn''s journey to the desert was the hope of obtaining the grade two stones and higher ones. With them, all the bottlenecks in his cultivation and energy stockpile would be broken, allowing for rapid growth of his strength.

    "Well, now I think you guys should understand what I meant when iming there won''t be any injured folks during this mission," Layn said, turning his face back to the rest of the group. And out of twenty-three people that watched his sh with the monster, only Irea didn''t have her lips parted in silent amazement.

    "Sir¡­" One of the mercenaries spoke up, moving a few steps forward. "How did you do it?" He added.

    Layn looked at the mercenary with curiosity in his eyes. The sheer amazement that his entire group was showering him with amounted to nothing. The civil courage to pursue answers to one''s question was all that mattered to him right now.

    Even though the man who had said courage, didn''t appear to have any exceptional talent towards magic at all.

    "It''s not yet the time for me to reveal it," Layn said, horizontally shaking his head in denial. ''After all, it would make for a pretty shitty bait if I were to give the answer already, wouldn''t it?'' Laynmented in his mind, smiling at his own thoughts.

    "Well, let''s not waste any more time. I want to consume at least five more monsters by the time we will set our camp!" Layn said, throwing the stone he just picked towards the man who spoke up. "Consider it an encouragement. If you won''t ask the questions, you will never get answers for them."

    The eyes of the young man lit up. He took part in this mission solely because of the price of a mana stone that Layn announced. And here he was, already earning one stone just by asking a question that wasn''t even answered!

    "Irea,e here for a bit," Layn said to the girl, gesturing at his side.

    "What''s wrong?" the girl asked, trodding forward without a care in the world. For her, this desert didn''t look scary anymore. Not after everything that Layn has shown to her. Not after his self-made treasure brought her to the peak of the second stage of mind cultivation!

    "I absorbed a little bit too magic for myfort. Mind taking some of it?" Layn asked, not even stopping his march.

    "Sure, I don''t mind," Irea replied, pushing her body even closer to Layn''s side.

    "Ah, not like that. I meant this!" Layn said, putting his hand behind the girl''s head, before pushing his lips against her mouth. Out of habit, Irea instantly pushed her tongue inside, rubbing it all over the insides of Layn''s jaws.

    ''Here I go,'' Layn thought, pushing all the excess energy from his aura, through the girl''s lips into her own body. At first, there was a natural resistance of a body refusing a foreign power, but with Irea''splete trust in the archmage, even this hurdle quickly disappeared.

    ck.

    The sound of their lips parting was rtively loud. Layn pushed his face away, unable to steer his eyes clear from the silly look on Irea''s face, or from how the strands of their mixed saliva broke apart once he moved away only to fall down on her chin.

    "Guys, I understand that you like each other," Antion suddenly spoke up, hesitatingly approaching as he pointed his hand at the rest of the group behind them, "but I''m worried that if you keep showing affection so openly¡­" His words wavered as if the man was unsure whether he was in the ce to say anything like that in the first ce.

    "Showing off like that will cause unrest, won''t it?" Layn said while clearing his lips from the remaining saliva.

    "Exactly. We just entered the desert and you didn''t really bother to bring some¡­ funny girls if I were to put it like that, so people are bound to be jealous." Antion exined his opinion, still not daring to look Layn directly in the face. Rather than that, his eyes wandered over the mundane sands of the desert, as if he was trying to find some kind of bug that bit him in the leg before hiding in the sands.

    "Yeah, I understand. There is no need to be so on edge," Layn reassured his promisingpanion, before turning his face to Irea. "How did it work? Feeling strange or something?" Layn asked, concerned with the girl''s wellbeing.

    "Well, it feels like you are all over my insides," Irea replied, before turning beet red when she realized how her own words sounded like. "I mean, I can feel you in every cell of my body and," suddenly breaking her sentence, she raised her widened eyes on her partner, "I just broke through."

    For a moment, silence covered the entire area. All those who heard Irea''s words directly, just stood in silence, unable to believe what they just heard. Those who failed to hear the girl simply adopted the actions of the rest.

    "Raising awareness stage, huh?" Layn asked in order to make sure he was on the same page as his girl.

    "Yeah. And here I thought I would be stuck at Cleansing thoughts stage for a long time," Irea said while lowering her head. It was clear as a day that she herself had problems with how to cope with her sudden growth.

    "Well, you are with me, so what else did you expect?" Layn asked while making sure to keep his voice natural yet loud enough for the others to hear it. "Did you think that bringing you from the middle stages of the first cultivation dimension to how powerful you are right now was just a fluke?"

    Layn''s words were directed not at the girl, but at all those eavesdropping on their conversation. With the ultimate purpose of this mission aimed at recruiting people with potential, Layn couldn''t fail to keep dangling the bait right before their eyes, while making sure that they wouldn''t get too much just from finishing the mission itself.

    What he needed to achieve, was to ingrain the idea that following him was worth the effort into all those who he deemed potentially fitting for his new regime.

    "Nah, not at all," Irea replied while shaking her head. "Cut me some ck, you know I didn''t mean it in this way. It''s just shocking¡­ How easy you can induce growth in others." She added, rubbing the side of her head against Layn''s shoulder. "Don''t worry though, I would love you even if you were to be ordinary."

    A small peck to Layn''s cheekter, Irea moved away from his side. In the searing heat of the desert, this kind of intimacy was rather ufortable for both parties in the long term.

    "Everyone, I''m sure you are jealous of me, right now, so here is my promise.." Layn suddenly spoke out loud, this time openly addressing all the mercenaries under him. "As long as you guys manage to hunt three monsters without my help today, I won''t torture you with this kind of show anymore!"

 Chapter 101 - Camp And Lecture

    Setting camp in the middle of the desert wasn''t an easy task. Even with all the manpower and tools that Layn organized beforehand.

    "What the heck are you doing guys?" Layn shouted while pping his face with his very own hand. "Is this your first time out camping or what? Let me show it how it should be done." He added, unable to withstand the sight of a group trying to set up a tent by holding the corners of the huge piece of cloth with stones.

    Layn pulled out his knife and several short sticks that were intended for the firece, before sharpening their ends. Then, he took each of the corners, before turning them into a small loop, through which he inserted the sharpened stick.

    Then, with a single kick to the top of the stick, he forced it almost all the way into the sands of the desert, deep enough for the sheer mass of the sand to hold it in ce.

    "If you just ce stones at the corners, a single gust of wind would be enough to shift it and destroy your tent. Have some fucking sense!" Layn continued to whine.

    In the greater picture, his mercenaries weren''t doing all that bad. Thanks to Antion''s oversight, most of the problems were solved before they would turn serious.

    "To think that people capable of fulfilling my quest wouldn''t be able to set up a damned camp," Laynined, forcefully calming his breath down in an attempt to cool his head.

    "Don''t be too harsh on them," Irea approached Layn as soon as she was done with setting their own tent. Just like all the others, it was made from a simple, square piece of cloth with one of its sides cut. Just by inserting a long stick into the ground and then stretching the cloth above it, basic protection from the cold winds of the desert could be made. "We don''t want them to just give up on you because of some silly stuff like camping, don''t we?"

    Layn took a moment to appreciate how the girl was worrying over his n, before shaking his head.

    "If someone is too dumb to realize that they are doing something wrong, they won''t be of any use to me." He shook his head, before reaching out with his hand and patting the girl''s head. "There is no point in looking for talented but stupid people. Talent can only amount to so much, while wits and intelligence are way more valuable¡­ But just that much harder to evaluate."

    Irea decided not to pursue the topic. For her, just standing beside the archmage was enough to be happy in this very specific moment.

    "Either way, let''s not waste time. I still need to set up a firece." Layn finally shook the depressedziness out of his mind, before taking his hand off Irea''s head and moving forward.

    The desert waspletely void of any building materials. Unless one wanted to test his luck and just build a hole to bury himself in, tents were the only possible shelter that Layn''s party could carry. While Layn hoped that this situation would change once they would travel far enough into the sands, for now, he had to deal with what he had on his hands.

    Soon, Layn started his preparations. After deducing the amount of dried-up sticks that could prove usefulter on in case someone were to lose their tents, he piled the rest of the wood in a small, triangr structure before using a tiny bit of magic to set it on fire.

    "Hey, it''s starting!" As soon as the tongues of ze reached out to the skies, amotion appeared in the entire camp. And there was a good reason behind that.

    But rather than paying attention to the people gathering around the crackling fire, Layn continued to focus his entire attention on it instead. Only when everyst member of the group gathered around did the archmage raise his eyes and open his mouth.

    "Everyone, first off. Congrattions on fulfilling your task." For a moment, a notion of pride appeared on Layn''s face. Not self-pride, born from his own achievements, but the pride in the people that worked really hard to fulfill his demands. "As promised, I will refrain from reminding you that we are in the middle of the desert with no women outside my dearest. And just as I said when you brought me the third monster''s core, I will now conduct a lecture that I believe everyone will benefit from."

    Layn stood up. He brought his hands towards the fire for a moment as if he wanted to warm himself up. Whoever was attentive enough, could realize that rather than focusing on his hands, Layn was actually staring deeply into the fires, as if expecting to receive some kind of revtion from them.

    "Magic, cultivation, energy. Those three words are describing the same phenomena, just like we could call this thing a firece, campfire, or just ze." His lecture started. But rather than tacklingplicated or deep problems, something that most of his listeners expected, Layn decided to start from very scratch.

    "That''s why, whenever I say energy or mana, just take it for the force that you guys are using to cultivate." Layn smiled at the group before turning silent for one more moment.

    "You see, I didn''t spend a long time in what you guys consider your own world. I never received proper training in terms of cultivation nor was I taught about themon sense of this world of yours." Layn started from a big note, instantly throwing the minds of everyone into disarray. But among all the people in the group, it was Irea that was surprised the most.

    ''I can bet she''s thinking I''m about to reveal something about myself,'' Layn thought to himself as a small smirk appeared on his lips.

    "I spent most of my life in seclusion, training in what''s called the art of magic. You can consider it as a different way of using the same energy that you guys use to cultivate." Layn exined, quickly calming Irea''s worries down.

    ''After all, I can also bet she would prefer to hear the truth of my origins on her own, without anyone listening to it.'' Layn added in his thoughts, before focusing back on his lecture.

    "But to put it simply, mana, the energy that I''m constantly mentioning, isn''t something godly. It''s not a gift of the spirits or gods, it''s not an unexinable force that rules the world. Just like this stick," Layn pulled out one of the sticks he saved before, only to drop it on the ground, "would fall down to the ground once I let it go, magic is just a name for certain phenomena that''s natural to this world."

    At this point, some small murmurs started to circte through the group of mercenaries. ording to what Layn already learned of this world, cultivation was still considered either a gift from the gods or a part of their power stolen from them by heroes that ancients considered ancient themselves. And what he just did, was akin to pissing on the believes they hold on dearly to, through their entire lives.

    "In other words, when you are cultivating, you are not following some kind of ritual. You are not trying to receive a God''s blessing or anything of that sort." Layn emphasized on this point. "What you are doing, is infusing this energy into your own body, so that you can improve your flesh, your mind, andstly," Layn paused for a moment, before looking at his spectators and smiling smuggishly, "your soul."

    Thest part was what the archmage learned just recently when trying to pass time in the warcamp. During one of his lengthy, drunk talks with Antion, the core of the third dimension of cultivation was revealed to him.

    Sadly, as Antion himself only heard the general name for it, Layn didn''t manage to learn anything else about this part of cultivation. Thankfully, though, stuck in the middle of the third stage of the second dimension of cultivation, there was no need for him to bother with the next dimension yet.

    "You can think of it like that. If you eat a lot of food and then train hard, you will get stronger. But have any of you ever wondered how does that happens?" Layn forced his lips to remain motionless, despite their attempts to form another smug smile.

    "¡­" Outside out a few more murmurs, no one spoke a word. But what was important, no one stepped up to answer Layn''s question.

    "You see, the very basis of improving one''s strenghtys in a simple process." This time, Layn could no longer control his lips, allowing them to form the arrogant expression he wasn''t very proud of. "By working out, you are killing your strenght. By resting, you allow it to regenerate, but to regenerate even greater than it was before. And for that, you need nutrients from the food you consume."

    What Layn just exined wasmon knowledge in his times. Coming from the civilization that brought together the power of magic with the wonders of technology and intricacies of knowledge, he was well-versed in the basics of every topic that he deemed important.

    "And now, to extrapte it to cultivation. By cultivating, you are basically fighting with phantoms. You are forcing your energy to act in a certain way, exhausting it in the process." Layn suddenly stopped his words, before looking at the faces of the crowd listening to him, "ording to what I said about the muscles, what would be the next step?"

    For a moment, no one said a thing. Then, Pavrien shyly raised his hand. Seeing that no one was eager to answer, he stood up. "To rest? Or maybe to eat some food?"

    Hearing the answer, Layn could no longer hold himself back.

    "Hahaha, you are closer to the truth that you believe yourself. There is no need to be shy, you are actually correct." At first, the archmage encouraged the very first mercenary he hired. ''Initiative always needs to be rewarded.'' He thought, recalling the time when one of his early masters said those exact words to him¡­

    While flogging one of his fellow ssmates for the act of stealing some apples to do some magic testing on them.

    "Whates next, is rest. But in order to rest and regenerate, those paths that your mana created¡­ needs more mana!" Layn smiled. Right now, he revealed the very reason why the people of this world were capable of using cultivation even without relying on the magic stones.

    This was actually a pretty simple discovery. Nature didn''t tolerate imbnce. That''s why, even if there was no conductor in the air that would allow people to freely draw the mana in, as long as they exhausted themselves while cultivating with the mana they already had, the world itself would do its best to fill their potential back to its optimal state!

    "And this is where the entire process of strengtheninges from. By exhausting your power, you are forcing the world around you to help you to regenerate it, and regenerate it to its increased volume!"

 Chapter 102 - Practical Lesson

    "Wakey, wakey!" Irea muttered softly to Layn''s ear while shaking his arm.

    "Huh? What?" Prying his eyes open, Layn looked around with his sleepy eyes. "Did I fall asleep?"

    "Yeah, just for a bit though," Irea reassured her man before moving her eyes at the situation in front. "I believe you might need to help them out a bit."

    Following Irea''s stare, Layn looked towards his underlings, currently fighting with a group of three different monsters.

    ''Well, things escted rather quickly, didn''t they?'' Layn thought to himself, crawling out from underneath the sheets that lulled him to sleep before.

    To say that Layn''s mercenaries weren''t capable of dealing with the monsters on their own was an understatement. ''From what I can see, they are barely holding their own. Injuries might start appearing soon,'' he thought, before biting on his lips. ''Well, it''s better to be safe than sorry,'' Layn decided in his thoughts, shaking his head to regain the rity of thoughts before rushing forward.

    The monsters that his people were dealing with were all the same. A mix of a fluffy, puppy the size of an elephant, mixed with the worst kind of hell-spawn that one could imagine. From the middle of their body forward only the rotting flesh covered their naked bones, while the back half of their body was filled with perfectly carved-out muscles.

    Overall, the strange appearance of the monster could be only attributed to one thing. The fears of those who visited the desert, giving the direction for the free mana. A direction that once condensed enough, would manifest in form of those hideous monsters.

    That, or Layn group was just unlucky enough to encounter this kind of nature freak, naturally born monsters.

    ''Well, I guess I don''t really have the time to think about it too much,'' Layn thought, rushing forward. The process of defeating any form of monster was pretty simple and the archmage had no reason to attempt improving it.

    At first, he closed the distance. Running past the ranks of his mercenaries, Layn threw himself underneath the massive body of the half-dead monster. This kind of action was so reckless and counterintuitive if not in out stupid, that even the monster failed to instantly react to it.

    And thisck of reaction was thest nail to its coffin. A coffin that was already prepared once fate decided it, along with the two other of its kind, would cross path with Layn.

    Once underneath the monster''s rotting belly, Layn tightened his jaws before pushing his hand right into the disgusting matter that made up the monster''s body. Once there, a small wisp of his concentrated mana prated through the monster''s massive body. All the way to its core.

    "Guys, don''t try to take more on yourself than you can handle," Layn said to the mercenaries after turning around. Given how this monster was slightly stronger than the ones from before, it took Layn several seconds to actually consume all of its energy. But doing so brought his aura to the point of oversaturation. "Now, who did the best during the fight?" Layn asked while sending a quick look at the other two groups fighting with their monsters.

    "Ugh¡­" No one stepped forward, most likely worried about angering the others. ''Figures,'' Layn thought to himself, not surprised at all. ''In the middle of the desert, making enemies out of yourpanions is not the best idea,'' he thought before turning around and looking to the skies.

    "I don''t really have a choice now, do I?" Layn asked himself, before focusing all the excess mana on his palm. Once the energy reached a proper level of condensation, Layn finally gave it a mental order, enforcing a structure to the wildly flowing magic. "Fireball!" he shouted, pushing his right hand forward.

    As if a droplet dripping out from some kind of fabric, the dense energy separated itself from Layn''s aura. Then, as if someone put a match to it, the mana suddenly exploded with fires, quickly turning into a pir of ze stretching for as far as one''s eye could see.

    "Not so much for a fireball, huh?" Once the fires died down, Layn looked down on his hand and bit his lips. ''As expected, wild mana is not that easy to control,'' he realized, before taking a look at all the remaining wild mana in his aura. ''At least it diffuses properly,'' he thought.

    Layn knew what to expect from farming monsters even before his hunt begun. Given how the monsters were considered endangered species in his own time, the study of the reasons behind the disappearance of such a huge selection of different life-forms was pretty extensive.

    "Sir! Please!" someone shouted. Turning his head towards the source of the shout, Layn saw that one of the two remaining groups was being pushed back. Or rather, its members were only holding themselves up with the greatest effort and desperation, already on the verge of breaking under the relentless assault of the monster.

    "I''ming!" Layn shouted back, rushing towards the danger. A few momentster, the monster stopped moving at all. With the connection between its core and the core''s projection that resulted in its body broken, what remained was nothing more than wild mana in a peculiar form.

    "Irea!" Layn shouted. "Come here for a second!" Not willing to let a danger like that appear once again, Layn quickly looked towards the third group. In there, Antion was proving his skill as amander, making the best use of the skills of those fighting alongside him.

    And surprisingly enough, Pavrien was quite the shy one in their group, jumping around the surroundings like some kind of rabbit, constantly annoying the monster with a light attack to its sides. While by itself, his attacks didn''t amount to much and would take him several weeks to sufficiently deplete the monsters'' energy to take him down, with the perspective of the greater group, his seemingly pointless attacks gave hispanions a lot more leeway than either of the other two groups had.

    ''I wonder if it''s his personal skill or just Antion''s sharp eyes,'' Layn thought, unable to decide between the two. Yet, before this question could rise to a priority in his mind, Irea finally reached his spot.

    "You called?" Dressed in nothing but her undergarments and a long, ugly robe, Irea lost nearly half of her usual charm. As angry as she was when Layn asked her to wear something so in, that was the only way in which he could hold himself back in her presence, just like he promised to his mercenaries.

    "Yeah. Come here." Layn replied, nodding his head and gesturing at the girl toe to his side.

    "Ugh, disgusting," Irea protested lightly, averting her eyes from the image of the rotting flesh of the monster.

    "It''s not real, don''t be bothered by it," Layn exined, even though he was perfectly aware how little words like that would help. Disgust wasn''t something that could be rationally fought with. It was a predisposition of the human psyche, aiming to make him leave anything that could be potentially dangerous. And even if small pests and insects that most people would find repulsing were no longer a threat to the civilization with herbs and basic medicine, the natural instincts of a man remained just as strong as they always were.

    ''Just like with our tendency to grow fatter during the cold season,'' Laynmented on his thoughts, before grabbing Irea''s hand and pushing it into the repulsing flesh of the monster.

    "I know it feels awful, but try to think of this warmth not as the heat of the flesh, but as the caressing of the mana," Layn ordered. As for now, with his aura already saturated, unless he wanted to draw even more attention to himself, he couldn''t really absorb all that much energy anymore.

    And this was where Irea turned useful.

    "Wait, don''t tell me¡­" Irea said, finally realizing Layn''s intentions.

    "Yeah, I will teach you how to do it." He nodded his head. "Just make sure not to absorb it all directly into your body," Layn added before leaning over Irea''s ear. "Rather than trying to consume this energy, try to hold it at bay, as if you wanted to use it right away, but was unable to decide what for."

    Layn wasn''t smart enough to figure out this kind of feeling one''s aura himself. It was the work of one of the antique heroes, the proimed first mage, who came up with this idea. And even in the days of Layn''s academy, it was still the mostmonly taught method for beginners!

    "I get it," Irea said, with her eyes filling with determination. She focused, turning her eyes to slits before closing them altogether. Layn''s energy was still blocking the monster''s core from reuniting with its energy, allowing him to see when the girl finally felt the principle behind his teachings.

    "I¡­" Irea attempted to say something as soon as the wild energy started to flow into her body, only to end up assimted into her aura.

    "I know. It feels insane." Layn replied, putting a gentle smile on his face. "Try not to get too high on this feeling. If you get addicted, then even I won''t be able to save you." Layn added with a slightly grim tone.

    The mana addiction. It was one of the greatest gues that bothered the magic society. Just like one would feel good when drinking water after hours of dying from thirst, just like one would feel good when eating after days of starvation, one would always feel good when free energy like that would fill every single cell of their body.

    But with time, once one''s body would get used to this kind of free nutrition, one would no longer be able to sate the desires of his body with food or water and would grow dependant on a constant supply of magic.

    By that point, one wouldn''t feel high when consuming it at all. The only thing that consuming the mana would do, was alleviating the symptoms of the illness it caused in the first ce.

    ''I can''t afford to have anyone contract it,'' Layn told himself, steeling his resolve.

    "No, that''s not it," Irea suddenly proved that his entire guess and inner monologue werepletely useless. "It feels like¡­ I identally absorbed a little bit of this mana into my cultivation," she said, moving her terror-filled eyes on Layn''s face. "I¡­ I won''t turn into that monster now, right? RIGHT?!" Irea asked, clearly desperate for the answer.

    "Nah, you don''t need to worry about it," Layn replied, pulling his hand out of the already transparent body of the monster before rustling Irea''s hair a bit. "The worst that would happen, would be your body rejecting the foreign mana. And the best that could happen,"

    Before Layn could finish his words, the quality of Irea''s disposition changed. It was as if the air around her suddenly turned denser, making it harder to catch the girl off guard.

    "Huh?" Irea sighed in surprise, "I just reached the raising senses awareness stage?"

 Chapter 103 - Investigation

    "This is the ce, I''m sure of it," Markus said while holding his head just right above the vegetation. His eyes were directed at a rtively small city in the distance, surrounded by nothing but arid ins and some small thickets that were too shallow and too sparse to serve as a good cover.

    "Good. Let''s not waste the time and go in, then." Al muttered under his nose, worried that speaking out in a normal way would get thempromised.

    "So much for the scouting mission, huh?" Markus smirked. "I know you already told me more than enough times, but are you sure you are okay with my arrangement?" He said before looking at the legendary ancestor.

    "Posing as ve bodyguards? Well, it''s all just an act so there is no need to pay it any mind." Al once again calmed Markus down, before shaking his head. "Even if I wouldn''t like it, I don''t know theirnguage. There would be no point in picking me as the leader of the group." Al exined, raising from the field of high-growing grass.

    It was crucial for him to be the first one to appear in the view. Because Markus''s n was two-fold.

    "First, let''s deal with our investigation. If I will be able to confirm that it was all Layn''s doing, we will be one step closer to catching up with him." Markus muttered, more to himself than to anyone else. "Whenever you will want to break your act, remember. As long as we get to him without letting the others realize how little we care about them, there is even a chance that he could bring us all back to our own times." Markus said while standing up.

    Their initial scouting group already split. With Yelna taking Antion and two of the antique soldiers with her, Markus was left with Al and Lessen. And while the first few days after the split, after Markus felt the wavering of the mana filled his head with nightmare-like thoughts of what that silent man was nning, all it took was one close save where Lessen''s dagger saved Markus from a stray beast for the trust between the two of them to start budding.

    "Let''s go!" Markus ordered, positioning himself right behind Al and ahead of Lessen.

    In a rtively short time, the small city in the distance grew in their eyes, proving to not be as small as they initially expected.

    "Isn''t this ce enormous?" Al said out loud, gawking at the sight.

    "Nah, it''s a small ce. If we ever get to move through time again, I would love to show you how a really big city looks like," Markus said while a smirk grew up on his face. ''I wonder how he would react if he were to know that the capital he created turned into nothing more but a preservation site, surrounded by living quarters of the modern capital several miles in each direction!'' Markus giggled internally, not daring to show the state of his mind to the two of hispanions.

    Just in case they would take his giggle for an insult.

    "Stay where you are!" Said the guard as soon as the trio approached the gates. From how slowly the queue to the gate was moving and from how guards stood already at its rear rather than focusing on the gate itself, one could tell that there was something desperately wrong with this ce.

    "Excuse me?" Markus tested out his trantion spell. It was a spell he worked several sleepless nights on. By using most of his energy and basically restricting himself from using magic while the trantion spell was active, he perfected the structure of the advanced trantion spell. With that, he could talk to the ancients even without knowing thenguage at all.

    ''The man who came up with this design¡­ He is the one that deserves the title of genius,'' Markus recalled the words he said to the two antique men when they first asked about what he was doing. Them calling him a genius only sparked a humble reaction out of the saint.

    "I told you, stay where you are, fucker." The guard didn''t even bother to turn around, dismissing Markus''s group in his mind.

    "Sir, I''m perfectly aware that everyone must be constantly asking about this, and I''m truly sorry for asking the same," Markus said before lowering his head. "Sir, could you please tell us what happened here? I was sent all this way by my lord to make sure the same thing wouldn''t happen in any of his viges¡­" Markus exined the fake story he prepared the night before while adjusting his facial expression to one''s fitting a tired noble''s official.

    "Eh, again?" Initially intrigued by Markus'' words, the guard turned his head towards him, only to look away as soon as the topic of Markus'' question became obvious. "I don''t know much. Apparently, some treasure went out of control, destroying a huge chunk of our academy and the city itself." The guard leisurely pointed his hand towards the pir of smoke that still grew around the southern part of the town.

    "Wait, what?" Markus posed to be shocked. "A treasure went out of control? How could this even happen?!" He asked, perfectly aware of what those treasures this guard was talking about.

    During their weekly journey to the source of the distribution, Markus'' group came across many different celestials. Some of them attempted to buy their life with the spoils they had on themselves, revealing the treasures to be just a slightly moreplex mechanism crafted by a civilization that appeared to be just one or two centuries worth of technological development above the current celestial civilization.

    In other words, what the locals considered treasures, was nothing more but leftover trash that remained on the face of the world after the copse of the ancient civilization preceding the locals.

    As such, every piece of trash that locals would call a treasure, was something that was left buried in the ruins for centuries if not ages, before someone was lucky enough to stumble upon them.

    "I know, right?" The guard agreed with Markus in pretended shock. "It''s just a rumor, but apparently that treasure¡­ It not only was a fake, but also a cleverly nted magical bomb." The guard shook his arms, proving how little he cared about those affairs. "The people tell that it was some kind of personal vendetta between those pesky cultivators," the guard attempted to exin, before suddenly stopping as heid his eyes on the two Gener nsmen.

    "Are you¡­" The guard asked without even finishing his sentence. Rather than that, he squinted his eyes instead.

    "Ah, no. They are not cultivators!" Markus instantly came forward to reassure the man. "My lord just fancy the power of the barbarian brutes." Markus smiled, cutting the topic.

    "Barbarian brutes? What the heck do you mean by that?" Already engaged in the discussion, the guard no longer had any qualms about talking with Markus.

    "Oh, so you don''t have them here?" The saint pretended to be surprised. "You know, those dirty spawns of the criminal seed. Children of those who were cast away and banished to the forest?" Markus continued to give more exposition to the guard, hoping that the man would figure out the story himself.

    Sadly, the confused look on the man''s face proved how he was clearly incapable of achieving an intellectual enlightenment from the hints that Markus dropped alone.

    "So you don''t have them anywhere near," Markus pretended to be both surprised and disappointed, while he continued to furiously make notes in his mind. Because outside of investigating what happened and whether Layn was behind it or not, he still had another part of his mission.

    To sound off whether his precedesors even existed in the day and age they all got transported to.

    "Either way, my lord is quite fond of them. Not only they are dumb and unable to speak the civilizednguage, but they are also pretty strong out of their bodies." Markus shrugged his arms. "It makes them the perfect bodyguards. They only understand a fewmands, making them impossible to ever betray any secrets, not like those pesky cultivators one could hire anywhere," Markus said as he held his breath for a while to make his face turn slightly red.

    ''Who could''ve known that faking another persona could be so taxing?'' he thought while his mind begged for another breath of fresh air.

    "To think that there would be this kind of people in this world as well," the guard shook his head in amazement. And by that time, the queue finally managed to move forward, making it harder and harder for Markus tomunicate with the man who was watching the end of the line.

    "Either way, thanks for exining the things to me." Markus raised his hand, bidding his farewells to the man. "It will make it easier to find out where I should even begin looking for the answers I need!" He added before turning his head around and taking a nce at the city.

    ''Not like I need to even enter this ce anymore, huh?'' he thought to himself, before shaking his head. ''You didn''t change at all, brother..'' Markus''s lips curved up into a small smile. ''You still leave your scent all over the ce!''

 Chapter 104 - Orchestrated Commotion

    "It seems we are not the only ones hurrying here to investigate what happened," Markus said, ncing at a huge crowd of people waiting in a long queue in front of the Inn''s doors.

    "This ce¡­ I never thought I would get to enter the city of Celestials¡­" Al replied,pletely ignoring what Markus said. Being one of the most prominent figures in future history didn''t make him a different man. And being able to see a city proper for the very first time in his life without trying to torch it down, had to be a huge shock for him.

    "Then I have some bad news,'' Markus announced, shaking his head in defeat.

    "What happened?" Al instantly prepared himself for the worst.

    ''Just as expected,'' Markus thought to himself as he smiled lightly. ''If I were to just tell him the news right away, he would pay any attention, huh?''

    "Most likely, the best that we can count on, is a bit of straw in the stables." Markus shook his head. "And even that might be hard toe by. How about we just see whatever there is to see deeper in the city before leaving for the ins?" Markus suggested while looking around.

    The city itself was somewhere in the middle of the scale from a rundown and dying town and a thriving metropolis. From the looks of things, it was about the size of any other random city from the times before modern medicine and technology became a thing.

    "You are the leader here, sire," Al replied in a jokingly manner before his face suddenly turned serious. "But honestly speaking, I think I will feel better sleeping outside this ce." Al didn''t even need to tell this. From what Markus could tell from the limited time he knew the man personally, he used to hold his head high, as if wanting to look ahead of everyone else. But ever since their small group reached the area near the city, Al''splexion continued to suffer.

    "I think this would be a better choice too," Markus replied, holding the same stance as Al, although for greatly different reasons.

    ''If we stay in the city, it will be hard to control who is going in and who is going out,'' Markus thought just as a suddenmotion nearby forced his eyes to look over.

    "I''m telling you! That''s what I heard there! If you want to go look for them in the fucking staging ground, feel free!"

    Barely twenty meters away, a group of warriors suddenly split into two. As if voicing theints of everyone that was backing them, two young men argued with each other.

    "Can''t you see how big the reward is?" The other party stomped his feet before attacking. "As long as we catch just the two of them, we won''t need to work a single day for the next few years!" The man shouted, before pointing his hand at the people standing firmly behind him. "Do you really believe that a group of two could fight against our entire n?"

    ''There is something wrong with them,'' Markus suddenly noticed, putting a stop to his walk and gesturing at Al and Lessen to do the same. And after just a few moments of observing, the saint managed to pinpoint just what was bothering him about thosemotion-starting fellows.

    ''They are all fake!'' Markus thought to himself when the debate right beside him finally started to reach its conclusion. It was easy to notice it once one would focus on the tone of the people and how they ented their words.

    "Fine, but what about those mercenaries they hired? I know they managed to only get a single one here, but the news from the warcamp ims that they left for the desert with over twenty men in total!" The reluctant character of the scene suddenly brought up yet another, juicy piece of information, instantly swaying the mood of the crow that was watching themotion to his side.

    ''So they don''t want people to go to the desert, huh?'' Given how it seemed that the reluctant guy would triumph in the debate, Markus made a mental note before smiling and turning around. Yet, just as he was to make a single step, the proactive party counter-attacked.

    "Those two are already condemned as a threat to civilization . No matter where they go and what they do, the entire world will be after them." The young man made a short pause before allowing a huge, smug smile on his face. "Do you really think that mercenaries will fight for him if we tell them about this? Heck, the second prince went out of his way and obtained a warrant for those mercs, allowing them to wash their sin by helping to catch those two fuckers!"

    ''It feels like I''m in the exposition part of some poorly written novel,'' Markus thought before shaking his head in a silent defeat. "Well, that works for me." He said, before suddenly pushing forward.

    "Shut up, both of you," Markus ordered, suddenly bing a third party in the war of the words. "I know what are you doing and why are you doing that. I''m interested, so tell me where the fuck did those two go before I get bored with your farce." Markus didn''t even bother to check if Al and Lessen followed him.

    From the suddenly widened eyes of the public, it was clear that it was the massive posture of Al that intimidated them.

    "Excuse me?" At the same time, both of the actors spoke up. Then, they rapidly looked at each other, before moving their eyes on Markus.

    "Do I really need to spell it out loud?" Markus said, gently raising one of his eyebrows. "But sure, if you insist, then it''s not a problem to me," he added before either of the actors could respond in any way.

    "First, you guys areing here, exactly where people are bound to gather. Then, you start your little show, while making sure to address all the doubts that potential mercenaries have," Markus started. With each of his words, the panic grew bigger and bigger on the faces of the actors, all the way to the point where the reluctant one jumped forward, attempting to cover Markus'' mouth¡­

    Something unwise, given Al''s and Lessen''s presences.

    "Sit," AL didn''t even need to try. He simply stepped forward, caught the extended hand of the actor, before snapping it. "Hey, he attacked you. Should I kill him?" he asked, still holding on to the wrist of the unlucky actor.

    "He is asking if he should kill you for an attempt to attack me," Markus was kind enough to trante from the futuremonnguage to the ancient.

    "Sir, please¡­" The poor man begged for mercy.

    "What''s the prize and where did they go?" Markus asked. He had not a shred of doubt that this entiremotion was all orchestrated to hire even more people into searching for Layn''s whereabouts. And he was quite sure of it because the same thing happened back in their own time.

    There was one instance when Layn''s limits were broken. A huge thing happened that brought him beyond any mercy or salvation. Unwilling to bring his friends into his own problematic mess, he decided to leave the party for several months back then.

    "Where will we find you once it''s all over?" Markus could still remember the exact wording of both the question he asked back then and the answer he received.

    "You don''t need to worry about it. Once you enter the province, everybody will be talking about me."

    This amount of confidence was unusual for Layn. Even though he never had the problems holding his own weight, he wasn''t arrogant. In fact, this word itself had no meaning in regards to the archmage, as he never took his authority as a judging factor in any matter he would be set on deciding.

    ''It''s just like when we went to look for him back then,'' Markus thought to himself, recalling those unpleasant memories. ''I just hope I won''t find him in the same state as we did then,'' his lips curved down, turning his sad memories into a wicked expression.

    An expression that scared the shit out of the two actors in front of him.

    "Sir, the reward is five grade two stones for each of them¡­ But they need to be brought here alive. As for the direction," the actor hesitated for a moment, but a single look at his painedpatriotter all his doubts were gone. "Sir, they went to the staging grounds in the south. From what we managed to learn in the two weeks since they left, is that they gathered a small number of mercenaries before heading off to the desert."

    Markus nodded to Al. Only then did the chief of the Gener tribe released the wrist of the other actor.

    "Tell me, was there anything peculiar about the way they choose those mercenaries?" A suspicion appeared in Markus''s mind. He knew Layn pretty well, meaning, he could picture several reasons for the archmage to go to a ce as separated from the rest of the world as desert.

    And each of those possibilities was worse than the other.

    "Peculiarity? Hmm¡­" The actor asked before starting to think hard about something. "Sir, I hope you won''t find any grudge for that¡­ But the mercenaries they picked¡­ They were mostly weak." The actor swallowed a gulp of saliva before adding.. "It''s my personal opinion, but they were picked¡­ as if that bastard was looking for something only he was capable of seeing in those people."

 Chapter 105 - True Past

    "What is this, out in the distance?" Layn asked, breaking the long period of silence.

    "Huh? Isn''t that just a mountain?" Irea attempted to answer, even though she could only make a guess.

    "Doesn''t seem like it," Layn said, shaking his head. "The amount of mana coiling at its bottom¡­ It wouldn''t be a lie to im it''sparable to that barrier we saw before," he added after a moment.

    "Wait, what?" Irea froze in ce, taking her sweet time to digest the meaning of what Layn just said.

    "Is this a source of the monsters or something? An automated facility to produce guardians of the ce?" Layn voiced out his thoughts, rubbing his chin in deep thought.

    "You are now saying some pretty revolting things, you know that?" Irea asked, staring wide-eyed at her partner.

    "Does it matter? We are all alone here," Layn shook his head, returning to his senses before looking around. "Right, how many do you think will return?" he asked, dropping the previous topic just as rapidly as he started it a moment ago.

    "Half?" Irea leaned her head to the side before making a guess. "Maybe two-thirds? One-third?" She then shrugged her arms. "It all depends on how strong they really are. And let me remind you¡­"

    "I didn''t pick anyone with strenght sufficient to deal with the monsters on their own. I''m aware of that," Layn said before the girl could finish her words. "Still, I want to believe they learned something over the past few days."

    Just as one could expect from the desert, even after traveling for over a week already, thendscape has yet to change. Surrounded by nothing but sand, sandhills, and sand dunes, Layn felt as if he was in the middle of an ocean, unable to even look to the stars to navigate his way out.

    "I doubt they did," Irea suddenly stated. "It''s not like people can easily uproot something they believed in since their childhood years, don''t you think so as well?" she asked.

    "Didn''t you do it though?" Layn rebuked with a small smile.

    "If you want to go this way, let me ask you another question instead," Irea rolled her eyes. "How many of those men did you fuck?" she asked while raising one of her eyebrows.

    "Excuse me?" Layn wasn''t angry but startled. ''Just where did this questione from?'' he asked himself in his thoughts before looking sharply at the girl. "What does that have to do with anything?"

    "Everything," she answered, lowering her arms and her head. "Look," Irea took a step forward, wrapping her arms on Layn''s chest before hugging herself to his back, "ever since we turned intimate, I started paying a lot more attention to everything you say and you do. What''s more, we started spending all the time we have together, so I had no other choice but to see all the other exploits of yours that constantly break everything I believed to be an absolute truth so far." Irea exined while rubbing her cheek against Layn''s back.

    "Still, what does that have to do with fucking others?" Layn asked, unable to understand this point of the girl. "If you mentioned just the time we spent together if you brought all the things that you saw me do, I would understand, but fucking?" Layn asked once again, before taking Irea''s arms off his chest, turning around and hugging her himself. "Please, don''t you ever mention something so sad. It makes me feel as if the only reason you are so close with me are my powers. And I don''t like that any bit."

    For a moment, Layn''s aura changed. For this single moment, all the grief, pain, and sadness of his days right after he learned about Ortensia''s true colors, returned. Even though he long epted the adventures in this world as a form of therapy for himself, Irea''s innocent suggestion now brought the horrors of his past back.

    "What? Wait, no, that''s not what I meant!" Irea protested. Then, her face suddenly lit up as she pushed Layn''s chest away so that she could look him in the eyes. "If you think all the way back, to the first time I got affectionate with you¡­ Did I know how special you are back then?" She asked, staring right down Layn''s eyes.

    "Well¡­" For a moment, the archmage scoured his memory to see whether what Irea said was true. And sure enough, the moment when his cultivation spiked for the first time. The time when he felt pleasure from the closeness of a girl for the first time since Ortensia broke this part of him, was indeed way before he revealed any part of his real strenght to this girl! "Well, I can''t deny that. I''m sorry." Layn apologized truthfully.

    "Why does it feels like you are just trying to avoid the topic?" Irea pressed the issue, clearly unhappy with how Layn attempted to deal with it.

    "Oh,e on. I''m not trying to avoid it. I''m really sorry for what I said and suggested," Layn lowered his head, bowing to the girl as he apologized. "It''s just that¡­" his words got stuck in his throat.

    "It''s just what?" Still fuming with anger, Irea asked.

    "I''m sorry, but I''m not ready to speak about this yet," Layn replied, turning his face away from Irea''s prying eyes. As great as he felt spending his days with her on his side, opening the can of worms from his past was still something he didn''t dare to do.

    "Oh, I''m sorry, " Irea suddenly apologized, managing to take Layn by a surprise.

    "Huh? What are you apologizing for?" he asked before turning his head to the other side, checking the distance of the closest group of monsters that continued to charge right towards them.

    "It''s simple, I never asked you about your past, because I wanted to learn about it only once you will be ready to share it with me," Irea''s said as her face turned red. This time, it was she who averted her eyes, but not in order to avoid the topic, just to hide her embarrassment instead. "And here I am, trying to press you into speaking about something that was clearly painful¡­ Pretty bad conduct for a girlfriend, isn''t it?" she then asked, raising her guilt-filled eyes on Layn''s face.

    "Don''t worry about it," the archmage replied, bringing her back into his arms. Then, just by releasing a small amount of mana that was trying to escape his control, the legs of the approaching monsters all snapped. "Wait, give me a minute."

    Freeing himself from the girl''s arms, Layn walked towards the group of monsters before sucking all of their energy one by one. With their limbs, all shattered by the outburst of mana he created a moment earlier, not a single of the monsters had any way to go back at the man sucking their existence out.

    A momentter, Layn released a huge sr re into the skies to get rid of all the excess energy that neither his cultivation nor his aura could hold.

    "Hey, I have one request for you," Irea suddenly said as soon as Layn returned to her side.

    "What it is, dear?" Layn forced all his sad memories down the drain, before focusing on the cute face of his current girlfriend. Between reminiscing his pitiful past and living the most out of his new life, the choice was obvious.

    "Whenever you will recall those things that happened to you in your past¡­ Can you juste to me?" Striking at a topic Layn didn''t expect her to, Irea managed to catch him for the second time today.

    "And what good would that do?" Layn asked before shaking his head. "What''s in the past, is in the past. I don''t want you to see me in a pitiful state either, so I will have to¡­" Layn attempted to refuse, only for the girl to wrap her arms around his chest once again, before squeezing so strongly, that all the air escaped from his lungs, making it impossible for the archmage to finish his sentence.

    "I don''t care if you are pitiful or not as manly as usual," Irea stated, holding Layn close. Then, her hands started to move up and down his back, as if she wanted to encourage him to something. "I don''t want to just share your good moments. In those good moments, I will always have to rely on you. No matter how much I try to chase after you, I feel like I''m always toote to even try." Irea suddenly broke into tears, wetting Layn''s robe. Her entire body started to tremble.

    ''It''s better not to say anything right now,'' Layn thought, limiting himself to patting the girl''s back. ''I might not be a super social person, but that''s something even I can realize.''

    "I know it''s selfish of me, but I want to be of use to you. I want to help you whenever I can. I want you to rely on me as well." Irea continued to whimper on Layn''s chest, fully opening her heart to the archmage.

    "Irea, I know¡­" before Layn could finish, the girl''s arms once again squeezed his lungs dry.

    "Don''t you ''I know'' me now!" She shouted, pressing her teary face against Layn''s chest even stronger. "Can you do that for me or not?" Apparently managing to find the courage in herself, Irea pushed Layn''s chest back before posing the question while looking deep into Layn''s eyes.

    "Well¡­" For a moment, Layn didn''t know how he was supposed to reply. Then, as if he was getting the shbacks of a dying person, all the time he spent with Irea suddenly shed before his eyes. "Rather than that, would you like to hear my true story instead?" He suddenly asked, deciding to take a leap of faith himself.. "It won''t be a short story, that I can promise."

 Chapter 106 - On The History Of Layns World

    "That fucking bitch!" Irea cursed once again, gathering her fingers into fists. "How about we eradicate her entire lineage? Since you are from the future, it should be a walk in the park for you to just kill her ancestors!" she proposed, propelled by the fury.

    "Why should I punish innocent people for the crimes of their descendants?" Layn asked in return, shaking his head in denial. "And if you look at it from another point of view, the actions of that whore is what brought me to this time and your side, isn''t that true?" Layn asked another question, putting a gentle smile on his face.

    "Still¡­" Irea protested, leaning her head to the side. "Are you going to just let her off like that? Wait, I have a better question," Irea suddenly announced. "What happened to the people past the moment when you moved back in time? I understand your reasons to hold back right now, but just thinking about that whore getting away with what she did to you scoot-free¡­" Irea''s hands tightened once again.

    "Calm down, it''s not like I care anymore. In fact, I''m actually grateful," Laynughed up. "As silly as it might sound, it was because of her betrayal that I attempted to change the past. It''s because of her being the whore she was that I could meet you. Overall, I would say I ended up profiting from her actions quite a lot, so let''s just drop this topic forter."

    ''She is not going to forget that so easily, is she?'' Layn asked himself in his thoughts even though he clearly knew the answer. As affectionate, kind, and cuddly as Irea was, he was more than aware of how determined and devoted she could be in some cases.

    "Okay but still¡­" Irea suddenly exhaled a lungful of air, before putting her hands to the back and resting them against the ground. "To think that you came from the future¡­ Do you realize how insane does that sounds to me?" She shook her head, making her long hair flutter at the wind.

    "I know, right?" Layn nodded his head. "Now you should understand why I acted the way I acted when we first met. Right, speaking about that," Layn turned his head towards the girl, looking in her eyes with curiosity, "what did you think about me back then?"

    Although not important, Layn was pretty curious about it. But that wasn''t the only reason why he brought this topic. Right after bringing the hell that he went through in his personal past and burdening Irea with this knowledge, discussing some light topics like her perception of him during their first meeting could help diffuse the tense atmosphere between the two of them.

    "Back then? Huh¡­" Irea attempted to reply, only to be pushed into a state of deep thought. "Something between a madman and a clown? A weirdo and a potentially dangerous cultivator from thends unknown?"

    After attempting to answer, Irea moved her hands back to their natural position before leaning her entire body to the side and resting her head on Layn''sp. For a few moments, she rustled around to find the perfect spot before finally settling down.

    "But you don''t need to find some other topics to take my mind off your past. Rather than that, how about you tell me how the world will look in the future?" Irea proved that she wasn''t as naive as to let Layn manipte her around like that, even if it was for what he perceived to be her own good.

    "A world of the future, huh?" Layn closed his eyes after repeating Irea''s words. For a moment, he just immersed himself in his memories, trying to figure out the easiest way to answer Irea''s question.

    "You see, first thing first, in the future, the world will be far more advanced. Be it cultivation,ter called magic, technology, or literally anything else, it will stand far above what is essible today. And because of that, not only the quality of life improved for everyone, from the simple peasants all the way to the influential powerhouses, but the poption itself soared beyond the numbers you could deem possible in the current state of the world." Layn exined, trying his best to make his exnation as simple and to the point as possible.

    "Poption soared? By how much? Twice? Thrice?" Irea asked to rify the picture in her mind.

    "I can''t really answer that without knowing how many people poptes this world in the current times, can I?" Layn answered while smiling in response. "But if we take the city we escaped into ount¡­ The entire city would be no more but just a single district within the metropolis of the future." Layn coughed, before rustling Irea''s hair. "It wasn''t that strange for major cities to reach poption crossing over millions if not tens of millions."

    Irea tensed up. Her entire body froze as if she just heard something mindboggling.

    ''Well, from her perspective, such a huge number of people should be inconceivable, so it''s no wonder she is surprised,'' Layn thought before Irea suddenly brought her head up from hisp so that she could sit on it instead. Pressing her body at Layn''s chest, she rested her head on his shoulder before turning silent for a moment.

    "Doesn''t that mean we should start working hard to bring our poption up?" Her tone turned sweet, as her hands started to roam across Layn''s back.

    "Heh, it''s not like that. For most of history, the poption remained roughly the same. In fact, it exploded during a single, specific period of time, only to slow down and even start decreasing once we reached the times I witnessed personally." Layn answered while patting Irea''s back. Even though her invite was pretty obvious, they were still out in the open, with Layn''s mercenaries bound to start returning at any time.

    And given his promise not to provoke their own urges, Layn had to hold himself back a bit.

    "Wait, what?" Irea froze once again, before pushing her upper body away a bit and looking Layn right in the eyes. "What do you mean by that?"

    "Actually, this part of our history is recorded pretty well. After thest disaster that changed the world to what I know, there were only about two to three million people in the entire world." Layn''s mood suddenly spoiled. Not because he was angry at his past or disappointed with it by any means, but because of what this single mention meant.

    Because it wasn''t like the human poption was so small before the apocalypse. ording to the scientific estimations, that apocalypse was actually an extinction event, leaving even less than a single human out of every hundred that was alive during the massive dying-out process. In fact, some estimates brought the pre-apocalypse poption to numbers exceeding four billion¡­

    ''And that means if the future cannot be changed by going back to the past, then no matter how hard I will try, most of my lineage will be bound to die off.'' Layn realized as a strange kind of pain overwhelmed his heart.

    "If there were only two to three million people past that apocalypse event you spoke off, then how many people there were by the time you invoked that gran arcana of yours?" Irea asked, making Layn realize how he didn''t give her enough context to understand the scale of the events he mentioned before.

    "That''s actually easy, while obviously not perfectly precise, the general tally of the humanity from my time¡­ Reached fifty-three and a half billion. That explosive growth¡­" Layn stopped talking for a moment, himself still awed by how rapid those changes could be, "it only took two hundred years. Two hundred years, and a situation where military technology was stuck at the level where the number of troops was the deciding factor of the great conflict that torn the world into three warring factions."

    For Layn, speaking about history was easy. He personally only witnessed the very end of this massive conflict that defined modern times. He had the privilege to witness the appearance of the magic incendiary that turned humans from the vital living force of every army into nothing more but fuel for the neverending fires.

    Although from beyond the walls of his academy, he bore witness to the fall of the three major factions and the return of the old kingdoms and republics, the return of the rtively peaceful world.

    ''It''s better if I won''t tell her that the poption could as well be more than four times as that, if not for nearly every second man in the entire world turning into a fodder for the conflict,'' Layn thought with an honest dose of irony.

    "I understand¡­" Irea started, only to suddenly start shaking her head. "Or rather, that''s what I wish I could say. But now I understand one thing."

    The girl suddenly stood up from Layn''sp, before taking a look to the side. In the distance, a group of small dots started to turn into minuscule silhouettes that only continued to grow.

    Layn''s mercenaries finally started to return.

    "There is no way for me to understand the scale of that future world, without seeing it with my very own eyes. That''s why I want you to promise me something." Irea looked sternly into Layn''s eyes. With their mercenaries approaching, they could talk freely about Layn''s past for not much longer.

    "Once you will be powerful enough, create this time-leaping spell once again.." Irea smiled, before sitting right back on Layn''sp only to ce a deep and affectionate kiss on his lips. "Even if it will be thest thing we will do, I want you to show me the world you were born in!"

 Chapter 107 - Finding The Place

    "Sir, are we getting close?" One of the mercenaries asked.

    "I don''t know. We can be just a step away from the ce I''m looking for, and we might be still weeks away." Layn shrugged his arms in response.

    It was the fourth day since they first encountered the strange, monster-producing facility. Ever since that time, the changes started appearing all around them.

    At first, the monsters turned far more intense. From their aggressiveness, through their power all the way to their density, all of those statistics jumped up, forcing Layn to withdraw all his forces and move as a single unit.

    But that was only the beginning.

    After passing the first facility, Layn thought that it was just one of the few that sprawled all over the desert. Yet, barely a few kilometers deeper into the sands, another magically active mound of earth appeared, striking through the surface of the sand.

    But what was worse, the amount and quality of magic within the second monster-producing facility (or how Layn decided on naming those strange ces), was on a whole different level whenpared to the first one Layn''s group encountered.

    "Just what is this ce?!" Irea protested at some point, already tired of constantly fighting the monsters.

    Surely, every monster that fell to her hand would end up boosting her cultivation by a huge bit. But there was a limit to how much energy Irea could absorb like that. In fact, it wasn''t any different for Layn. As such, throwing the devastating res around turned from asional flick aimed at cleansing the excessive energy from one''s system, into andter hourly urrence.

    So deep in the desert, Layn''s mercenaries couldn''t handle the monsters on their own. Especially, given how their original number of twenty mercenaries, already shrunk to barely seven people.

    Yet, Layn never had a single casualty. As long as people followed his orders and epted his leadership, he would protect them from the monsters, even though it meant reversing the role of the employer and the employee in the contract they all signed.

    But when fifteen out of the initial twenty-two mercenaries just up and left, Layn didn''t even bother to see them off.

    Thankfully, two days after the massive act of desertion, Layn finally noticed the changes he was on the lookout for.

    "Hey, Irea," the archmage called out to his girl.

    "Hey!" Not receiving any feedback, Layn sold the girl a small yet strong nudge into the side, forcing her awake.

    "Huh? What?" Irea had some trouble waking up from her daze, yet she ultimately managed to seed at it.

    "Look around. Can you see something strange?" Layn asked while sweeping his arm around as if he wanted to show the beauty of the world around them to the girl.

    "It''s desert, some sand, some more sandstone, and sand to top it all off," Irea replied with a tired voice, before raising her exhausted eyes at Layn''s face. "What else could there be on the desert?"

    Her words were formed into a question, but her tone turned it into a sarcastic remark.

    "Look again." Tom didn''t pick up the glove Irea threw at his face, opting to calmly ask her again.

    "Okay, okay, I''m loo¡­" Irea stopped mid-word. "Where did this grass came from?!"

    Her sudden shout instantly attracted the attention of the remaining mercenaries. In a moment, Pavrien, Antion, and five more of the men gathered around, alternating their eyes between the impossible sight and the face of their leader.

    "Sir? What is the meaning of this?"

    "My lord? Any clues?"

    Even though the group was much smaller than before, people in it were far more active. Maybe it was due to their growing sense of pride and attachment to Layn that they somehow managed to act more open towards him, maybe it was just the sheer shock of seeing the grass in what was supposed to be an endless desert.

    "I think we are slowly nearing the ce," Layn said in a calm tone while allowing only a small, mysterious smile on his face.

    ''The truth is, I will know we are here only when I actually find a suitable location to build!'' The archmagemented in his thoughts. ''But just how am I supposed to tell them this?''

    For a moment, Layn was troubled with the situation, before finally shaking his head free of his doubts. ''It doesn''t matter. Seeing the grass, it seems my earlier guess was correct,'' he thought, sending yet another nce at the sparse des of the grass.

    In the end, Layn''s objective didn''t change all that much. Just like when he first stepped into the desert, he wanted to find a ce to establish his academy andter turn it into a sect. Doing so on the crossroads between worlds wasn''t something risky, but something so basic that Layn couldn''t really understand how no one else could figure it out before him.

    But now, after witnessing the wonders of the monster-producing facilities, Layn''s checklist to decide on the ce grew a bit.

    First off, it had to be rich in natural resources. From trees to build some primitive buildings, through fertilend and water to take care of the most basic needs of his followers, Layn''s desired location was already quite hard to find even in the outside world.

    But then, two more terms appeared.

    First off, it had to be near a ce where the monsters would be produced. Initially, it would allow Layn, Irea, and their disciples to obtain a huge amount of energy necessary to push for the greater strength, be it from cultivation or from magic arts. Yet, the usability of those strange ces didn''t end there.

    ''I wonder if I could demolish such ce and steal the source of its power?'' This single question was stuck in Layn''s mind, making him unable to focus on the day-to-day matters. Because the opportunities bound to possessing such a powerful source of energy were limitless.

    Obviously, there was still one more requirement for any ce to satisfy Layn''s wishes.

    It couldn''t be anywhere close to the barrier that separated the other world from the ess to the desert.

    Just like it would be insanely inconvenient for other humans to discover his whereabouts right after entering the desert, it would be just as troubling if some other race, possibly hostile to humans, were to instantly draw to thends he would put a im for.

    "Hey, sir,e and have a look!" It was only a few hourster when Pavrien suddenly rushed to Layn with excitement all over his face.

    "Calm down, boy," Layn shrugged in surprise, taking a step back when faced with the charge of the young mercenary. "What happened?"

    "Sir, we found a paradise!" Pavrien eximed, even daring to go as far as to grab Layn''s hand and pull him in the direction where he came from.

    Intrigued by the sudden situation, Layn put his guard up just in case, before beckoning at Irea and following after the man. And soon, he could see with his very own eyes what ce Pavrien was so fond off to call it a paradise.

    It was an oasis. While their group left the sands of the desert a few hours ago already, they simply switched from the sea of sand to the sea of grass. And in a sense, surviving in a grand steppe like the one they were traveling through, wasn''t any less challenging than doing so on the desert.

    But with the ce that Pavrien found out, Layn could only stand still and attempt to regain his breath.

    That''s how perfect it was.

    A huge, apparently sweet-wateredke spread all the way into the nothingness of the horizon, indicating just how enormous it has to be. But what was even more important, was the fact that once one reached the shore, he or she would be able to see the traces of a forest on the shore just within the range of their eyes!

    But that wasn''t even the most important factor. It was something that Layn doubted that his mercenaries noticed¡­ But this entireke was no different from a monster-producing facility!

    It had the same aura, the same stench of condensed and automatically operated magic, the same fluctuation of energy whenever a new monster woulde out of the automated production line¡­

    And most important of all, there were no signs of anyone ever attending this ce before!

    "Pavrien¡­" For a moment, Layn was at loss for words. Seeing him like that, the young mercenary cuddled in himself, most likely expecting a scolding. "This is exactly the ce I was looking for!"

    Layn suddenly shouted, before reaching to his bags and pulling out a huge sack filled with mana stones.

    Over the course of their journey to the desert, Layn managed to gather more than enough stones to recreate every single piece of equipment he had right now. While he stopped keeping the count somewhere halfway through their trip, there were at least two hundred grade one stones hidden in the pouch.

    "Here, catch." Layn threw the bag at Pavrien without any regard for the value of the stones within. "Distribute it evenly amongst everyone in the group and gather them here," Layn ordered. Even though they were traveling as a single unit, it didn''t mean they were sticking shoulder to shoulder.

    Given the vastness of the desert andter the steppe, as long as they kept each other within sights, it was as good as traveling in a single, condensed unit.

    "Everyone''s here," a few momentster, Pavrien uttered through his tightened lips while his forehead overflowed with sweat.

    "Good," Layn praised the man before turning to what remained out of his initial group.. "You did well to apany me here, and now you are due your reward. But before you will turn around and attempt to make your way back, how about hearing the true proposition of mine, the true reason why I made you follow me through those unpleasantnds?"

 Chapter 108 - Construction Starts

    Once Layn finally picked a spot where his future academy would be, things started to quicken.

    Layn himself no longer looked like an archmage, but more like a foreman of a shift in some kind of shady constructionpany, pushing all the few people who were unlucky enough to get coaxed into this work well beyond their limits.

    But that was how the situation would look to someone who wasn''t aware of all the details of what transpired here and who was working on this strange project.

    "Hey, put those logs on the secondary stockpile," Layn shouted when he noticed a small mistake on Antion''s part. "The main one is already full!"

    Not daring to protest or even whine, Antion only nodded his head before obediently carrying a huge log away.

    "The first area is full?" alerted by Layn''s words, Irea asked after rushing to his side.

    "ording to my calction, yes," Layn replied, not daring to move his eyes away from the small group of ants that diligently pushed his ns forward. "The first batch was already taken for the burning, the second one is already distributed for the construction. The second batch for burning is already prepared in the stockpile, so I can''t allow the construction to stall by mixing the two."

    Wood was wood. Given how all the wood that Layn''s small group managed to obtain wasing from exactly the same ce, there shouldn''t be any problems if two different batches were to be mixed.

    And in all honestly, there wouldn''t be. That''s it, if not for a seriousck of manpower that Layn''s group had to face.

    While five out of seven mercenaries were tasked with bringing more and more logs from the forest, one of them would collect them before burning them down, while the other would carve each of them into nks and then into the exact same shapes as what Layn requested.

    In terms of construction itself, it was all done with Layn''s magic.

    Without any discovered sources of iron or other useful elements, Layn had no way to create nails and proceed with building in the more traditional way. In fact, even creating mortar would be quite hard, even in its primitive form, due to theck of people he could assign to mining the stone around the ce. As such, only by carving the nks into specific shapes and then perfectly fitting them together with just a slight use of force, Layn could hope to create a single ce for everyone to sleep in a single day.

    "Great, then I will poach five logs from it, okay?" Irea took a moment to ask, simply staring at Layn''s perfectly focused face in the meantime.

    "Sure, off you go," Layn nodded his head and replied.

    In the entire group, Irea was the only woman. The natural instinct initially pushed Layn into finding some easy, auxiliary jobs for her, just so that she wouldn''t feel forced out of the picture¡­

    Yet, she disagreed. In spite of all Layn''s efforts, Irea decided to take the same if not greater burden than everyone else, not only doing the same work as one of the mercenaries in cutting the logs into correct shapes, but she took it one step further.

    She was making furniture.

    As basic as it was, there was an urgent need for all sorts of things to be made. From doors, through window-shutters, through chairs, and even simple, nk beds for people to sleep at. And Irea quickly proved that for some reason, she was quite efficient at quick with the work she chose.

    Before Layn could even dream about finishing the first, simple hut for both their remaining supplies and the people themselves, Irea already created a huge pile of all kinds of applicancies. Yet, it wasn''t her insane productivity that gave her the right to upy the most central point in the entire ongoing mess.

    It was her insane power.

    Irea was slightlygging behind Layn in terms of cultivation. Even though she had ess to an endless amount of energy, the pool of which she could replenish whenever she liked it, she still slightlygged behind Layn.

    It was all because of a small bottleneck she faced when she finally reached the barrier between the first and the second dimension of her cultivation. The barrier that separated body cultivators from the mind cultivators. While she managed to easily ovee it after Layn''s extensive exnation, that single moment of the stall was enough to put her behind Layn''s progress.

    But that didn''t mean she was weak. Not at all.

    Before the construction started, Irea forced Layn to allow her a small showcase. Even though it was perfectly in line with Layn''s wishes, the archmage felt pretty bad about using even his girlfriend for something like convincing others.

    It was back when he first asked the mercenaries whether they wanted to follow him or not. Back then, Irea forcefully made her way forward and challenged every single member of the mercenary group for a duel.

    Back then, Layn still had some doubts. In the end, not all of the mercenaries that he hired were absolute weaklings, nor all of the strong ones decided to leave prematurely. Yet, in spite of what Layn expected, Irea ended up mopping the floor with every challenger, not even bothering to take a single moment of rest between the fights. Then, the most important part of her showcase came.

    "Everyone. Drop your doubts and hesitations for a moment. I know losing to a fragile woman like me feels awful, but there is one thing you should all realize beforehand." Irea said back then, right after she finished thest of her challengers. "Just a few months ago, back when I returned from thest season of desert hunting, I was weaker than every single one of you!"

    Her announcement initially didn''t stir any reaction. The defeated men looked at her without any real interest, before moving their attention back to the blunt wounds they received during each of their fights. It was her next sentence that made the world of difference.

    "I know it might be hard to believe, but before I left the city to follow this man, I was a simple quasi-teacher at the academy!"

    This statement by itself wasn''t that important. What it achieved though, was letting those few who knew about both the city and the academy to see how powerful she was¡­ but not whenpared to them. They could understand how powerful she became whenpared to how she was just a few months in the past.

    Obviously, not everyone had the knowledge required to understand the situation. In fact, outside of Pavrien, Antion, and another mercenary who apparently visited the city beforehand, the remaining four men had no idea what she was talking about.

    But the reaction of shock visible on the faces of those who knew, was enough to pique their interest. And a few momentster, when those who knew passed their knowledge to those who didn''t, the small group of Layn''s underlings proved that to create chaos, one didn''t need many people at all.

    And from this chaos, one thing emerged.

    A row of men, kowtowing on the ground in the direction where Layn stood, all begging for his guidance and approval of them as his disciples.

    "We should be able to finish most of the work before nightfall," Layn muttered to himself while watching the progress of the work. As pleasant as recalling those moments from the past was, it didn''t contribute to his project by any means.

    The archmage raised his eyes. Outside of Irea, two more mercenaries and himself who worked right in the future academy area, everyone else was tasked with bringing more and more wood.

    But given the somewhat weak cultivation of some of the mercenaries, carrying the logs with just the use of their muscles was way too inefficient. And Layn wasn''t naive enough to order his people to do it like that.

    Instead of using their muscles alone, after cleaning the bark and all the protruding parts from the fallen tree trunks, Layn''s mercenaries would wrap the logs with a simple rope, before binding them together and dropping them into the waters of the massiveke. With most of the burden of carrying the wood lifted by the usage of water, the only problem that remained was about keeping the logs from crashing into the shore.

    But it wasn''t something that a small gust of one''s energy couldn''t fix.

    "HEY!" Irea suddenly shouted right into Layn''s ear. Startled, Layn almost jumped back, managing to keep hold of his work only with the utmost effort. Yet, as he looked at the girl''s face, it was clear that she was trying to tell him something for a while already.

    "What?!" Still agitated by the shout, Layn added a little bit more energy into his response than what he intended.

    "I know you wanted to do nk-roof, but there is no need for that," Irea said, pointing her hand at the nearly finished shack. With each of the wooden parts tightly fitting into the others, all that was left now was resting the nks on specially prepared protrusions carved into the beams that made up the roof structure. "Look what I made in my free time," she then pointed her hand to a huge piece of cloth, far greater than anything Layn or his people took with them for this journey.

    "I used most of the stuff that the defectors left, along with some backpacks and a few of my clothes. I then covered it with moss, sand, and y," she exined before pointing her hand at the nearly finished shack. "How about using it for a roof instead?"

    Layn shook. For a moment, Irea couldn''t tell whether he was happy with the suggestion or disappointed that his own idea wouldn''t turn into reality. But when he turned his head towards the girl, Irea understood that neither of her initial guesses was correct.

    Layn grabbed Irea by her arms, looking intently into her eyes.

    "y? Where did you find it?!"

 Chapter 109 - Magical Brick

    "Everyone! Gather round!" Layn shouted, instantly drawing the attention of the few mercenaries that just so happened to juste back with a new shipment of logs.

    "Sir?" Surprised by the sudden change to the routine, the mercenaries only looked up at the archmage, before dropping their jobs in a way that wouldn''t destroy all their efforts so far before following his order.

    "We don''t need much more wood. What we have already should be enough." Layn pointed his hand at the massive piles of logs that the mercenaries busied themselves with gather for the entire day. "Because from now on, we have a new building material." Layn smiled before pointing his hand at a lump of y that Irea brought with her.

    "y? What, are we going to pave the roads with it?" Some of the mercenaries started asking around, in hopes of someone else understanding the intent behind Layn''s words.

    "No, we are going to turn this useless type of earth, type of earth that nothing would grow at, into a building material far superior to the wood!" Layn shouted, spreading his arms wide. "In other words," his tone normalized, making him appear as if he was talking about something as important as yesterday''s dinner, "we will be making bricks."

    Layn smiled before stepping down from the small hill he used to make himself more visible. To his side, both Irea and Pavrien were trying to make a sense of just what he was talking about.

    "First, we take this y." Layn went for the practical showcase rather than for the theory alone. "Then, we crush it." Not bothering to give his mercenaries any time for the message to sink in, Layn used a bit of his cultivation-given strength to crush the lump of y he held in his hand.

    "Great, now we have smaller pieces of it," Irea rolled her eyes, slightly disturbing the archmage.

    "Just stay with me," Layn smiled in response, before dropping all the small bits of y to the ground. "Now, we need to add water." Rather than walking all the way to the shore, Layn simply used a bit of his magic to grab hold of a small ball of water before dropping it at the crushed bits.

    ''Well, it''s not how it was made back in the future, but it should still work,'' he thought to himself, forcing the y pieces around the puddle he created. Once the mixture turned rtively even in color, Layn squeezed.

    For a moment, the water continued to fall out of the suddenly condensed mixture, only for its flow to quickly slow down before turning into a measly drip.

    "What you have right now, is what I like to call a brick-paste," Layn imed while breathing a sigh of relief. In a normal scenario, bits of y would be gathered in a container, before a small quantity of water would be added. Then, the workers would tirelessly work to crush the mixture evenly, before adding a bit more water or y, just to ultimately bring it to a viscosity simr to the paste Layn created with his magic.

    ''In the end, it''s all about the simple, physical processes, isn''t it?'' the archmage thought to himself, before focusing on his magic a bit more. Because this time, it wasn''t about simple crushing or mixing the mixture.

    At first, Layn created a set of four, t barriers. Ones that simply blocked its two sides from ever interacting. And right in the middle of each of those barriers, he ced roughly a fourth of the mixture he prepared.

    "Now, when this y and water thingy is around as thick as what we just did, we add some straw." Layn kneeled down before doing something with his hands for the very first time since the show started. Yet, he didn''t do anything great or heavy. With a single swipe of his hand, he pulled out a bit of grass along with the earth it had its roots in, before splitting the dirt into four roughly even pieces and cing them in the wet clumps of y mix.

    "Then, we mix it all once again!" Layn shouted joyfully, repeating all the steps from before. Once again, a bit of water was added to the mix just so that the mixture wouldn''t turn any more vicious than it already was. Given how the Archmage didn''t bother to separate the grass from the dirt, he had no other choice but to counteract this addition of stable mass with a bit of water.

    "Now that we are done, we form it," Layn exined, changing the shape of his barriers. At first, he drew imaginary lines in a shape of a square, with the lump of y in the middle. Then, along the lines from before, he bent the barrier at the right angle, and then he did it again to turn it from a single sheet of barrier into a cubical one.

    They was trapped inside the barrier now. Yet, rather than being satisfied with his results, Layn started to condense the barrier. The smaller it grew, the stronger it became given how the same amount of magic now had to create a smaller surface of the barrier.

    Pressured by the barriers closing on it, the evenly-mixed pasta started to fill up all the nk spots, before turning into a perfect cube. At some point, Layn''s magic could no longerpress any further as the resistance of the matter inside became greater than the energy the barrier had at its disposal.

    "In theory, we could use cubic bricks like that¡­" Layn pointed his hand at the four, grey cubes hanging in the air in front of him before shaking his head, "but it''s impractical. That''s why we make them longer," he said, before changing the orders for his magic a bit.

    This time, rather than trying to condense the shit out of it, Layn allowed one of the sides of the barrier to stretch, while the others started to contract once again. And soon, the former lump of y turned into a shape that Layn could finally recognize.

    "There is a lot more that can be done about the shape. Depending on the use, we can drill holes in those bricks, we can leave only the walls, we can drill geometric shapes or even geometry of our dicks." Layn used crude words to emphasize the point he was trying to make. "All that matters is that we are now before the veryst step."

    As soon as he finished his words, Layn dismissed all four of his barriers, allowing three of the fresh bricks to fall to the ground, instantly deforming back into a lump of y. The only surviving brick rested on his hand rather than falling to the ground.

    "What I''m going to do now, is the speed-up process. While it will make for bricks of slightly lower quality, we can just leave them on the sun and let it dry them for us." Layn smiled when noticing the looks of hesitation on the faces of his mercenaries. Inducing this kind of feeling was the very reason why he decided to drop three out of four examples he prepared.

    "Now, watch what happens." Layn smiled, before covering his hand with fire.

    The spell of burning was one of the earliest offensive techniques any mage would learn in the future. Given the simplicity of the structure that made up this spell, only requiring the user to induce three different phenomena with mana, it was also considered to not only be the most researched spell, but also the one that was the hardest to develop any further.

    Just like the saying goes, the better is the opposite of the good. And yet, Layn spent an uncountable amount of time while trying to defeat this saying. Yet, just like with all of his childish attempts at creating a Perpetuum mobile before, he failed.

    ''But all this training and testing I did still allowed me to pass the ss with the flying colors,'' Layn thought while watching how the fires spread from his hand to all over the wet brick. Given his expertise at the spell of burning, he could freely set its temperature, even if it was too wary between different parts of the me.

    ''Dang, I got immersed in it again,'' Layn scolded himself in his thoughts, before regaining his focus. ''In the end, I''m not here to flex my magic, but to create a damned brick!'' he added some insults to his mental injuries, before suddenly retracting his spell.

    The brick turned slightly reddish. Its color wasn''t as saturated as Layn expected, proving that his method of creating this brick wasn''t as effective as he hoped it would be.

    ''Well, it doesn''t matter. We will improve the technique as we will go,'' Layn thought to himself before throwing the brick towards the mercenaries.

    "Here. Try breaking it." Layn smiled. In the end, there was one more trick that he did to the brick, something that required humanity over two hundred years more in the historical development to figure out.

    He added a powdered form of a crystal that was almost fully exhausted of the mana stored inside.

    "Sir?" The mercenaries looked at the pinkish piece of former y with clear hesitation. "Are you sure?"

    For the mercenaries, the solid piece of brick was nothing but a burned y. And just like with mud, if someone burned mud, it would turn solid¡­ But who would even have any trouble at kicking a piece of earth away or apart?

    "Auch!" Irea, who didn''t know what Layn had nned, volunteered. Yet, as soon as she kicked the brick, her face twisted in pain. On the other hand, the brick simply rolled a bit away.

    "Now, try to do it seriously if you dare," Layn smiled. This time, Irea didn''t dare to step forward. Sensing the opportunity to prove himself, Pavrien stepped forward before driving his cultivation to its meager limits and striking the brick with his hand.

    "ARGH!" The sound of pain that instantly came out of his throat quickly announced the expected result.

 Chapter 110 - Godless Brick

    Layn focused all the efforts of everyone in their small group onying down the brick-making factory first. For four days straight, everyone lived off their supplies alone. Not a single soul went hunting, not a single man went fishing.

    For four, long days, everyone focused all their efforts on perfecting the chain ofmand and sequence of work, allowing them to reach the optimized results.

    The first part of the process started at the mine. Here, a group of four mercenaries would dig all the y they could find. Additionally, one of them would spend half of their work-day scouring the ce for the further presence of y.

    Once the y would be unearthed, it would be transported to a pit. It was a structure that took two entire days of everyone''s concentrated efforts to make. Yet, despite how much effort went into making it, it was a fairly simple structure.

    Roughly ten meters away from the furthest point that the waves washed, a huge basin was dug out. At two men''s height and four men''s width, this circr hole was connected to the shore with a simple, small canal.

    Once the y and the water would reach the optimal ratio, two further operators would turn the swampy content of the basin into a regr mass. What the mercenaries didn''t know, though, was that their task of beating the basin''s content with all the strength they could muster was also aimed at improving their own capabilities.

    In fact, once one would look closer, every single profession that Layn created in the middle of what was supposed to be a desert, consisted of pretty repetitive tasks. What''s more, each of those tasks required one to constantly push himself or herself to the limits.

    ''In other words, it''s something like a mandatory gym for everyone,'' Layn thought, watching over the proceedings of the simple chair of production. He was the only one who didn''t employ his muscles in the shared efforts of the group. Rather than that, he oversaw every single spot and added his input across the entire chain rather than its single part.

    Layn moved his eyes towards the basin. ''They are about to finish the mixing,'' he noticed, before sending a surge of power towards the revolving, thick mass. Walking over to the basin, he pulled out a mana stone from one of his sacks before squeezing the pasta a little bit with the magic he infused in it.

    In an instant, the mercenaries threw themselves inside to shovel away the excess water. Then, Layn focused on the stone in his hand before crushing it into a powder. Sprinkling roughly half of the dust into the mass, Layn gave the signal. For a few more moments, the mercenaries continued to stir the mixture.

    "Okay, it''s ready. Go," Layn ordered, moving his eyes towards the next station. There, Irea and Pavrien would make sure the two mercenaries responsible for preparing the y paste would properly fill the formation ditches.

    Because the process was fairly moreplicated than it normally would be.

    Each of the ditches had exactly the same shape as the desired bricks. Once a single shovel of y paste would enter the ditch, Pavrien would ce a simple, wooden nk on it, leveling the surface and making way for another portion of the y.

    Once the entire ditch was filled, Irea conjured a small spark of fire before setting all the ditches alight.

    ''I hope it will work,'' Layn thought to himself, watching the color of the mes. And sure enough, they soon turned green!

    "What the hell?!"

    "What is this?!"

    In an instant, the vast sea of grass turned noisy with all the mercenaries shouting in unison. In fact, even Irea gave away the signs of awe and shock.

    "This is a part of today''s lesson." Layn suddenly announced, allowing the me to take their course of action. ''Gosh, that was so nerve-wracking!'' Layn breathed a sigh of relief in his thoughts, not allowing anyone to see just how tense he was.

    Because while each part of the process already went through an extensive process of testing and trying¡­ It was the very first time when the process worked in aplete chain.

    And despite his excitement, Layn didn''t allow his mercenaries to just rest easy now.

    "Do anyone have any idea why the mes turned green?" Layn asked, deciding to make his lecture a little more proactive.

    "Because there was something in the y paste!" Antion shouted, eager to score some brownie points.

    "That''s not enough," Layn shot his hopes down, looking over the faces of the other mercenaries.

    "Is it¡­" Someone else attempted to give a guess, only to turn silent halfway through the answer.

    "Come on, there is nothing to be shy about!" Layn encouraged the man. As a teacher of the academy that those mercenaries would be creators of, Layn knew he had to take the leading role from the very beginning.

    "Is that this stone powder from before?" A middle-aged man asked while raising his hand. His long beard added a lot to his age, yet it wasn''t enough to fool Layn''s eyes.

    "Bingo!" Layn shouted happily, turning his finger in circles for no reason at all.

    "The powder from the mana stone is so fine, that it actually has no resistance to elements whatsoever." Layn started his exnation. "If you drop it in water it will diffuse in it. If you blow at it, it will scatter on the wind. If you drop it, it will mix with the earth, and if you burn it¡­" Layn stopped his words for a moment only to look at the faces of the mercenaries listening to every single word of his. "Then it fuels the mes, just like it fuels quakes, waves, and gusts of wind."

    Layn''s words stopped at the same time as the mes suddenly all died out.

    "Normally, those bricks would need to beid out at the sun and left for days if not weeks to dry out." Layn pointed his hand at the small field with over twenty ditches filling it. "Now, go and pull the bricks out."

    As per the order, Antion instantly jumped forward to fulfill it. He grabbed a special handle not caring about his ownfort or even safety before pulling it up.

    The mechanism of recovering the bricks was fairly simple. A metal te connected to a long metal arm was at the very bottom of every single pit. The burning of the bricks didn''tst for long enough nor reached temperatures high enough to melt the metal. On the other hand, with the wood all turning into ash, the huge column of lumps of y now turned into a set of magically enchanted bricks.

    ''I wonder if I will ever be able to exin it to them,'' Layn thought while looking at the joy that appeared on the faces of his mercenaries. For them, it was a joy of their hard work finally paying off. Yet, not a single one of them was any wiser about the true scale of intricacy thatid behind this seemingly simple process.

    Because there were two important mechanisms that yed a major role in this manufacturing process. Just like Layn said before, dropped on the earth, it will mix with it. It was this ability to instantly permeate the entire body of earth that allowed Layn to do it. By the simple act of sprinkling the dust on the y paste, it instantly spread out across the entire volume of the paste.

    Right when the y paste reached the border temperature between the dust firing up and actually mixing into the ground. And right when the temperature of the y paste reached the lower end of the scale beyond which the dust would simply assimte into the particles of the ground¡­

    The fire was added.

    It was thanks to this precise timing, that the particles already lost their fire property, leaving with only the energy propagation ability. Once the mes reached those unstable particles, they all exploded.

    But not with fire, but pure, magical energy. For a brief window, the barrier between the physical and the magical world broke apart. And in this single moment, for those few whiles that green mes burned, this energy followed the pattern of the particles diffusing into the ground, enriching the entire volume of the brick with an equal amount of energy.

    Not only did that leave the brick structure way more sturdy than a simple fire could it also brought it into a state of perfect, magical bnce. With the gradient of the energy across the matter of the brick being exactly the same, it basically became an item that no magic could influence. And an item that couldn''t be destroyed without breaking through the resistance of its perfectly crystalized energy structure.

    Layn walked towards the bricks and picked one of the finished ones. Yet, even when he exercised all the strength he could, the brick remained perfectly as before.

    The archmage smiled.

    "Everyone!" He shouted to the small group of people that decided to follow him. "Let me present you, a godless brick!" Layn dropped the brick to the ground before sitting on it with a satisfied look on his face.. "In the terms that you guys are used to, this brick is indestructible."

 Chapter 111 - Time To Get The Core

    "¡­ progresses swiftly. We should be able to finish the main hall within the next three days." Irea reported, momentarily stopping her hand. Yet, as soon as her lips stopped moving, she stuffed her mouth full of the simple, unsavory gruel that made up most of their current rations.

    "That means, we are finally able to go explore," Layn smiled. As much as he wanted to make use of the insane treasure just beside his new camp, securing the camp itself came with the priority.

    "Are you really going to just leave us all and go out on your own?" Irea asked after taking her time to chew on the grubby gruel.

    "The source of the local monsters is in that ancient facility," Layn answered, shaking his shoulders. "That''s why I''m pressing everyone to build a refugee with those bricks," Layn added only to grab the nearby mug and wet his throat with the water. After so many days in the desert, only a single barrel of beer remained.

    But it wasn''t there just for Layn to enjoy himself a little. It was left for the special asion that hopefully woulde soon.

    "And what if those bricks of yours won''t be able to stop the monsters? What if we won''t be able to stop them?" Irea inquired, clearly unhappy with Layn''s ns for the future.

    "Dear, I know that those are the things to be worried about," Layn''s voice turned silent, proving that he didn''t want everyone to hear about his own struggles. "But that''s the best we can do. Make sure to be as prepared as we can and the bet that our luck won''t be awful," Tom said before shaking his shoulders.

    "Isn''t that a little¡­" Irea paused for a moment, looking for the right word, "risky? I mean, I don''t think I need to fear any monsters at my current strength, but I can''t say the same about some of the mercenaries." Irea raised her own cup towards the rest of the crowd slowly munching on their food in the other areas of the huge, brick building they built over the past three days.

    "I know. There are still three that won''t be able to take the monster on alone, while one more could be unlucky enough to get into a dangerous situation." Layn summed up Irea''s worries, pinpointing every single weak member of their small group.

    "So you knew?" Irea asked, surprised by Layn''s observations.

    "Yeah. I''m the one teaching them after all," the archmage said, shaking his shoulders.

    Out in nowhere, there were rarely any enjoyments that could lift the spirits of Layn''s mercenaries. Filling their entire schedule with work, work and even more work could onlyst them so long. At some point, their pent-up exhaustion and stress would make them act out, putting the entirety of Layn''s n at risk.

    As such, Layn, the leader of the entire expedition, had no other way but to provide entertainment for his people.

    And what else could Layn offer in the middle of the green sea of grass if not knowledge?

    In the end, they camped by the shore of thiske for nearly an entire week already. And every time the daily work would be concluded, the entire group would gather around Layn and listen to his teachings about the basics of magic. In order to keep them entertained, Layn had no other choice but to involve parts of his interpretation of cultivation as it was something that the mercenaries were likely to be more interested in.

    Yet, even after a week of training, Layn could only count on barely more than half of his mercenaries. With Irea being the special case as his direct follower and partner from a while ago, actually, only three mercenaries were capable of fighting the monsters all on their own.

    And it just so happened, that one of them started as the absolute weakest in the group of mercenaries that remained after the deserters ditched. In fact, he was the second weakest before that, only advancing to thest spot when a man hiding his heavy injury decided to leave.

    "Don''t tell me," Irea suddenly said after a few long moments ofplete silence.

    ''She is looking at my face¡­ I guess I gave away my thoughts like that,'' Layn thought, before nodding his head.

    "Yeah. I''m going to teach them how to absorb energy from the monsters." Layn said only to bite his lipster. "I know it''s not ideal, but those kinds of trials are something that everyone needs to go through in their life."

    Layn had a fair share of drastic and often unpleasant memories. From his first two years in the academy, through the several asions when he went so far to deal with his troubles and enemies, that he started to doubt his own humanity, all the way to the moments when he questioned the logic in his continued life.

    Layn managed to emerge stronger from each of those trials, not because he was overly worried and cautious about them, but because of his determination to reach his goals. It was this determination that pushed him through what others could consider hell incarnated.

    And now, he wanted his mercenaries to gain a part of the same determination. This time, however, rather than trying to make their own ce in the world with their efforts alone, Layn was willing to give them the path, the method, and the reward as long as they fulfilled a simple mission of his.

    To survive while he will be away.

    "I¡­I understand," Irea lowered her head. It was clear that she wasn''t convinced about Layn''s ns but decided not to bother him about that. "Can you just promise you will hurry up?" she asked, gently biting on her own lips. "I can''t promise I won''t try to save them if a need arises," she added in a low tone, trying to not alert anyone about Layn''s ns.

    "I will try to be back as soon as possible, that I can promise," Layn said as he reached forward and patted Irea''s head. Even though they were in the middle of nothing, this was the utmost intimacy that they could share without upsetting everyone else in the camp.

    "Mkay¡­" Enjoying the head pat, Irea only moaned slightly in response.

    "Well, I will be going then. I hope you will manage the lesson today," Layn rubbed Irea''s head for a little longer, before standing up from the primitive stool he made from a set of three bricks. A momentter, he was already approaching the shore while eyeing one of the primitive rafts that the mercenaries constructed to move around more freely.

    "I guess it will be the water element today?" Layn asked himself as he boarded the raft. It was resting on the dry sands where the waves of thekes didn''t reach even once in the entire week since they came to this ce.

    "Raise," Layn turned his eyes to the water of theke before constructing a simple levitation spell. A spell that affected a tiny cube of water.

    ''Right, there was a principle like that,'' Before he could smash his raft with a concentrated st ofpressed water to push it on the water, Layn suddenly recalled certain phenomena.

    And with a small smile on his face, Layn turned the cube of water into a shape exactly the same as its bottom.

    ''One could float an entire warship with a single cup of water¡­ As long as one could create a perfect container where the water would spread thin enough to float the entire ship!'' Layn thought about that odd principle, before adding motion to the water.

    And surprisingly enough, the raft moved forward, gliding through the air as it would through the water!

    From then on, the rest of the job was pretty simple. Layn manipted small guts of wind while near the shore only to switch to the bursts of condensed water when thend disappeared from his view.

    ''Dang, I didn''t realize how vast thiske is,'' Layn thought to himself when he could no longer see any trace ofnd no matter which direction he would look like. ''At least the trail of magic is pretty solid,'' he added in his thoughts, following the only clue that could get him closer to the core of the entire monster-production facility.

    "ROAR!" Just as Layn noticed that he appeared right above his destination, an intense growl of a monster entered his ears.

    Layn jumped with all his strength, reinforcing his jump with levitation, floating, and eleration. The massive mouth of the monster closed just an inch away from his shoecking legs, swallowing the entirety of Layn''s raft in a single gulp.

    "God, you are ugly," Layn said under his nose as the jaws of the insanely huge alligator mped down.. "But since you are here, the core needs to be somewhere close!" Layn shouted to encourage himself before ignoring the monster altogether, surrounding himself with the most powerful barrier he could conjure and diving headfirst into the water.

 Chapter 112 - Ancient Structure

    Layn never liked cultivation. Not because of how much power one could derive from it. The archmage simply couldn''t ept to acknowledge a force that could only be used in fights.

    That was the most pressing problem that Layn had with cultivation in general. In order to achieve any phenomena other than boosting one''s physical status, one had to not only reach a suitably high cultivation base but then also learn all sorts of techniques.

    Whenpared to magic, cultivation was just too stiff to be useful.

    Taking the current situation as an example, with cultivation alone, Layn would drown thrice before reaching his destination. As it turned out, theke was not only far wider but also far deeper than anyone expected. And it was this difference in scale that made Laynmit his first blunder.

    ''I forgot water diffuses magic a little bit differently,'' Layn mumbled through his tightened teeth while breathing calmly. Surrounded by a set of seven different barriers, he couldn''t afford to waste his oxygen mindlessly.

    Diving lower and lower, Layn could see the pressure of the water pressing harder on his barriers. Under this force, all seven different barriers of his seemed to merge together, creating a single, thick entity that not only shielded the archmage from any form of physical or magical attacks but also working as a toxin filter and oxygen generator.

    ''Finally there'' Layn thought when his feet finally touched the solid ground. Around two hundred meters below the surface, thekebed waspletely dark. As if he was blind, Layn could only use the faint aura of the core to guide his way forward.

    And soon, the floor beneath Layn''s feet broke down, forcing him down some sort of cave.

    "Where the hell am I?" Layn instantly turned around, only to notice a line of gentle light illuminating the insides of the cave. A momentter, he managed to notice the general shape of the area after removing all the rubble from his imagined picture.

    ''A corridor of sorts?'' Layn thought while moving down the ce, following the trail of light.

    Soon, he reached a downwards slope, a slope that likely used to be filled with stairs.

    ''So I need to go even deeper, huh?'' Layn thought to himself before giving his shields a moment to regenerate the oxygen and taking a dive into the slope.

    Several meters down the construction, Layn finally found something interesting. At the end of the corridor that he was traveling through, a massive room appeared. It was also the first ce that was fully illuminated, allowing Layn to see how grand this ce used to be.

    High above his head, the dome spread for over a hundred meters up. Wide at fifty meters, it should fall under the pressure of the water above it¡­ Yet no such thing happened. And the reason for it was quite obvious.

    The structure of the dome was supported by a set of crystal arches, four for every quarter of the dome. Each of those arches had a crystal line connecting them to a huge crystal centerpiece that hung from those lines, roughly twenty meters above the floor.

    It was also the first ce where the water didn''t ess yet, allowing Layn to step on dry ground.

    "Just what is this ce?" Layn asked himself while pushing towards another corridor that he spotted on the other side of the dome.

    Inside the structure, Layn could no longer navigate his way just by following the traces of magic. What he took for a single source of energy disturbance, turned out to be aplex structure with at least several provisional cores all connected in one singlework.

    Or at least, that''s what Layn expected to find further into the structure, as otherwise, the whole ce wouldn''t make any scientific sense.

    ''Unless it doesn''t follow the physic and magical rules that I know off,'' Layn thought grimly, worried even about considering such an option.

    ''I knew it was possible ever since I first heard of this desert,'' Layn approached the entrance of the corridor¡­ Yet, he refused to enter. He stood by the wall instead. He then wiped the mud from the wall to reveal aplex image underneath it.

    ''So, I guess my guess was right,'' Layn thought as he uncovered more and more images underneath the mossy dirt that covered the walls. ''For this kind of moss to form from the moisture alone¡­ Just how long was this ce here? Was it moved underneath theke or did theke cover it all?'' Puzzled by his findings, Layn constantly attempted to make a sense out of it, only to fail over and over again.

    Unable to find any further clues in the magnificent dome, Layn pushed forward.

    Contrary to the huge structures that were a part of the entireplex, the corridors were pretty simple. They were way longer than Layn expected, seemingly connecting different points that were created in advance rather than points of interest being built along the corridors. But when Layn reached the end of his second corridor, his peace of mind died out instantly.

    Long rows of machines continued to operate at top speed. The number of magic stones that moved around the entire ce was insane. Pushing slightly forward, Layn made sure no defense system was installed and waiting to pounce on him, before raising a bit and analyzing the entire production factory.

    At first, a small stone would be sourced from the warehouse. Then, it would go through a set of four machines, each of which would polish one of two of its sides. By the time it would finish this stage, a stone of any given shape would turn into a perfectly fine jewel.

    Then, the magic part started to happen. Once the stone would have a proper shape, it would be ced into a special stand, before an insanely concentrated ray of magical energy would wash through its entire structure. Or to be more precise, once properly embedded into the stand, it would enter something like oven, where it would pass through a wide ray of this energy.

    While Layn was unable to see what exactly was going on to the stone he was observing inside that oven, he could see how the stones leaving it on its opposite end, no longer were simple jewels but were already turned into magic stones!

    "Just what the hell is this ce," Layn asked once again, startled by the sight. Even in his proper time, humanity has yet to reach the level of magic stone creation. It was this single reason that almost sparked a huge war for resources when people realized that outside of the stones still to be mined, there wasn''t much left of them in the world.

    And yet, as if to spit in his face and prove he was nowhere near the peak of the knowledge, the factory continued to produce magic stone at a steady rate.

    ''What does happen with those stones?'' Layn asked himself, straightening up and following down the production line. And then he saw it. Once all seven lines of seven different magic-stone producing branches were conveyed into a single line, the output magic stones would then split into twenty different lines, each leading to a separate room.

    "So this is where monsters are born," Layn thought to himself, watching how a stone entered the room through the hole in its ss back.

    Inside the room, the stone would enter a stic-looking form. Then, the intense ray of magic would appear once again, quickly overloading the capacity of the stone and forcing it to manifest its energy outside.

    As it grew, the magical energy continued to take physical form, eradicating the stic form and taking its ce. But the process continued. The shape initially hidden in the form would grow bigger and bigger, all the way to the point where the body of the monster would reach the limit of how big it could grow inside the room.

    PENG!

    As if someone sted the gates open, the outer end of the room suddenly split into two, allowing a raging current of pressurized water to fill the entire room.

    "ROAR!~" The monster inside the room came to life, instantly announcing it by a hearty scream. Then, clearly ufortable in its tiny confinement, the monster swam outside, using its paddle-like arms to quickly move through the water.

    Then, a concentrated ray of light locked on the monster, before intensifying for a slight moment.

    The monster was no more.

    Barely a second after it attempted to escape, a magic gun embedded into the outer wall of the room sted its core into smithereens, killing the monster on the spot.

    "Was that," Layn whispered, staring wide-eyed at the gun he caught a glimpse off. ''I remember there being theories that one could concentrate the mana to that point¡­'' Layn thought, trying to recall the research papers he saw at one point in his past life.

    But then, he realized something of even greater importance.

    The body of the monster didn''t dpose back into magic!

 Chapter 113 - Arrtefacts And Machinery

    "Just what the hell does that mean?" Layn asked himself while watching how the corpse of the monster started to float upwards before dissapearing in the darkness of the deep water. The light of this entire structure could keep it visible only for so far, yet it was long enough for the waters to suddenly fill with previously hidden monsters.

    All at once, a swarm of seaborn creatures threw themselves at the corpse, quickly turning it into their meal. By the time it dissapeared from Layn''s eyes, it consisted of no more but few spare chunks of meat hanging to the chewed-up bones.

    "Did they fry its core or something?" Inspired by the sight, Layn attempted to uncover the secret of this wonder. At the same time, a doubt appeared in his head. ''If that''s how this entire facility works, then shutting it down could result in a natural disaster, couldn''t it?'' the archmage pondered, trying to figure out how big of an impact this seemingly infinite factory of fresh meat would impact the flora and fauna of the massiveke.

    Unable to find the answers just by standing besides the window, Layn turned around. When he first came here, he traced the production from the first step to thest one, hoping to understand what it was all aimed for. But now, it was time to do things in reverse.

    ''There needs to be some sort of certal powering system, that I can say for sure,'' Layn thought. Moving back to the begining of the stone-creation process, Layn had to spend quite a while to figure out the connections between machines and other elements of the structure before he finally found where the mainpartment was.

    "What the hell," Layn muttered when he finally found out a way to push a small hatch open. Because what was inside the small room he entered, was way beyond anything he could imagine.

    "ckstone, heavenly arc, and is that¡­ No fucking way," Layn could only recognise specific artefacts amongst an entire sea of different items. Yet, just the few that he could recognise were already valuable enough to push the entire modern nation into war for it.

    "Should I dismantle this machinery or not?" Layn asked himself in a low voice, watching how every single precious element of set in front of him operated in a perfect harmony with other elements.

    Just the single ckstone would be enough for Layn to never worry aboutck of magical energy again. Given how it was the prime material one would use when ying around the fussion magic, he could easily turn it into the source of power for him, Irea and all the future disciples he would take.

    ''But what will happen if I destroy it?'' Layn reached forward, only for the hesitation to stop his hand right before he could touch the stone.

    For a moment, Layn didn''t dare to touch theplicated machinery or any of the precious artefacts embeeded in it.

    "Wait, what am I even hesitating for?" Layn suddenly asked himself, killing all his doubts from before. "It''s not like it will be here in the future, so what does it matter if it falls apart a bit earlier than it shoudl?" Layn asked as he shook his head. Then, without any further reservation, he reached for the artefacts¡­

    Only to stop his hand again.

    "No, I can''t be too hasty," Layn told himself, trying to mute the worry about the Irea while at it. "It won''t do any good if I start some kind of disasterous chain reaction," he muttered, trying to figure out the way in which the entire machinery worked.

    From the looks of things, the ckstone wasn''t even the source of power for the entire structure, but a measly pacifying agent. Just like one would use it in magical reactor, the surges of wild magic from the heavenly arc infused itself into the ckstone, bringing its reactivity all the way to the lower limit of what it could sustain.

    Choked by the insufficient amount of energy entering it, the ckstone could only output stable energy at a pretty low rate whenpared to what it actually could when used properly. In other words, rather than making use of its reactivity to create magic energy, the unknown constructor of this structure used it as a stabilizing agent, as a way to turn wild fluxes of mana into a stable stream of it.

    "It seems taking the ck stone could easily lead to the entire mechanism cpsing on itself," Layn muttered under his nose as he continued to inspect the innerworkings of the mechanism.

    The stable energy from the ckstone moved through the crystal circuts towards another artefact that Layn didn''t recognise. ''I can''t even tell what its doing¡­ or wait,'' Layn was unable to figure out just what was happening inside the artefact or what was the idea behind its work, but he was still capable ofparing the inputted stream of magic with the one that was outputed by it.

    And there was a single, tiny difference between the two.

    When the magic was entering the cubic-shaped container, it was thin. But when it was moving out of the item, it appeared to be condensed to the point where the crystal circuit could barely hold it in!

    Yet, it wasn''t even the most intriquing point.

    Once the magical energy was condensed enough, it would pass through a set of similiar crystals¡­ Only to end up just as thin as it was before. From that point on, this thinned-out magic would move all the way to the back only to be infused into the heavenly arch which would in turn spew out rapid flux of magic, closing the circle of reaction.

    "And that means, the crux of this machineys in those strange stones," Layn thought, analyzing the crystals that caught his attention. Then, unable to figure out anything else from just looking, he moved his hand forward, touching the crystal.

    "ARGH!" In an instant, Layn''s hand was set alight. Not with fire, but with the magical burn of a power too condensed to realistically exist. His fingers were melting, filling his mind with an unbearable pain.

    "FUCK!" Layn shouted, backing out from the stones. In a desperate act, he released all the magical energy stored in his cultivation and aura alike, forming a tiny but overwhelmingly powerful spear of condensed magic and firing it away in a random direction.

    With all the magic leaving his body, the burn on his fingers instantly stopped. The insanely condensed magic that transferred over to his fingers from when he touched those strange crystals, started to diffuse all over his body.

    ''Just like expected,'' Layn thought while tightening his jaws. As ingenious as it was to allow this ungodly condensed magic to spread out to his entire body rather than containing it in a single part of his flesh, it didn''t mean it was easy.

    Because while his body stopped melting apart, the excruciating pain of the overwhelming force tearing him from within remained.

    "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Under the onught of the immense pain, Layn could only crash around the ce while trying to cope with the pain. ''At least I''m sane enough to steer clear from those stones,'' Layn thought while casting a pained nce to the source of his current torture.

    Those crystals didn''t look all that strange on their own. Just a set of eight, greenish, ss-like structures, each around the size of a man''s fist. But the problem with those stones didn''ty in their appearance. Or rather, it wasn''t about the first thing one would notice when looking at them.

    Once the torture finally came to an end when Layn''s body finally managed to rein the insane energy in before assimting it, the archmage finally could focus his mind on the task at hand. Leaning over the stones, he could finally see what was so puzzling about the color of those stones.

    Because those crystals weren''t green at all.

    "Are they¡­ transparent?" The closer Layn looked, the more mysterious those stones turned out to be. Because just as Layn observed, they didn''t have any color on their own. But that gave birth to another question. "Just what gives them this greenish hue then?"

    As much as Layn wanted to figure out the answer to that, there was no way he could do it on the spot. And with every moment he was inside this ce, the chances of his construction site getting overrun by the monsters were growing bigger and bigger.

    "I guess that will be it for today''s visit," Layn muttered in disappointment. He came here in hopes of obtaining materials that would allow him to quickly transform the small settlement he had into a magnificent sect where he could teach others the truth about the world.

    Yet, even though he made a fair share of mistakes in his scientific career, Layn wasn''t stupid enough to risk upsetting such a precise and powerful mechanism in attempts to just get some of its parts!

    "Well, I will profit more off it if I learn how it works," Layn said, finallying to a decision. But just as he turned around with the intention to leave, a small sh of green light suddenly drew his attention.

    It didn''te from the machinery itself, but from somewhere underneath it. Puzzled by the situation, Laynid down on the floor, trying to find the source of the light.

    And then he saw it.

    A single, green crystalid in a small, circr depression underneath the entire machinery above.

    And it wasn''t connected to the machinery by any way or form.

    "I guess I won''t need to return empty-handed!" Tom muttered with joy, while his mind frantically attempted to find a way to transport this stone without burning his entire body with its condensed magic.

 Chapter 114 - Alarm In The Structure

    In the end, Layn went with what appeared to be the easiest route. Rather than somehow creating aplicated tool that could soften up the impact of the immense magic that radiated from the crystal¡­ The archmage just used a really long stick.

    Once he managed to scoop the stone from underneath the machinery, half of the part of the stick her organized, the same part that had to touch the stone in order to bring it closer, was already halfway eradicated.

    It didn''t melt. It didn''t crush away or chip away. Under the immense force steeming from this stone, the very particles that made up the materials that the stick was made from were dissolved into a puddle of magic-enriched nothingness.

    "Dang," Layn said silently to himself, dropping his previous idea. From how quickly this crystal managed topletely dpose the matter that this stick consisted of, no matter how hard he would try, Layn wouldn''t be able to move it around.

    Especially given how far the location of the actual camp of his was, or how potentially dangerous this crystal could be.

    "It kinda feels like holding the used fuel rods of the nuke nts," Layn told himself while staring at the crystal below him. ''Well, I don''t really know whether it will have a long-standing effect on me or not, but I don''t think there should be any problems,'' usually, Layn would never allow his guts to be the sole force driving his judgemental process.

    Never in hell would fear, curiosity or any other emotions be sufficient alone to make him take a decision. And right now, standing right above this unknown crystal, was just another effect of Layn''s calctive spirit.

    Before his journey to this ce started, Layn considered himself to be a man at the level of gods in the current world around him. While there obviously were things they couldn''t understand from just looking at them like the barrier that separated this desert from the rest of the world during the entirety of off-season, for the most part, Layn still stood at the top of the knowledge chart of this early-aged world.

    But now, the things that he could see right before his eyes, proved him wrong. Unless this desert he ventured at was some kind of interdimensional gate between different worlds, then the artifacts Layn could see proved that there once was a civilizationplex and advanced enough to construct such structures.

    And that meant, Layn''s knowledge and abilities didn''t necessarily top everyone else in the entirety of the world!

    "Well, I won''t move forward without studying this thing," Layn said to himself in a futile attempt to encourage his brain into figuring out a solution to his problem. But no matter how hard Layn was trying to find out a way to transport the stone, no new ideas came to his mind.

    Then, out of nowhere, a desperate thought surfaced in his mind. The simplest possible way to transport the stone without the fear of Layn''s entire body melting in the process. A way that although simple, was irreversible.

    "What one won''t do for the science." Layn encouraged himself for thest time, before raising his left hand to his eyes. With a single thought, something snapped in Layn''s body. It felt as if a part of his aura suddenly detached before disappeared altogether. At the same time, all the nerves at the top of his left-hand fingers went numb when the outburst of magical energy fried their pain-conducing nerves.

    Then, Layn grabbed the crystal with his left hand as if it was nothing. He grabbed something that scientists of his time would consider a hot and reactive magical core. Yet, due to burning all the magic potential from the tips of his fingers, Layn''s body could no longer be affected by the condensed aura of the pure mana on touch¡­ Because there was no direct connection between magically alive and magically dead parts of Layn''s body!

    With this trouble solved, Layn turned around and attempted to leave the room¡­ Only to realize that during all his attempts to figure out his situation, he failed to notice that the hatch actually closed. And while that wasn''t all that bad, the fact that he was unable to find it no matter how hard he looked made this already tense situation even fuller of worry.

    "Fuck it," Rather than allowing the panic to get to him, Layn squinted his eyes before gathering a sharp clour of magic at the fingertips of his right hand. While the knowledge and technology behind whoever created this ce were far more advanced than anything Layn saw in his life, it didn''t mean Layn''s own methods no longer applied.

    By using the sharp cloud of magic like a de, Layn made it slightly vibrate before pushing it into the ting of the floor. Stuck to his finger, the small cloud of mana behaved exactly as Layn projected, making a short work of what should be considered to be the bottom of the cube Layn was in.

    "WARNING!"

    A sudden voice echoed through the entire structure. The sound artifacts that happened due to the devastated state of this entire ce only made the situation even eerier.

    "A PROCESSING CORE LEFT THE PROTECTIVE CASING!"

    The same voice echoed across the hall as soon as Layn attempted to slip out of the machinery cube through the hole he carved out with his magical knife. And in the next moment, the entire ce turned red, as all the gates and doors previously hidden by the moss started to close down one by one.

    The entire ce was dying. Layn wasn''t a scientist but just a single look at what was happening around told him that it was likely to be an emergency shut-down procedure, aiming topletely neutralize the facility before something unthinkable could happen.

    ''I know I shouldn''t draw parallels like that,'' Layn thought while rushing forward and holding the precious stone in his mortified tips of fingers. He burst through the walls of the room he was indirectly, instantly appearing in the middle of a water-filled room.

    At first, the water surged to fill out everything through the hole Layn created. And for the very first few moments underwater, Layn could only struggle to remain hooked in the correct side of the room, before the rage of the element calmed down a little. Soon, more than half of the water in the room flew to the massive hall Layn saw before, turning the room Layn entered into a rtively dry ce.

    But the Archmage didn''t stop there. Pushing forward with all his magically improved might, he found a shortcut to the first hall he noticed, the one he could ess only by diving through a long and fully sunken corridor.

    Once he got there, Layn took hisst chance to get a fresh mouthful of air, filling his lungs to the limit. And in the next moment, he grabbed the edge of the corridor he had to take a dive into, before exploding small charges on his hands and feet to gain the initial upwards momentum.

    The corridor Layn was swimming through was pretty Long. He already noticed it when traveling through it in the other direction, but for some reason, raising up in the water appeared to be a lot harder than just sinking below.

    At some point, all the air in Layn''s lungs ran out, leaving him suffocating deep below the surface of the water. At first, it was just a slightly annoying feeling, one that lowkey continued to shake Layn''s body in terror. Then, the annoyance turned into a powerful gust of pain in Layn''s lungs, making him feel as if someone was squeezing his chest harder than it was humanly possible.

    Then, as if the veil of the torture only attempted to bring the archmage to his limits rather than beyond it, Layn reached the surface. In an instant, his mouth opened wide, feeling the starved lungs a fresh bout of oxygen.

    For the few next moments, Layn continued to breathe heavily, only to realize how stupid he was just a momentter.

    ''Couldn''t I just set anotheryer of barriers?'' He thought before shaking his head in denial. ''No, it wouldn''t work like that,'' Layn bit his lips as he looked at the content held by the sole tips of his left hand''s fingers. ''I have no idea what does this thing does, so it was better not to risk it either way,'' he thought before shaking his head and looking around.

    The raft that Layn used toe to this ce was no longer anywhere to be seen. Its bits still floated in the distance, proving that Layn''s earlier spotting of an enormous monster wasn''t just a dream or fluke, but a harsh and unforgiving reality.

    "Well," After taking a few moments to regain his energy, Layn shook his head again before looking up to the sky in order to navigate his way back to the camp, "I guess it''s time to go back."

 Chapter 115 - Sevenringed Formation

    "I wish life was as simple as some of the novels made it out to be," Layn muttered under his nose as he continued to weave his mana inplicated structures. Soaked to the bone and exposed to the surprisingly cold winds of the grassy desert, even Layn found it hard to focus.

    ''It would be great to just said "he went back home" and skip over to that part already,'' Layn continued to grieve. The first of his spells soon started working. Now that the energy was no longer a problem for him, Layn rarely concerned himself with the efficiency of what he was doing.

    And that''s how, rather than creating a simple, levitating spell to fly back, Layn spent thrice as much time as needed in the water to construct a magical tform on which he could stand up and dry his clothes!

    "Ah," Layn moaned when all his spells finally came alive. He was warmed up by a constant hot wind created by one of the spells. Rather than standing on the shapeless mass of magic, Layn sat in afy chair while pushing it through the endless expanse of the sky. "Now that I think about it," Layn continued speaking to himself, hoping that it would make thinking easier for him. "Just where could those artifactse from?"

    The question sadly remained without an answer. Layn''s spells made his return rtively short. The only reason why he took the boat in the first ce was because of possible anti-magical traps in that strange structure.

    ''Aliens? Or maybe the ancients of former eras were more advanced than we imagined,'' Layn still attempted to tackle the issue even when he stepped back at the camp.

    A smallmotion erupted in the instant he returned.

    "Where have you been for so long?!" Irea screamed out as soon as she arrived at the scene before grabbing the archmage in a desperate hug.

    "I''m sorry, it took longer than I expected," Layn excused himself, trying to ward off the attack. Against Irea''s attacks though, he was powerless.

    "Did monsters attack while I was away?" Layn asked after a prolonged moment of silence.

    Irea didn''t reply to him at all. She just buried her face in his chest while locking her arms behind his back. And no matter how Layn attempted to talk her up, she remained in ce.

    "Sir, if I may," Antion spoke up, moving a step closer. By the time Layn had any mind to pay attention to him, the entire group already gathered around.

    "Speak," Layn ordered with a deep sigh. ''Looking at them, it wasn''t one or two monsters but a whole bunch,'' Layn thought while squinting his eyes.

    The state of the mercenaries was tragic. As if the monsters detected Layn leaving, they picked the perfect timing for their attack on the camp.

    No one was missing. That was the most important part. But Layn couldn''t say the same about the number of hands, legs, and eyes.

    There were seven injured. Two of them got away easily, just with life-threatening wounds. The remaining five was generally in a better state¡­

    But they were missing some parts. One of themcked a right hand. Another one missed an entire left arm. The third had to learn how to live without his legs, while two others only kept half of their vision.

    "Sir, we were attacked. Right at the darkest hour of the night you left, sir," Antion reported, keeping his head low.

    ''Fuck,'' Layn thought when all the joy of the discovery from before was washed away by the sorrow. The consequence of his choice was dire.

    ''No matter how much I despair, I won''t change it,'' Layn bit on his lips. It wasn''t the first time when people under hismand were injured. It wouldn''t even be the first time for him if some of them were to die.

    But in no way, did Layn enjoy experiencing this feeling in this current life of his.

    "Everyone," Layn started, perfectly aware that this moment was crucial. Even if he could keep all of them attached to him now, it would be of pure calction, not devotion. And this wasn''t the means he wanted to use when creating a stable following.

    This post-disaster moment was the most important to reinforce the morale of the group, to make them feel strong in defeat. And Layn had no intention of letting this opportunity, as bloody as it was, to pass.

    "I won''t give you sweet words. What you tasted now, is a taste of partial defeat." Layn stated openly. If the rtionship between him and his students was to be clear and true, he had to be honest from its very beginning. "And there is only one question that I need you to answer right now," Layn said, looking at the small group of people around him.

    "Is this going to break you?" Layn asked, looking calmly in the eyes of the mercenaries. He looked into Pavrien''s eyes, noticing fear, confusion, and difort on his face. He looked at Antion''s face, observing how uncertainty yed with despair in his eyes. He then looked Irea in the eyes, only to be overwhelmed with devotion and loyalty.

    ''Now that I think about it, just how did I earn it?'' Layn suddenly posed a question in his thoughts, unable to break the eye contact with the girl. ''Just what did I do to make myself so dear to her?''

    Layn shook his head. This wasn''t the time for this kind of thought.

    "I will ask again," Layn voiced his question out again after a moment of silence. "Is this disaster going to break you, or reinforce your souls?" Layn expanded his question before putting a wide smile on his face. "If you think that it can help you grow, then be my guest!" he suddenly shouted before cing the stone from that strange location on the ground.

    In an instant, the insane power emanating from the stone infused itself in the ground. Unable to withstand such a force, the earth below Layn''s feet started to purify. Just like honey which was basically a mixture with more sugar than it should be possible, the ground obtained new properties when infused with such an insane amount of energy.

    ''Now,'' Layn hurried himself in his thoughts. Back when he was returning from the middle of theke to the camp, he wasn''t only trying to figure out the origin of those artifacts. He also put his mind into figuring out the potential use of the one crystal he brought back.

    Layn infused his own mana in the ground. Now that it was oversaturated with magic, rather than infusing itself into the matter, Layn''s mana only increased the speed at which the energy was circting in this strange matter. By carefully adjusting the speed, force, and direction of his energy, Layn continued to draft a massive formation, directly in the magic-infused ground.

    "What are you doing?" Irea asked, confused by Layn''s silence. He started his speech on such a high note, only to turn silent the momentter, seemingly focused on something.

    ''Will this work? Well, I guess I will find out,'' Layn thought, modifying his original n. When he first thought about the usage of the stone, the choice was pretty obvious. By setting up arge powering array, he could force this small camp to transition from a simple settlement into an advanced fortress.

    But after seeing the effects of his absence in the camp, Layn no longer harbored such hurry to develop this ce. ''If I allow my followers to get hurt, there will be no end to the problems with manpower in the future!'' Layn thought grimly as his mind spun to modify the formation he originally had in mind.

    "If you want to be reborn stronger, heed my words," Layn whispered softly, ignoring Irea''s inquiry.

    "Sit down," Layn gave his first order, activating the first ring of the formation he was drafting. As the entire thing was split into seven different circles, he was free to activate them gradually rather than trying to do it all at once.

    Normally, it would be almost impossible to create such aplicated formation. Not because of the theoretical limits ofputing require to draft one on paper first, but because there was no medium in existence that could hold such aplex structure. Given how the increase in power to the formation was gradual and bound to the increase in the number of its rings, a formation that Layn was currently constructing was on the same level as the Gran Arcana he used to traverse through the expanses of time!

    ''While that might be true,'' Layn thought to himself while preparing to activate the second ring, ''only the scale ofplexity isparable. The Gran Arcana was special in more than just this way.''

    "Close your eyes," Layn gave his second order at the same time as he activated the second ring. Then, before anyone could even notice, he activated the third one.

    As the mana started to circte through the formation, the energy within its sphere of influence started to adjust. As if following some kind of grand, natural order, all the mana in the surroundings started to tune in to it.

    "And now, cultivate as if your life depends on it," Layn said, finishing the preparations for his gamble.

    He wasn''t an expert on cultivation. But he knew that it was all based on circting one''s mana through one''s entire body.

    And in a formation of seven rings, Layn was more than capable of bringing forth enough power to turn the magicalws of cultivation into physicalws of flesh and bones!

 Chapter 116 - Formation Padding And Its Importance

    "Cultivate as if your life depends on it!" Layn didn''t say those words for no reason.

    Right now, the entire group was spread out across the entire, seven-ringed formation. With the magic-infused earth serving as the perfect padding for the formation, Layn managed to turn all of its rings online with a far smaller amount of energy that would otherwise be necessary to break through the restraints of insufficient padding.

    ''I wonder if it will work?'' Layn thought as he continued to activateyer afteryer.

    Layn''s entire idea was based on the fact that even if one loses a part of their body, their cultivation drive should still remain the same. By circting the energy through the path enveloping their entire, full-body, Layn''s disciples could alter how the world around them would perceive them.

    By cultivating and pushing their energy through the parts of their body that are no longer present, they could alter what the world would see as

    an anomaly.

    And Layn didn''t need to wait long for the effects of his n to start showing.

    At first, a mercenary who lost his eye suddenly started to suck on the mana that filled the air within the formation sphere of influence like mad. Most likely not aware of it himself, he appeared to just drive his cultivation as usual,pletely ignorant to the fact that all the excess magic that he would otherwise be unable to absorb was actively gathering around his wound and slowly rebuilding it.

    ''In that regard, magic is still a miracle, isn''t it?'' Layn thought when he noticed what was going on. Even though it was all part of his n, he relied on nothing more but a hunch.

    Even back in his times, Layn was far from understanding the true nature of magic. In a sense, studying it made Layn feel like peeling the onion. Whenever he or someone else would stumble into a discovery that gave others hope that the crux of the magic was finally revealed, some other discovery would quickly prove such hopes wrong.

    No matter how much one tried, getting to the bottom of the knowledge well that magic was, appeared to be impossible. In his current situation, without the manpower, tools, and scientific background with all the perks it offered, Layn couldn''t even test his theories out.

    The only thing he could do was to implement his ideas right as he came up with them. And so far, his ideas appeared to be right.

    Once the first man started to shine from all the mana converging over his injuries, the same phenomena started to ur all over the ce. Soon, everyone was enveloped by the thicket of mana, even those who never received any serious injuries in the first ce.

    ''I wonder what the hell does that mean,'' Layn kept a close watch of the events, ready to stomp at the killswitch of the formation at any given moment. While killing a formation like that was pretty dangerous, allowing a seven-ringed formation to run amok could potentially have way worse consequences.

    "Layn, are you there?" Irea suddenly asked, not daring to open her eyes. She was focused on her cultivation, yet from the small wrinkles on her face, Layn could tell just how worried she was.

    ''Right, I never told her what I was nning,'' Layn suddenly realized, only to notice how little he could do. As annoying as it was, he could only use his voice right now as stepping off this crucial part of the formation would bear too much risk for everyone.

    "I''m here. Don''t worry about anything and just keep cultivating," Layn ordered, ignoring the fact that he was the only one not heeding his own words. Seeing how Irea obediently calmed herself down and moved all her attention back to the task at hand, a wave of relief made the archmage shrug.

    "Everyone, just a little more," Layn encouraged his people while watching over the formation. And there was a lot to watch out for, given how the magic of the crystal continued to turn more and more ground into formation-suitable padding. But as great as it was for setting up new formations in any ce desirable, this process couldn''t go on for much longer either.

    ''I need to remove this stone soon,'' Layn thought grimly, watching how more and more of formerly fertile ground turned into a magically unstable matter.

    When it came to formation padding, there were limits on both extremes. If the padding used were to be too small, the formation wouldn''t fit on it. Even if some kind of genius managed to condense the forms used in it, circumventing the problem, unless the formation padding was big enough, it simply wouldn''t be able to hold all the energy that the formation would make course through it.

    But the other extreme was also possible. If the formation padding were to be too big for the formation, the guided changes of the mana that the formation was implementing would simply diffuse in the sea of mana of the padding. Just like a fistful of salt couldn''t turnke water salty, a formation set on padding exceeding its upper limit would simply cease to work.

    But for now, Layn simply kept observing the situation, ready to kill the entire thing at the first notice.

    And there was a reason why he abstained from ying safe right now. The mana that converged around his disciples was now slowly starting to work as intended. The lost limbs were slowly growing back. Given how everyone has their eyes closed, Layn couldn''t tell whether the same was happening with the two mercenaries who lost their eyes¡­

    But the mana that revolved around their heads was more than proof of it.

    Yet, as much as Layn wanted to rejoice, he was simply too busy controlling the formation to do so.

    ''That will be it.'' The process of healing has yet to conclude, yet Layn already reached forward and picked up the crystal stone that stood in the middle of the formation. While its most important role was turning the ground into formation padding, the sheer amount of mana that would infuse itself into the ground was also the main source of energy that filled the formation itself.

    But the size of the magic-infused ground almost reached the limit of what Layn''s formation could manage. Any bigger, and the flow of energy through the padding would disturb the flow of mana managed by the formation. One thing would lead to another, and soon, rather than a formation that was tasked with returning the world to its normal, non-altered state would turn into a magical disaster.

    ''Given how all those ces are just rotting away, one of the disasters could be caused by a crystal, just like the one in Layn''s possession just falling on the ground and doing its work¡­.'' Layn thought to himself while stashing the crystal away in a special container he prepared.

    Bybining the godly brick of his with the infused ground taken right from below his feet, Layn managed toe up with a container capable of separating the crystal from the rest of the world. As simple and makeshift as this kind of container was, this was the best of what Layn could figure out on the spot.

    Without the main source of energy, the formation instantly started draining the energy from the infused ground it was set on. Yet, with the rate at which everyone was consuming mana to regenerate their injuries, it was only a matter of minutes before the ground would turn into its previous, although no longer fertile state.

    ''I hope it will be enough,'' Layn thought while raising his eyes at the mercenaries. They were all still busy cultivating, not paying any mind to their regenerating limbs, not to speak about Layn and his expressions.

    From the looks of things, the healing was mostlyplete. Some of the fingernails and fingertips have yet to be regenerated in the case of the two mercenaries who lost their limbs quite high. As for everyone else, with all their injuries gone, the energy they were using went directly into furthering their cultivation.

    ''Dang, as thest resort, this method works pretty well,'' Layn thought while casting a nce at the small, bricky box in his hands. ''Given how easy I should be able to obtain more of them, should I try to figure out how big of a padding it could create?'' Layn asked himself, sinking deeper into his thoughts.

    If a seven-ringed formation was too small to assimte all the energy stored within the crystal, then eight rings would do. If not, then nine, ten, or as much as necessary for this crystal to be fully utilized.

    "Well, if I use a ten-ringed formation as the baseline for the academy," Layn muttered to himself as the formation slowly started to choke due to theck of fuel.

    "I just can''t wait to see what kind of face others would make!"

 Chapter 117 - Lodging And Kitchen

    A breakthrough came in the night. Barely three days after Layn''s return from the monster-producing site, he finally figured out how to properly use the crystal he brought back.

    "Are you for real?" Irea asked while looking at the makeshift blueprint. It was made on a special sandboard, where one could draw symbols and lines with a single move of one''s fingers.

    A bunch of maquettes of a varied kind was ced on it, showcasing the true scope of Layn''s ambitions.

    "Yeah. This is how our academy will look like in the beginning," Layn said while nodding his head. "But don''t take it too seriously for now. When I mean a study hall, picture a small shed with some desks and seats, not some grandiose building," Layn added after a few moments.

    "That I understand, but," Irea moaned in protest. She then shook her head before sping her hands into fists. "Nevermind, let''s do it," the girl announced, raising her eyes at the archmage. "What do we begin with?" she asked.

    "Like everywhere else, we need to kickstart the economy first," Layn announced with a weird look on his face. "As dramatic as it sounds, we can''t build without bricks or mortar. We can''t live for long without a stable and abundant source of food." Layn started to count on his fingers, only to reach his second one and stop altogether.

    "Why bother drawing the entire thing right away, then?" Irea asked while leaning her head to the side.

    "To visualize. If we know where everything needs to go in advance, we won''t run into problems with spaceter," Layn exined while his lips formed a wry smile. ''I learned that more than well enough back at the camps,'' he thought, recalling some of his academy memories.

    What Layn was doing in this deserted ce was no different from one of the popr exercises at the academy. The official im said that it was all for the sake of teaching students how to survive.

    But those who had any brains understood its real purpose. This training was specifically aimed to prepare the students for life in the field.

    ''Who could''ve known that I would actually use those skills,'' Layn snickered, looking down at the n at the table below.

    From the cement of the tents, through setting up roadyout, saving enough space for the growth of the buildings that woulde along with the expansion of the sect... Those were all tasks that Layn happily took on himself.

    Because when nning for the future, he could catch a glimpse of how this future would look like.

    "Let''s not waste our time, then," Irea suddenly shouted, most likely noticing how Layn fell into the river of his thoughts. Once immersed in his own mind, the archmage could take a long time to wake up.

    "Yeah, let''s go." Layn shook his head before moving away from the table.

    The entire thing was hidden within one of the tents. No different from the temporary lodging of the others, this particr tent served as the headquarters of the whole operation.

    And right around it, everyone was as busy as a human being could be.

    Three of the mercenaries tirelessly worked at the primitive brick factory. Just two days of working there allowed them to take care of the production with as little as three people while keeping the output unaffected.

    Two more mercenaries spent half of their day fishing while the other half on gathering what little herbs, fruits, and roots this endless in had to offer.

    Everyone else, Layn and Irea included, worked on the construction.

    "Everyone, you all should know what we are going to build today," Layn spoke out as soon as he appeared in front of the other builders.

    "Yes, master!" The group, heralded by Irea and Antion, replied in an orderly fashion.

    Their response was disciplined and organized, but there were hints of genuine joy in their voices.

    Because they were about to build the two most important buildings of any camp.

    Lodging and kitchen.

    "Let''s do it then!" Layn shouted, raising his fist.

    "URAAA!" the mercenaries shouted back before rushing to their tasks.

    "Hey, are you really sure about that kitchen idea?" Layn caught Irea''s hand before she could run off to haul bricks.

    "Yeah. I''m sure you might doubt my words, but with some utensils, I could turn what we have into excellent meals!" Irea announced, pushing her chest forward in pride.

    "That would be a massive help," Layn replied, shaking his head in awe. "Still, to think you coulde up with something with just a little stuff we have on hand," Layn started, only to stop in the middle of his sentence and turnpletely silent.

    "About that, though," Irea didn''t allow the chance to pass, instantly cutting in when Layn stopped speaking, "there is a small problem with the herbs that we are finding all around this ce."

    Layn looked at Irea with a questioning look on his face. "Problems? What kind of problems? Are they toxic?" He asked, guessing what the trouble could be.

    "No. It''s not even a problem but more like," Irea stopped for a moment to find a correct word, "a peculiarity?" She asked herself, clearly not sure how to phrase her concerns.

    "Stop teasing me and just speak up," Layn urged the girl. Unfortunately, as fun as it was to y the word games with her, this wasn''t a particrly suitable time for that.

    Layn''s role as the academy leader wasn''t limited to setting the rules and asionally teaching the stuff. For the mercenaries, that alone could be the golden stroke of luck, to have their employer actually care about them.

    But it wasn''t enough for Layn. He wasn''t born of noble blood nor even entertained the privileges granted by the status he earned with his own two hands.

    ''Those people are going to be the first set of disciples of my academy,'' Layn''s train of thought was pretty simple. ''I need to treat them right so that they will spread the word of this ce on their own!''

    That''s why, rather than passively observing the ongoing construction and other works, Layn took an active part in it.

    With the few other mercenaries who took up the building task, Layn continued to push himself to the limits. While the mercenaries wouldy the brick one after one, Layn would keep a huge sphere of unburnt brick material, serving here as a mortar.

    This building style had its obvious downsides, but the few upsides it presented were more than enough for Layn to make his decision.

    Thanks to this choice, finishing the very first building for today took only a few hours. Before the sun could even hit the midday above their heads, Layn already covered the bricked rectangle with earth before setting it alight.

    This time, no one wasted their time observing the process. By the time the first building was finished, Layn and his mean were nearing the conclusion of the second build for today.

    "Woah, that went quickly," Layn said in a happy voice while setting the fire for the second building. At the same time, the other builders continued to remove the hot earth from the insides of the building. It did a great job at keeping the heat where it was needed, but not it made for nothing but dirt and obstacle.

    "Well, that''s only to be expected from your means!" Irea said in a cheerful tone. ''After all,'' she thought, ''I grew immune to your antics at this point.'' Irea then smiled to herself.

    "Done," Layn said when the spark finally reached the trail of the unburnt brick material. He stood up before grabbing Irea''s hand and pulling her away. "Don''t stand so close. It might explode in your face."

    A mere momentter, Layn''s words proved to be prophetic when the mound of earth exploded in green mes. But rather than watching it, Layn turned his eyes to the next task.

    With the buildings prepared, all that was left to do was filling them up with furniture.

    That task was left to just a single person who spend thest three days collecting straw and what little wood the sea of grass had to offer. Yet, with just a few suggestions from Layn, this single mercenary managed to create things from beds, through drawers all the way to desks and chairs!

    And this one particr mercenary was the very first disciple that Layn recruited.

    "Sir, we are almost done with clearing up the house," one of the mercenaries reported, pointing his hand at the cleaned-up building from before.

    Roughly the size of ten by five meters, it could only serve as a primitive sleeping ce for the mercenaries. However, it would be a lie to im that living in a tent was morefortable than doing so in this frugal abode.

    But this ce offered two insanely essential advantages.

    First off, it was made out of incredibly resilient bricks. So inside this dorm, no harm coulde its inhabitants'' way. And outside of that, there was the protection from all the elements, keeping everyone safe from harsh winds and cold showers, something that no tent could achieve.

    ''I wish I had time to furnish it,'' Layn thought, looking back at the bustling area of the lodging house. Given how most of the furniture was already prepared, the builders were now only moving it around.

    While the sight of the straw-beds that Pavrien created was soothing for Layn''s strained back, he couldn''t afford to pay much of his attention to them.

    Because right now, he was trying to figure out an intelligent design for an indoor stove that wouldn''t end up suffocating everyone inside the kitchen!

 Chapter 118 - First Feast Of The Settlement

    "I''m finally done!" Layn screamed from the bottom of his lungs, falling down on the hard bricks that made up the floor of the kitchen. "After two damned days, I finally did it!" he praised himself, even more, adoring the crude result of his poor craftsmanship.

    For thest two days, Layn had a single task. To turn the bricked structure called a kitchen into a real one. And to do that, there were more than just a few utensils that he had to prepare.

    First came the fridge. Obviously, without all theplicated chipsets, coolers, and liquid cont, Layn had no way to even approach the topic from the usual, technical standpoint. Creating a fridge that people from his original time would consider a fridge was just impossible.

    But what would be magic worth if it couldn''t substitute for technology in situations like this?

    Layn ended up setting on the wisdom of his ancestors. He didn''t do it because he found the idea fancy or inspiring, but simply because he had no other real choices. If he wanted his group to be capable of storing food for long periods of time, something absolutely necessary on the grassy desert, he had to rely on the wisdom of the past.

    And soon, the entire kitchen had to go through a serious remodeling.

    First, Layn got two of the mercenaries to dig a huge basement for the kitchen. Once that was done, the excavated material was set in the area of influence of the crystal Layn recovered from the nearby site in theke, turning it into a prime, formation-setting material.

    Then came the annoying part that consumed over one and a half-day of Layn''s efforts. With the walls of the basement hardened, Layn then personally covered them in a thickyer of the magic-infused material. Once that step was done, he enclosed himself with this new refuge of his, working tirelessly for the entire night to carve all the markings and runes necessary to bring his desired formation to life.

    Layn came out of the basement roughly an hour after the daybreak. His entire body was covered in a mix of dried-out sweat, dirt, and the formation material. Yet, despite his state indicating just how hot it had to be in this unventted, underground room, Layn was actually shivering from cold when he came out.

    ''Still, that formation was a fucking miracle,'' Layn thought to himself, slowly gathering his body up from the floor. Yes, the floor. It was another of the improvements made by Layn as soon as the fridge-like basement reached itspletion.

    The formation within the basement had two elements. The main and the simpler one was the freezing effect that the formation imposed on the area enclosed by the formation padding. The actual challenge of setting that formationid in its other part, responsible for limiting the output of the freezing formation.

    ''In the end, using a military-grade trap formation to create a fridge was a bit too much,'' Layn thought, patting the bricks that made up the floor of the building. And as strange as it might be, this floor was necessary.

    ording to Layn''s ns, before this ce would turn into a proper city with craftsmen, farms, and various factories, all the buildings were set to have their floor made with the hardened earth. It was the simplest kind of floor to create, given how all it took to be ced was a burly man stomping on the ground for a few hours.

    But that wasn''t the case for the kitchen. With the powerful formation freezing its basement at all times, the cold spread all around, turning thends nearby the kitchenpletely unusable for farming. While this alone wouldn''t be a problem given how Layn wasn''t insane enough to ce farms in the middle of the settlement, there was another, huge problem to fix.

    When the freezing temperature of the basement propagated in every direction, the floor of the kitchen was no exception. And the tripleyer of the Layn''s brick barely did this job. With this protection from the cold, the kitchen became usable again.

    ''But I couldn''t afford to keep it ufortable, could I?'' Layn smiled at his own thoughts as he looked towards thest element he personally installed in the building.

    It was a stove. Quite simple in its design, it consisted of three chambers. One at the bottom, and two empty ones stacked right above it. The bottom space served as the burning area. Once filled with fuel and ignited, it would heat up both of the other chambers, one of which would be covered with a huge, cooking te, while the other one connected to the airflow system that Layn wasted another few hours to implement.

    The airflow system was based on a pretty simple idea. If fully insting the floor of the kitchen from the cold of the basement was impossible, all that Layn had to do to fix this problem was to introduce some heat back to the system.

    And that was specifically what the other chamber in the stove was there for. Rather than being used for cooking, it forced the overheated air from the chamber into a special tube, that connected the spaces intentionally left between the threeyers of the bricks. The floor consisted of ayer of bricks, supported by a huge amount of small, wooden blocks, anotheryer of bricks, anotheryer of blocks, and then a finalyer of bricks.

    The tube from the stove only reached the uppermostyer. From there, the hot air would hear up both the brick above and below, before moving between the second and thirdyer, once again giving away its heat to warm them up.

    Most of the thermal energy would be lost during the first passage. By the time the air would escape from the other heat-losing space, it would be already closer in temperature to the basement than to the stove. And it was this air, that would be then transported out of the system by another tube, ending right above the ground.

    "Did you finish?" Irea asked as soon as Layn moved out of the building.

    "My job is done here," Layn flung the cape part of his robe as he turned to the side. "But that doesn''t mean it''s over. Pavrien!" In the middle of exining the situation to Irea, Layn shouted heartily.

    "Yes, master?" The young mercenary reported in less than a minute, standing before the archmage at attention.

    "Call the people. The sooner you guys finish the kitchen, the sooner our dear Irea will get to cooking!" Layn announced with a smile. Some of the mercenaries just so happened to be near enough to overhear his words, resulting in half of the camp instantly throwing themselves at work.

    "It looks like everyone was fed up with what we ate so far, huh?" Layn muttered under his nose while sending a nudge to Irea''s side. "Thanks for offering to cook for us. For now, I will have to rely on you, but in the future," Layn started only to cut his words in half and suddenly turn silent.

    "In the future, what?" Irea asked, unwilling to pass on the opportunity to bully her partner a bit.

    "In the future, we will get some servant to cook for us instead," Layn replied with a smile.

    Before long, the kitchen was finally put to good use. As soon as the mercenaries finished setting up simple tables and workstations from the little materials outside the bricks they had, Irea was already in the process of mixing various herbs and roots that mercenaries found over thest few days.

    The sun started to slowly go down when the feast was finally done. Layn couldn''t believe how many different dishes Irea managed toe up with given the little ingredients they had in the whole camp. But once the archmage saw the desperation and dedication with which his people threw themselves at the hot food, he could only nod his head with content.

    "Let''s try it as well," Layn muttered to himself, grabbing a small piece of herbal-infused meat from one of the stone tters. Meat by itself was pretty easy toe by in this sea of grass thanks to the abundance of small monsters and animals all over the ce. The only problem with this kind of prayid in how small it was, making it impossible to prepare a single, huge piece of meat for someone to feast on.

    "How is it?" Irea asked, instantly appeared on Layn''s side when she noticed him taking his first bite.

    "Marvelous," Layn smiled in response, wiping the drop of meat juice from the corner of his mouth.

    "That''s good to hear," Irea replied as her face rxed from the amount of relief that washed through her soul.

    ''To think that something as little would be so important for her,'' Layn thought lightly before resting his back against the wall of the doorway and looking outside the dorm building.

    It was meant as nothing but an act of calming himself down by alternating the bustling insides of the door and the endless calm of the early night outside. But just the single look was enough for Layn to notice that something was wrong.

    The problem was very hard to nail down as if it was some kind of ghost spooking the archmage out. Irea quickly noticed Layn''s peculiar behavior, throwing her own nce outside, only for her face to freeze as she asked.

    "Layn¡­ Where are all the stars?"

 Chapter 119 - Nightshade (1/3)

    Irea asked her question in a normal tone. At most, she was only slightly curious and stunned by the marvelous sight of thepletely dark sky. But that situation didn''tst long.

    "It''s not me," Layn said while shaking his head. He strained his eyes, trying to see the source of this unusual ckness.

    ''It can''t be an eclipse, not on this scale,'' Layn thought, tuning himself down. Irea followed him to the outside, closing the doors behind her. The voices of the men inside the dorm turned silent. Layn closed his eyes and attempted to sense anything extraordinary.

    "Layn?" Irea asked, wrapping her hands around his arm. Her body was slightly trembling. What started as a curiosity now turned into a genuine fear of the unknown.

    "I have no idea what''s going on." Layn gently shook his head. There was no point in trying to cover the truth. Right now, they had to figure out whether theirck of any light from the stars was just a prelude to some real trouble.

    A wave crashed into the shore nearby.

    "Wait for a second," Layn requested, prompted by the sound. "When the monsters attacked you, where did they came from?" he asked.

    A bad premonition appeared in Layn''s thoughts.

    "Back then? From theke, around¡­." Irea took aim with her arm before correcting it a few times, "there." She pointed her hand in the one direction Layn hoped she wouldn''t.

    ''Isn''t that where that structureys?'' The archmage noticed with a grim look surfacing on his face.

    "What kind of monsters were they?" Layn turned his head to Irea. His eyes were filled with a strange shine. A shine Irea saw for the first time in her life.

    "Ugh?" she mumbled, clearly at a loss for words. "Three of them were like giant frogs, three others looked roughly like snakes," Irea started recounting, only for Layn to raise his hand and stop her.

    "Did they look like seaborn monsters?" He changed his question.

    "Oh," Irea moaned in surprise, finally paying attention to this small detail she missed.

    "They were not, right?" Layn didn''t even look at the girl when asking for rification. His eyes were glued to the shore instead, watching how the ripples on the otherwise t surface of the water continued to grow bigger and bigger.

    "Yeah," Irea replied, nodding her head to her words.

    The sound of the water crashing against the shore intensified. Now even Irea noticed it. Her head turned towards the shore while her eyes widened.

    "What are we going to do?" she asked.

    "For now, go and alert everyone that something ising," Layn replied while biting on his lips.

    ''If I''m right,'' Layn thought, analyzing the stray thought that appeared in his head. ''If that''s right, then it would make sense.'' The archmage looked in the direction of the site from before. ''If all the monsters it produced would end up as a feed for the existing ones,'' Layn thought while rushing towards the shore, more and more inclined to believe his intuition, ''then where did all the monsters that are alivee from in the first ce?''

    There was a chance that the original monsters were introduced here artificially or were naturally present in this ce before the site was built. But the chances for it were small. It was impossible to construct such a detailed structure while under constant threat of the monster''s attack.

    And that left only one possibility.

    This strange, lightless night, when both of the moons and all the stars disappeared, had some kind of effect on the monsters. Maybe said effect applied on all the monsters around, or maybe it only affected those freshly created by that site, allowing for the fresh cycle of newly created monsters to establish themselves in the habitat without being jumped by all the other monsters in the area right off the bat.

    ''It would also exin why there was that random attack,'' Layn thought, stepping into the water all the way to the point where it reached his knees. Even without the light, he could feel everything in a small area around him, making Laynpletely immune to sneak attacks.

    If this kind of ckout was something urring periodically, the local monsters would develop instincts warning them about it. This was the likely cause behind the monsters attacking Layn''s camp while he was away. Without a presence strong enough to deter them, they just passed through in an attempted escape from an area that would soon turn dangerous!

    ''In that sense, it wasn''t an attack at all,'' Layn thought, looking at the huge waves that appeared on the surface of the water in the distance. ''But I can''t tell them that,'' he thought, turning his head towards the approaching group.

    "Why are you guys here?" Rather than rejoicing at the support, Layn scolded his people. "Get back to the dorm. Be ready to leave at the first notice, but stay cooped inside for now," Layn ordered his people before retreating from the shore himself.

    ''Judging from the speed at which the waves are spreading, I should have enough time," Layn thought, rushing towards the brick-production facility. Only when he got his hands on four bricks, exactly the same as the one used to build the dorm and the kitchen did Layn dare to return to the shore.

    At that point, there was no lmore ripples on the surface of the water. The entireke was rocking in waves up and down, making the ce look like a scene of an apocalypse rather than an eeriekeside in it was just a few hours ago.

    "It''sing," Layn said to himself, lowering his body on his knees. The bricks weighed in his hands, making it all the easier to stay leaned forward and down.

    "SCREECH!" One of the approaching monsters suddenly jumped out of the water, only to release a deafening scream before diving right back into theke. The entire motion was pretty simr to what the dolphins would do, but there was no hint of yfulness that those animals would present. The only thing that Layn felt from that slim-whale-looking monster was the killing pressure.

    "I guess it''s time to test my theory," Layn said to encourage himself, watching how the monster jumped out of the water again. Then again.

    "Right¡­" Layn released three of his bricks, making them fall to the ground. "About¡­" taking aim and precisely measuring the time, the archmage waited.

    "NOW!" Screaming from the bottom of his lungs, Layn hurled the brick forward, right before the monster jumped out of the water again. But this time, rather than falling back to the water, the brick smashed it right into a small, rocky protrusion on the monster''s head!

    "Fuck, it''s evolved!" Layn only noticed this small peculiarity now. When it came to the bodies of the monsters, outside of the obvious and natural differences required to form a precise shape, the entire body of the monster would have a uniform structure. Outside of ws, teeth, or even hardened legs, the entirety of its skin would be exactly the same here as it would be on the other side of its body.

    But that wasn''t the case for the evolved monsters. Monsters that amassed such an insane amount of magic over the course of their existence, that their natural monstrosity was shed and left aside, reced by the vicious intelligence of a hunter with years of experience.

    Thankfully, being an evolved monster only proved to be a handicap in this exact scenario. What Layn''s brick struck, wasn''t just some random protrusion on the body of the monster, but the w that appeared on the bodies of every single evolved monster.

    Once the monster would reach this one level higher, its power would rise beyond the natural limitations imposed on all living beings by the world itself. While some believed it to be the heavenly intervention aimed at preventing humans from falling prey to the monsters, Layn was too close to science to believe that bunch of crap.

    The weak spot was bound to appear in a random ce of an evolved monster''s body. Whilemonly called a weak spot, it was actually a single ce where the monster would constantly exchange its mana with the world, allowing it to postpone the deterioration of its flesh caused by the immense power it held.

    And with Layn''s brick smashing right at that point, the option for that monster to avoid the natural forces of the world shing inside its body and obliterating it from within was gone.

    "Uff, it worked out nicely," Layn thought when the body of the attacking monster suddenly bloated up to nearly five times its original size, before simply fading away from existence.

    Layn looked at the brick that fell to the water and quickly sunk below its surface. Less for the monster dying, this was the very result Layn was hoping for.

    In a sh between an evolved monster and his brick, it was his brick that reigned supreme!

    And that meant, the buildings created with the use of those bricks should be safe from any monster incursions!

 Chapter 120 - Nightshade (2/3)

    The first monster died. Vanishing into nonexistence, it left no stone nor materials that could be used.

    ''That''s an evolved monster for you,'' Layn thought while watching how its corpse continued to fade away. From the moment that the monster would enter its evolution phase, it would no longer be seen as just a great source of magic or mana stones.

    Even in Layn''s own times, any evolved monster that would appear would be quickly cleaned up by a specialized crew trained to kill them. Because there were two essential factors when it came to the evolved monsters.

    One, they were economically useless. Their energy was too violent to draw on it while it was alive. The very mana core that made killing the monsters a profitable endeavor turned into the mana exchange point, the same point that Layn smashed with his brick.

    As such, there was no economic benefit behind killing those evolved monsters whatsoever. That is unless one would ignore the costs of allowing such monsters to roam the world freely. Then, the scale of both civilian and official losses would quickly reach numbers greater than the entire sector of monster hunger economy ever managed to bring!

    Even with the death of the first aggressor, the situation was far from being over. As little as Layn cared about the possibility of the monsters like that roaming the desert, he had to ensure that his people were safe from the incursions.

    ''In the end, there is no way we triggered this event to happen,'' Layn thought to himself, allowing his mana to flow more and more rapidly. Given what his opponents would be, he didn''t dare to go easy on them, even for a fraction of a moment.

    The ripples appeared on the surface of the water again. But as much as Layn was interested in seeing whether he could defeat this kind of evolved monster on his own, he didn''t dare to test his limits.

    In the end, behind his back, a group of his followers was hiding. Right now, they would bepletely and utterly useless in a fight, given the scale of it. Out of everyone, only Irea could hold her ground for a bit before also sumbing to the overwhelmingly oppressive aura of those evolved monsters.

    ''No, I can''t take it easy,'' Layn scolded himself in his thoughts, retreating from the shore in a hurry. Right now, the water was behaving quite frantic. Rather than a single type of uniform wave crashing into the coast, it appeared as if the entire surface of theke suddenly started to boil.

    ''No, that''s not it,'' Layn strained his eyes towards the water. Theke wasn''t boiling at all. If something like this were to be happening, he could quickly feel the temperature from the rising steam all over his face. "It looks like¡­ waves crashing into each other?" Layn was so puzzled by the discovery that he ended up voicing his question out.

    Soon, the truth became apparent when a swarm of monsters broke through the surface of theke. With so many sources of disturbance, it now turned clear why theke behaved like it did.

    ''Are they all¡­'' Layn stopped himself from even thinking about such an opportunity. In the end, the brick-buildings he set were likely to withstand the onught of a single evolved monster, but the same couldn''t be said about an entire army of them. Ultimately, every kind of material had this hidden stress-point past which a force of a literal ant could break it apart.

    The monsters continued to jump out of the water. Some of them rushed towards the shore in the distance, some of them swam towards Layn''s camp, others remained in ce. In a sense, this entire event looked like if someone opened a gate in the middle of ake before forcing its mutated soldiers into expanding in every single possible direction.

    "At this rate, they will be here in about half an hour," Layn said to himself before biting on his lips. ''If they are spreading so fast and so far, then they need to expand a fuckload of energy.'' Layn''s mind spun at its maximum speed as the archmage attempted to figure out a way out of their current situation.

    ''But it doesn''t really matter if they die from exhaustion or by being stomped by those monsters first.'' Layn continued to analyze various options, from developing quasi-nuke magic on the spot with the use of the crystal from before, all the way to even packing the essentials up and just straight out leaving.

    In the end, Layn wasn''t willing to sacrifice the lives of others just to keep his camp in this particr ce. The further one went into the desert, the stronger and more wicked his opponents would be. After all, there were no records of something like the ongoing situation appearing near the barrier at all!

    "Okay, let''s do it like this, then," Layn said to himself as he jumped down from the vantage point he climbed previously. Not that he understood what wasing, there was no point wasting even a single second of his time more.

    "ATTENTION!" Layn shouted as soon as he reached the dormitory. The people inside followed his order without even a single moment of doubt, even though most of them still have yet to realize what kind of situation they were in.

    "Guys, I won''t lie. We are in deep shit right now," Layn said, instantly bringing up everyone up the speed. "A massive horde of enraged monsters and evolved monsters is spreading in every direction from the middle of theke," Layn informed before pointing his arm at the monsters wereing from.

    For a moment, the silence took over the ce. No one dared to say a single word. Then, right as the tension was about to explode and people fell into a panic, Irea stepped forward.

    "What is the n, then?" she asked, not paying any mind to how tense the situation was. "Like,e on, you wouldn''te here just to scare us? I know you well enough to know that if it was really the end, you would just let us enjoy ourselves until the veryst moment, isn''t that right?" She quickly proved that she wouldn''t be a pushover this time, forcing Layn to confess.

    "Yes, you are right," the archmage answered with a strange look behind his eyes. "But just as you are right with the fact that there is a n, there is one thing you didn''t guess," Layn said before turning his head back to the general public rather than Irea alone. "We have very little time. I already tested out, and those bricks can withstand the attacks of the evolved monsters, but I''m worried that a singleyer of bricks might not be enough to ward off the horde."

    Layn decided to bepletely honest. There was a chance that this would be the end for them all. There was a chance that the monsters wouldpletely ignore the buildings as if they were just a random stone or a tree in their way¡­ That is, as long as they couped inside and stayed silent.

    ''Wait a moment,'' Layn suddenly stopped as both his body and his mind froze. ''A stone or a tree¡­ But what if we actually make it like that?'' he asked himself before looking to the outside.

    From Layn''s current perspective, he was unable to see the approaching horde. That meant they still had enough time to put his n into motion.

    "Okay, everyone, forget what I said a moment ago," Layn announced before dropping the idea of reinforcing the walls of the dormitory with anotheryer of bricks. In the end, it was something pretty time-consuming to achieve, so they would have to risk quite a lot to finish such rapid construction before the horse woulde.

    But there was a simple way topletely ignore the problem of the monsters attacking. A method thatmoners used in the past to ward off against tornados or other storms that wouldn''t result in a flood.

    It was to just hide underground and wait out the entire ordeal. A crude and straightforward method, but as long as it worked, there wouldn''t be a single person that could denounce it.

    "Everyone. Grab whatever shovel, brick, or any other tool you can find. We need to create a slope on the wall facing the shore so that any monsters wanting to pass through the building will simply move over it!" Layn shouted, going outside on his own. As simple a n as it was, there just wasn''t any other realistically better option right now.

    "Dear¡­ Are you sure?" Irea followed after the archmage only to catch his hand and ask.

    "Yes, but there is one thing I didn''t tell yet," Layn announced before turning around and cing a gentle kiss on Irea''s forehead.. "I''m not going to hide inside the dorm with you and everyone else."

 Chapter 121 - Nightshade (3/3)

    "You better stop shitting me," Irea snapped in an instant. She flung her hands forward only to grab Layn by his robe and pull him towards her. "If we are going to hide, you are going to hide with us!" she shouted, clearly unwilling to let the archmage go against the approaching horde of monsters all on his own.

    "Dear, I know how it sounds, but I don''t have suicidal tendencies," Layn refuted Irea''s protests, grabbing her hands into his own before taking them off his clothes. "We all worked so hard to get the kitchen done, so I can''t allow it to be devastated now. But, sadly, we won''t have the time to hide both of the ces, so I will need to draw the attention of the monsters away from it instead." Layn informed as calmly as if he was describing yesterday''s weather, not the n to throw himself all alone against the horde of both evolved and enraged monsters.

    "Do you really think I care for this damned kitchen right now?!" Irea snapped even further, refusing to let go of Layn''s clothes. "Layn, listen, we came here only because of you. We survived here so far only because of you. You are too important to risk your life for something as stupid as the kitchen!" her entire body started to tremble in agitation.

    "Dear, didn''t I say it?" Layn shook his head. "I do not n to go out and die. In fact, protecting the kitchen is just a side task for me," he added, turning his head towards the shore to check whether the monsters were already visible.

    Thankfully, they were still hidden behind the line of the horizon. And that meant the mercenaries frantically digging up the earth only to pile up at the shore-facing wall of the dorm still had some time to prepare for the invasion of the horde.

    "Then what is the real purpose of you putting your neck on the line?" Irea asked with fury filling her eyes.

    ''For her to get so agitated over my safety,'' Layn blushed a bit, even though he was in the middle of an argument. ''It''s a weirdly pleasant feeling,'' he thought before lowering his head to hide his blush.

    "That''s not something I can answer right now," Layn answered Irea''s question after a short moment.

    "What, are you holding secrets from me now?" she asked, prompted even into greater agitation.

    "Huh? No, nothing like that!" Layn raised his hands to his chest as if he wanted to defend himself from those false usations. "It''s just that¡­." his voice broke as he looked away, unable to face the girl at all.

    "What. Is. It?" Irea spelled her words out one by one, enting every single one of them. Her body leaned forward as she looked at Layn with fires in her eyes.

    "I don''t really know," Layn finally decided to give up. "I don''t know anything about what''s going on. AH, I know some things, but not anything that would allow me to understand the principle," he exined a bit, even though his words still made little to no sense to anyone outside of the strict circle of his science friends from the past.

    "And why the heck do you need to understand some kind of principle?!" Irea was reaching the limits of her mental stability. Her shouts proved that even though Layn''s words actually made sense, she was too agitated to notice it.

    "Irea," Layn called the girl out in a stern voice. But even when she looked at him with those agitated eyes of hers, the archmage refused to say anything.

    "What do you want?" After a long moment of silence, she finally asked.

    "Irea, I will repeat myself again. I need to understand the principle behind what''s happening right now." There was no hint of doubt or hesitation in Layn''s voice. He wasn''t even asking for approval but informing the girl about the obvious instead.

    "And what for?" The girl still refused to just trust in his words.

    "Because if we don''t know what''s happening, we will keep being the victims of this event." Layn shook his head. "If we don''t know what''s the reason behind that monster''s swarm, we won''t be able to stop it."

    Finally, Layn revealed the reasons behind his decision. He knew about the monster-producing site in the middle of theke. He knew that most of the monsters created there were designed to be the feed of the monsters that already existed. He could even guess that for each produced monster, there was a small chance it could actually survive and join the ranks of the monsters roaming the area.

    But he didn''t know where did this strange veil of darknesse from. He didn''t know how and why it influenced the monsters.

    ''Is it making them evolve, or just attracting evolved monsters to gather around?'' Layn asked himself, using every spare moment to analyze the situation.

    "So that''s the case," Irea said as she finally started to calm down. Her entire body sunk in itself as if all the energy suddenly vanished from her system resulting in the inner pressure. "Are you really sure it is necessary, though?" Irea hung her head before asking.

    "Dear, it''s really pleasing to see how you are worried about me," Layn started, aiming to pat the girl''s head when his body twitched. His head instantly moved to the side, making the archmage cast his nce at the water nearby.

    And it was already full of ripples, indicating that the source of the disturbance wasing in fast.

    Layn raised his eyes a bit. And there they were. An unending front of monsters, using whatever means they had at their disposal to push forward.

    Some were clearly drowning. Others could barely hold themselves above the water. Only a small number of the monsters was actually fit to travel through the water. As a result, Layn could spot only a fewnd-faring monsters at the front, given how it was upied almost exclusively by the sea-faring monsters instead.

    "I guess the ones at the front will die on thend rather quickly," Tom said, straining his eyes in hopes of seeing more details in the picture. Sadly, as great as his eyes were whenpared to an average mortal, they couldn''t match the sight of people like Yelna or Kasher of the former(future?) hero party.

    "And what does that matter? Isn''t this a good thing?" Irea asked after a moment when she also noticed the front of the approaching monsters.

    "Good thing, bad thing, it all depends how you look at it," Layn replied while shaking his head. "From one side, if most of them die as soon as theye ashore, then it means fewer monsters to worry about. But on the other hand¡­." Layn stopped his words in the middle, unwilling to just give the answer to the girl.

    ''I wonder if she will figure how problematic it could be, all by herself,'' he thought, casting a meaningful nce at the girl.

    "You want me to figure out the downside of them dying?" Irea asked, perfectly reading the intent of Layn''s actions. "Any hints?" she asked, raising her eyes at the man.

    ''At least she calmed down a bit,'' Layn thought with his lips forming a gentle smile. "The monsters incapable of traversing or even living on thend will all die once theye ashore." That was the greatest help Layn was willing to offer.

    The knowledge that sea-faring monsters, in most of the situations, couldn''t remain alive on the drynd was something that Irea couldck. As such, Layn had no intent of expecting her to figure it out all on her own. But now that he gave her this important piece of information, she should be able to figure out why it was problematic for them.

    "Well, I think I know what you wanted to say, but this veil of darkness¡­ Wait, this is a pretty depressing name, isn''t it?" Irea suddenly changed the topic. "How about we call it night-shade? You know," she suddenly smiled, "because it''s night, and yet it still throws the shade on the things that would otherwise shine!" she said while raising her hand to the sky above, where all the stars were absent.

    "That''s a good name," Layn acknowledged Irea''s invention before squinting his eyes a bit. "What about my question, though?" he asked, leaning his head to the side.

    "Don''t worry, I''m getting there," Irea cast a quick nce at the progress of the work of the mercenaries before smiling at Layn. "We don''t know how this nightshade influences the monsters. If it''s only empowering their instincts, then we really might have a problem here."

    "And what kind of problem?" Layn couldn''t help but pry deeper into the topic. ''It feels like she is on the right track,'' he thought. Ultimately though, he decided to stay silent.

    "Because if those sea-faring monsters you saw will all die on the shore, then all the other monsters will stay here for as long as it will take them to eat all the corpses out, am I right?" Irea put her guess forward before moving her eyes towards the surface of the water.

    The monsters were already pretty close. By judging the distance that they still had to travel and the speed at which they were doing so, roughly five minutes remained before the attack would ensue.

    "Sir, we have finished the slope!" before Layn could confirm Irea''s guess, one of the mercenaries reported. Taking a look at the building, Layn smiled. Thanks to the hard work of his people, the shore-facing side of the dorm now turned into a slope, as if the entire thing was just another hill.

    "Great. I need everyone to go and hide inside," Layn ordered before moving his eyes back on Irea''s face. "That also includes you. As for your question¡­." Layn stopped in the middle of the sentence before taking a few steps towards the shore.

    But rather than putting himself at the front against the monsters, he just wanted to distance himself from the girl.

    "I have no idea. And that''s one of the reasons why I have to remain outside," Layn stated before turning his head to the mercenary that came with the report.

    "I need you guys to stay vignt for as long as necessary. We don''t know if our trick will work, so if the building will show any signs of breaking apart, be ready to flee for your life," Layn instructed before his face took on a sour expression.

    "One more thing," he said just as the mercenary was about to leave. "I need you to make sure Irea will be inside the dorm with you all.. This one time, I will allow you to use force to keep her inside if she will decide to go out all on her own."

 Chapter 122 - Monstrosity

    "Just where the hell does he hide?" Markus muttered his question while busy setting up his tent. "No matter how far we chase after that bastard, he is always one step ahead!" the manined, mming the stretching nail into the sands of the desert.

    "We chased him all the way here. He couldn''t traverse all that deep into the desert," Al spoke up, already done with his tent.

    As pressed for the time as they were, traveling through the foreign desert at night wasn''t a good idea. No matter how strong the three of them were, the monsters roaming those grounds would still give them a run for their money.

    "Don''t underestimate him," Yelna spoke up, not bothered with the work around their camp at all. Given her marriage to Markus, she just happily assumed that the duty of setting the tent up would fall on his shoulders.

    "We are not." Markus sighed in response, not even trying to pick up the topic. ''No matter how confident and self-assured she is, she will never stop taking him seriously, huh?'' Markus thought, lowering his eyes to where his hands were.

    As minor as something like that would be, smashing his finger with a handy hammer while setting up a tent was just an unnecessary annoyance.

    "Still, I''m quite impressed," Al said, sitting down on his coat set above the hot sands. "Even with my people, I wouldn''t dare to push so deep into and like that," he added, lowering his head in the mute respect.

    "Respect, huh?" Markus asked, shrugging at the sheer thought of his. "Out of all the things, it''s the respect he deserves the most," he added, not bothering to exin.

    "If you say so." Al raised his eyebrows, refusing toment any further on that. As a man of a few words, he didn''t feel the need to argue. ''After all,'' he thought, ''there is a limit to how much I can respect someone I never met.''

    "Guys," Yelna suddenly spoke up, breaking her usual behavior. "Something ising."

    "Huh?" Al looked at the girl with a surprise written all over his face. "A monster or what?" he asked, grasping the handle of his axe as he looked around.

    "No, something greater." Yelna''s body started to tremble. She locked her hands on her shoulders as if trying to guard herself against the cold.

    "Yelna!" Markus shouted, forgetting about the work he was doing. He jumped up to the girl, covering her with his own coat. "What''sing?" he asked in a tense voice, clearly not going through this kind of situation for the first time.

    "Guys?" Al asked as he stood up, gripping his axe tighter in his palms.

    "This is her ability. While I can feel the disasters of the far future, she can sense them when they are immediate," Markus exined in one breath. He then attempted to pinpoint where Yelna''s eyes were gravitating towards.

    ''North, huh?'' His eyes moved towards the horizon, hoping to see some sign, some mark on the endless expanse of the sands.

    ***************

    "They areing," Layn whispered to himself, watching how the front of the monsters inched closer to the shore.

    It was the first time for the archmage to set up an ambush on a rooftop. ''During the times when I was doing stuff like that, there were hardly any roofs around, huh?'' Layn thought, trying to brighten his mood with some funny memories.

    Layn''s attempt at making light of the situation didn''t change it whatsoever.

    The monsters crashed into the shore.

    The sight was as spectacr... as it was disappointing. Safely hidden in the shadow on the kitchen''s roof, Layn observed the frantic behavior of the monsters.

    At first, the sea-faring ones reached the drynd. They were the fastest because of their builds being optimized for movement in the water. But on the drynd, those slim and glib, limbless bodies of the monsters only created a wiggly barricade.

    But this stalemate would onlyst for so long.

    Once the water-fit monsters exhausted their numbers, those fit for both environments started appearing. The barricade made out of the carcasses of their unlucky precedesors onlysted for a short moment before monsters began to spill all over the in.

    "Here we go," Layn muttered before hiding deeper into the shadow. For now, there was absolutely no need for him to engage. But Layn wasn''t going to patiently wait for the monsters to overrun him.

    "I didn''t think it woulde to this so quickly," he said while unwrapping the crystal-infused rope from all over his body. Then, throwing his usual robes away for the sole purpose of this moment, he directed his thoughts to the rope.

    A momentter, the crystalic structure of the magical element inside broke apart, allowing the magic particles to freely gather in just a tiny part of the rope.

    Condensing its effects like that was an easy job. Moreover, doing so allowed to store more magical particles in a single piece of equipment and more easily gather the mana.

    But there was one fatal w in using the magic particle-infused equipment. As long as one had any magic sense, such an item would shine as bright as the moon on the night sky.

    ''Let''s hope I won''t need to use it after all,'' Layn thought, watching how the monsters continued to creep even closer. And before long, the first few of them climbed up the freshly created slope only to trip and fall down from the reinforced roof of the dormitory.

    "That''s one less thing to worry about," Layn muttered softly, grasping his rope a bit tighter.

    *************

    "We need to hurry up!" Yelna shouted, speeding forward. Even though her build didn''t grant her the stamina necessary for marathons, she didn''t appear to pay it any mind.

    "It''s okay, just stop for a moment!" Markus shouted after the girl, desperately trying to catch up to her. ''If something huge enough to trip her senses is going on, she can''t appear at the disaster zone exhausted!'' Markus leaped forward, finally grabbing hold of the girl''s arm. "Let me carry you there," he said, instantly throwing the girl around his waist before pulling her on top of his back.

    "Thanks," Yelna replied in a soft voice, turning her face away while tightening her hold over the man''s chest.

    "Where are we even going?" Al asked in a loud voice while trying to keep up with Markus''s pace. While his stamina was way greater than Yelna''s, it still couldn''t bepared to Markus''s capabilities.

    Not when it came to running a long distance.

    "I don''t know!" Markus shouted back, already on edge. For Yelna''s senses to react, the event had to be on a truly disastrous scale.

    ''Just what the hell are you up to again, brother?'' Markus thought, biting on his lips.

    ************

    ''What the fuck is this?!'' Layn stared with his eyes wide open at an enormous shadow in the distance. ''I was so focused on all those small fries that I failed to notice it earlier...'' Layn thought, putting the me on himself.

    If the average monster of the horde was roughly twice to thrice as massive as huge animals like cows or bears, the thing that Layn saw... Was on an entirely different scale.

    ''I can''t even tell how big it actually is,'' Layn realized. Unsure how far this massive monstrosity was, he couldn''t even guess just how massive in reality it was.

    The shadow of the true monster reached as high as the sky itself. Raising higher than even the biggest building that Layn''s ever saw in the modern civilization. Not even the royal castle where Layn spent his days in the past couldpare to that monstrosity.

    ''It''s like a... wolf? Humanized wolf?'' he thought, watching how its fangs cut through the air. Each of those fangs appeared to be the size of two adult humans standing on each other, giving testimony to just how massive this entire furry monster was.

    ''Could it be,'' shaken by the situation, Layn could only dare to guess, ''the legendary titanus forma?''

    *********

    "Ugh!" Yelna suddenly cried out. Even though she simply stuck to Markus''s back, somehow, she still ended up injured.

    "What happened?!" Hearing the desperate outcry of his wife, Markus instantly stopped in his track before checking on the girl.

    But Yelna didn''t say a word. Her pupils were dted as much as they physically could, depriving Yelna of the sane look. Right now, she appeared like some mad witch only capable of uttering some broken words through spasms and twitches.

    "It''s here," a massive spasm shook Yelna''s body before a mouthful of foam-turned saliva spewed out from her lips.

    *******

    Layn could only watch powerlessly as a massive monster of a turtle-like shape made its way towards him. There was no intent at harming Layn, given how the monster most likely didn''t even notice the archmage yet.

    Sadly, there was no escaping the inevitable. The body of this monster was simply too massive. If it was allowed to tread forward, once it would climb the slope and step on the dormitory''s roof, it was bound to crash down!

    "So the time hase," Layn thought, tightening his grasp over the condensed part of his rope.

    A slight silver of mana moved from Layn''s aura to the rope he held in his hand. This single strand of mana attacked just a single magical particle. The energy from the deconstruction of the particle exploded, instantly unwinding a few more particles.

    In a sh, the chain reaction turned the stable material of the rope into a burning inferno of raging magic.

    Layn''s body started to deteriorate under the onught of the magic overflowing his body. And once this external magic reached a sufficient point, the small number of magic particles inside Layn''s body ignited as well.

    The gianormous monster in the distance turned its wolf-like head towards Layn.

 Chapter 123 - The World Will Be No More

    Markus suddenly stopped. Yelna stuck to his back froze, unable to move even a muscle.

    "What was that...?" Al asked, already on his knees.

    A mere moment ago, all three of them detected a surge of powerful energy. But, while Al only experienced the physical side-effect of such a disturbance, the same couldn''t be said about his twopanions from the future.

    "It''s him," Markus muttered, forcing his stiff muscles to work again. A step forward, then another, and in just a mere moment, he was already running again.

    "That we can say for sure," Yelna admitted before squinting her eyes. "What worries me is that he used... that."

    ******************

    Layn''s body was burning. Not with something as simple as a fire, but with the overloaded mana. Ever since Layn found his first mana crystal, he infused his body with a small amount of the crystalized mana.

    Which was precisely the same element that made his and Irea''s ropes so special. And right now, Layn was burning through this crystalized mana, releasing it in its actually usable form.

    And even his body, entirely constructed from the mana of the gran arcana, couldn''t hold such overwhelming power.

    "What are you looking at, you ugly motherfucker?" Layn asked as he dropped down from the kitchen roof, directly into the pool of the monsters crowding below.

    But even those evolved monsters that were there no longer posed any challenge to him. In fact, Layn didn''t even pay them any mind. Instead, he allowed the ongoing onught of mana propagated by his body to melt down any and all opposition on his way.

    But the gianormous monster in the distance remained. And now that its house-sized eyeballs were directed at Layn, the sh between the two was inevitable.

    Layn raised the shiny part of the rope to his eyes.

    "I didn''t think I would need to use it so quickly," he muttered before squeezing the shiny part of the rope.

    The magical particles infused into the twig that made up the item were already on the verge of losing their stability. And when Layn used his burning, over-condensed mana, thest signs of stability disappeared from the rope.

    There was a massive difference between the number of magical particles in Layn''s body and in the rope. While infusing them into one''s body was a pretty challenging and even risky action, doing so to an external object was easy inparison.

    And now, Layn released all the energy stored in the magical particles of the rope!

    *******

    "It''s starting," Markus muttered through his clenched teeth before speeding up his run even more. Running through the desert on a moonless night wasn''t the brightest idea, but he didn''t really have any say over the matter.

    Not with Layn apparently going rouge.

    "You know we need to stop him," Yelna whispered, clearly conflicted over the topic herself.

    "Only if he lost his sanity," Markus replied in an angry tone. "I know you look at the greater picture, but don''t forget that he is our friend!" he protested.

    ''Brother, hold on just for a little longer!'' Markus wished in his thoughts, speeding towards the source of the evergrowing magical disaster.

    ************

    Once the eyes of the massive monster in the distanceid on Layn''s shine, it instantly turned all of its attention to the archmage. But before Layn could even get to it, a change urred to the horde.

    Previously, the monsters simply pushed forward as if aiming to popte the entire in. But now that Layn ignited his magical particles and was in the process of igniting the magic particles in his rope, the whole horde all rushed at him.

    "Useless!" Layn shouted, sweeping his hand. The air disturbed by his movement instantly caught fire, showering the horde with the element. Before monsters could get close to the archmage, they would sumb to the intense mes instead.

    ''Kill,'' the thought appeared in Layn''s mind, instantly forcing him into the fight for his own consciousness. ''Kill, kill, kill, kill'' this single relentless thought apanied the archmage as he made his way towards the monster in the distance.

    "ROAR!" Layn''s target released a mighty outcry. Just the sound of its road alone appeared to influence all the monsters in the range of the sound. What''s more, as the sound propagated outwards, the fabric of the world itself seemed to crumble under its might.

    "Shut up, you ugly piece of shit!" Layn shouted, allowing his inner feelings to get the better of him for a short moment. Then, infusing just a tiny shadow of the magic that was currently raging all over him, Layn quickly matched the power of the roar.

    For a moment, it appeared as if space wouldn''t be able to confine those two opposing forces. In the ce where two soundwaves shed, a hole was ripped out of the space itself, allowing the void to momentarily invade the real ne.

    Then, the monster made its first step towards Layn, sending tremors through the entire in.

    *****

    "WATCH OUT!" Al shout alerted Markus just a moment toote. The ground shook powerfully. Unable to keep his footing on the shaky ground, the former saint desperately lunged forward, hoping that by the time he wouldnd, the tremors would calm down.

    But they didn''t.

    "We are close enough. I will run on my own now!" Yelna shouted, using Markus''s back as a foothold before kicking herself forward.

    By the time Markus managed to get back on his feet, the girl was already several tens of meters ahead, rushing forward without a care in the world.

    Just as if she was capable of seeing through the darkness. As if thepleteck of light didn''t hamper her perception at all.

    "Damn it," Markus muttered as he gathered himself up, only to start chasing after the girl right away. Before he could get far, though, someone suddenly picked him up before speeding up.

    "Leave the running to me," Al said, holding Markus under his arm. "I can tell that you guys know what''s happening, so you should also be able to deal with it." Al didn''t even bother to look at Markus as he spoke. "You have the means to deal with it, right?" he asked after a moment in a threatening tone.

    "To be frank," Markus said before swallowing his saliva. "If Layn really goes all out, then this world is done for."

    *******

    "Come..." Layn shouted while rushing forward, "here!" His shout carried yet another onught of mana, this time directed at the monster itself rather than its attack.

    Layn was rushing forward while burning everything on his path. He didn''t pay any mind to the coteral damage to the in he wanted to settle on. He didn''t pay any mind to the monsters dying left and right.

    He only paid his mind to the monster ahead.

    "ROAR!" The monster cried once again when Layn''s magic brushed off it. Then, clearly annoyed by the pesky human, the monster elerated its steps, making the ground tremble even harder.

    Layn didn''t really care for the footing. Be it the ground itself, some random monster that escaped the fiery onught, or literally anything else, he would use it to move forward.

    There was no fear in the archmage''s heart. His mana-fried soul was no longer capable of producing higher-level emotions like fear. The only thing in his mind was the massive monster charging right at him!

    "DIE!" Layn shouted as soon as the distance became short enough for his heavy-hitting spell to work. Then, drawing arcanas in his mind on the go, he fueled them with the same mana that was burning his body into bits.

    For a moment, the reality itself wavered. The amount of magic that Layn infused into his arcanas was greater than what this world could stomach. But before the reality itself could break apart and put a stop to Layn''s shenanigans, his spells fired.

    In an instant, thend that still separated Layn''s tiny body and the mountain-like monster ahead... changed.

    For an independent observer, it would be better to turn his eyes away from the sight as no human brain could process the visuals.

    Thend was burning. The ground was frozen. Thend was cracking apart yet condensing at the same time. Layn overloaded the area between himself and the monster with so much mana and various constructs that the reality itself warped.

    In this rtively small area, the universal rules of the world no longer made any sense.

    But the monster ahead didn''t seem to be affected by it at all. Instead, its massive jaws parted a little, as if the gianormous beast was about to let out a heartyugh.

    Then, itshed its castle-sized arm at Layn, baring its fangs at the archmage!

    ''I should be far enough,'' Layn thought in the short moment in which his mind regained rity.. Then, his thoughts once again got influenced by the onught of mana, making his eyes open wide as blood started to trickle down all his orifices. "COME!"

 Chapter 124 - Layns Disaster

    The monster didn''t heed Layn''s provocation. Instead, it attacked in spite of it.

    Its massive hand moved at a speed that Layn didn''t expect it to. Yet, it wasn''t the monster''s fangs that were the most dangerous in such a situation. It was the insanely powerful wind reaching the definition of a shockwave that followed the swift movement of the football-sized arm of the monster.

    "COME!" Layn shouted again. His eyes opened wider the closer the attack got. Yet, he didn''t dodge. Given both the size and the range of the attack, there was only a minuscule chance that Layn''s evasion would be sessful.

    ''I can''t let it get to the dorm,'' Layn thought during the moment when his mind suddenly became clear. With the monster''s fangs inching ever closer, all his feelings propagated by the disastrous state of his body all faded away, reced by the calm focus.

    It would be nigh impossible for Layn to avoid the attack. But it didn''t mean he would have any trouble ignoring it. At this point, his body was held together only by Layn''s intent. His flesh dposed back to the magic that created it in the first ce. Just by releasing said intent for a moment, Layn could allow the attack to just pass through him.

    "STOP!" Layn shouted when the monster''s fang finally cut at him. He didn''t even raise his hand to hold the attack in ce. Yet, the beast stopped moving.

    "That should buy me some time," Layn thought aloud before finally raising his hand and touching the fang of the monster.

    In an instant, a powerful wave of mana traversed through Layn''s body, almost kicking him off the focus necessary to maintain his form. But as powerful as this surge of mana was...

    It was nowhere close to what Layn expected it to be.

    ''That''s two tactics out of the picture,'' Layn thought, grinning despite how his position suddenly deteriorated. Without the sufficient energy within the monster to forcefully cause it to copse, only physical means of dealing with it remained.

    "This is starting to get more and more fun!" Layn slid his hand off the monster''s fang. He then gathered all the energy he could control in his hand before taking a nce at the beast''s jaws several tens if not hundreds of meters above.

    "You made a mistake by lowering your upper body. You wanted to hit me," Layn''s smile grew even wilder as fires of excitement exploded in his eyes, "and now you will be the one to get hit!"

    *******

    "STOP!" Yelna suddenly shouted, kicking away one of the more annoying monsters in her path. Her eyes moved towards an unnatural-looking hill.

    "What''s wrong?" Markus asked, sucking out the mana of the frog-like monster before using it to st an evolved species out of the face of the world.

    "There are people inside," Yelna replied, pointing her hand at the mound. Then, she threw one of the many knives she was carrying straight at the weak point of another evolved monster.

    "People? Here?!" Al shouted in surprise, splitting another monster in half with his trusty ax. "Where is that Layn guy then?" he asked, using the momentum of his strike to execute another attack.

    In such a mindless horde of monsters, one didn''t even need to aim. Any attack executed was bound to hit something. And in such a ce, Al''s fighting abilities shone the brightest.

    "He''s not here," Yelna answered, suddenly turning her head to the distance. Then, for the first time since she reached the horde of the monsters, she froze. "What the hell is that?" she asked in a petrified tone.

    Then, the massive shadow that drew her attention disappeared, reced by a fireball twice the size of the former shadow!

    *****

    Energy coursed through Layn''s veins. In fact, one could hardly speak about his veins when his entire body turned into nothing more but an insanely dense thicket of magic.

    Centered around a single point, Layn''s entire consciousness was split between maintaining his physical manifestation and pumping more and more energy into the attack he was preparing.

    Then, after floating towards the monsters'' jaw, Layn poured all the energy he could muster into a single, fiery attack.

    "DIE!" He shouted in his mind, releasing the onught of energy straight into the head of the monster.

    Several things happened at once.

    The mana Layn released entered the physical ne with nothing but the simple structure he imposed on it. But the matter and even space itself was unable to house such an overwhelming amount of energy.

    Under pressure bordering what was happening in some distant, astronomical objects, space, matter, and magic all copsed on themselves, forming a magical-rich sma.

    Yet, given how unstable this state was, it could onlyst for a split second before degrading into a purely physical phenomenon.

    But that didn''t mean Layn stopped pouring his energy into this attack!

    As soon as the single point of condensed sma appeared, it started to spread outwards. Easily defeating the pressure of space itself, it continued to grow in all directions, consuming the flesh of the massive monster without fail.

    The ball of superheated and magic-rich sma grew to the size of a mountain in a mere sh. But it was also the moment when such unnatural phenomena finally reached its limit, fading into non-existence.

    Once the sma was gone, it released all the energy it contained. As a result, the shockwave ttened the entire area in a mere instant. Against such an overwhelming force, no defenses could work. Only by standing sufficiently far away could one hope for the''s atmosphere to kill enough energy from the shockwave to turn it just slightly less lethal.

    Sadly, Layn couldn''t escape those effects either.

    ''FUCK," Layn thought when the wild magic contained in the explosion started to gnaw away at the energy that made his very self up. With no other choice, he started condensing the magical energy back into flesh and bones.

    But as soon as his body turned physical, he was subjected to the same onught as everything and everyone else. Even if the worst part of the disaster was over by the time his body formed back, it was instantly flung along the shockwave.

    And no matter how powerful and resourceful Layn was, his human body wasn''t made to sustain such trauma. In spite of all his desperate attempts to keep himself awake, Layn''s consciousness simply faded away, recing the bright light of the explosion with the calm and peaceful darkness of the void.

    ******

    "Get down!" Before even Yelna could sense that something was happening, a stranger suddenly threw herself at the girl, forcing her against the ground.

    Shocked by the appearance of another human on this battlefield, Yelna failed to react when the strange girl brought her head up, sweeping both Markus and Al to the ground.

    ''A mage?!'' Yelna''s eyes widened when she saw the girl''s feat, only to squint back into her usual expression when she understood the possible meaning of what she just experienced.

    No one answered Yelna''s question. Right when everyone fell to the ground, the shockwave from the distant explosion they saw a moment ago arrived.

    In a single instant, the raging shockwave prated through the in. Even though Yelna was lying, even though the weight of this strange girl held her down, she could feel her body lifting up under the immense force of the condensed air.

    Thankfully, the heart of the disaster was far away. Far enough to turn the lethal shockwave into just a dangerous one. And as the hero she was, Yelna was more than suited to survive it.

    Sadly, the same couldn''t be said about the girl that attempted to save her.

    "Are you alright?" Yelna asked as soon as the worst part of the disaster washed over them.

    "*** ***" the girl said something in response, something that Yelna was less than qualified to understand.

    "HEY, YOU OKAY, GUYS?!" Al''s voice sounded through the in.

    "I''m okay!" Markus shouted back, slowly lifting himself from the in.

    "****, ** ********* ****?" a new voice came from what looked like a small hill, the same hill where Yelna could detect some humans before.

    But no one responded to this call.

    Yelna raised her eyes at the motionless body of the girl that rushed to save her, only to notice several ugly wounds all over her body. Her limbs were all broken, her back tattered by all the rumble that hit her while she was trying to shield Yelna from the disaster.

    "MARKUS!" Yelna called out, unwilling to let this kind girl suffer when someone could heal her. Not after she offered her own health for Yelna''s safety.

    "What?!" Still on edge from the past events, Markus instantly jumped up to Yelna only to freeze when he saw the tattered body of the girl.

    "** **** ****?" Despite all her wounds, this strange girl still managed to utter some words, clearly formed into a question. Even though Yelna couldn''t tell the meaning of her words, the intent behind them was pretty clear.

    "I''m sorry, but we have no idea," Markus suddenly fell to his knees before cing his hands on the girl''s back and replying.

    "What did she ask about?" Yelna inquired, perfectly aware that Markus was the only one who could use the trantion spell in their group of three.

    "She is worried about Layn," Markus replied, pouring all the mana he still had in himself after warding off against the shockwave into closing the girl''s wounds. "She lost consciousness," he duly noted after a moment.

    Markus continued to heal the girl. While he wasn''t an archmage like Layn, healing was one of the things that he, as a saint, had to learn to perfection. And right now, he didn''t even need to look at the girl to help her.

    He raised his head and looked in the direction of the fireball they all saw earlier.

    "Just what the hell did you do, brother?"

 Chapter 125 - Hiding The Next Wave Out

    "So you were Layn''s..." Markus raised his eyes at the girl, trying to figure out the answer just from the expression she made.

    "I was his girlfriend," Irea replied without any hesitation. She then rolled her eyes before looking at the trio before her. "I assume you guys are those friends from the... from his past that he sometimes spoke about, right?"

    "You are quite well informed," Markus scoffed before leaning his head and asking. "How did you came up with this idea, though?"

    "Isn''t it obvious?" Irea opened her eyes wide as if the question just proved that Markus wasn''t as intelligent as he appeared to be. "This ce is the end of the world. Absolutely no onees here outside of weirdos like Layn," she said before shrugging her arms and smiling. "The only ones who could just happen to appear here are those who share Layn''s traits, am I right?"

    "Let her get some rest," Yelna interrupted the two before Irea could get any more agitated. Even with Markus''s healing applied right on the spot, her health was still pretty much at risk. "But there is one thing you are mistaken about," she added after a moment, breaking her own order. "Not all three of us are Layn''s friends. In fact, I believe only Markus deserves that title between the three of us," Yelna imed, averting her eyes to avoiding making contact with Irea''s eyes.

    "What does that mean?" Irea asked only to turn her head to the side a momentter. "They areing back. Come and hide with the rest of us," she said, tilting her chin towards the shore.

    A mere momentter, the calm surface of theke started rippling. Then, the ripples turned into waters before a new wave of monsters began to emerge from the depths of theke.

    "Wait, the rest of us?" Markus asked, surprised by Irea''s sudden revtion. "There are more of you out here?" he specified his question, almost forgetting to keep on his healing spell on the girl.

    ''Not good, I can''t get distracted light that,'' Markus thought to himself, pouring his focus back into his job. Bit by bit, the open wounds all over the girl''s body started to close down, leaving behind a set of ugly scars on the otherwise perfectly fair skin of the girl. ''If something were to happen to her because of my mishap, I wouldn''t hear the end of it from him,'' he thought, ignoring the iing wave of the monsters.

    Between the attack of a horde of frenzied or evolved beasts and Layn''s wrath, Markus didn''t need to think for long to decide which one scared him more.

    "Markus!" Al shouted, proving that he wasn''t just a silent observer of the situation. "The earlier wave got demolished by that shockwave, but I don''t think dealing with what''sing now will be as easy as it was before," he said, tightening his grasp over the handle of his weapon.

    ''This situation... It sucks balls,'' Al thought, observing the front of approaching monsters. ''I can''t really do much talking,'' he moved his eyes to the injured girl before rolling them back towards the monsters, ''and the only thing I''m good for here is fighting,''

    Al put a wry smile on his face. "Mostly because those two didn''t fight almost at all," he muttered the rest of his innerints. Then he took a step forward and ced himself between the approaching wave of magic beasts and the duo of hispanions.

    "It will only take a short time before they reach us!" he shouted to warn the two, too busy catering to that strange girl to notice the approaching wave. Moreover, Markus was still the only one who understood Irea''s advice, thanks to his trantion spell. Yelna''sck of reaction came solely from Markus''ck of action due to the unending trust she had in him.

    Because if Markus wasn''t bothered by the approaching monsters, why would she?

    "Guys?" Al asked, noticing theck of reaction of the two. "They are getting closer, you know?" his voice started to falter under theplete no reaction of his teammates.

    ''I get that they want me to be their fucking bodyguard, but isn''t it a little too much?'' he thought, gripping his axe even tighter.

    "I don''t know what you are nning, but our hideout worked as it should," Irea muttered in a weak voice. It appeared that her injuries finally started to catch up with her, flooding the girl''s mind with both the pain. "So stop wasting time and just get inside!" Irea imed the victory in the battle of her mind only to shout out in the urging tone.

    "It''s okay, we will go." not daring to do anything that would upset the girl any further out of fear that her emotional state would affect her injuries, Markus had no other choice but to raise his hands in defeat. "Yelna, Al, there seems to be some kind of hideout in one of the hills nearby," Markus turned his head around, finally using his normalnguage rather than using the tranting spell.

    ''Themunication... it might turn out to be a slightly greater problem than what we initially expected, huh?'' he thought, raising from his knees and picking up the girl.

    With her injures, it would require not a healing spell but godly magic or some other kind of miracle for Irea to be able to walk on her own.

    "Hideout?" Al asked, slightly lowering the de of his weapon. "And here I got all up and ready for the fight," he sighed before putting his axe back to the special holster on his back and following Markus.

    Out of the three guests to this ce, it was Yelna that hesitated the longest. By the time both Markus with Irea in his hands and Al already reached the hidden doors to the dorm, she still stood in ce. She stared in the distance, in the direction where that ball of light from the earlier came from.

    "Well, you can''t escape from me forever," she sighed while muttering to herself, before finally turning around and catching up with the rest of the group. Yet, the face of rxation and peace that Yelna made when she decided to temporarily give up on pursuing Layn deteriorated when she saw the insides of the hideout.

    "Is this...?" Yelna asked while caressing the bricked wall, not daring to bring up the problem of too many people crowding in too little space. In their current situation, after all,fort wasn''t anywhere close to the top of the priority list.

    "Those are the Godly Bricks," Markus tranted the weak words of the girl. In the few short moments, they were inside the hill, the rest of the men hiding there squeezed even further, all for the sake of making enough space for the injured girl to restfortably.

    ''That''s strange,'' Markus thought when his emotional state finally allowed him to as much as acknowledging the presence of others in this weird ce. ''We are definitely strangers, yet there is no sign of hostilitying from them?'' he thought, puzzled by such a scenario.

    No matter what time they ended up in, human nature roughly remained the same. It didn''t matter whether one would look at the ancient times, ancestral times, or modern times. There would always be good people trying to help others and bad people trying to make use of the good and of the weak. And it was this most straightforward rule that governed every society that would, in turn, create all the other kinds of behaviors that didn''t seem to change through times almost at all.

    "Godly bricks? Those?" Yelna''s asked with her face twisting in disgust. "The most they could reach is the sixth level of durability," she added while knocking in the bricks with her finger, "it would take quite a lot of shamelessness to call them godly."

    For a moment, no one inside the ce dared to say anything. The people that were with the girl couldn''t understand a single word Yelna, or Al would say. On the other hand, Markus was simply too busy catering to Irea''s wounds to bother with tranting anything.

    What''s more, the constant trembling of the ground and creaking of the dorm itself made it pretty awkward for anyone to speak up. After all, what would be the point of hiding underground if their voices would attract the monsters and made them properly search the ce?

    "Hey," Al moved for as little as he could in this tight space to reach Yelna''s ear. "I''m not sure if you realized," he whispered in her ear as if unable to understand the fact that hisnguage has yet to form in the times they currently resided in, "but all of them, although weak, are celestials."

    "I know," Markus replied, proving that even in the state of aplete focus, he still wouldn''t miss a single word said in his presence. "But given enough time, I''m sure Layn would turn them into proper mages," Markus said before finally taking his hands from the body of now sleeping Irea and stretching them to the back.

    "I''m not sure if you noticed this, but in terms of pure power, this girl is already stronger than me."

 Chapter 126 - Talk In The Hideout

    "That''s..." Yelna clearly didn''t know what to say in response to Markus'' words. Not only was he a member of the hero party, a proimed saint, but also one of the very few mages that could stand toe to toe to the likes of Layn.

    Obviously, Layn couldn''t be used inparisons like that so easily. Even if he could be taken as aim for many new and growing mages in everyday life, the same couldn''t be said about the situations when he was agitated.

    The recent disaster that almost eradicated all the life in this green desert serving as a good example.

    "Don''t worry. I think I already have a clue how that could happen," Markus sighed when noticing the distraught look on Yelna''s face. But rather than answering right away, he moved his eyes on suspiciously silent and motionless Al.

    "Is everything okay, sir?" Markus asked, easily allowing the word of respect to flow out of his mouth. Even if both he and Yelna were stronger than the man, that didn''t make Al any less entitled to respect his descendants.

    After all, even if they were stronger, their civilization would never look the way it did without this man. Thus, the achievements of this man were what allowed both Markus and Yelna to grow as strong as they were right now.

    "You guys are aware that all of them are celestials?" Al asked in a silent, slightly repulsed tone. It appeared that even speaking out that name made him angry, not to speak about interacting with those people in the first ce.

    "Yeah?" Markus replied, leaning his head to the side in confusion. "But are you aware of the fact that they are likely to be born centuries if not ages before your tribe even formed?" he asked, refusing to move his eyes away.

    "Even if that''s true..." Al started, only to turn silent after just a few words. ''Even if he is right, that doesn''t make it any easier to cope with it!'' the leader of the Gener n thought before shaking his head. "I know what you are worried about, but you don''t need to," Al sighed.

    "For as long as they won''t raise their weapons against me, I won''t be of any danger for them either," he imed before turning his head around and resting his back on the bricked wall of the dorm.

    It would be a lie to im that his position wasfortable. The constant shaking caused by the hordes of monsters moving over the building already threatened to expose this ce. In such a situation, any attempts at changing one''s position had to be done insanely slowly just to avoid affecting the stability of the structure.

    "Good," Markus smiled before finally moving his eyes back on Yelna. "Now, we can discuss how this girl could be so strong in such a short period of time." Markus smiled as he cast a quick nce at the sleeping girl.

    "The truth is pretty simple. They," Markus swept his hand as if in an attempt to mark everyone else in the room, "are all the masters of survival. The best out of the best," Markus stretched himself to the back in the limited space that he had before looking over everyone in the tight building.

    "What do you mean by that?" Yelna asked, even though all of her rationales was screaming that what Markus was speaking was nothing short ofplete bullshit. Just looking at how hard this girl was taking to heal such minor wounds was putting a massive wrench in his idea.

    But she didn''t protest. Yelna knew Markus for long enough to be aware that if he was willing to put forth an idea of his own, such an idea would be adequately grounded in reality and would have high chances of being correct.

    That was the single trait he developed after living and sleeping in a party with people like Layn or Morbius. With the two of them right on his side, Markus would only dare to propose any sort of n or observation if he was absolutely sure that neither of those freaks of nature would be able to turn it into an outlet of light teasingter on.

    "I don''t really feel like a master of survival," Irea suddenly moaned from her makeshift bed, using nearly all of the energy her body managed to regain in an attempt to prompt herself upwards.

    Up to this point, everyone else within the dorm remained in their ce, unwilling to risk making any noise. But, even though they never saw the hordes of the monsters outside, the sight of the state of Irea when she returned back to the dorm made it clear just how dangerous it was.

    But now that the girl woke up, everyone started to move around, clearly unwilling to let her tire herself down.

    "Don''t worry," Markus used his trantion spell in an attempt to calm the situation down. "She''s just tired. I will help her up, so don''t move around too much," he warned, cing his hand behind Irea''s back and probing her up.

    "Still, would you mind exining what did you mean with that survival thingy?" Irea asked in a silent yet sturdy voice. There was no sign of pain in her words as if she was either capable of fully conquering her pain or simply didn''t feel it anymore.

    "It''s simple. In our... country, there is..." Markus stopped his words for a moment before swallowing a gulp of saliva and picking his lecture up. "Let''s say that there is powerful magic in the country we are from, making it actually hard for anyone to die from some simple sicknesses. So, to a degree, we managed to conquer our health," he exined, in a soft voice, before suddenly turning his eyes towards the girl.

    "I''m sorry, but I still don''t understand what you mean," Irea replied as a troubled expression appeared on her face. ''Even if they are Layn''s friends, his lectures actually make far more sense,'' sheined in her thoughts, not allowing those to reflect on her face at all.

    "Listen, how many brothers and sisters did your parents bury before you were born? How many after you were born?" Markus put a wry smile on his face as he asked. "In other words, how many pregnancies your mother had to go through to have a single kid?" he pushed the topic even further, ignoring how potentially unpleasant it could be.

    "Oh, so that''s what you mean," Irea noted before leaning her head to the back a bit. "Four... I think?" She leaned her head to the side before bringing her pristine, blue eyes back on Markus'' face. "I can only tell you a guess. I never had the chance to ask my mom about that, and well, given how she died while giving birth to me, I never thought of asking my father about it either." Irea shrugged her arms after answering.

    "I''m sorry, I didn''t mean to bring up those painful memories to you," Markus apologized before turning silent. Now that the atmosphere turned awkward, it was hard for him to keep going.

    "You don''t need to mind it," Irea smiled, clearly aware of what she did to the atmosphere in the dorm. "It''s not like I can still be sad about it after all those years, could I?" she yfully asked before biting on her lips, clearly not intent on stopping the further discussion by sticking to her past.

    "Since you say so," Markus smiled and nodded his head with gratitude. "Then, let''s go back to my exnation," he smiled before his expression soured.

    "In our country, people rarely die at birth. Not because they are strong enough to survive their early years, but because our healing magic can support them. And those people will grow up, get married and get children of their own. Then, they will pass their weak blood to another generation.... which once again will be supported by our healing magic," Markus exined.

    "Ah, I see," Irea suddenly imed when a look of rity entered her face. "In this way, those who would normally be too weak to survive on their own continue to weaken the general strenght." Irea nodded her head gently before adding, "It''s a problem that only keeps on building on itself, doesn''t it?" she asked with a wry smile.

    "I see you can understand it already," Markus replied with a smile, confirming the girl''s words. "In that regard, all of you are the beasts, the monsters, the few who overcame the ordeals we never had to face. And the same could be said to your ancestors, ancestors of their ancestors, and so on and on..." Markus said before lowering his head.

    Once he lifted it up back again, he took a closer look at Irea''s eyes. ''She doesn''t seem to be perturbed by the situation at all,'' he thought before forcing a smile back on his face and opening his lips.

    "Hey, can you tell us what happened here? And especially, what was Layn doing while you two were traveling together?"

 Chapter 127 - On A Stretcher

    ''Ah...'' Layn moaned in his mind as soon as his consciousness started to return. Even though the state of his body could be summed up with a word - pain - he didn''t dare to voice this problem out.

    It was one of the things he learned during his early days of adventuring, something that allowed him to escape from captivity more times than he could count.

    ''I''m being carried?'' he asked in his thoughts, trying to figure out his situation without announcing to whoever was carrying him that he was awake.

    The rocky ride that someone was giving to him made it easy to figure out what was happening. ''I''m not bound. I''m lying t on some kind of... cloth?'' Layn continued to assess his situation.

    "**** **, * **** *** *** *****," a female voice said, although Layn was unable to understand a single word.

    ''What the hell,'' this was a startling discovery. His trantion spell couldn''t be turned off by something as simple as a near-death experience. As long as there was a sufficient amount of energy in Layn''s system, it would continue to operate.

    ''I can feel it running, so why I can''t understand shit?'' Layn asked himself, experiencing the fear of the unknown.

    ''I can still remember that bastard iming there was no other tribe of humans, even in the ancient times,'' Layn recalled the teachings of the harshest teacher he ever had in the academy. But although his methods and expectations were on another level, Layn could still remember most of his lectures because of them.

    ''Was I sted to an entirely new world by that spell?'' Layn asked himself, vaguely recalling what happened when he poured all the energy he had into that monstrosity.

    The amount of mana he used back then wasparable to what he used for the gran arcana that twisted the fabric of the time itself. While a lot more straightforward, it should still be enough to st that massive monster into smithereens.

    ''Could it be that I feel into a fissure of space that my magic created?'' Layn continued to pose questions in his mind, trying his hardest to figure out the situation.

    ''**** ******* **********!'' The voice appeared again, this time followed by a crip p to his cheek. Layn allowed his head to roll to the side, set on pretending to be unconscious.

    ''This whore,'' he had to use the utmost of his willpower to stop his hands from tightening into fists. ''How dare she p my face?!'' Layn''s fury channeled through his veins, stirring up his mana a bit.

    Swish!

    The sound of a weapon leaving its sheath reached Layn''s ears. Then, a simr sound of metal cutting through the air at a fast speed appeared, forcing Layn to stop his act.

    He opened his eyes. A sword was already flying towards his chest.

    ''I don''t have enough mana to fight,'' Layn thought, scanning the situation. He was carried on some kind of stretcher, yet someone was currently aiming to take his life.

    Or was he?

    Layn''s body twitched, allowing him to slightly adjust his position. Then, as counterintuitive as it was, he jerked his left fist upwards, aiming almost straight for the approaching de... But not really.

    Rather than trying to contest the cut of the sword with his bare fist, Layn forced his mind and muscles to work in perfect unison. And with a minuscule dy, his fist missed the cutting edge of the de... Only to strike in its dull side!

    ''I fucked up,'' Layn thought when his self-defense managed to reflect the attack with ease. But, given how weak he currently was, there was only one way for his counterattack to work so well.

    The attack on his chest was nothing but a feint!

    ''I guess my mind is still not up to par,'' Layn thought, noticing just how weird the entire situation was.

    Because why would someone bother to put him on a stretcher and carry his unconscious body somewhere if they were to instantly aim to kill him once he would wake up?

    "*** *** *** are ***?" This time, the voice was astounded. And from how Layn was starting to recognize some words, it appeared that his trantion spell was working as it should... Just that it was never exposed to suchnguage before!

    "Layn," the archmage could only produce his name. If he attempted to create even a single additional word in thisnguage, the people that apparently saved him would learn he wasn''t from their tribe or whatever!

    "So, ****** Layn, **** were you ***** ** *** border?" Layn rejoiced when more and more words turnedprehensible for him. At the current state of the trantion spell, he could start making some sense out of the questions this damned female was asking him.

    "Leave *** *****," A new voice entered the fray, this time belonging to a male. Given how Layn had no power whatsoever to move his head to the side, he was left in the dark about the other party''s identity.

    "But!" the female voice protested. "We **** **** who he ** ** ***!" Although the trantion spell was working better and better, it was still far from being as perfect as it was with thenguage of the ancients.

    "Is this * ****** ** ******* him like that? Can''t you *** he is ** *** verge of *****?" The man responded, clearly taking Layn''s side in the conflict that arose.

    ''I can''t justy idly,'' Layn broke through the restraints of pain and exhaustion, using the little magic he had to heal his wounds. ''Huh?'' he nearly jumped in surprise when he realized that his healing spell... Didn''t have any effect on his injuries whatsoever!

    ''Could it be overburned? Right, I burned all those particles,'' Layn felt an urge to p his head. ''I''m fucking stupid,'' he scolded himself before changing the form of the healing spell.

    Rather than allowing the magic coursing through his veins and aura alike to mend what wasn''t orderly about his body, he infused the little man he had into the natural regenerative powers of his flesh.

    ''Without a single magic particle in my body, there is no way any proper healing spell could work on me. How the hell could I forget it?'' Layn scolded himself again.

    But there was nothing wrong with making mistakes like that. Layn was battered after his fight with the monster. His survival was already something to be amazed at. It was given that his mental state wouldn''t be up to par as soon as he would regain his consciousness.

    "But ***! He is clearly ****** to be unconscious!" The female rebuked, not willing to back down from her enmity towards Layn.

    "Leave him, I said. It wasn''t a *******, but a fucking *****!" The man''s voice turned heavy, indicating the meaning behind those two words Layn still couldn''t understand.

    ''So it''s not like everyone here is as brutal as this girl, huh?'' Layn thought. With his basic spell slowly turning the leftover mana into physical energy, Layn finally managed to turn his head to the side.

    Just this move alone was enough to sap his strenght again.

    "Excuse me," Layn whispered, once again reaching the limits of what he could do. But in the heart of their own discussion, neither the young female dressed in leather armor nor the man not bothering to wear any armor whatsoever heard him.

    Layn turned his eyeballs towards the rest of his body. His head was too heavy to move it again, limiting his vision to how far he could push his eyes.

    ''I''m covered in bandages?'' Layn noticed, only for this realization to turn into ridicule. ''Don''t they know that magical wounds like mine are destructive at a cellr level? Bandages won''t do much outside...'' Layn''s thoughts froze when he noticed one thing.

    A single thing that was hard to see due to his entire body being covered in bandages. The stretcher on which heid was in a simr color, making it hard to notice ack of particr thing.

    ''So I lost a leg, huh?'' Layn quickly came back to his senses. For someone who faced death on more asions than most people, something as silly as losing a limb didn''t seem to be too high of a price for what he did.

    "Hey, are you awake now?" The man in in clothes asked. Layn understood the entirety of that sentence, proving that his trantion spell reached a level of efficiency necessary for Layn to have a proper discussion with those people.

    "Where am I?" Layn whispered, moving his eyeballs on the man''s surprisingly youthful face. ''From how he put that girl back in her ce with just a few words, I thought he would be some kind of officer or something...''

    "That''s the first thing you ask about?" The man smiled in response before spreading his arms and announcing with a smile. "Don''t worry, brother. I don''t know how you made it past the endless border, but now you are safe."

    The man lowered his hands and cast a quick nce at the sulking girl beside him. "While there might be some untrusty brutes here like this child," his hand pointed at the girl, who in turn shook and turned her head away, "the shrinkingnds of vians will always wee fresh blood!"

    Layn froze. Not only his body but also his thoughts refused to as much as flinch.

    ''I don''t fucking believe it,'' Layn thought, staring wide-eyed at the cheerful face of the man. ''So it wasn''t just a legend after all?''

 Chapter 128 - Suffocating

    "I still can''t believe you just epted him as he is," Sitra muttered under her nose, sending a hostile nce to Layn. "What if he is some kind of spy?" she asked, turning her head back to the leader of the group.

    "A spy? Are you out of your mind?" Castor replied, shaking his head in defeat. "I know that our enemies can be pretty determined, but do you really think they would send spies in such state to us?" he asked, without a hint of hostility in his voice.

    ''It''s as if he was too used and too tired to bother with the bbing of this girl,'' Layn thought, slightly changing his position on the stretcher.

    Even when the entire group was camping, Layn still remained in his portable bed. His magic continued to slowly mend his inner wounds, but there was a hard limit of how much he could recuperate in a short amount of time.

    "But..." Sitra started only to purse her lips and turn her head around, sulking.

    "Eh." Castor released a heavy sigh before standing up and moving from the firece to Layn''s bed. He came carrying a strange cup, appearing to be a mix of a primitive and extremely advanced society. "Here, drink this. While it won''t help against pain, it will force your body to regenerate faster," he informed before passing the cup to Layn''s weak hands.

    ''Is it a cast?'' Layn took the item in his hands, careful not to spill even a drop of the precious content inside. He took a sip, only to be instantly overwhelmed by the rich aroma of herbs inside. Then, a wave of heat hit his throat before spreading across his entire chest and then the rest of the body.

    "What is this drink?" Layn asked with his weak voice while his eyes opened wide. The content of the cup was insane, but the archmage''s attention was focused on the details of the item itself.

    Because as simple as casting a shape with metal was, this cup was too detailed to be made with the basic technology of casting. Its entire side was intricately covered in detailed pictures, outlining some kind of story.

    "See? He isn''t a spy," Castor suddenly announced, turning his head to Sitra.

    "... as far as sharing his own cup," she mumbled under her nose when her leader''s voice reached her ears. "Huh? How can you tell?" she asked, more curious about Castor''s reasoning than angry at him ignoring her opinion.

    "And that''s exactly why you are a simple soldier rather than an officer," Castor sighed heavily before shaking his head and then turning his eyes to Layn. "Now, then, would you mind telling me where did youe from, stranger?" he asked while keeping a rxed smile on his face.

    "First thing first, let me tell you one thing," Layn said through his dry throat before taking another sip of the beverage. Then, he infused his mind into his trantion spell before changing its structure for a bit.

    "I do note from the people of thisnguage," he said in the ancient, hoping to get some reaction from the two people of the group he was interacting with.

    "I KNEW IT!" Sitra shouted, jumping up and grabbing the handle of her saber.

    "SIT!" Castor said in a low, slightly trembling voice. But as gentle as it appeared to be, this single order instantly forced the girl to sit down and remain motionless.

    For a moment, the kind face of a middle-aged uncle that Castor wore turned ugly, as if a myriad of demons settled in his soul and decided to now make their appearance.

    But in just the next moment, everything returned to the usual.

    "See? You don''t even know what he said. You heard theirnguage and instantly assumed he is with them, didn''t you?" Castor exined the situation in a tired voice before turning his face back to Layn. "If you are not with them, then who are you? Where did youe from?"

    "It''s not a simple story," Layn exined after changing his trantion spell back to normal. "But in general, I came from the desert. The thing is," the archmage shook his head for as much as his wounds allowed, "I was sted away by quite a powerful attack. I don''t know how far it threw me, so I don''t even know if you know what desert I have in mind," Layn exined, hoping the other party would understand.

    ''Still, if they are really vians, this legendary and lost tribe, then howe they are on the wrong side of the barrier?'' he asked himself. Sadly, Layn''s attempts at figuring out the timeline were doomed to fail, given how he had no means of learning which ancient age his gran arcana threw him into!

    "sted away? What, are you maybe going to tell me you fought with one of those overlords of Origin?" Castorughed at his own joke. It took him a long time to calm down; that''s how funny he found this idea to be.

    "I don''t even know what that Overlord of Origin is," Layn replied in his weak voice. While the name this man uttered was quite fitting for the insane monster that Layn fought with, it wouldn''t be a smart move to admit that he was capable of standing toe to toe with it.

    Not when he was all in tatters and deprived of nearly the entirety of his power. Not when he didn''t know what those people would think about such a situation nor how they would react.

    "You came here," Castor spelled out his words slowly. "From beyond the grand desert," he continued his manner of speech. "And you don''t know what overlord of origin is?" Castor finally came to ask the question he wanted.

    "Didn''t I tell it already?" Layn sighed only for some fluid to enter his throat, forcing him to start desperately coughing. Despite his fragile state, convulsions started to shake his entire body.

    "Hey, are you okay?" Castor asked with worry, instantly dropping the question he posed earlier.

    "Cough, cough, I''m ocough!" Layn attempted to calm them down, only to start coughing even harder.

    ''Fuck, what the hell is this...'' Layn thought, redirecting all his magic from healing his wounds to actually clearing his throat.

    But it didn''t help at all. Not because Layn''s magic was incapable of doing something so simple. Because he didn''t have enough magic to actually do something like that.

    "Hey,e on!" Castor shouted, but Layn could barely hear him at that point. He could only continue to cough, slowly losing all the air he had in his lungs and unable to take a fresh breath.

    "Fuck, at this rate, he will just kick the bucket here, Sitra!" Castor shouted, jumping to a straight position.

    "I''m on it!" By the time her leader shouted at her, the girl was already running towards Layn''s ce. Even though there were only a few meters between the two of them initially, this distance turned into an entire marathon in Layn''s nking-out vision.

    "Stay with me, brother!" Castor shouted even before Sitra could get close. He rushed forward before catching Layn by his shoulder and bringing his upper body up.

    "Cought, couhhh, kreee..." Layn could no longer even cough properly. With no more moisture to keep his throat wet, he was simply tearing its inner side out in his spasms.

    "Calm down, Sitra, you can do it," the girl muttered to herself as she ced her hands on Layn''s throat.

    Just as if she wanted to strangle him.

    ''Are they going to kill me?'' Despite his aggrevious state, Layn''s mind cleared up. ''No, that''s not it. If they wanted me dead, they could just leave me be for a few more moments.'' The moment of rity quickly passed when Layn''s body could no longer support the processes of his brain.

    And then, it happened.

    It wasn''t magic that Layn knew off. Even in his dying moments, he could tell that Sitra didn''t use any magic. Or rather, any magic that Layn ever heard about.

    But in just the next moment, some kind of power suddenly filled Layn.

    In a mere instant, his wounds closed. All the pain that they were the source of was gone as well.

    But that didn''t allow Layn to regain his breath, although it made his ordeal slightly less torturous.

    "Don''t focus on his wounds! He is suffocating!" Castor shouted before hitting the girl in the back of her head.

    In an instant, the strange force filling Layn disappeared. For a moment, he was hanging in the state between healthy and dying from his injuries, as if his body couldn''t decide whether it should keep healing itself with that strange power or use it to dpose him back into pure particles of magic his flesh was originally made from.

    "You are not helping!" Sitra shouted as she forced herself to regain her focus. A few secondster, the same force that Layn felt a moment earlier returned, this time, filling his throat.

    And then, his ordeal came to an end, as if it never took ce, to begin with.

    "What was that..." Layn asked as soon as he managed to stabilize his breath. For an archmage like him, the feeling of this strange power was more important than his very own life.

    ''I spent my entire life pursuing the secrets of magic, but I never felt something like this,'' he thought, staring with his eyes wide-open at the vian duo.

    "This, my friend," Castor put a wry smile on his face before averting his eyes. "Is the true form of magic.. Not some shamanism that all those people whosenguage you used before call magic on their own."

 Chapter 129 - You Killed It?!

    "Can you teach me this magic?" Layn asked without even a second of hesitation. His entire life was centered around his pursuit of knowledge. Even when he was married to that whore Ortensia, studying this hidden force''s intricacies remained his utmost priority.

    ''Maybe it was the reason why our rtionship turned the way it did?'' Layn suddenly asked himself before shaking his head to get rid of those vile and unnecessary thoughts.

    "No," Castor replied without even a moment of hesitation. "The true magic... It''s not something that a stranger like you will be allowed to learn," he exined as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

    ''Figures,'' Layn thought, keeping his positive mindset despite the refusal.

    "After all," the archmage smiled, finally capable of properly raising from the stretcher, "I was considered to be a spy just a moment ago, wasn''t I?" he chuckled, sending Sitra a funny look.

    "It''s exactly as you say," Castor replied, allowing Layn''s smile to infect him as well. "But now that you are healed, let me bring two important points," he said before standing up from his knees and looking down at Layn.

    "First, we need to get going. Our duty at the border is over since yesterday. But due to some unforeseen circumstances..." Castor stopped his words mid-sentence to throw a sneaky nce at Layn, "we ended up stalling for nearly a week here. I want to go back and take a proper bath," he announced.

    ''Bath?'' Layn noticed the small peculiarity. A bath wasn''t something that a civilization of the ancients could deliver. It wasn''t something that an average soldier or even an officer could easily afford. Yet, from thepletelyidback attitude of Castor when he mentioned it, it was clear that he didn''t consider it to be anything much.

    "Secondly, as much as I want to trust you, it is like you said," Castor''s smile soured a bit. "For all we know, no matter how much I want to trust you, you might be a spy. And it''s hard for me to trust you if I know absolutely nothing about you," he said, sending a wry smile to the man.

    ''Well, figures,'' Layn thought, lowering his head for a moment. ''I cannot bullshit him. That''s one thing I''m certain off." The archmage already analyzed the entire situation in his head a long time ago. Even fully healed up, he had no magic particles or any item infused with them on himself. Even those he infused into his body burned up during his fight with that wolf-like monstrosity.

    ''In other words, I''m as weak as any other mortal right now,'' he thought while keeping his head lowered. ''Outside of the few moves those silly bastards forced me to learn, even a random soldier or an experienced bandit would be a challenge for me to win against, not to speak about moving around in a ce I don''t knowst shit of.''

    While the situation improved, it didn''t mean it turned good. Stranded in a ce even harder for Layn to understand than the ancient world he already managed to get used to, he only had the kindness of those vian people going for him.

    "Before we start, there is one thing you need to know," Layn said while raising his head. "I don''t think that bullshiting you will do me any good... But I won''t be able to tell the truth about my origins."

    Castor raised his eyebrows. "And why is that?" he asked, crossing his arms on his chest.

    "Because the truth will sound like utter bullshit to you," Layn smiled in response, already getting in his role.

    "Hmm?" Sitra finally said something. At this moment, Layn first realized that she somehow turned weirdly silent after using magic whenpared to how she was acting before. "Now you are only making us more curious, you know that?" she asked the obvious.

    "I know, but as thankful as I am for your therapy," Layn put a smile so wide on his face that it could only be fake, "but right now it''s the adults talking," he finished, with all the warmth of his smile suddenly gone.

    "Now, now, there is no need to turn hostile like that," Castor suddenly interjected before he turned his face towards Sitra, adopting the very same expression that Layn wore on his face. "but I can''t deny that this new friend of ours is right. Sitra, if you could," Castor stopped in the middle of his sentence before ncing over to the rest of the camp.

    "I get it, boss," the girl sighed before gathering herself up. What Layn''s loosely suggested with his fakely kind tone, Castor achieved with a single order.

    ''They are from the military,'' Layn thought. ''I thought they were some kind of tribesmen, a maybe loose ring of warriors, but from how readily she epts the orders,'' Layn didn''t dare to push this thought any further.

    ''First the name of their tribe, then that magic, and now what, they have a civilization capable of creating a standing military?'' Layn despaired in his thoughts.

    He could ept the fact that the tribe that only existed in several remote legends actually existed. Even if, ording to those legends, it wasn''t the General''s achievement of setting the foundation for the modern civilization, but theirs instead.

    He could ept the emergence of a new type of magic. After all, if those few legends were true, then somehow, a small tribe of people needed some kind of overwhelming power to influence the entire world.

    But to think that they weren''t tribal folk? To think that they were even above the highly developed ancient civilization that Layn was already familiar with?

    ''I guess there is a limit to what I can stomach,'' Layn thought while unconsciously putting a wry smile on his face. ''There is a limit even for me,'' he shook his head to get rid of those distracting thoughts.

    "Okay then," Castor said after apanying his subordinate with his eyes as she went away. "Let''s start with this. What were you doing on the desert in the first ce?"

    "Well, it would be a lie to call it a desert per se," Layn smiled, recalling the vast, fertile meadows. The meadows on which he envisioned his academy would stand one day. "It was more like a sea of grass? It was even by theke," Layn spoke, immersing himself in the memories.

    "That''s indeed a nice picture," Castor admitted with a smile. "But you know that''s not what I wanted to know."

    "Well," Layn started, shaken awake from his beautiful memories, which were in turn reced by the bloody scenes of the fight. "You might believe it or not, but that Overlord of Origin?" Layn abruptly changed the structure of his sentence only to lower his head for a moment.

    "What about it?" Castor asked after a moment of silence.

    "I killed it," Layn answered casually as if he was speaking about some kind of petty or maybe an evolved monster.

    "Oh, so you killed it?" Castor shook his head with a mixed expression on his face.

    "Yeah, it was as big as a mountain, looking quite like a wolf... Or maybe a werewolf?" Layn took a moment to think about it before correcting himself. "Or maybe, a wolf that learned how to stand upright?"

    For a moment, neither of the parties said a single word more. Rather than that, a series of funny changes started to appear. From gentle and silent ridicule, through disbelief all the way to theplete defeat.

    "You actually killed it?" Castor asked, lowering his head. It appeared that the reality slowly started to dawn on him.

    "I''m pretty positive about that. Well, the state you saw me in... It wasn''t even that monster''s attack," Layn suddenly informed. "It was actually the bacsh of the technique I used to kill it."

    For a moment, the silence ensued. Once again, neither of the parties decided to speak up.

    And then, as if suddenlying to a decision, Castor started moving.

    "Sitra!" He called out, only for the girl to appear beside the two men in a sh. "Take three horses and ride for the Warseen. Inform the senate that the frontier just opened up," Castor uttered his orders in a tone Layn didn''t see him use before.

    But it wasn''t the end of things. As if some kind of silent rm was rung, the entire camp stirred into action.

    "Huh? Was that really that big of a deal?" Layn asked, surprised by how everything suddenly went from zero to a hundred.

    "A big of a deal?" Castor looked at the archmage as if he was some kind of madman. "Without the Overlord, the magic in the area will be stic. Without the Overlord, we will finally be able to make a push and migrate!" he shouted as if his words had some kind of deeper sense.

    "Migrate? Push through the frontier?" Layn repeated Castor''s words, not daring to let his eyes off the man''s face. "What is so great about something like that? Is there any need to hurry in the first ce?"

    Once again, silencested for a while. It wasn''t the same as before with all the ruckus caused by the huge group of people running around the camp.

    "Listen, and listen well.. Even if you are just trying to dupe us, this is too big of an opportunity for our people to not jump on it," Caster sighed before exining. "If you really killed that damned beast, then we will finally be able to escape from those traitorous bastards of allies that nearly eradicated our kin!"

 Chapter 130 - Spheres Of Influence

    ''They are really an organized unit of the military,'' Layn noticed dully after just a single moment of watching how quickly the entire camp was stirred into action. Or rather, how little time everyone in there needed to get ready for the departure.

    Before long, one of Castor''s soldiers brought Layn a horse only to push the reins to the archmage''s hand and go back to his own duties. With nothing better to do, Layn jumped atop the mount before looking around to assess the situation.

    The camp itself wasn''t big at all. From his slightly elevated position, Layn could see only about fifty tents. Given how only two or three people could fit in each, it was pretty easy to guess the strenght of the entire unit.

    "Tell me, why are we in such a hurry?" Layn asked as soon as Castor returned to his vincity. "If it''s dead, it''s dead," he added, trying to exin his doubts.

    "I know it''s dead, but that doesn''t mean the window of opportunity will remain the same for long," Castor shook his head, taking a moment to talk with Layn despite how busy everyone was within the camp.

    ''I guess that''s the privilege of being themander, huh?'' Layn thought, watching how Castor eagerly took the opportunity to ck a little.

    "What do you mean by that?" the archmage inquired, still unable to understand the reasons for the hurry.

    "The death of the Overlord means that there is now a power vacuum in the area where it originally resided," Castor exined, before releasing a deep sigh, "but that doesn''t mean the situation will remain like that for long," he added after a moment of thought.

    "Do you have any means of taking over the seat of power? Like," Layn lowered his head to think for a moment before looking at Castor''s face again, "can you create an Overlord of your own that will protect the area or something?"

    This suggestion was something that Layn didn''t consider to be real in the first ce. But by suggesting something, he could hide his intent of actually trying to sound off the other party''s intentions.

    "Create a new Overlord?" Castor shook his head before looking at Layn with a small dose of ridicule in his eyes. "Now I''m not sure if you are an idiot, or take me for an idiot by asking questions like that."

    For a moment, the atmosphere turned tense. Layn, already sitting in the saddle, couldn''t really do much to dissolve it, given how any response to Castor''s words would likely only make the problem worse.

    "Man, you really need to stop with this scheming attitude of yours. It will only make others think that you are an actual spy," Castor said after several more moments.

    "Others? So you are certain I''m not one?" Layn couldn''t help but ask.

    "You? A spy?" themander asked, looking at Layn with his eyes widened. "Don''t joke around, please. I dealt with a handful of spies during my service. I can tell you are not one," he summarised while shaking his head. "But don''t expect others to have the same experience as me. But going back to the topic, while we can''t create an Overlord ss monster, we have a way of iming the area for our own. It''s just..." Castor suddenly cut his exnation.

    Puzzled by this behavior, Layn looked over to the camp... Or rather, to the ce where the camp used to be. In the short span of time that their discussion took, Castor''s troops managed to round up the entire thing. Right now, roughly a hundred soldiers were already all on horseback.

    ''How the heck can those horses carry so much?'' This thought appeared in the archmage''s mind. Because outside of the soldiers themselves, the tent and their weapons, every single horse carried the supplies, spare weapons, and several more bags.

    "But wait, didn''t you im that this is an opportunity for your people to migrate?" Layn suddenly asked. ''If they want to escape war, running to an area attached to their former country wouldn''t do much good, would it?'' he thought, puzzled by Castor''s determination.

    "Yeah, what about it?" themander asked, clearly unable to understand Layn''s question.

    "While I don''t know what kind of shit your people are in, I can tell it''s something about others encroaching on yournds, right?" Layn decided to present his line of thought point by point rather than revealing the entire thing at once.

    ''In this way, I will be able to see just what part of the situation I''m misunderstanding, rather than just learning that there is something wrong with my way of thinking,'' he thought, keenly observing Castor''s face in hopes of deriving some hints from his expressions.

    "Yeah, that''s right, what about it?" Despite Layn''s hopes, Castor managed to keep his face fully straight.

    "And the area that was under the influence of the Overlord I killed is directly attached to your currentnds, right?" Layn posed another question. He also gave up on attempting to sound of Castor''s intentions by reading his face.

    "Yes, that''s also fully correct," he answered while one of the soldiers brought a horse for their leader.

    "Then how migrating to thends attached to your current dominion would help you escape the war?" Layn finally reached thest point of his question. Yet, he still wasn''t satisfied with how precise it was. "I mean, moving to the area where that Overlord used to rule would mean that your warmongering neighbors would just have morends to conquer!" he added, trying to be as precise with his opinion as possible.

    "And here is where you are wrong," Castor didn''t even need a second to think about his answer. "While it''s true that thends of the Overlords are directly attached to thends controlled by our people... It''s not that simple to invade them," he shook his head.

    "Sir!" Before Castor would even have a chance to exin his thoughts, one of the soldiers came running to him while holding a long stick and a multi-colored piece of cloth. "The banner is ready to be raised," the soldier announced, only to cast a quick nce at Layn afterward.

    "Great," Castor instantly switched the focus of his attention, grabbing both the stick and cloth only to unravel thetter.

    As it turned out, it wasn''t just a simple rug but a proper g. Consisting of three colors, it had white at the top, red at the bottom, and a golden circle in the middle.

    Rather than leaving the task of donning the g on the banner''s handle, Castor took quite a long time to do it all on his own. From how precise and gentle the movements of his hands were, it was clear that fixing the g wasn''t a simple thing to do but rather aplicated ritual where each step had some kind of meaning behind it.

    "To answer your question, you need to understand one thing about magic. Don''t get your hopes up. You won''t be able to learn the basics of the true magic from this, though," Castor added with a wicked smile as if he just pulled out the greatest prank in the history of pranks.

    "The entire world is divided into the spheres of influence. Some are fully controlled by powerful beings like the Overlords, some are controlled by the collective consciousness by the beings inhabiting them." Castor started his lecture as soon as he finished donning the g on the banner. He then raised it high in the air, only to lean it forward a bit.

    The next moment, everyone started to move. At first, the front of the unit kicked the sides of their horses. Before anyone else could move, they formed what appeared to be a front-guard, proving that thosends weren''t as safe as Layn hoped them to be.

    "Most of those spheres of influence formed over years, decades, and millennia. Right now, the entire fertile in where our country is located is barely an edge of the continent." Castor exined before finally lowering the banner a bit more, giving the signal for everyone to depart.

    For a few following minutes, themander remained silent. With no other choice, Layn hurried his own horse, strictly following behind the man.

    "What I wanted to say back then," Castor finally started speaking again once the group left the former campsite well behind them. "Is that the rules of each sphere of influences can change depending on the will of what''s controlling them," he said. In the instant he did, his face turned sour.

    "Don''t tell me," Layn said, terrified by the thought, or rather a logical conclusion he could derive from Castor''s words so far.

    "Yeah," themander nodded his head. "Once ourst ally betrayed us, ournds no longer wee us. While we could still fight against this by killing off the entire poption of a neighbor or two of ours...." he stopped his words for a moment before swallowing a gulp of saliva and forcing a smile on his face. "But isn''t is easier to settle the area without a ruler for its influence while making sure no one would ever be able to infringe on its control?"

 Chapter 131 - What If He Returns?

    "He wanted to create an academy under his own name," Markus muttered. Even hours after learning this fact, he still couldn''t get over the meaning behind it.

    "He doesn''t intend to go back," Yelna added a few words from herself, joining the choir of the defeated. There was no sign of her usual muteness.

    "You guys can stop now," Irea said, cutting their moans. "I heard those few sentences thousands of times already. Act like the adults you are and get over it," she scolded the trio, not paying any mind to how potentially dangerous they could be.

    ''I wonder what''s making her think that she can act like that,'' Markus thought while raising his eyes at the girl''s face. ''Is it her arrogant belief that we won''t touch Layn''s woman? Or is it..."

    Markus didn''t finish his line of thought. The sound of the doors opening stopped his mind in its tracks.

    "We assessed the damage, youngdy," one of the younger mercenaries reported from the doorstep. The four of them looked one at each other.

    "How bad is it?" Irea asked, leaning back on the bricked counter in the kitchen.

    In the aftermath of the monster''s invasion, the entire area was devastated. Thankfully, both of the main buildings prevailed through the ordeal.

    And that meant the small number of bricks that were stored just in case turned out to be pretty useful. But as bright as this perspective was, they had to assess their current standing.

    "So, are we really going to do it?" Al asked while directing his eyes at Markus. In the current situation, the only way for the four of them tomunicate was by doing it through Markus. While there was some talk about the former saint teaching the spell to Irea, there was no time to seriously consider that yet.

    "Ultimately, we can''t deny his achievement," Yelna said while standing up. "I was wrong in my judgment. I''m sorry," she said and lowered her head to Irea.

    "Let''s not speak about this anymore," Layn''s girlfriend shook her head. "We went over this topic over and over again. You did what you believed to be right," Irea said while raising her eyes at Yelna. "And Layn did exactly the same. So there is no need for hard feelings now," she stated for the nth time in the span of thest few hours.

    "Half of the production line of the bricks is gone. We should be able to restart the production in a few days. Still, without the master..." the mercenary spoke up, refusing for his report to go by in the tter of the other discussion.

    "I managed to learn what to do before..." Irea stuttered, "Before the fight. You don''t need to worry about it. I will do my job," she promised.

    "That saves us one worry," Markus stood up as well, "but it''s not all that easy." He shook his head. "If we need this ce to survive, we need more manpower," the former saint announced without even a shred of hesitation.

    "I can see where you areing from," All followed the example of everyone else and stood up, "this is what we will do."

    Al crossed his arms on top of his chest before squinting his eyes.

    "For the next three days, we will all work to restore the production and then to produce the bricks. Then, for the fourth and fifth days, we will stock on supplies. Then, the three or four of us will leave."

    The kitchen filled up with nothing but silence. This was a slight moment of tranquility. But Al continued.

    "This ce is too poor to achieve anything. That''s why we need to bring more men. My people would be the most obvious choice," Al brought his eyes up at Irea. "That is if youngdy will agree to my proposal."

    "You want to swarm the area that Layn choose for his academy with people under your directmand," Irea summed up how she understood the proposition. "I adore the sentiment, but we were doing quite all right on our own."

    "Girl, don''t test my limits," Al said in a lowered voice, squinting his eyes at the girl.

    "We can live in this ce only because Layn defeated that fallen spirit," Irea said firmly as if she wanted to automatically refuse any other interpretation of the situation. "You are not going to take his dream away," she hissed at the burly man.

    "Guys, calm down," Markus stepped in to stop the escting conflict. "There is no need nor time for that," he added, rolling his eyes.

    "We will turn this ce into Layn''s academy," Irea repeated without any care. ''No way in hell will Ipromise on that!'' She reassured herself in her thoughts.

    Her re was firm and clear of doubt. But it was only a front. ''Layn is just away for a while. I need to be ready to wee him back.'' This lone thought was what stopped Irea from absolute despair.

    She dropped everything and followed after Layn. A few tricks and she was at his order, pulled through events that she would never imagine to be possible.

    ''Yet, I never hated that,'' Irea tightened her fingers into fists, powerless to change the situation they were in. ''If they want to leave, then it''s good. But I need to get more people as well,'' Irea decided. Then, she allowed her expression to soften up a bit.

    "We will do it in a slightly different way," she started, raising his head up. "I will send two of my people with you. Not to spy on you, but just to keep them safe in the desert. I need them to do a few things for me in the city while the barrier will be up," she exined before lowering her head and rubbing her chin.

    "I understand," Markus instantly replied, taking the lead of the conversation before Al could do it himself. "It''s not like we are enemies, right?" he asked while raising his left eyebrow.

    "I never even hinted at something like that," Irea replied, rxing a slight bit. "I will remain in this ce and try to make do with what we have. But, whether more people wille or not, we still need more houses," Irea''s voice rxed a bit when she started talking about her ns for the ce.

    "There is no telling whether it will be of any help, but I might have some useful ideas for settling this ce," Markus interjected as he looked towards the shore. "Setting up farms will take a lot of time and won''t yield much food anytime soon. We should set some stationarys to exploit the supplies from theke," the former saint borated.

    This simple kitchen turned into amanding center of the entire operation. Not because it had some special utilities. There were no utilities in here.

    It turned into a special ce because the people inside were pragmatics. Every single one learned about the matters at hand not from the school but by acquiring a real-life experience.

    As such, there was no need to bullshit each other.

    Even though it wasn''t said, the situation was now clear to everyone.

    Whoever will be able to take the lead in developing the ce first will have the im for it. Whether it would be Al with his people, Markus with his technology, or Irea with her headstart and magic, it was a peculiar three-way battle between actual allies.

    This wouldn''t be settled with the edges of the weapons. There was no point bleeding each other. It would be simply counterproductive and against the idea behind the entire race.

    It wasn''t said out loud, but all four of the people in this kitchen understood that this ce could only grow as a part of the challenge. Whoever would end up contributing the most would have the right to dictate the rules.

    It was that simple, yet that unforgiving.

    "Guys, before we begin, let me ask one thing," Yelna suddenly entered the discussion. By doing so, she managed to even catch Markus by surprise. "We might have a way to decide what will be of this ce, but there is one thing that you all forgot," Yelna said before ncing at all three of her partners as if they were naive children.

    "If you believe that Layn is dead, then you are in for a surprise." Yelna suddenly stated in a firm voice. It was a voice that didn''t ept any opposition.

    "Well, for the magnificent bastard he is... He knows how to survive. I will give him that," Markus agreed after a moment. After a short while, he lowered his head in respect before Layn''s slippery ability to always get out of the danger.

    "I never met him before," Al suddenly announced, "but looking at you guys, I now realize what you wanted to say," he said as he moved his eyes on Yelna.

    "We didn''t discuss what would happen if Layn were to return here."

 Chapter 132 - Charge (part 1)

    The entire unit rode across the in. This was one of the elements that made it hard for Layn to believe he was already outside that desert area. Given how both ces were filled with nothing but an endless expanse of grass, there was hardly any way to judge which sphere of influence they were currently in.

    ''Now that I think about it, weren''t there supposed to be some kind of demonnds on the other side of the desert?'' Layn asked himself. But there was no one to answer this question for him.

    Layn looked to the side. Roughly two to three meters away, Castor was riding his own horse, too focused on his own thoughts to notice Layn''s dismay. When it came to Sitra, the only other person Layn ever talked to in this unit, she left the camp even before the rest of the soldiers managed to pack up, sent forward to pass the message.

    "But now I should know for sure that there is no such ce as thend of demons," Layn muttered to himself, using the noise of the many horses running to hide those words from everyone else.

    For some reason, voicing his thoughts out was always one of the major ways for Layn to focus the resources of his brain on a specific topic.

    A whistle.

    Layn heard a sound that didn''t belong to the current situation. Instantly orienting his head towards the source of the sound, he hoped to see what was going on. Sadly, the cloud of dust kicked into the air by the many horses of the unit made it virtually impossible to see anything other than what was ahead.

    "Hey!" Castor suddenly shouted, drawing Layn''s attention to himself. Looking at the man, Layn couldn''t help but notice from the distressed look on his face that there was something wrong.

    "Enemy!" Castor shouted before swinging his hand forward at a gentle angle away from their current direction. Following the man''s arm, Layn attempted to find the alleged opponents with his eyes.

    Sadly, either vians had way better senses than him, or they were using some kind of method to figure out the location of their enemies as Layn saw nothing but more and more of the grass.

    But the same couldn''t be said about the unit. Without any moment to figure out the tactics, Castor pulled his own whistle before sending a series of short and sharp sounds into the air.

    ''Two... three,'' Layn counted the sounds, hoping to figure out the method behind this form ofmunicating. In the end, those people had to belong to the military. And as bad news, as it was for Layn in general, it also meant that he was free to try to steal the methods they were using!

    ''Given how arms race is the major backed of technological growth, their system might give me some insights about how they all developed,'' Layn thought when his count of sounds settled on four.

    And at the same time, the entire formation started to change.

    At first, the people at the front kicked the sides of their horses, forcing them to run just a tiny bit faster. But once the distance of two horses-length appeared between the first and the second row, the next batch of riders also speed up.

    Bit by bit, the entire formation stretched so that there would be more than enough space between each of the rows for them to operate independently.

    ''It''s as if they wanted to perform a continuous charge,'' Layn thought, recalling one of the more daring maneuvers he was taught at the obligatory tactic course back at the academy.

    ''By spreading their formation, each of the rows will have enough space to perform a charge on their own. But, although effective, only units where the first and second rows consist of suicidal people could ever perform it,'' Layn recalled the exact wording of his teacher.

    ''Is he going to kill his men like that?'' Layn thought when his eyes finally caught the sight of the small hint that alerted the unit about the presence of the enemy.

    It wasn''t the silhouettes in the distance. It wasn''t even some kind of overhead view at the ins of the lower elevation. All that Layn could see was a cloud of smoke hindering his vision far off in the distance.

    ''I guess there is only one thing that could create an urrence like this,'' Layn thought while biting on his lips. He then turned his head to Castor before shouting.

    "Hey!" With how the formation was changing, mixing the horses'' rhythm, it was barely possible to get someone to notice his efforts. Yet, under some random stroke of luck, Castor just happened to look Layn''s way when he was trying his best to attract his attention.

    "A weapon!" Layn shouted. "I need one!" Then, without any hopes that Castor would understand his words, Layn attempted to picture what he had in mind with just the movements of his head.

    ''Thank God I learned hot to ride without reins,'' he blessed his earlier efforts in his mind.

    "HERE!" Castor shouted back before pulling his own sword and angling the path of his horse so that he could pass the weapon to Layn''s hand. "I''m sorry for dragging you into this," he added with his lips tightened when the two of them momentarily got pretty close.

    ''Dragging into what?'' Layn asked himself. ''A fight?'' He looked towards the distant cloud of smoke. But as he did it, Layn realized that he was wrong about one thing.

    The formation didn''t change ording to his expectations. While the first three rows of riders detached themselves and rushed forward, the rest of the unit didn''t follow them up on this action. But that was for movement alone.

    ''They are all... Lightly armored?'' Layn continued to discover more and more peculiarities about the situation, constantly finding more proof that his initial guess was wrong.

    ''So it''s the lightly armored first, medium-armored second, and everyone else after that?'' Layn voiced out his observation in his thoughts in an attempt to make any sense of the formation.

    His eyes wandered towards the enemy once again. This time though, the cloud of dust in the distance turned into a massive gathering of silhouettes, all chasing right towards them.

    A gathering which was at least three times the size of Castor''s unit.

    ''Is he leading us all to death?'' Layn pursed his lips, not sure if breaking the formation and turning his horse away wouldn''t be a better option right now.

    ''No can do,'' he tightened his lips after just a moment. ''There is no way I will give up such an opportunity to learn more about those people!'' Layn''s passion for knowledge reignited.

    vian people barely made any entrance in the history books of the past. They only existed in some remote legends, written by the tribes that never made the cut into the society of modern times.

    But in those few myths they were present in, they not only wielded a strenght no one else could ever contend against but alsoid the foundation for the very civilization that wouldter shun them out of the history books.

    And between learning more about vians with this unknown magic and shing with a numerically superior foe...

    Layn didn''t need to think long to figure out what would be for the best.

    "If you have some mana stones on you, now it''s the time to pass them to me," Layn shouted loudly to Castor, although without any hopes of the man hearing him at all.

    And just as expected, Castor appeared to be more busy observing the enemy than Layn expected.

    ''Is he still trying to adjust the tactic?'' Layn asked himself in his thoughts, alternating his eyes between the approaching enemy and themander of the unit he was in.

    The distance continued to shorten between the two groups.

    Two sounds of whistles followed, and two more rows of Castor''s unit pushed forward.

    "Fake charge, maybe?" Layn muttered under his nose, still trying to figure out what was about to happen. Layn no longer could be bothered with stealing their tactics and maneuvres for himself in the current situation. Right now, he just wanted to know how to act to do his part in theing battle.

    "PREPARE!" Castor shouted in the air with a voice so loud that Layn heard it even though the noise obstructing it. The entire unit now pushed into a dash, allowing Layn to assume that he wasn''t the only one who heard the order.

    The enemies were now much closer. Layn could even see the faces of the people at the front. And while their numbers were absolutely massive, more than enough to just crush them with the sheer weight of their force...

    Their equipment, their way of riding their horses... Everything about was cheap.

    "I guess I don''t really have any choice," Layn thought grimly when the two groups came as close as fifty meters. He held Castor''s sword in his hand, ready to sh at the first enemy that would appear within his range.

    Fifty meters.

    The two front rows suddenly split in half, each angling about thirty degrees away from the initial course. At the same time, the people in front kicked the sides of their horses, forcing them into their fastest step.

    Twenty meters.

    Castor''s unit turned unusually silent. There was no shouting, no encouraging whining, no ying on the whistle. On the other hand, the other party was full of screamers, all hoping to give themselves more courage with their voices.

    Ten meters.

    Five meters.

    One meter.

    The units mixed.. In an instant, the eerie in turned into a bloodbath.

 Chapter 133 - Charge(part 2)

    The two groups shed.

    Surprisingly enough, it wasn''t either of the two front rows to first make contact with the enemy. By angling their approach and because of the arrow-shape of the enemy troops, it was the third row of the riders that got the honors of spilling the first blood.

    And they didn''t hold back at doing so at all.

    "KILL!" The soldiers shouted right before the sh, carrying their voices along with each of their own attacks.

    First came thences. Roughly two to three meters long, those simple weapons allowed the medium-armed soldiers of Castor''s unit to attack the enemies even before they could attack them.

    Layn didn''t pay much attention to the gory scene that ensued. Not only was the fight too chaotic and rapid for him to marvel at the skill of each of the soldiers, but there was also no glory in fighting whatsoever.

    Then, Castor''s entire army pushed forward. Counteracting the arrow-like formation of the enemy, the two rows that split to the nk didn''t bother attacking at all. They simply followed along the sides of the opposition, keeping the same pace as the chargingncers in the middle.

    ''If I''m right,'' Layn thought, watching the gore festival ahead from the rtively safe distance of the back row. "They should attack now," he muttered under his nose, not really intending for anyone to hear it.

    But nothing changed.

    Thencers at the front continued to cull the numbers of the enemies. Castor''s troops also started to rack up losses. While only a few were injured and only two or three ended up dead so far, it was only a matter of time before the front unit would lose its entire momentum.

    And then, the losses would only continue to spike up.

    ''What is he doing?'' Layn asked in his thought, turning his face to Castor. Unfortunately, the man himself was fully focused on the battle, making him omit Layn''s anxious nce. ''He should give the order already!'' Layn scolded the man in his thoughts but ultimately decided to hold his tongue.

    Castor''s face twitched. He stood up in his stirrups, gaining just enough height to survey the entire battlefield.

    "Now!" he shouted in the distance as if he wanted to express his love to his childhood friend standing on a nearby hill.

    Whizz! Whizz!

    The buzzing sound of the powerful whistle instantly introduced two major changes to the battlefield.

    The small detachments of the lighter cavalry that continued to nk the enemy so far suddenly gained more speed. Then, they turned inwards towards the column of the enemy, using their momentum to charge at the unexpecting soldiers of the other side.

    At the same time, the middle of the Castor''s force slowed down. Just looking at how precisely the entire maneuver was coordinated, it became clear that it was something those soldiers considered bread and butter of their lifestyle and technique.

    "Tad toote," Layn muttered once again, watching how the slightpse of Castor''s judgment resulted in two parts of his force joining together almost perfectly.

    Sadly, theycked perfection.

    By the time the two forces merged again and pushed the enemy force off to regroup, five more soldiers left the battlefield. Whether they were just injured or already gave their lives up would only be apparent once the battle would conclude.

    Castor''s force continued to push forward. As soon as they got some breathing room to reform their ranks, the formation changed from a simple column into a wedge.

    "Roll up the left nk!" Castor shouted again, only for six more whistle noises to shake the air. During the momentary break, his forces managed to get back into formation.

    ''Just who is dumb enough to waste people like that?'' Layn asked himself while watching how the other side fared. And to say the least, they weren''t in a good position.

    The initial charge neutralized their numerical advantage, bringing their original position of three to one to a more reasonable two to one.

    For a single charge to devastate a third of the opposing army, there had to be some kind of magic involved. Otherwise, one could achieve such a result only by puttingplete amateurs against hardened veterans.

    ''I''m reluctant to admit, but I guess I overestimated those people by quite am l...'' Layn couldn''t even finish his sentence when the enemy finallyunched a real counterattack.

    From behind the backs of the loosely armed and disciplined troops, a new kind of unit emerged. Roughly a fourth of the size of Castor''s troops, they didn''t appear to be any significant threat... For as long as one wouldn''t bother to look at their equipment.

    Even if it wasn''t cutting edge, it was evident that their equipment offered more protection than the simple fur caps that the rest of their allies wore. Their weapons also turned from clubs and simple spears into more sophisticated tools for taking lives away.

    "I wonder if they will do it in time," Layn said to himself, keenly watching the minute changes happening ahead of him. While he was in the back row initially, after Castor reshuffled his unit, Layn had no other choice other than following orders.

    Soon, Castor''s n was unveiled.

    With nearly half of his troops amassing on the left wing, the entire formation started to ride forward.

    Standing against them were the elitarist troops of the other party. ''Ir so, I guess,'' thought Layn when watching the approaching enemy. And that''s when it struck him. "Those people are not soldiers at all!"

    As simple as it was to judge something like that after the measly performance of the other side, it could have some disastrous effects down the line.

    Because there was no way for a country idiotic enough to pit amateurs against veterans with no further n to follow it up could ever corner vians as much as Castor imed they did!

    And sure enough, the momentary break from the fighting didn''tst for long.

    For the second bout, Castor abandoned the idea of fighting from the column, turning his long formation into a wedge first before extending it to the sides. The left-wing got notably reinforced by twice as many people as there were on the right. The enemies didn''t think where to attack for long.

    sh.

    Once again, two rows of people pushed against each other. Instantly, the air filled with screams of the injured, moaning of the wounded, and the metallic taste of blood.

    ''No one can take the initiative,'' Layn observed, grasping at the handle of his sword. Right now, he was sadly in the middle of the left-wing of Castor''s army, ready to pounce at the enemy at the first given notice...

    But it didn''te. Instead, the two forces simply shed in what could only be described as a brutal street fight fought from horseback.

    ''At this rate, his unit will lose its cohesiveness,'' Layn thought grimly, watching how the well-equipped part of the enemy managed to prove themselves to be up to par Castor''s mercenaries. But that wasn''t the problem.

    At the current moment, Castor still had the advantage of his people being veterans. All their fighting skills and equipment aside, with each fallen man, Castor''s options were limited even further.

    And then, the moment finally came.

    "UNRAVEL!" Castor''s shout cut through the air of the area, instantly pushing the left wing into action. ''We didn''t fight almost at all so far. This might have a chance of working out pretty well,'' Layn thought, fixing his sweaty hand over the handle of his weapon.

    The enemy saw through Castor''s initiative. Or rather, that''s what they were likely to believe. By hitting the weaker spot of his unit, the enemy did the exact same thing that Layn would do if he was themander.

    And now, as the left-wing suddenly started to curve a nk around the positions of the enemy proved that Layn''s idea for solving the fight was almost perfectly aligned with Castor''s n.

    "Go, Go, go," Layn muttered in the rhythm of his horse''s run. He pulled out his weapon, ready to use it at a first moment''s notice. And such notice came even earlier than expected.

    Layn finally managed to reach the close distance. Swinging his borrowed sword, he decapitated his first poor enemy before moving his attention ahead.

    "Kill!" Layn shouted, clearly influenced by the situation. He jerked his sword up before throwing its sharp edge towards another opponent. But there was no stopping now.

    Soon, Layn''s attacks carved out a long and wide path in the ranks of the enemy. But it was only a small element of the greater puzzle. When taking into ount what others managed to achieve, Layn''s own achievements suddenly lost quite a lot of value.

    "CEASE FIGHTING!" Castor suddenly shouted, forcing his people to hold their weapons. And as strange as it was to stop the fight in the middle of the battle, as soon as Castor''s troops allowed their enemies to save themselves by escaping, the other party actually started to retreat!

    ''Right in time,'' Layn thought when observing how almost every singlest soldier of the enemy group started to ride away.. Before long, Castor appeared in the middle of the unit.

 Chapter 134 - Blood Saber

    "Good job, everyone!" Castor shouted, praising his soldiers.

    "URA!" The entire unit chanted in response, allowing their bloodlust to fade away through that shout.

    ''That was... weird,'' Layn thought, focusing his eyes on the escaping enemies rather than joining in the victory celebration. ''Aren''t we supposed to be in the depths of viannds? Where did those peoplee from then? Bandits?'' Layn''s mind spurred into action, producing more and more possible scenarios that would exin the strange situation.

    "But the fight isn''t over yet," Castor announced, turning his head towards the bloodied ground where the battle took ce. "Everyone, find the wounded and cater to their wounds. Separate our dead from those barbarians! This fight isn''t over for as long as every wounded is taken care of!" Castor shouted his order, instantly dismissing the entire unit.

    ''What the hell?'' Layn''s eyes widened when he heard such order. ''I know that taking care of the wounded is a basic thing to do, but right after the enemy retreated?'' Layn moved his eyes in the direction where the enemy ran off to.

    ''They are too slow,'' Layn thought when watching the retreating unit Castor''s soldiers just shed with. ''Are they running, or is this actually an organized retreat?'' He asked himself, unwilling to tear his eyes away from that sight.

    "Come on! I can see someone still breathing!" A sudden shout near Layn forced him to look around. And just like the archmage internally expected, the entire broke down.

    There was nothing left of their initial cohesiveness. No one kept the formation. Following Castor''s order, all the men jumped into action as one.

    "Castor!" Layn shouted, hoping to get the man''s attention.

    Sadly, the man either didn''t hear the shout, decided to ignore it, or was simply too busy to respond to it.

    Layn looked in the direction where the enemies ran off to once again, only to see the distance between them and Castor''s unit... It didn''t change at all ever since hest looked towards them.

    ''An illusion?'' the archmage guessed, unable to keep himself calm anymore. ''If that''s right,'' Layn tightened his fists before jumping off his horse, ''then I don''t really have much choice.''

    Even in his current state, Layn was far from being powerless. While his fight with the Overlord of Origin forced him to use all the means he had on hand, it didn''t mean Layn used all the tricks he knew off.

    Not because he was holding back in that fight, but simply because there was no way for him to use some of the other methods.

    And right now, standing in the middle of the bloodied grounds, there was more than ample amount of a single resource that Layn was capable of turning into magic energy. The mana that was likely toe useful given the deception vian''s enemies used to make them lower their guard.

    "Layn, did you call for me?" Castor appeared on Layn''s side when the archmage already entered the state of full focus. With his entire attention oriented at invoking one of the academy-forbidden spells, he could no longer hear anything at all.

    "Layn, are you okay?" Castor continued to pester, unaware of the insane focus that Layn had right now.

    "RISE!" Layn suddenly shouted before biting on his lips.

    The cut wounds opened up all over his body. Rather than pouring out, the blood gushed out of his wounds.

    But it didn''t fall to the ground. Rather than that, it started to orbit the archmage, forming dense circles of red all around him.

    This situation instantly drew the attention of the entire unit.

    "They areing," Layn spoke softly as more and more blood converged around him. At some point, his wounds healed all by themselves. But, with the source of the blood now cut, the same blood that sunk to the ground before started to gravitate towards Layn''s external bloodflow.

    "What the hell are you doing?!" Castor shouted, showing hostility to Layn for the very first time since they met. He even went as far as cing his hand on the handle of his weapon.

    "You are a great tactician," Layn spoke suddenly,pletely ignoring Castor''s question. "But you are a shit strategist," Layn shook his head before moving his eyes back in the direction where he expected the enemy to attack from.

    "What the hell are you talking about?" Castor reached the edge of his patience. He pulled out his knife, clearly regretting letting Layn borrow his sword.

    "Here, you will need it," Layn threw the sword towards themander without even batting an eye. "Also, get your people in the formation. They areing," he added after a short moment.

    "What the hell are you..." Castor asked as he turned his eyes in the same direction Layn was focused on for a while already. "..." once his eyes looked in the direction Layn wanted him to look, Castor no longer had it in himself to keep bashing at the archmage.

    "If not for me, you guys would fall for it," Layn spoke softly, not holding a grudge against the way Castor treated him a moment ago. "I hope you will keep that in mindter on," he added before releasing all the air in his lungs.

    Then, Layn breathed in as much air as he could before closing his eyes and shouting, "CONVERGE!"

    All the blood that surrounded him in circles broke its shape before hitting Layn''s hand. At first, it appeared as if this blood attempted to cut through Layn''s skin, returning to his inner flow of blood. But as more and more red liquid converged on his hand, it started to take the shape of a slightly curved, one-sided sword.

    "Argh..." Layn fell on one knee when the forbidden spell concluded. Even though most of the blood used for the blood saber technique came from the battlefield, the bacsh of using it was still considerable.

    "Are you okay?" Castor asked after he gave his orders to the people. His eyes nced towards the bloody weapon in Layn''s hand, yet the man himself didn''t dare to ask about it.

    "Do I look like I''m all right?" Layn moaned in response.

    In order to invoke a blood weapon, one had to sacrifice his own blood to establish a core of the weapon and find out a source of a lot more human blood to make up for the de proper.

    But that wasn''t the end of it. The usage of blood weapon spells was forbidden by the very academy that Layn graduated from. It came from the fact that such a weapon had to be constantly maintained with more and more blood.

    The good side of using this spell was that one could regenerate his mana by consuming the blood of humans or evolved monsters. Yet, the fact that even a small cut on the enemy''s body would result in the entirety of his blood getting drained made the civilized people of the future quite wary of the spell.

    The bad part about using that spell was the burden it ced on the caster. Invoked too quickly before the fight, and one would sap his physical strenght before the sh. Invoked toote and one would end up without a weapon once the fighting would start.

    "They areing," Layn spoke up in a weak voice. "I need to kill at least one," he added after a moment when the burden of the blood saber in his hand was getting too big for him to handle.

    "I see," Castor replied, most likely putting some kind of expression on his face, something that Layn was too tired to move his eyes to notice. "Here, you can kill him," he added after a moment, pulling in one of the injured.

    "Is he one of your soldiers?" Layn asked, too tired from the blood loss to actually use his eyes. In his current state, he could only ask.

    "No, it''s one of those fuckers. I can bet he thought he was..." Castor was in the middle of exining when Layn swung his arm. In a single attack, he cut the wounded man''s head off.

    "AAAAH!" The moan of pleasure escaped from Layn''s mouth. ''This feeling,'' Layn''s eyes widened when a surge of energy entered his aura. ''It''s addictive...'' Layn swayed as if he was drunk. Once he regained his stability, his eyes instantly drew towards the direction the enemy wasing from.

    "They areing," a bestial smile appeared on Layn''s face. Even though he wasn''t a warrior, the call of blood reinforced by the blood weapon spell was more than enough to turn him into one.

    "We are prepared. There is no need to..." Castor couldn''t even finish his words. Layn''s artificial thirst for blood was too great for the archmage to stay in his position.

    "KILL!" screaming from the bottom of his lungs, he lunged forward. The blood of the man he killed turned into energy, energy Layn used to rush ahead.

    Just when the attacking party finally decided to take down the illusion that hid their movements so far.

 Chapter 135 - Blood Frenzy

    "Stay your ground!" Castor shouted as soon as the illusion broke apart, revealing the charging mass of the enemy.

    Whenpared to the cavalry force Castor''s unit shed initially, the numbers of the enemy only increased. Without counting the losses from the sh before, it wouldn''t be a stretch to im that Castor''s force was outnumbered ten to one.

    ''But those guys don''t have me,'' Layn thought, spreading the newly found energy across his entire body.

    With what was going to happen soon, Layn did not need to treat this little magic he recovered sparingly. Rather than that, the habit of spreading his mana around was aimed at keeping him ser on, when his blood saber would stuff him beyond what should be his natural limits.

    "Stay your ground!" Castor shouted again, repeating his order. Layn nced at his face. As expected, below theyer of confidence that he as amander had to disy, Castor appeared to already make peace with what the overwhelming disadvantage of numbers dictated for everyone in the in.

    ording to all the rules of logic, there was no escaping the inevitable. With just the simple math, the quality of Castor''s troops couldn''t match the disadvantage of their numbers.

    In other words, this nameless in was where Castor had no other choice but to rest his head along with every single man of his unit.

    "I wonder why you didn''t sound the retreat," Layn suddenly spoke up, breaking the formation and approaching themander without care.

    "Go back to your... Or fuck it. You are not one of us, so I can''t ask you to risk your life for our cause," Castor said, quickly changing his initial intent.

    "Well, that''s not exactly true," Layn said as a gentle smile appeared on his lips. "But I don''t think we have the time to talk this through right now," he added as his head turned towards the approaching enemies.

    The illusion broke when they were roughly a hundred meters away from Castor''s unit. However, while most of them went by foot, their speed wasn''t slow at all. And as for now, the sh between the two forces appeared to be inevitable.

    "The hell are you talking about?" Castor asked, clearly distracted by Layn''s words away from the battle.

    "Well, just keep in mind to leave me alone for a day or two once I''m done, okay?" Layn asked, swinging his crimson saber a few times. "Dang, it doesn''t fit that well. Let''s try something else," he said before closing his eyes for a moment.

    The next moment, the single de in his hand suddenly multiplied before dropping to the ground, only to hang on what looked like a chain attached to the back of the original saber.

    "That''s more like it," Layn said, ncing towards the approaching enemy once again. They were now only twenty meters away or so. "Well, it''s time to get back to work," he added before lowering himself on his knees.

    Layn jumped forward. Straightening his legs in a single go, he even went as far as to add a little bit of mana to further his lunge. Then, in the middle of the air, Layn took aim and threw one of his sabers forward.

    Hit.

    The de slid through the simple armor of the enemy as if it was made from a paper mache. Once it sunk into the man''s chest, a cortex seemingly appeared in the middle of the man''s body, sucking all the blood he had to offer.

    Pull.

    Using the mana that the blood saber converted the enemy blood into, Layn rooted the corpse into the ground before pulling on the other saber, instantly appearing beside the corpse.

    "Hello everyone," he said with a huge smile on his face, kicking the dried-out corpse away to free his weapon. Layn swung his right hand to the side, depriving two more people of their heads.

    The surge of mana in Layn''s system followed, bringing him back to the average amount of energy he would keep on a daily basis.

    The blood weapons were insanely taxing to get invoked. Many of the weaker mages would easily sumb to the burden before actually managing to pay the price of invoking them. By itself, the weapons weren''t all that strong either.

    In the end, there was only a single reason why anyone would bother to use this forbidden spell.

    "AH!" Layn couldn''t help but moan when the surge of energy filled his veins. Roughly a thousand people were charging at Castor''s unit. Only three of them have died so far. Yet, their blood was already enough to recover the major part of Layn''s magical power.

    The archmage smiled.

    "KILL!" The loosely-armed soldiers attempted to add some more courage to themselves. After all, this man with crimson sabers was just a single opponent! Not only that, he even broke the formation, so just how hard could it be to kill him? Even if one, two, or ten of them died, with such an overwhelming number, how could they end up in any other way but crushing him with their sheer mass?

    "Die," Layn couldn''t be bothered to deal with each of the opponents on their own. ''I''m not a warrior, to begin with,'' he thought, raising his hand at the charging enemies before invoking quite a simple yet demanding spell.

    "st away," Layn said in a silent voice. One of the soldiers swung his weapon at the archmage right when he brought the spell to its fruition.

    A gale appeared out of nowhere. It appeared as if a powerful storm brewed behind Layn''s back, only to concentrate all its might at his hand. And from Layn''s hand, the gale exploded right in the faces of the people who were unlucky enough to stand in front of him.

    The one soldier who swung his weapon at Layn was particrly unlucky. With how his body was just outside the st zone of Layn''s spell, he only had his arm torn apart from his body, along with a sizeable chunk of his shoulder.

    He was unlucky, as he wasn''t granted the mercy of a quick death.

    Layn didn''t waste the opening that this simple spell gave him. He used nearly half of the freshly recovered mana to invoke it, putting him in a dire need to recover it.

    Thankfully, the gorefest caused by such a concentrated shockwave was more than enough to sate the thirst of his weapons.

    For a moment, the entire battlefield turned stale. Surprised by the sudden devastation, both sides didn''t dare to do a thing, as if the entire act was a doing of some kind of vengeful god.

    But Layn didn''t wait for anyone to regain their senses. He grabbed his sabers by the chain that held them together without any hurry before pulling his hands apart. As if following his intent, the chain in his hands turned far longer than before, amounting to four times the length of each of the sabers.

    "It''s time," Layn said, fixing his hold over the chain before starting to spin its ends in opposite directions. The crimson sabers started to cut in circles close to his waist. And then, he started to move forward.

    Cleaving anything and anyone that stood in his path, Layn used the momentum of his swinging weapons to cut in pieces everything ahead and behind him.

    And little to say, whenever his weapon would result in as much as a small scratch, the curse embedded into them would suck all the blood out of the target. Typically, the user of the blood weapons would allow the de to sit in the body for a moment for the psychological effect of the body drying up.

    But Layn just didn''t care enough to waste time like that.

    ''To be fair, I believe that blood flowing in a simple pattern after the weapons in an attempt to enter them looks far more menacing,'' Layn thought to himself. The raging energy that continued to flow into his flow only made it harder for him to keep himself sane.

    The feeling of all the mana being forced into his body was just too intoxicating. And there came the side-effect of the blood-ss spells, one that was the main reason for the spell finding itself on the forbidden list.

    Despite what the public believed at the moment when the limitation was announced, the blood weapon spells or blood spells, in general, were fine on their own. With so many kinds of magic aimed at taking the lives of others, the magic capitule would never bother to ban one of them just for that.

    The blood ss of spells was curbed out of all the schools and turned into an illegal and persecuted art because it would heavily affect the mindset of its user.

    "Hahahaha," Layn started tough while culling his way forward through the enemy formation. But, in just a few steps, his sense of self was already lost to the blood frenzy.

    Right now, the crowds of people all around didn''t appear like people to the archmage anymore.

    Right now, they were nothing more but bags of the intoxicating energy waiting to be ughtered and made useful!

 Chapter 136 - Release

    Layn''s frenzy had a hard limit to how long it wouldst. In a sense, it was simr to the idea that every human only had a lifespan of roughly a minute... But every breath would reset this limit.

    The same could be applied to Layn''s blood frenzy. Along with the insane power that each kill would supply him with, the demand for his own blood or energy would also continue to grow.

    "DIE!" Layn shouted, slicing the head of one of the soldiers in half.

    "DIE!" he shouted while depriving another man of his legs, only to have all of his blood drained out in the following few seconds.

    ''DIE,'' Layn shouted in his thoughts due to his throat being too dry to enable him to shout.

    What initially appeared like an unstoppable force capable of just steamrolling through Castor''s unit turned into a blood festival solely managed by Layn and his crimson sabers.

    "Just what the hell is he?" Castor muttered to himself, watching how the stranger he picked up made short work of nearly a tenth of the enemies in less than two minutes. The impact of his frenzy was so strong that the entire enemy unit ceased to advance, now fully focused on dealing with the threat ravaging it from the inside.

    "Major, what should we do?" one of Castor''s officers approached the man, clearly eager to join in the fray.

    "We can''t just stand here and do nothing," Castor replied before lowering his head. Then, after just a short moment, he raised his eyes again before bringing the handle of his sword to his chest and then swinging it forward. "Men, advance," he uttered in a low voice.

    "ADVANCE!" The lieutenant that approached him repeated the order with a powerful shout. Not daring to wait, Castor''s unit moved forward.

    "DIE!" Layn''s shouts carried across the entire battlefield.

    "Make sure not to get into his area," Castor added another order, wary about the stranger. ''As thankful as I am for his help,'' he looked in the direction where that stranger continued to turn the hordes of barbarians into dried-out mincemeat, ''I''m not sure if he can recognize his enemies and allies,'' he thought, following closely behind the first line of his soldiers.

    From then on, the battle could no longer hold such a name. Shaken by the Layn''s frenzied attack, the cheaply armed and loosely trained soldiers couldn''t stand against the concentrated attack of Castor''s veterans.

    In just a few moments, the entire battlefield split into three areas. To the sides, Castor''s men pushed against the enemies. While such an order was never voiced out, the officers in charge of the operation cleverly pushed entire chunks of the enemy into Layn''s range.

    Rather than dealing with such overwhelming numbers themselves, Castor''s direct subordinates made use of the abnormal power of this stranger.

    ''I need to get a hold of myself,'' Layn weakly voiced in his thoughts, barely capable of even seeing what was going on around him. With all the power overflowing his veins, his body simply moved on its own, as if all the knowledge about fighting from his victims poured into his soul along with the blood drying out of their corpses.

    Sadly, Layn''s thoughts were no different from wishes ced upon the foothold of some ancient statue of forgotten gods. The side-effect of the blood spell was simply too strong even for the archmage like him to deal with.

    ''I guess I don''t really have any choice right now,'' Layn thought, taking a note of his surroundings before allowing all of his senses to shut down.

    Right now, his body operated on instinct alone, executing variousplicated attacks that Layn would be unable to execute in his normal state.

    His sabers swung around without any break, iming more and more lives from the folk around him. But rather than enjoying the constant influx of energy, Layn''s mind was fully focused on constructing one of the grandest yet most useless spells he coulde up with.

    ''The only way to get over the frenzy is to decisively cut all the magic I have,'' Layn lectured himself over and over again, using this sentence like some kind of mediational mantra.

    But as the battle continued, Layn quickly approached the limit. Not the limits of what his body could handle or how much energy could flow through his aura.

    While this limit was a result of Layn''s cold calction, if his guess was correct, he would soon run out of enemies to kill.

    ''And if that happens, I won''t be able to stop myself from attacking Castor''s people!'' he thought to himself. Sadly, rather than allowing him to work on his spell even faster, this thought only made it harder for the archmage to focus.

    "He is still out of his mind," Castor muttered under his nose, watching how the battle was quicklying to an end. In just five minutes of time, this stranger managed to cull over half of the entire strenght of the enemy unit.

    ''Even if I ount a hundred kills to my people, he still killed nearly half of a thousand of people all on his own,'' he thought, tightening the grip over his sword''s handle.

    "MAJOR!" A sudden shout caused Castor to look away from the battle. From the side of the in, a lone rider on a bloodied horse was charging towards him.

    CRASH!

    The horse either lost its strenght or simply tripped on the uneven ground, sending its rider high into the air. But rather than panicking, the person made a roll in the air to change their position before suddenly starting to float in an unnatural manner.

    "Sitra?!" Castor uttered weakly when he noticed the abnormality. While on its own, it wasn''t anywhere near as spectacr as what Layn was doing just a few steps away, it was still proof that the neer to the battle was capable of using magic.

    "Major! I almost got caught by those Geremian bastards!" Sitra reported as soon as shended, shouting over the distance that still separated her from hermander.

    "Figures," Castor muttered under his nose before raising his head and calling out to the girl, "Come here! You need to see this."

    Sitra appeared to be too calm for the situation. As if she wasn''t a few steps from a bloody battlefield, she just jogged to Castor''s position before saluting and reporting with a sour smile.

    "Useless scout Sitra reports for duty!" the girl shouted while standing at attention. But rather than keeping her posture for long, she quickly nced to the side to where the battle was now nearing its end.

    But as soon as her eyes moved towards the scene of the carnage, her entire body twitched and then froze.

    "Now you know why I''m happy that you are here," Castor sighed before shaking his head. "Tell me, do you have any means of waking him up?" he asked as he pointed his hand at the bloody sphere in the densest part of the crowd ahead.

    "Is that..." Sitra didn''t even finish her question. Given how there were only Geremians and her own unit in ce, there was hardly anyone who could be responsible for this kind of bloodshed. "I don''t think I need to do anything at all," she sighed after a moment.

    "What do you mean? God, that''s the one thing I hate about you," Castor''s expression soured even further. In a situation like the one he found himself in, Sitra''s annoying character wasn''t going to help him to calm down.

    And how could he figure out a way to save his people from the fate his enemies met if he wasn''t calm?

    "I mean, if that''s really our guy, then he is going to take care of himself all on his own." Sitra released another sigh before shaking her head. "Just wait for a second, and you will see it for yourself," she added, most likely in order to decrease her potential punishment forck of discipline when answering to her direct superior.

    "What do you... Oh," before Castor could finish his word, something changed. His eyes instantly wandered towards the sphere of blood that Layn was coated all over with, only to see how the crimson color of this sphere faded into pink, orange and then disappeared altogether.

    "Right now, he is sucking all the mana that he can. Depending on what kind of spell he will release..." Sitra shook her head before looking at hermander with a sad smile. "Well, let''s say that there is no use in running. We can only hope he doesn''t hold any grudge against us at this point," she exined before falling down on the ground and hiding her face in her knees.

    "I never thought I would say this, I but I guess we can only pray, then," Castor said before following the girl''s example and sitting down on the bloodied ground.

    ''Just a bit more,'' Layn muttered in his mind while converging all the mana he could in his aura. While a small part of this energy was more than enough to let him raise his cultivation by several degrees, he didn''t dare to use even the tiniest bit of it.

    Not when the safety of everyone relied on him sessfully firing this useless spell he created.

    The mana continued to converge for a few more moments before there was no more blood that Layn could use. As soon as that happened, the amount of energy Layn could hold started to decrease at a rapid pace, just to maintain his blood weapons.

    "Disperse," Layn broke off the blood spell before bringing his hand together and raising them towards the sky. "RAISE!"

 Chapter 137 - Layns Spell

    "Rise!"

    The shout spread through the entire in. For a moment, everyone turned stale, expecting some kind of disaster toe. After Layn''s showcase of his abilities and its bloody count, no one dared to doubt his powers anymore.

    "BRACE YOURSELVES!" Castor shouted, falling to his knees and hugging the ground. He even went as far as digging his arms into the ground, hoping to find something to hold on to.

    But nothing happened.

    "What a monster," Sitra whispered as she stared at Layn''s still figure. The look in her eyes was enough for Castor to realize that something on an unimaginable scale was going on.

    But nothing happened.

    "Aaagh..." Layn moaned weakly as most of his freshly obtained energy poured out of his body, pumped into the skies. For how simple his spell was, its energetical efficiency was indeed something else.

    ''I guess it was a good choice,'' the archmage thought, despairing over the immense power leaving his aura.

    "What''s going on?" Castor whispered to Sitra, hoping to understand the situation. ''Is he trying to bring an end to the entire world or something?'' he thought, grasping the crude earth in his fists in a powerless struggle against the overwhelming power of that stranger.

    "I... I don''t really know," Sitra replied with a weak voice, no longer bold enough to as much as look at Layn''s actions.

    ''Just a little bit more...'' Layn thought while gritting his teeth. The act of releasing such an overwhelming amount of energy felt nice at first. But the situation changed pretty quickly.

    Once the excessive mana that he couldn''t handle either way exhausted, the pleasant feeling of relief also came to an end. And once Layn had to contribute the energy he was capable of holding on his own, the former relief turned into torturous pain.

    "Just a little bit more," he squeezed those words through his gritted teeth, forcing everyst bit of mana in his system into the spell.

    Tack.

    Rather than a sound, a feeling of something falling into ce spread through Layn''s mind. At the same time, the pull of energy of the spell ceased to exist, freeing the archmage and finally allowing him to fall to the ground, exhausted to the bone.

    "Huh?" Castor muttered as he watched the situation. ''He fell... so he failed? Or did he seed?'' he asked himself. His forehead started to sweat under the immense stress that the situation was causing him.

    ''It was a while since I got a cold sweat like that,'' Castor thought, not daring to move his hand to sweep the sweat away.

    As strange as it might sound to an outsider, Castor''s situation wasn''t all that weird at all. He could calmly go into the battlefield because he understands what would happen there. He understood the danger of swords and spears. To a degree, Castor could deal with the threat of enemy magic as well.

    But he couldn''t understand the actions and capabilities of this man at all. And like always, it was the fear of the unknown that was the strongest.

    But nothing appeared to happen at all.

    "Hey, isn''t it a bit hot in here?" Sitra asked, wiping her own forehead clean from the sweat.

    "Huh?" Castor muttered, surprised by the question. ''Could it be?'' he thought, finally daring to clean his forehead as well. "It actually is..." he muttered in response before raising his eyes at Layn''s copsed body.

    Soon, not only Castor and Sitra noticed this weird change, but the entirety of Castor''s unit as well. It was also at this time when Layn finally managed to regain a tiny bit of his strenght.

    ''I guess I overdid it a little,'' he thought, sensing how the temperature of the surroundings rose a bit higher than the originally intended.

    This was the truth behind Layn''s gamble. Just like when he messed around with time by using the gran arcana, he decided to go against the very fabric of the world to waste all the overflowing energy he had right now.

    Just like any other spell that infringed on the fundamental elements of the world, changing the weather, even if only temporarily, required an overwhelming amount of energy. Not because doing so was somethingplicated that required one to break the naturalws.

    Most of the time, when one used magic to influence the outside world, magic would work locally. Just like a single piece of wood would be enough to work as a torch, it would be far less than enough to heat up an averagely-sized house. That''s why it was far easier to raise the temperature of a small area by a considerable amount than raising the heat of a vast area by even a few degrees.

    "Did he just change the weather?" Castor turned his face to the girl beside him, still unable to believe his own senses.

    "It seems like he did... But just for what reason?" Sitra countered with a question on her own. But rather than waiting for the answer to appear by itself and enlighten them, she carefully stood up with her eyes glued to Layn''s unsteady march.

    "Just who are you?" Sitra muttered as she moved towards the powerful stranger. Right now, there was no sign of the earlier suspicion in her eyes, just a curiosity mixed with respect.

    "I''m Layn. Didn''t I tell you this already?" the archmage responded while putting a small smirk on his lips. "I''m also an archmage, former husband of who turned out to be a whore and a former member of the hero party that saved the world on three different asions," he added before stopping his march and resting his hands on his knees for a moment.

    The toll of unleashing such a draining spell was getting to him.

    ''No, I can''t loathe myself for overestimating it a bit,'' Layn scolded himself.

    The reality of using this kind of spell was far more drastic than people without sufficient knowledge could expect.

    As annoying as it was, there was no spell that would allow one to freely modify the amount of energy inputted into it. In order to cast a spell, one had to decide how strong it would be while creating its structure. Once said the structure would be set, one could either fill it with the necessary amount of magical energy or not.

    In the first case, everything would go as nned. In reality, though, there was some wiggle-room for either tunning a spell down or up a notch, although it wasn''t big enough to change anything in Layn''s former situation.

    But there was also the other possibility of the mana inputted into the spell''s structure not being enough. If such a case were to happen, the entirety of the mana invested would rebound only to return all at once to the user.

    ''If it were a tiny spell, it wouldn''t matter at all, but with the weather changing one?'' Layn shook his head while thinking about it. "I seriously need to stop putting my life at risk for others," he muttered under his nose, not realizing that he actually voiced his thoughts before it was toote.

    "I''m not going to ask what that means," Castor said after he followed Sitra''s example and approached the archmage. "But not understanding what you did won''t stop me from doing this one thing," he added before falling on one knee and lowering his head before the archmage.

    "For saving my people and me alike, you have my endless gratitude," he announced, bowing his head. "While I can''t offer you my loyalty as it''s already with the Eagle''s crown if there is anything I can do to help you, feel free to hit me up," he exined the situation while pushing his head even lower.

    "Huh?" Layn looked at the man with a clear surprise in his eyes. ''Isn''t this a chance to learn their magic?'' he thought, instantly noticing the possibility.

    "Tell me," Layn spoke up, "would it go against your loyalty to that crown you mentioned to teach me about the... Or nevermind," Layn suddenly changed the direction of his sentence.

    ''If I were to ask for this now, it could weigh heavily on our future rtionship,'' he noticed, deciding to keep his lips pursed instead.

    "Rather than teaching me, can I ask you for a small favor instead?" Layn changed his approach. ''Even if I were to get them to teach me their magic, I''m about to copse right now. What could I learn from them in such a state?'' he asked himself before putting the entirety of his attention into keeping himself straight.

    "Shoot," Castor replied while nodding his head and eagerly looking up at Layn''s exhausted face.

    "Right now, I''m tired to no end. Can you get me somewhere where I can rest? I can''t say for how much l... longer I... I can..." Layn failed to finish his request. His body was now fully deprived of mana. There wasn''t a single speck of the magical energy left in him.

    Thest thing that Layn could remember was falling towards the ground, only for his face tond on something soft.

 Chapter 138 - Progress At The Camp

    "Are you sure you have everything you need?" Irea asked as her head leaned over her shoulder.

    "Yeah, with just the two of us, we will be able to move quite a lot faster," Markus replied while nodding his head. "No offense," he added, taking a nce at Al''s face.

    "None taken," the burly warrior replied before shrugging his arms. "I will be of much greater use here rather than by chasing around the entire ce. Just make sure to pass my words exactly as I said them," he advised before looking at the four small bags that the couple from the future intended to use as their luggage. "Are you really sure this amount of provisions will be enough, though?" he asked. "While I don''t doubt your ability to move fast, wouldn''t that mean an increased need for food and water?"

    "Yes and no," Yelna replied, proving that she was slowly warming up to the bunch. "If it was all about physical movement, then you would be right. But we are going to use some... extreme tricks to move around," she added with a shy smile.

    "Hey, I know it''s not the time to talk about this, but I just can''t push those thoughts aside," Irea suddenly spoke up while averting her eyes. She then moved her chin up and looked Yelna and Markus straight in the eyes. "If you were topare, would you guys be stronger than Layn?"

    "And where did that came from?" Markus asked, puzzled by the origin of the sudden question.

    "Don''t get it wrong, I don''t n to wait for him and go against you for some reason..." she exined herself, only to stop midway. ''Nothing openly doubted that this was the reason for this question, so why am I acting like that?'' she asked herself before shrugging her shoulders and shaking her head. "It''s just that... Whenever I''m talking with you, you guys appear to have far more tricks up your sleeve than you revealed so far. So I just got curious about how strong you guys really are," she finally exined the truth behind her question.

    "And here I was worried you still harbored some ns for the race..." Markus answered with an awkward expression on his face while scratching the side of his head. "While exining our strenght might be a little bit hard... You could say that we are about as strong as Layn unless he uses some extraordinary measures," Markus smiled before shaking his head.

    "That is unless he uses one of his many extraordinary measures," Yelna repeatedst of Markus'' words, aiming at enting how vital this part of what he said was.

    "I see," Irea nodded her head before putting a sad smile on her face. "I guess I just miss him. Even learning a little more about him like that..." she stopped her words before they could form the entire sentence. But the message behind her words was clear to everyone.

    "Well, let''s not stall any longer. The sooner we depart, the sooner we will get back here with more manpower," Markus wrapped the conversation up and grabbed two of the medium-sized bags full of supplies.

    "Make sure to work everyone to the bone," he threw to Al before raising his hand in a farewell and starting to run. Yelna followed him without even a moment of dy, leaving the entirety of her farewells into a short moment of raising her hand as she ran off.

    "So they left us," Irea summed up, watching at the backs of the couple from the future.

    "So they did," Al repeated after the girl. ''Thank the spirits they taught her the trantion spell,'' he thought, not even daring to imagine how hard it would be tomunicate if not for this little bit of Markus'' help.

    "Heck, why the hell are you just standing there?" Irea asked after a moment of doing absolutely nothing. "Let''s go back to work!" she added, turning around on her heel and moving towards the mercenaries that remained in the camp.

    Even with Yelna and Markus leaving, the entirety of the camp remained just as strong manpower-wise as it was when Layn first led everyone here. Even though he wasn''t here now, Al appeared to be more than ready to fill the slot.

    "Where do you want me to go?" Al asked as soon as they reached the busy site of the camp.

    "You won''t be of much greater help than the others in the production line, so how about you go and help with building new ces?" Irea proposed while rubbing her chin. "It would be for the best if we could get a home for everyone before everything else," she added as she pulled up the sleeves of her robes and pushed her hands into the mass that would soon be material for burning the bricks.

    "Sure thing," Al replied, following the suggestion.

    All in all, the progress of Layn''s camp was going rather quickly. With Yelna and Markus helping through the most painful process of rebuilding everything that the wave of monsters destroyed, only the mundane work remained by the time they left.

    Yet, as boring as it was to keep doing the same thing for days and days toe, it also meant that there were no specificallyplex elements that they couldn''t deal with.

    With the reestablishment of the brick-production line, the work moved forward at a quick pace. By using this primary building material, creating a small lodging was only a matter of hours. At the same time, any kind of more borate structure could be quickly finished within a single day.

    By the first night, since the future couple left, the camp was back to how it looked before the invasion of the monsters. In just two more days, every single mercenary in the camp already had a small hut for themselves, allowing them to ward off the coldness of the night and the hottest hours of the day.

    "I don''t think we are progressing quickly enough," Ireained at the dawn of the third day since Yelna and Markus leaving.

    "What do you mean by that?" Pavrien asked while shoveling a small amount of fish-gruel into a personal bowl he carved out of the freshly-made brick.

    "It took us three days to finish the work necessary for just our small group to live here more or lessfortably," Irea said before she silently started at the men working at the brick nt. Over thest three days, turning this production facility from open-grounded to indoors was the greatest project that their small group finished.

    "So?" Pavrien asked before shoveling a bit of the simple meal into his mouth. "It''s not like anyone expects us to work harder than we can," he added after munching on the tasteless food.

    "It''s not about what others expect us, but what is necessary," Irea countered before standing up. "Right now, we are using every single man we can into building more and more structures. ording to the n, we will have the granary and washhouse finished in two or three days. But that''s all we can do before we will be forced to move half of the people into food production," she exined before sighing heavily and hiding her face in her hands.

    "Right, I forgot about that," Pavrien muttered with his mouth full of the meal. At the same time, his face soured when he realized that he wasn''t all that frugal with the amount of food he took a moment ago.

    "Well, it''s not like anyone will be able to me us," Irea attempted to fix her mood by shifting the responsibility. But, sadly, it didn''t seem to work all that well.

    ''I wonder what Layn would do,'' she thought, looking aimlessly in the distance. After a moment, the horizon she was looking at suddenly shed a little, only to return to its usual state a short momentter.

    "Well, staring in the distance nor eating more grub won''t change anything," Al suddenly appeared behind them, scolding both of them. His hands were covered with y all the way to his elbows, proving that he wasn''t cking at all.

    "Just working hard isn''t enough," Irea protested before her eyes suddenly turned wide. "Right, if we just wait and hope that everything will somehow work out, then we will be the victims of our own naivety!" she suddenly announced as she stood up.

    "I don''t even want to ask just what kind of wicked idea you came up with," Almented while averting his eyes.

    "Listen, in the next three days, we are to set up the public bath and worker''s bath and the granary, right?" she asked the obvious, forcing the foreigner from the future to look her in the face.

    "Yeah, that''s right," Al nodded his head, confirming her words.

    "Then how about we actually try to map the area around this ce?" she asked as the sparks of fresh energy shed in her eyes. "What if there are some resources, some ces that would be abundant in what we need somewhere nearby,ying in waste because we couldn''t as much as to go for a short trip?"

 Chapter 139 - Impossible Fortress

    "He is waking up." Those were the first words that Layn heard when his consciousness finally started to return.

    "Quick, bring some refreshments," another voice said while Layn slowly pried his eyes open.

    "Where am I?" he asked as soon as he gathered enough energy to open his mouth.

    "Don''t worry about anything. We might not be in the capital, but this fortress is safe," Castor said as soon as he pushed the doors to the room open.

    Only when seeing a familiar face, did Layn calm down a bit. But, with how taxing it was on him to use the blood weapon spells, he was essentially powerless.

    ''Heck, why am I so anxious?'' Layn suddenly asked himself, noticing how stupid his worries were. ''Given where I am, they could off me while I was unconscious any time they wanted,'' he thought, tightening his teeth.

    For an archmage like him, this kind of situation was infringing on his personal pride. To be entirely at the mercy of others meant that he either spared too much trust in someone or wasn''t strong enough to cope with the problems in the usual way.

    Both of which were a big no-no for someone as experienced as Layn.

    "I brought the drinks!" a maid reported as soon as she entered the dim room with a tter full of sses in her hand.

    "Good, leave them and get out," Castor ordered in a stern voice, not even as much as sparing the maid a single look.

    "Where are we?" Layn asked again. The answer of being in some kind of secure fortress was too ambiguous to be satisfactory.

    "We are right at the border of thends my country properly countrols. Unlike the wild steppe to the south, there is no danger of brigands or enemy forces attacking us here," Castor exined in more detail before taking a ss of a fizzy drink and bringing it to the side of Layn''s bed.

    ''Wait, bed?'' the archmage suddenly thought, startled by this observation. But it was only the beginning of the chain of his surprises.

    As Layn opened his eyes wide, more and more details about his surroundings started to enter his mind. From the perfectly even spaces between bricks that made up the wall of the room, he was in, through what looked like an electrical heater only a modern civilization would produce...

    "What the hell is this ce," Layn uttered while slowly moving his upper body up. As soon as Castor noticed his intent, he rushed to support the archmage from behind, helping him to sit down on the bed rather than fully resting on it.

    "As I said, this is a..." Castor started, only to stop when Layn swung his hand swiftly.

    "That''s not what I mean. Those bricks? This heater?" Layn shook his head while epting the ss from Castor''s hands. "Nothing here makes any damned sense," he added before taking a sip.

    Just like back when he first met those people, as soon as the liquid entered his throat, it seemed as if a wave of heat suddenly appeared in his insides.

    "Heater? What is a heater?" Castor asked, puzzled by the new word.

    "And what is that thing standing by the wall and shining red?" Layn asked after separating his lips from the cup. Even if his actions made it so that he could receive as much of it as he wanted, he didn''t have the habit of just gulping such a precious thing down.

    Taking it slowly and allowing the medicinal effects of the brew to work their job properly was always the better way over just tanking the entire content of the cup down.

    "You mean the magical furnace?" Castor asked before shaking his head and looking weirdly at Layn. "Would you mind exining what a heater is, though?" he asked while loosely trying to hide his obvious curiosity.

    "Let''s leave it for now," Layn cut the discussion as soon as it started heading in the way that could potentially turn ufortable to him. "Can you let me stand? I would like to have a walk to the outside."

    "Sure, it''s not a problem at all," Castor replied, sliding underneath Layn''s arm and helping him to stand up. From there, just a few steps were enough to bring him to the corridor of the fortress.

    Even before reaching the outside properly, Layn could already notice how thendscape changed drastically through the shooting windows stered all over the wall. Just from this architectural design, it was clear that the ce was designed to be as impregnable and as costly to take as possible.

    ''That doesn''t mean it''s impossible to get conquered, though,'' Layn thought grimly. He then recalled all kinds of events where various fortresses would be hailed to be undefeatable, only to fall to some stupid tricks of the invaders.

    "Past those doors, we will reach the outer area," Castor suddenly announced while nodding his head towards the nearby wooden gate.

    "Yeah, why are you telling me that in advance, though?" Layn asked, suddenly curious about the man''s motive. After all, if he wanted to get a reaction out of him or give him a good time, then Castor should just keep silent until the veryst moment!

    "It''s just that..." Castor attempted to say something, only to stop in the middle of his sentence and turn silent.

    "Don''t tell me, you guys are under siege already?" Layn asked before sighing heavily. "If that''s the case, I''m worried I won''t be of much help..."

    "No, it''s nothing like that..." Castor denied Layn''s worries while shaking his head weekly. "Just... Be prepared to see something mindboggling," he added as the two of them finally reached the end of the corridor.

    Then, Castor pushed the doors open and brought Layn to the huge terrace outside.

    "Woah..." Layn simply stopped. For a moment, his heart skipped a beat. The sight was, just as Castor warned him, insane and almost unbelievable.

    Even with all his experiences of the architecture of the modern world, Layn couldn''t think of anything that was evenparable to just how enormous the fortress was.

    Standing at what looked like the middle level between the inner castle and the outer embankments, Layn required a few moments to get ustomed to the sight. Just the battle-tforms by the massive walls of each level were spacious enough to fit the entirety of the Royal castle he used to live in.

    But only when the archmage looked around did the reason for such an enormous structure to be built finally came to his mind.

    The fortress stood right in the middle of a valley between two massive mountains. Standing on the vantage point, Layn could tell that for at least several tens of miles in each direction, passing those mountains would be just impossible.

    As such, it was no wonder that someone turned the rtively narrow entrance to the valley into a reinforced position separating the two areas from each other.

    "Now, you should understand why I believe we are safe out here," Castor said after giving Layn an ample amount of time to get used to this impossible sight.

    "Yeah..." the archmage replied, still baffled by the sight he didn''t expect at all.

    ''It would be no wonder if just the poption of this ce could be greater than some of the average cities of the future...'' Layn thought before looking down at the lowest level of the fortress.

    And just as expected, between the wide yet rtively low embankments making up the first line of defense for the fortress and the high walls that constituted the second level, the entirety of the free space was filled with farms.

    "Just how many people do live in this ce," Layn couldn''t help but mutter those words. He actually realized that he spoke out loud only when Castor looked at him with a sour smile on his face.

    "Actually, there is only about a thousand people strong garrison in here," Castor said before lowering his head and striking his hand against the wall beside him. "While this is one of the most important ces in the entire country, those damned nobles in the capital moved most of our forced to guard the rest of our border," he added before tightening his fists. "As if we could ever protect such a long frontier!" he suddenly shouted before turning around and hiding his face from Layn''s view.

    "I think I understand why you are how you are," Layn suddenly spoke up while resting his hand against the railing that protected the soldiers from just falling over the wall.

    "Huh? And why is that?" Castor turned around, with his flushed face proving how it was his agitation speaking through him rather than the man himself.

    "Watching how your state deteriorates, how the politicians are only doing their best to fill their own pockets..." Layn muttered, not even bothering to move his eyes out of the beautiful sight that the fortress offered.

    "Trust me, man," Layn smiled, even though his eyes had no warmth in them.. "I know this feeling better than anyone."

 Chapter 140 - The Auditor Is Coming

    Layn took two entire days to recover the major part of his strenght. Even though all kinds of medicine was literally at his disposal, his body had no other choice but to take its time to slowly regain its usual strenght.

    "Dang it!" Castor struck the stone wall with his bare hand. His forehead was full of sweat that slowly dripped down and fell on the source of his current, rare mood.

    "How bad is it?" Layn asked, not even bothered to ask for the specific content of the letter that made Castor so agitated. Whatever the reason was for it, it didn''t really matter for Layn. Given that he was currently in the man''s custody, Castor''s problems were essentially Layn''s as well.

    "The capital refused to enact the migration policy," Castor grabbed the piece of paper filled with small letters before throwing it at the nearby wall. "What''s more, they sent an audicator in here to examine who you really are," Castor added, not hiding the unpleasant fact from Layn at all.

    "That would indeed be troublesome," Layn nodded his head before resting it back on the pillows. Unfortunately, while hergely regained his natural strenght, the same couldn''t be said about his mana.

    Without any source of magical energy that could replenish his aura, he was stuck with just a few sparks of it, less than it would be necessary to invoke anything above the trantion spell.

    "What are you going to do?" Castor asked after a moment, proving that he himself had no idea how to solve the current situation. "While I doubt the audicator will do anything harsh against you, you won''t be able to leave the ce for a while if he or she sees you," he added, striking at the point that Layn already imed to be pretty important to him.

    "That would be pretty troublesome," Layn admitted, bitting on his lips.

    ''It''s not like anything will happen back at the camp in just a few days... But I just can''t help but get restless whenever I think about Irea and the rest of the guys,'' Layn thought while doing his absolute best to hide his worry from Castor.

    Up to this point, he had yet to reveal the reason for his presence at the sea of grass to the vianmander in front of him. While the two of them managed to hit it off pretty nicely, the fact that they had a pretty simr way of thinking didn''t mean Layn was ready to endanger his existing friends and subordinates by revealing their presence just like that.

    "Hey, I know it will sound bad... But what do you think about just leaving?" Castor asked after a few moments of silence. Layn looked at the man, only to notice that his face was pretty tense, proving how desperate the man was.

    "Is that audicator guy really that bad?" Layn asked, hoping to rify the situation a bit. Although the worry on Castor''s face was pretty apparent, he couldn''t judge the situation on his own without the information necessary to do so.

    "It''s not about him being good or bad," Castor countered while shaking his head. "It''s just that... Once theytch on you, they won''t let you go until they squeeze everyst bit of information they can," he exined before suddenly standing up and approaching the window of the chamber.

    A few more moments passed, yet Carted have yet to utter a word.

    "Okay, I decided," he announced after nearly five more minutes. "I will get Sitra and several more men to guide you back to the ins," he exined his decision without a care in the world for revealing the reasons for making it. "They will guide you all the way to where we found you, and if you are happy with it, they will follow you to the ce where you toppled the Overlord," he added before suddenly turning around and looking straight into Layn''s face.

    "And why is that?" Layn asked, moving out of the bed and standing up, unwilling to just take Carter''s decision while lying down.

    Even if it was just a little psychological trick, Layn''s words would have greater weight to them if he said them while standing up.

    "Right now, the capital doesn''t acknowledge your achievement," Castor sighed before turning his face back to the window. He looked with longing at the outside as if the vast steppe called out to him. "The only way to avoid their meddling is to put them in a situation they can''t ignore what you did," Castor exined as he tightened his fists.

    "Can''t you send a party of your own to check the situation out?" Layn asked, puzzled by thepse between what Castor decided on and what the archmage personally believed to be the best course of action.

    "Listen, while I do acknowledge your help and trust your words, the same can''t be said about the top brass of my military," Castor countered while putting a sour smile on his face. "If I were to send a proper scouting party that would fail to return before the mission from the capital will reach this fortress, I would be likely to be used of conspiracy and deprived of themand," he exined before tightening his fists even further. "And who knows what would they do if those idiots who never saw a battlefield were to takemand of this ce."

    For a moment, the chamber turned silent. The only thing that the two men could hear was the whistling of the wind that entered the ce through the open window only to sneak outside through the gap between the door and the floor.

    "Okay, I understand," Layn suddenly announced before shaking his head and approaching the door of the room. "Come on, let''s stop wasting time!" he shouted to his recently made friend.

    "Ah, sure," Castor nodded his head and even approached the doors only to shake himself off his daze and look at Layn with a questioning look. "Wait, what are you going to do?" he asked.

    "Isn''t that obvious?" Layn stopped only for a moment to turn his head away and look at Castor. "I''m preparing to leave. While I hoped to learn about the magic that you guys use, there is no time for it now," the archmage added before pushing the doors open and leaving the room.

    "Wait, so are you okay with my n?" Castor asked, clearly puzzled by the sudden energy in Layn''s movements.

    "Yeah, there is a ce I''m quite desperate to check," Layn smiled as he came to a decision on his own. "As you likely figured out on your own already, I wasn''t in that Overlord''snd all alone. And I''m not going to waste my time dealing with the bureaucracy that even you can''t handle when I''m not sure of the people I left there are okay," Layn revealed as he continued to walk down the corridor.

    Right now, there was no hesitation in Layn''s movements. Once he made his decision, there were no words that could stop him. And with how he saved Castor''s unit before, there was only a very little chance that the man would suddenly decide to use force to stop him.

    "I understand," Castor said without even a moment of hesitation, but rather than following Layn to the path that leads to the lower level of the castle, he stopped at the very first crossroad they appeared at. "You can go to the gate. I will go and get the people going," he exined before waving his hand and rushing to the side.

    ''He might have his problems, but I like how decisive he is,'' Layn thought to himself before revealing a small smile. But rather than lingering on the spot, he continued to push down the corridor all the way to the staircase that brought him to the ground level.

    From there, reaching the outer gate of the fortress was an easy task... Or rather, it would be if not for the true genius of the man behind the fortress. Despite how massive and impregnable it was from the outside, the insides were still set like some kind of giant maze, making moving around extremely counterintuitive.

    "Fuck," Layn uttered once he finally reached his destination. While he followed the main path that most of the people in the fortress would take to descend from the middle castle, by the time he finally arrived at the gate, Sitra, along with three more men and horses, already waited for him there.

    And little to say, Castor was one of the three men at the gate.

    "Here are your supplies," themander said while pointing at the sacks attached to the horses'' saddles. "I''m not sure how far that ce of yours is, so I can only hope it will be enough," he added with a sour smile.

    "Guys, are you really sure you want to apany me on this road?" Layn asked, ignoring Castor and directing his words directly to the people he brought with him.

    "Do you really need to ask?" Sitra asked, putting a pouty expression on her lips.. "You saved us all back then. Now it''s the time for us to repay the favor!"

 Chapter 141 - Start Of The Scounting Mission

    "Do you have everything ready?" Al asked while checking the straps of the bags that he intended to carry attached to his very own clothes.

    "Sometimes I wonder how could you be a lord of anything if you couldn''t trust others with something so basic," Irea sneered at the man, clearly unhappy with the current arrangement.

    "I know you don''t like the idea of the two of us doing the job, but this is the best possible solution," Al sighed in response, paying no mind to the girl''s mood. ''Given everything that those two told me, it''s better to not do anything that could anger this girl. Who knows what kind of shit she would tell Layn if... once hees,'' Al thought, shaking his head.

    "It''s not like I have anything against you. Just stop asking the obvious, and we will be okay," Irea replied, not even bothering to hide the anger in her voice. "Asking for stuff so basic makes me think you doubt my ability," she added, exining the source of her anger to the man.

    "Isn''t it better to be safe than sorry?" Al retorted before shaking his head and moving his eyes forward. "Either way, the time is night. Let''s go," hemanded before moving forward.

    "Try to keep the atmosphere cool," Pavrien suggested in a small voice. Give how he was the one that talked the most with the girl ever since the leader of the camp left, two of the mercenaries started to circte some unsavory rumors through the small camp. But the fact was, he sacrificed his own sleep time just to see the two of hispanions off, while others preferred to either rest or were already busy with work.

    "Yeah, you take care as well," Irea nodded her head, grateful for the man''s kindness. For some reason, she could ept simple advice from a man she knew the origin of, while Al''s remark with the exact same meaning would put her in a bad mood.

    "Cut the small talk. We need to go," Al interrupted the two while cautiously looking at the rising sun. While it has yet to turn the entire area too hot for anyone''sfort, it wasn''t long before it would start smearing the area with its unbearable heat.

    "Yeah, let''s go," Irea nodded her head in farewell before picking up the pace and following after the man. She held a makeshift quill and a set of thin, wooden pieces carved out of the few pieces of wood that drifted ashore.

    In terms of writing utensils, the camp was in a gravely short supply. While it didn''t seem to be a problem for now, given how small the camp was, it was bound to turn into a real headache as soon as more men would flock into it.

    At first, Al and Irea didn''t bother to travel slowly. The direct surroundings of the camp were already mapped out from the memories of mercenaries that went to scavenge thosends. As such, there was no need to keep the tempo slow enough to let the girl take notes and draw pictures on the go.

    "This marks thest ce any of our people reached," Al announced when the two of them reached a small patch of sand. As unnoticeable as it was to anyone who wasn''t specifically looking for it, it was one of the very rarendmarks in the seemingly endless sea of grass.

    "Let''s ce the first mark, then," Irea replied to Al''s notification before pulling out a weirdly shaped brick.

    In fact, the item only had one thing inmon with the bricks that were used at the camp. It was the material it was made of. Its shape, thin for two fingers and as long as the tallest of mercenaries in the camp, made it entirely useless in construction.

    But it was the best possible thing to use for marking the terrain and making sure others would notice it.

    "Can you count the steps?" Irea asked as soon as she forced the bricky-stick into the ground.

    "Sure thing," Al replied before turningpletely silent. While the trip was pretty pleasant for them so far, it was only a matter of time before the heat of the rising sun would turn it torturous.

    For the next thousand steps, neither of the two said even a single word. All of the potential discussion topics were already exhausted after two days of working near each other. And as small as the difference would it make, talking would only make their thirst grow quicker.

    Once Al counted a thousand steps, he waved at the girl. The two of them then made sure to check their surroundings for anything useful before nailing another mark into the ground and moving forward.

    This procedure, as boring as it was, continued for the next few hours. Only when the sun came pretty close to the peak of its journey through the skydome did the two make a short break.

    "I will get the tents done," Al announced shortly, not bothering to waste more words than necessary.

    "I will take care of the meal," Irea nodded her head in response, not willing to argue over the split of the duties.

    Their breaksted for roughly two hours. The two hottest hours of the day would make it too exhausting for them to travel, so they decided to use that time for rest even before they departed.

    "Out of everything, I miss the real food the most," Alined while munching on the dried-out jerky a few momentster. While said jerky was already a luxury at the camp by itself, it was by no means tasty.

    "Isn''t that why we are scouting thend?" Irea replied, too tired to argue for real. "If we find some herbs, not only we will be able toe up with some spicing to our own food. We might be able to rent them near the camp as well," she added. From the look on her face, it was clear that she couldn''t understand the man''sint.

    ''Wasn''t he supposed toe from pretty primitive times?'' she thought while using her saliva to turn the stone-like fish-jerky into an actually edible piece. ''Howe he isining more than me, someone who''s used to live in a city?'' she asked herself, unable to figure out the answer to that question.

    "I can tell what you are thinking," Al sighed as heid down in the shade of his tent.

    "Enlighten me, then," Irea requested, holding back the reins on her irritation. ''For some reason, he is also insanely annoying!''

    "You believe I''m quite annoying with how much Iin, don''t you?" Al guessed with a smile. But even after waiting for a while, he didn''t receive a response from the girl. "Don''t take it personally. My people often told me that so I''m aware of this problem of mine," he shared, looking up to the clear sky above them.

    "If you know that you have such a problem, why don''t you do something to fix it?" Irea asked before turning away in her tent in a futile attempt to cut the discussion off.

    "You see, that''s what normal people would do," Al replied with a proud smile, one that Irea couldn''t see as the man was hidden in his tent. "Rather than changing the stuff people don''t like about me, I decided to be important enough to force them to cope with it," he sneered, recalling some of the most pleasant memories of his.

    "Isn''t that just asking for trouble down the line?" Irea couldn''t help but ask. She even changed her position so that rather than her feet protruding from the small, primitive tent she had, it was her head lurking out instead.

    For the first time since the two came together, there seemed to be some sort of discussion the two of them could actually enjoy.

    "That''s a whole other problem. Suppose people will not follow your orders as a ruler or chief only because they don''t like you. In that case, it means you are not a good chief in the first ce," Al exined his position on the topic.

    "I guess that makes sense..." Irea reluctantly agreed before snapping right back to her usual mindset of denying anything AL would say. "But wouldn''t it be easier to just be... more easy-going?" she asked. ''Now I got him,'' she thought triumphantly, certain that there was no way Al could retort her attack.

    "In a sense, you are right. It would be easier," Al surprisingly agreed with her words before crawling out of his tent and looking at the sky. "But I prefer not to do so. If I change myself, people will start thinking that I can do it all the time. And then there will be no end to the things they would like to change about me," he added before shaking his head and starting to undo his tent. "The sun is already low enough. Let''s go."

    At first, Irea remained in her spot, digesting what Al just said.

    ''That... It''s hard not to agree with that,'' she gritted her teeth before following the man''s example and packing up her portable tent as well. For a moment, her jaws opened up, indicating that she wanted to say something. Yet, in the end, she remained silent. ''It''s tough to disagree with this.... But why does it feel as if there is more to it?'' she thought while shaking her head, puzzled by this inner feeling of hers.

 Chapter 142 - Isnt It Strange?

    "Which mark does it make?" Al asked while watching Irea nail the pin-like brick into the ground.

    "Roughly fiftieth?" Irea replied before taking a quick look at the marks she made on one of her wooden pieces. "Fifty-third one," she added after making sure her calctions were correct.

    "I think we should turn around at this point," Al proposed, turning around and looking to the south where they came from. "Traveling in a straight line might not be the best way to look for useful stuff, but we already moved far enough. There is nothing of interest here," he added with a slight note of disappointment.

    "At least we got some herbs," Irea countered, patting a small bag attached to her belt. "While not much for two days worth of walking, it''s still something." She looked up at the setting sun before drowning in her thoughts for a moment.

    "Are you okay?" Al inquired, sending the girl a slightly worried look. While the two days they spent together were far from enough to make them like each other, at least they managed to bury the hatchet and get on neutral terms.

    "Yeah, sorry for that," Irea shook her head as she came back to reality only to look around. "Hey, how about we go one mark sideways each? You would go east. I would go east. Looking at the time," she looked up to the sun again, "I think we should be able to converge back on this mark before the sun fully sets."

    "And what for?" Al bit his lips. "It''s not like we are likely to find anything of interest in this destend," he stated his opinion, yet still reached out to the girl.

    "What?" Irea asked, looking at the man''s extended hand.

    "If you want to go one mark away, shouldn''t we mark it as well? Give me a stick, please," Al exined his intentions. Even though he wasn''t happy with the idea of going sideways from the set path, he still decided to go with the girl''s idea. ''In the end, two thousand steps is all it will take to prove myself right. It''s just not worth arguing about it,'' he thought while epting the bricky nail.

    "Well, see you in a few moments then," Irea nodded her head in gratitude before taking yet another look at the sun above her.

    On the endless open in like the one they were at, the sun''s position during the day was the only reliable feature allowing them to navigate through the sea of grass.

    With everything confirmed, Irea made sure to move away from the sun while Al moved in the opposite direction. Without the assurance of the other person to count the steps, Irea didn''t dare to split her attention to anything else.

    "One hundred," she spoke softly to herself as soon as she reached the first significant number. She then ced a small mark on her wooden nk before looking around, searching for anything of interest. Sadly, just like for thest two days, there was nothing notably different about this patch of the grass.

    "Two hundred." Irea ced another mark once she counted to twice the number of the steps before.

    "Three hundred,"

    "Four hundred,"

    "Nine hundred," she ced the ninth mark on her board. At this point, she could already see the ce she would reach by thest point of her journey. But even though nothing of interest there, she pursed her lips in determination and continued to diligently count her steps.

    "Huh?" Just as Irea was about to hide her nk and pull out the bricky nail, she finally noticed something.

    But rather than jumping in joy, she slowly lowered herself on her knees all the way to the point where the grass hid her entire body. Once she stopped moving, only a tiny part of her head stuck above the des of grass, still staring in the very same direction as before.

    It wasn''t something particr that she noticed but a movement. Something far easier to detect yet far more challenging to see the details off.

    "Could it be?" she whispered to herself as the blood in her veins boiled up. Right at the edge of how far she could see, there was a hint of a treasure that everyone in the camp was looking forward to.

    It wasn''t a tree which would mean there was a forest nearby. It wasn''t a seagull that would indicate a presence of a sea.

    It was a wolf.

    Or at least, something pretty simr to one. While it was possible that what she saw was just a stray, abandoned specimen, chased away from its pack, the chances of it were just too small.

    For Irea, stranded far away into the nothingness of grass, the sight of a wolf was both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it meant its habitat was somewhere nearby. And a curse, because whenpared to the usual monsters, the animal breed of magical beasts was far more dangerous even to the most outstanding cultivators that she knew off.

    ''I need to retreat,'' she thought before turning her head around and taking a look at the sun. Right now, only a few moments separated her from the sunset. And while the darkness could help her cover her tracks, given how wolves didn''t really that much on their sense of sight, it would actually make it far more dangerous to travel during the night.

    With her direction confirmed, Irea started to crawl back the way she came from. Bit by bit, she distanced herself from the ce where she noticed the wolf, hoping to escape from its own range of detection as soon as possible.

    ''Dang, it''s getting dark already,'' Irea noticed with annoyance a few momentster. With the grass covering her vision, she almost lost track of the sun that was her only guidance in this sea of grass. Worried that she would lose her sense of direction and get genuinely stranded in the vast steppe, she quickly raised her head to look at the sun...

    Only to gaze right into the eyes of a wolf that appeared right in front of her.

    It was tiny for the standards of the monsters that she was used to encountering in the desert. But for her own human build, it was enormous.

    ''Fuck,'' Irea remained motionless, gazing deeply into the amber eyes of the creature.

    For a moment, the situation remained stable. The wolf didn''t appear to have any ill intent towards the girl. But, rather than that, it curiously started to sniff her face out, as if it was the first time for it to encounter a human.

    Then, a rustling sound came from behind.

    "Irea?" Al''s voice reached the girl''s ears. But what was far worse, it clearly spooked the wolf. In an instant, its calm demeanor changed as it turned towards the voice and lowered itself on its legs.

    But it did not growl. Just from this fact alone, it was clear that for a wolf it was, it was already a seasoned hunter.

    "aaalllmmm dddooonnn," Irea spoke out in a soft voice, elongating each sound of her words. Then, moving her body up at the slowest pace that she could, she rose above the grass level to make sure Al would notice her.

    "What''s wrong with you? Are you okay?" Al asked without a care in the world as if his brain suddenly took a sudden hit resulting in his intelligence leaving the man.

    "Not a word," she said in the same, slow manner while looking for the tiniest hint of an attack from the wolf''s posture.

    But rather than trying to fight or flee, Irea reached underneath her clothes and pulled out the same fish jerky that she was forcing herself to eat throughout the journey.

    The wolf instantly turned its snout towards the meat in Irea''s hand, clearly curious about the new smell previously hidden by the girl''s own sweat.

    "Here, you can have it," Irea continued to speak in a slow voice before cing the piece of jerky on the ground and slowly retreating a few steps.

    ''It clearly never encountered humans before,'' Irea thought while watching the wolf approach and sniff the jerky before carefully picking it up. From how it munched on it and shook its tail, it was clear it had no evolutionary experience of encountering her species.

    "Here, you can have another one," Irea pulled the next piece of jerky while feeling a sting on her heart while doing that. But rather than cing it on the ground, she gently threw it towards the animal. ''It''s better to go hungry for a while than to fight its entire pack,'' she thought, watching the wolf happily consume another piece.

    "Don''t say a word," she ordered Al in the distance as she pulled out the third piece of jerky. But this time, rather than throwing it towards the wolf, she dangled it before its eyes before throwing it as far away from herself and Al as she could.

    For a moment, the wolf simply stared at the girl with its amber eyes. Its tail also stopped swinging, indicating that Irea''s n wasn''t going the way she hoped. But ultimately, it turned away and chased after the piece of meat.

    "What was that?" Al asked once the wolf disappeared from his view. Even though it was already rather dark, the rustling of the grass in the distance could serve as a hint for the speed and current location of the animal. "Don''t tell me you are scared of a simple wolf," he said with disbelief spreading on his face.

    "A single one?" Irea shook her head in denial. "I could kill it with just a thought. But it was just a scout," she added after calming her breath down. "I saw another one, way more dangerous in the distance before just happening upon this one," she exined her encounter before slowly making her way back to where both of them came from.

    Without the sun, she could only recalcte where she stood where she encountered the wolf before tracing her path back to Al. Even though it was possible to guide their steps with the stars, neither of them appeared to know their way around doing so.

    "Isn''t that great, though?" Al asked, looking in the direction the wolf chased after the jerky. "If there are wolves, there is bound to be other kinds of prey here as well," he added, tightening his fists in joy. ''That would mean the end of this monotone diet!'' he thought with excitement.

    "Yeah, this is the best thing that we could discover.... But now that I think about it isn''t there something strange about this ce?" Irea asked, finally daring to turn her head away from the direction the wolf came from and looking Al directly in the eyes. "Isn''t it strange that we didn''t encounter a single monster so far?"

 Chapter 143 - Slavian Problem

    "Okay, the night ising. Let''s set a camp here," Layn announced when the sun neared the line of the horizon.

    Time was the only factor for setting up camp on the insanely vast steppe, given how thendscape was exactly the same for miles in every direction.

    "Sure," Sitra nodded her head before sending a look to the two other men she decided to bring along. "What are you doing? Chop, chop, it''s not a fucking holiday for you two!" she screamed at her subordinates while jumping off the horse herself.

    "There is no need to be so strict with them," Layn sighed, both annoyed and amused by the strict behavior of the girl. Even though he never directly belonged to the military, he had his own fair share of time spent in the military camps. As such, it wasn''t the first nor the second time for him to encounter this kind of attitude.

    "Sir Layn, I''m eternally grateful for your help and sacrifice on the battlefield..." Sitra looked away for a moment before making up her mind and looking Layn directly in the eyes, "but I would really appreciate if you didn''t tell me how I should treat my underlings," she insisted, clearly unhappy with Layn''s interference.

    "Okay, okay," Layn raised his hands in the gesture of defeat, yet he was unable to take down the smile from his face. "There is no need to think too much about it. It was just a suggestion," he excused himself before taking one of the sacks off the saddle off his horse.

    The stuff that everyone took with themselves was the greatest proof that Castor''s people were more than used to traveling through this kind of terrain. Without any wood to use as the erecting pole of the tent, they used a clever trick of the set of interlocking wooden pieces that one couldbine into a long pole.

    Turning the bag and its content into a temporary lodging only took Layn a few minutes. Yet, he still fell short of how quickly the remaining trio managed to do it.

    ''That''s the difference of experience,'' he thought before dropping the idea ofparing how well each of them managed to set their tents whenpared to his own work. "You guys would really be of great use back at my ce," Layn muttered instead.

    "Your ce?" Sitra pricked her ears before asking. "You mean that camp we are heading off to check?" she specified her inquiry.

    "Yeah," Layn nodded before putting a sour smile on his face. "I only have a few people there, so the work is going insanely slowly. To top it all off, we are not really used to living in a ce like this," Layn revealed without reservation, acknowledging the limits to his own knowledge on the go.

    "Well, aren''t you worried that if that ce is really free from the Overlord''s influence, you will be swarmed by my people?" Sitra asked a rational question before turning her lips into a wry smile. "You know, Castor''s idea is to migrate the entire poption of our country there," she added before looking away, clearly troubled by those words.

    "To be fair, no, I''m not," Layn shook his arms. "This ce is one, a big, empty shithole. From all I saw, there isn''t even a single tree to speak anywhere near, so it won''t be that easy to settle in the first ce," he exined as he sat down and started to pull out the grass with his bare hands.

    "Do you really think ack of wood would stop us?" Sitra grinned beforeughing out loud. "I don''t really think you understand the situation my people are in." It wasn''t her face alone, but the entire aura of the girl changed.

    "That''s true. And it won''t change," Layn looked up at the girl''s eyes, stopping his hands from gathering the fuel for the fire, "unless you tell me more."

    "This is a long story," Sitra averted her eyes, clearly troubled by request.

    "We have all the time in the world," Layn countered, unwilling to let go of this lead.

    ''I know for sure that some of their people came to the world of mine,'' he thought, turning his attention back to gathering the grass. ''And I won''t give up on this topic unless I figure out how they did it.''

    For Layn, vians were just a myth. That is, until a few days ago where he actually met them. What''s more, their ability to use magic he didn''t know off was proof that they really had the means to do the incredible stuff the myths attributed to them.

    There was the problem of the timeline, of course. Without any idea how far he moved to the past with that Gran Arcana of his, Layn could only pick at the straws, hoping that a random guess of his would somehow stick and make sense.

    But the fact that something was unlikely to happen didn''t mean it wasn''t worth trying.

    "You see, my country was both blessed and cursed at the same time," Sitra finally defeated her own reservations and started to speak. Knowing perfectly well that this wasn''t going to be a short anecdote, she sat down by her tent and pulled out her dagger.

    Then, she drew what looked like a greatly uneven circle.

    "This is how my country looks like. But while the shape doesn''t matter much, there is one thing that the entire cecks," she said before looking up and gazing straight into Layn''s eyes. "It''s a massive, fertile in."

    For a moment, neither of the two said a word. During this moment, only the sound of the two other soldiers doing something on their own could be heard.

    "Is this the blessing and curse that you mentioned before?" Layn asked to rify.

    "Yes. A blessing because we are one of the few nations that nevercked any food. Thanks to how fertile ournds are, we made an insane profit by selling that food out to the rest of the world," Sitra exined. While she was speaking, a small smile appeared on her lips, as if she enjoyed talked about the great days of her country''s past.

    "But as a curse, yourndsck any natural borders," Layn guessed out the rest of the story. Once his words left his mouth, he looked up at the girl to seek confirmation of his idea.

    "Exactly," Sitra''s smile soured as she pointed out her knife to the left side of the picture carved out in the ground. "To the west, we have Germaniannds. While we used to have friendly rtions in the past, ever since they managed to unite their scattered princedoms, their ambitions of expansion put us at odds. They are also the ones you indiscriminately ughtered," Sitra exined before taking a nce at Layn''s face.

    Yet, for the archmage, there was absolutely no problem talking about the massacres of his doing. He experienced bloodshed as soon as he left the academy. To a degree, joining the hero''s party was the point that marked the end of his warmongering adventures, sttered with more blood than most of the soldiers across the world could imagine.

    As such, he grew insensitive to any remarks of his bloody exploits long ago.

    "Wait," Layn suddenly interrupted the girl. "The great steppe we are on right now is to the south, right?" he asked as he pointed his finger at the bottom part of the girl''s picture.

    "Yeah, what about it?" Sitra quickly responded, proving that it wasn''t the kind of knowledge she would feel ufortable with sharing.

    "If those guys are to the west and we are in the south, then howe they attacked us in the steppe?" Layn asked, genuinely puzzled by the apparentpse in the logic. "Wouldn''t it be easier for them to just attack your border directly?" he exined his question in order for it to be more precise.

    "You are both right and wrong," Sitra smiled, clearly happy that such a question was posed. "But I believe you should be able to answer it yourself. Tell me, when you saw the first sh between Castor''s unit and the Germanian''s cavalry, did anything struck you?"

    ''No, no arrow or bullet made it anywhere close to me,'' Layn answered in his thoughts, but he kept his lips pursed. The way in which Sitra asked the question, it was obvious she didn''t mean any sort of projectiles.

    "Well, as a unit, they were quite effective? Organized better than I would expect from just a random group of horsemen," Layn spoke up after a long period of analyzing his memories.

    "Better than a random... No, nevermind," Sitra initially had to swallow a lot of air to say her words the way she did. Still, she deted before her voice could turn into an exasperated shout. "You see, our cavalry is considered to be the best in the world, no questions asked," Sitra proudly announced before her expression soured for the nth time in the day. "And while we can still pounce on anyone that will as much as attempt to invade near our logistical centers. But when ites to this barren steppe..." she allowed her sentence to hang in the air.

    "You simply don''t have the men or resources to keep a serious military presence to the south, right?" Layn finished Sitra''s exnations for her before shaking his head. "But doesn''t that mean you won''t be able to protect your new border even if you migrate to the south?"

 Chapter 144 - The Perils Of The Journey

    "Do you really believe it will be that simple? To migrate the entire poption of a huge country?" Sitra suddenly asked instead of answering Layn''s question. But in a sense, her question could be taken as an answer on its own.

    "Isn''t that what Castor spoke about?" Layn countered with a smile, only to shake his head and then look down. "No, it''s impossible for such an insanely huge endeavor to happen overnight. But that begs an even better question," Layn said as he raised his eyes and looked right at Sitra''s face.

    "If you can''t protect your southern holdings now, how do you intend to protect them while moving poption down south at the same time?" Layn struck right into the most important problem of any operation of this size.

    The logistic of it all.

    Sitra admitted that her country couldn''t sustain any more significant force at the steppe just a moment earlier. As such, it was clear that it wasn''t capable of enduring the burden of migrating its poption through this dangerous area either.

    "Why should I care?" Rather than answering the question, Sitra shook her arms. "It''s not up to me to figure out details like that." She shook her shoulders to show how little she cared. "That''s what nobles and the top brass are for. They are the ones that need to figure it out."

    This entire conversation happened before the entire camp went to sleep. Or rather, before the three of Layn''s escorts agreed to give him one more night for rest before he would also need to pick up the duty of the night watch.

    Thanks to this privilege, Layn coulde back to his full strenght, as long as one only meant his physical state. No monsters appeared near their group, nor had he any magic stones to dustify and use to suck the mana out of thin air. As such, Layn was stuck with just the little energy to sustain his trantion spell.

    But even this simple arcana of his was chipping away at the little mana his body could naturally produce from the atmosphere. So, just in order to focus his body on the task of producing energy, Layn had no other choice but to purse his lips, close his eyes and silence his entire self.

    All to bring this passive production of energy that he could do to the point where it would at least cover the mana cost of his trantion spell.

    Even with this little inconvenience, the group continued to travel forward. Reaching the ce where Castor''s unit first encountered Layn''s lifeless body took them an entire day.

    "So? Where do we go now?" Sitra asked when she finally stood up from the ground. By using some kind of means that Layn had no idea about, she was somehow capable of deducing the ce where Castor''s group camped just a few days earlier.

    Or rather than deduce, confirm that they actually arrived at the right spot.

    "Can you find the ce where you found me?" Layn inquired as the anxiety started to build up in his mind. ''I fought in the night, so I can''t even judge the direction I was sted off to by where the sun was. And little to say,'' Layn thought as he raised his head to the blue sky, ''I know nothing about the stars of this strange ce.''

    For a short moment, Layn believed that he never actually left the world that he was born in. Sadly, there was just too many factors disqualifying such a theory.

    First, the stars. While there was a chance that Layn moved so far back into the past that the constetions above changedpletely, it was an exnation that the archmage didn''t want to endorse.

    But on the topic of stars, there was something that Layn couldn''t ignore. While many other factors were influencing it, it was a fact that the ancient world''s night sky was different from what he saw back in the desert. In fact, the sky above the vian''s fortress also appeared to be different than what Layn saw back at his camp!

    Sadly for Layn''s initial hopes, the stars were only the beginning. From tribes that only survived in mythology, through tribes that didn''t mark their presence at all, all the way to new magic...

    It seemed as if everything in the world was scheming together to make sure Layn would abandon all hope that the desert, vian world, and the ancient world he knew offid all in a single. Or rather, they were all from the same world.

    "Give me a moment... But what am I supposed to look out for?" Sitra climbed back up on her saddle before posing a rtively basic question.

    "I don''t know..." Layn took a while to think about this surprisingly hard question. "A depression in the ground? Cave-in? A carved mark in the ground?" Layn guessed while rubbing his chin. "You know, I wasn''t particrly awake when I dropped to the ground, so I can''t really tell if it was a soft or a hardnding," Layn added, clearly trouble by his ownck of ability to solve the problem.

    "I under..." Sitra started, only to cut her words mid-sentence. "Wait, is that it?" she suddenly asked, pushing her arm in a certain direction.

    From Layn''s point of view, she was pointing at just more grass amongst the sea of it. Even after a prolonged effort, he couldn''t see anything special about the direction she pointed her hand at.

    "What do you mean?" Layn had no other choice but to ask after his efforts turned futile.

    "Don''t try to look for the ravines. Look at the grass," Sitra gave her advice, yet when Layn''s grimace of confusion only deepened, she struck the sides of her horse to get a bit closer to the man. "Look," she repeated, forcing the archmage to look across her own arm.

    And surely enough, once pointed out in such a direct way, Layn finally noticed the peculiarity. Some distance away from their position, the otherwise even grass was slightly lower. Not because it was cut, but because something forcefully bent it with such force that even the few days that passed since the event weren''t enough for the grass to properly recover.

    "And now we know where we should go now," Layn announced with a smile. While the scar on the sea of grass was barely noticeable, one could easily see its pattern. Stretching in a long line, itid more or less on a north-south axis with a slight inclination towards the east.

    Once the group got their direction, the main reason for their stoppage was finally resolved. Yet, while initially rejoicing, Layn''s mood continued to suffer hit after hit with each hour passing.

    Soon, the day came to an end, forcing the group to take a stop and set up a primitive camp. While they didn''t encounter any monsters so far, it would be foolish to assume that the same trend would stay forever.

    After all, if such an assumption were to be proven wrong, it would only happen in the absolutely worst way possible.

    Yet, as one day of the journey turned into two days and two days extended into three, the shadow of doubt cast over the group. With Layn still keeping up his act of staying silent and focused, neither Sitra nor the two other escorts of his managed to keep their morale high.

    "Isn''t it annoying?" Layn suddenly spoke up when he felt that the group wasn''t that far from just giving up.

    "What is?" Sitra asked in an annoyed tone. Even though Layn spoke very little over the past three days, hearing him wasn''t something she wished. Or rather, hearing himin was something that she couldn''t stomach.

    "You know, whenever you read ounts of great adventures of heroes long gone, you can just skim through their perilous journey in a moment. A day has passed, they took a week to reach the next city, the army marched for two months before reaching the battlefield..." Layn started to recount the few stories he used to love as a small kid.

    "Yeah? And what about it?" Sitra asked, clearly trying to avoid talking herself. From the look on her face, she believed Layn''s words were nothing more but a desperate attempt at warding off the boredom of the long journey.

    "Wouldn''t it be fun to just say: we took three days to reach the camp?" Layn sighed. "Certainly, it''s easier to say that rather than to actually travel for that long. After all, one someone hears it, they will be spared all the pains of camping without a proper bed, without a nket to ward off the cold of the night..." Layn continued his ramble, not bothered by the measly reaction of hispanions.

    "What the hell are you talking about?" Sitra finally snapped, unable to listen to Layn''s random rambling anymore.

    "I mean, it took us three days to reach the camp. Not that bad, isn''t it?" Layn suddenly announced before stretching his arm in the distance. "Look, can you see the blueness?" he asked before looking in the direction he was pointing at himself.

    "Wait, what?" Sitra finally snapped out of her passive state, ncing over in the direction Layn pointed his hand at. "Huh? Is that a sea?" she asked, suddenly reinvigorated by the unexpected yet pleasant news.

    "You wish," Layn smirked before correcting the girl.. "It''s a sweet-waterke. And the camp with my people is set right at its coast!"

 Chapter 145 - Ireas Letter

    "I can see it," Layn announced an hour barely after his party reached the shore. While it came mostly to the luck for them to find the ce so quickly, the archmage still couldn''t help but breathe a sigh of relief.

    "Isn''t that ce a little... deserted?" Sitra asked, turning her eyes towards the leader of the group.

    "Huh?" Layn shrugged before moving his eyes on the girl. "What do you mean?" he asked before moving his eyes back at the few buildings visible in the distance.

    For some reason, though, despite his body being constructed anew after he used the gran arcana, his eyesight was far from the likes of Sitra or Irea... Or literally anyone else of the current time.

    "While I can''t see the details, something you appear to believe I could, there is no smokeing out from those buildings," Sitra exined. "No smoke, no dust. There are no signs of the area being inhabited at all," she added in an exnatory voice as if she was some kind of teacher at the academy.

    "Oh," Layn sighed, finally understanding just how everyone around him appeared to have way better eyesight. "For a moment, I was worried I was slowly going blind," he added in hopes of masking the real reason for his worry.

    "But you still didn''t respond to my observation from before," Sitra noticed before pointing it out. "Come on, are the people you left there so weak they could be wiped out in just a few..." she clearly attempted to say something smart, yet before she could finish her words, the hateful look of Layn made her lips stop moving.

    "I don''t know what happened to them ever since that big fight concluded. But I doubt they could be wiped out that easily," Layn said in a serious tone, unwilling to even let such a possibility into his mind as an option.

    "Well, no point arguing over it now," Stira said as she shook her head. "While it only looks as if it was close by, it will actually be easier to spend some time and get there. Who knows, maybe they just went off somewhere?" she suggested before turning silent.

    From then on, the party once again turned silent. For the same reasons as before, Layn had no other choice but to limit the expenditure of his mana in any manner possible. Yet, as the group continued to approach the camp, he couldn''t help but get his focus shaken by the worry.

    ''If the camp is really empty... Just what could''ve happened to all of them?'' he thought, sending anxious nces towards the buildings in the distance.

    Even though the camp itself was small, thanks to being located not only by the coast but also on an extremely t in, they could stop it from far away. But as great as it was for finding the correct direction to follow, the wait necessary for their horses to bring them to that ce was akin to torture.

    "HELLO!" After roughly two more hours, something that Layn could only judge by the distance the sun covered on the skydome, the group finally reached the shouting distance away from the camp. And as soon as they did, Sitra was the first to shout.

    Yet, there was no response whatsoever.

    "Just like I..." Sitra said, only to purse her lips mid-sentence. Just a single nce at Layn''s face was enough for the girl to understand that it wasn''t the best time to act superior over her guessing true.

    "Give me a moment," Layn ignored her attempt at the rude and victorious remark, jumping down the horse instead. With his body now in good shape, he ran the remaining distance to the buildings.

    "They really are gone," Layn muttered when he came between the buildings. While all of them were closed down, just the fact that no one was working in the open indicated that the ce was really empty.

    That, or his people somehow decided to ignore his lessons and just ck away.

    Yet, even after checking every single building in the camp, the number of which increased by quite a few whenpared to how he left the camp a few days ago, Layn didn''t find a single soul.

    That, or literally everyone was waiting in the kitchen he constructed in an attempt to give him a hearty surprise.

    "What are you going to do now?" Sitra asked, ignoring the fact of how troubled Layn was. "While this ce is good enough for a few people to settle, it won''t work as a base of operation for any bigger group," she added, clearly thinking about the future potential of this location.

    "This was the best ce that we found within the limitations of our supplies," Layn exined as he approached the only building that didn''t have a perfect geometrical shape. "Well, nothing good wille from just waiting around," he muttered before pushing the doors open.

    And as expected, there was not a living soul inside. Yet, that didn''t mean the ce waspletely devoid of clues.

    Layn entered the building and moved towards the counter, where Irea would prepare the meals in the few days the kitchen was operating before the disaster struck. And just like he hoped, there was a small note left there.

    "Dear Layn, if you are reading this, there are few things I need you to know."

    Layn felt a tear brim in his eye. Even though he didn''t spend that much time in this timeline, he already grew quite attached to that cheeky girlfriend of his.

    "First off, it seems like your friends, named Yelna and Markus, came here looking for you. While they stayed a few days, they already decided to return to get more supplies and people. They imed this ce would stagnate without more manpower. Also, there was a man going by the name Al with them."

    The first real portion of the letter was already enough to make Layn weak on his knees. This was a revtion he didn''t expect at all.

    ''Yelna? Markus? The hell are they doing here?'' he could only ask this question to himself before shaking his head. ''No, it''s obvious they woulde looking for me if they appeared in this timeline as well. The true question is, just how did they move through time as well? It took me nearly a third of the entire gran arcana to ensure I would actually reappear in the past,'' Layn analyzed the situation for a moment before moving to the nest part of the letter.

    "As for Al, he appeared toe from even different time than those friends of yours. While I''m unsure why both of them seemed to treat him with a lot of respect, as if he was someone insanely important to them. I think they called him an architect of your civilization? I think you will be quite happy to meet him in person, so I will leave it at that."

    Layn tightened his fist. Irea wrote the letter as if she had plotted to make him gasp for air with each part of it. ''Does she know me that well, or are those news just so fucking groundbreaking?'' Layn asked himself, shaken to the core.

    ''Well, leaving that Al guy aside, it''s good that some people came here. While the more, the merrier is a load of bullshit, this ce would really use some more manpower,'' Layn thought before moving his eyes to the following part of the letter.

    "One more thing about those friends and the Al guy. Since we couldn''te to an agreement on how this ce would look once people would start flocking into it, we created a sort of agreement. While your friends will be outsourcing more supplies, they promised to get in touch with the rest of Al''s n, which on the side note is called Genar or something, and bring his people here. Would you believe it? He ims nearly his entire tribe got transported to this world and time along with him!"

    Layn''s entire body shook powerfully. This time, the letter didn''t manage to stick in his hands, falling directly to the floor.

    "Al from the Genar n?" He muttered, too shocked to even notice the letter leaving his hands. "Al Genar? Al Gener? Or maybe a fucking Gener Al?" he spoke to himself, feeling as if the entire world started to shake around him.

    For Layn, the legendary General was a figure that pushed him in the direction that he developed his life. It was the exploits of this nearly-mythical figure that made Layn who he truly was. And right now, it appeared as if the legendary General also made its appearance both in this world and in this timeline!

    "No, I need to read the rest," Layn scolded himself before leaning down and picking the letter up.

    "Thest thing, don''t be too worried if you didn''t find anyone here. We actually found a lead to some strange ce, not touched by a human hand. It is lush enough to sustain a single pack of wolves that we encountered while scouting, so I believe we could find a much better ce to settle out there. Just to make sure we will be safe, I took everyone with me on the scouting mission. Just follow the bricky-sticks in the ground to find us."

    Layn couldn''t shake anymore. He couldn''t because his entire body was already shaking from the excitement and worry.

    ''A lush in? A fertile area? Pack of wolves?'' Those words appeared in his mind. Yet, before making any judgment, he looked at the letter once again to make sure he didn''t miss anything.

    "I hope to see you soon. Despite what everyone is saying, I will never believe that you fell in that fight. May our path cross again!"

    The rest of the letter was just the closing lines. Yet, Layn didn''t calm down.

    "For a fertile in to be somewhere near...." his hands tightened in his fist, making Layn unknowingly put cracks on the wooden piece that the letter was written on. "It can only mean it''s an area of another Overlord of Origin!"

 Chapter 146 - Rush

    "Everyone! Back on your saddles!" Layn shouted as soon as he rushed out of the kitchen. Out of every single piece of information that Irea''s letter packed, one was the most important and pressing.

    "What happened?" Sitra asked while proving why Castor held a sweet spot for her, as she didn''t waste even a single moment before getting back on her horse.

    "I know where they went, more or less that is," Layn announced, rushing towards his own mount.

    "Isn''t that good?" Sitra gestured at the two other guards before turning her face back to the archmage. "Now we know where to look for them, so why the hurry?" she asked, perplexed by the sudden rush.

    "I hope I''m wrong here, but I believe they are about to enter the area under the influence of another Overlord of Origin," Layn exined as he kicked the sides of the horse and lowered himself over the mount''s neck.

    As if sensing the rush of its host, the animal didn''t bother wasting any time either. It instantly stretched its legs forward, entering the most efficient form of movement.

    "Wait? Are you sure?!" Sitra asked, her face whitening. While she could believe that when fully prepared, Layn would be capable of tackling an Overlord of Origin, she didn''t have any doubts about what would happen if he tried to do the same in his current state.

    While Layn wasn''t injured, he simply had no means of fighting. She saw it clearly with how desperate he was to save everyst bit of mana that he could squander.

    "Why do you think that''s the case?" Sitra asked while reaching to one of the sacks attached to her saddle. "If they knew about the Overlord, they wouldn''t dare to infringe on its sphere of influence. What''s more, if you didn''t know about it beforehand, then they cannot be any wiser either. How can you tell they are about to enter his area then?" Sitra brought up a logical question.

    It was Castor and the girl herself that told Layn everything he currently knew about the Overlord of Origin. And for them, the knowledge they possessed was an effect of long centuries of various braves risking their life to learn more about the overlords along with a countless number of researchers.

    As such, it was impossible for Layn''spanions that used to live in this ce to know about the Overlord. And in extension, it was impossible for Layn to learn about its existence directly. In the end, the only way for the archmage toe to the conclusion he did, was by picking at the scraps of hints they gave him, something that bore a high risk of leading to a mistake!

    "Can you see how thend around us looks like?" Layn answered with a question of his own. "No matter which direction you look like, it''s all an empty steppe. What''s more, if you travel far enough, you will reach a massive desert, far bigger than the steppe itself," Layn exined his thoughts as he swooshed his hand around to add the weight to his words.

    "Yeah, what about it?" Sitra asked as she had no idea what Layn find out from the letter he found in the kitchen building.

    "ording to the information my people left me with, they found another biome. Or rather, they found out a pack of wolves, clearly scouting an area," Layn exined the details before sending the girl a questioning look. "First off, the wolves can''t live on a steppe. That alone proves there ought to be a more fertilend nearby. What''s more, since they were scouting the steppe, that pack of wolves only dared to enter it recently," Layn said, not bothering to hold any information or thoughts back.

    "You know that''s not necessarily the case?" Sitra countered with a lenient smile that soured as soon as Layn looked at her face. "I know that your idea is likely to be true, but don''t be so negative. You don''t want your people to see you so anxious, do you?" she asked with a renewed smile.

    "While you might be right... Wait, what''s this?" Layn was about to acknowledge Sitra''s words when his attention got drawn to a strangely-looking thing nailed into the ground. A few momentster, when their horses brought them closer, Layn could finally see just what kind of peculiarity that was.

    "Just who could''vee up with such an idea?" Sitra asked in a low voice while staring at the brick-like material shaped in the form of the letter ''T''. From how it was already angled, it was clear that most of its length and weight at the same time was above the ground, making it susceptible to the strong winds coursing through the steppe at night.

    "It''s a marker," Layn replied while shaking his head powerlessly. "While there are a lot of problems with using something like that to mark one''s advance, I''m quite sure they were left by my people," he exined as he continued to shake his head. "While stupid on its own, it''s great because of a very simple reason," Layn smiled as he looked towards the girl. "Those markers were made in exactly the same way as the bricks that we used to create the camp we just left. As such, rather than carrying a huge amount of them, you can just make more on the spot."

    Layn shook his shoulders. "After all, you can find y literally anywhere in this steppe," he exined the ingenuity of this idea before pushing his awe out of his mind. With the huge possibility of immense danger still hanging above the heads of his people, Layn couldn''t spare that much thought to praising the design of the markers.

    Soon, their group passed by another marker. And then another. Yet, as if the situation couldn''t be so simple, the line of the markers didn''t seem to end.

    Mile after mile, Layn continued to spot the markers in the distance, rush his horse to reach them only to notice another one even further away.

    "Huh?" Layn exhaled in surprise when the situation changed for the first time since their departure from the camp. Because while he stood by a single marker, he could spot not a single one more in the distance, but actually two of them.

    The first of the markers that he could see continued the trend of going away from the camp in a single line, while the other stopped the trend and was positioned to the side.

    ''Does this mean both ways are correct, or...?'' Layn thought, trying to figure out the pattern of thinking that whoever put the marker could have.

    "Which way now?" Sitra asked, forcing Layn to make a decision. While they wouldn''t lose much time by just checking both directions, no one could know whether one of them would turn out to be a dead-end or continue for several miles more.

    "I think..." Layn attempted to make a decision yet ultimately couldn''t. The stress from preserving his mana, the stress of ignorance about the state of his people and Irea in particr... With all those things piling up, even someone as mature and experienced as Layn could reach the point where he would be unable to make vital decisions on the go.

    "We are taking the turn," Sitra said after a short moment, not allowing anyone to even think about refusing her. "Layn, you are in no state to make any decision. And you should know the ultimate rule of the military, that can easily be applied to everything else," she announced as she hurried her horse and looked at Layn''s face.

    "And what''s that rule?" Layn took the opportunity to push the problem of the decision away with gratitude, digging in into the topic that the girl proposed.

    "Even a bad decision is better than no decision at all. In the military, this rule was born from the simple fact thatck of any decision simply means giving your opponent the power of initiative," Sitra exined before shaking her head and gracing Layn with a smile. "In a sense, life is no different from a war. We are constantly struggling against the fate that wants to put us down. And just like that, we have our current situation."

    For a moment, Sitra simply continued to ride in the silence as if she needed to digest the next words that she wanted to say.

    "Right now, we don''t know if your people need help or not. In such a situation, even if only for a little, our help might prove to be necessary if not essential," she finally started after a few more moments when the group reached the marker. From how another one appeared in the distance, there was a huge chance they were heading in the right direction. "In case that they really and urgently need our help, just sitting around and trying to make a decision would give the fate the initiative."

    Once again, Sitra turned silent for a few moments.. Then she smiled and looked at Layn. "And this isn''t something that we should allow, is it?"

 Chapter 147 - Fire At The Hideout

    "Fuck!" Antion cursed under his breath. "What was that all for? What was wrong with the ce Layn choose for us to go and die like dogs in this damned forest?!" he protested, clearly agitated.

    "Shush," Pavrien silenced the man to his left. "They are still close. You don''t want to alert them," he whispered, making sure to modte his voice.

    The two of them went a bit deeper into the forest than the rest of the expedition party due to Irea''s personal order. And while the rest of the group was safely hidden away in a cave they cleared and blocked, the two of them were out trying to scout the situation.

    "Don''t tell me you are scared," Antion countered after a moment, once he made sure the local defending forces couldn''t hear him speaking anymore. "Or could it be that you cked on the training Layn put us through before we reached the camp?" he asked, unwilling to just let this junior of his get one better over him.

    Even though Antion no longer held his position as the prefect, a part of the pride he had from his former job remained.

    "You know fully well that it''s not about being scared of those monsters," Pavrien bounced the argument back as he started to slowly crawl back. In the thick vegetation, they were currently hiding, any attempts at standing up and retreating would be sure to catch the attention of the locals.

    "Yeah, yeah," Antion muttered back, unwilling to keep this kind of conversation going even if he was the one to start it in the first ce.

    Once out of the thick bushes, the two of Layn''s mercenaries made their way back to the hideout of the rest of the group. Not only was the entrance to the cavern blocked, but it was also carefully concealed. Given how the monsters and animals alike were out for their blood, rather than just hiding the entrance with leaves and branches, Irea made sure to add some aromatic herbs to conceal their smell as well.

    "We are back," Antion crawled as far as he could without disturbing the delicate bnce of the cover before whispering.

    "Wait a moment," a manly voice responded from the inside. "Make sure nothing is watching," amand followed before the entire cover of the hideout started to move.

    As it turned out, the entire thing was created with a simple, wooden grate on which all the additional elements were hung or roped in. With this kind of design, one could seemingly just pull the thing away to reveal the cage itself, yet thanks to some additional bounds and locks from the inside, doing so would at least alert everyone inside in advance.

    "So? What did you learn?" Irea asked the two as soon as they got inside and followed to the deepest part of the cave. Given how rtively small it was, it was yet another of the precautions their group needed to take to hide their voices from the monsters outside.

    "The monsters are still scouting the area, but it doesn''t look as if they were aware of our exact location," Pavrion said in a low voice, following the general directive Irea gave before.

    "I told you, this is the best moment to sally out," Al insisted while patting his knee.

    "It seems like this might be the case, after all," Irea admitted as she bit her lips. "Well, let''s get going then. Nothing good wille from just straying here," she decided before raising her eyes at the rest of the group.

    Out of the eight people that set off for the journey, two were already injured. While they could still walk, Irea didn''t have many hopes for them to keep up with the rest of the group if they really had to hurry.

    Right now, the two injured mercenaries continued to recuperate their wounds by sleeping while allowing the few herbs that Irea found to do their job. Given how they could only hold their screams of pain with the utmost effort, they were put to sleep in a rather forceful manner.

    "Great," Al grinned. While he followed Irea''s decision to keep their profile low during this mission, it was clear that he was brimming to get some fighting done. "You go wake those ckers up, I will..."

    Before Al could enlighten everyone on what he would do while Irea would be busy, the silent yet devastating sound reached everyone''s ears.

    The sound of the cover to the cave being torn apart as someone or something attempted to go through it.

    "ON YOUR FEET!" As soon as this happened, Irea jumped on her feet and rushed towards the entry-throat of the ce. While Al could boast the greatest physical strenght and ability in the entire group, she was, without a doubt, the strongest in general.

    "ARGH," as soon as the wounded people started to wake up, they inevitably released a loud moan of pain. This resulted in an increase in the speed at which their only line of defense was crumbling.

    Now it was clear that the sh would be unavoidable.

    "Prepare for the fight," Irea said with a calm voice as if she didn''t scream at everyone just a moment earlier.

    Then, a huge w prated through the thick cover of the entrance before pulling down and tearing the entire thing apart. While it made it look as if the w was sharper than it should be, it was actually the weak material that allowed for such a thing.

    Yet, Irea didn''t wait for the monsters to swarm the entrance. As soon as the w appeared, she closed her eyes for a single second before opening her eyes, raising her hands, and chanting a single word.

    "Burn!" she shouted, pushing her energy through her body into one of the few spells that Layn taught her before disappearing.

    A ball of fire... Didn''t appear. Such crude technique was something that Layn would be too embarrassed to use, not to speak about teaching it to anyone. That''s why, rather than using what most of the young sorcerers and mages would dream about, Irea produced a river of fire that gushed forth from between her hands.

    In an instant, the entire entrance of the cave stood in mes. The leftovers of the cover they used were the first to burn, revealing the massive gathering of monsters and animals alike waiting for their turn to rush inside.

    "ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MI-COUGH!" Al shouted, only for his words to get stuck in his throat. At the same time, Irea dug her feet into the ground as the air from the inside of their former hideout pushed heavily against her back. Yet, simple coughing couldn''t stop someone like Al. Pushing forward, he reached Irea and tapped her back before leaning over her ear. "If you keep that up, you will suffocate us all!"

    "Ah," Irea muttered, overwhelmed by the shock caused by her own ipetence. Probed by Al''s warning, she instantly cracked the spell structure that continued to turn her mana into gushing mes.

    Yet, the deed was done already. Thankfully, while the materials they used to cover the entrance to the cave continued to burn, it was clear that there wasn''t enough fuel for the fire to continue for long.

    But that also meant that the monsters standing on the other side of the fire would no longer be hampered by it either.

    "At least we won''t suffocate now..." Al muttered while gripping his handy ax. Even though the situation was dire given the number of the enemies, there was no sign of worry or fear in his eyes. As Irea looked at the man, she could clearly tell that he was in the beginning phase of a battle frenzy.

    Then, someone descended right in the middle of the swarm of monsters.

    ***********

    "We need to hurry." This time, it was Sitra to rush their small group. Ever since they reached the forest, her mood was worsening at a visible pace.

    "I don''t even want to ask why," Layn muttered in response, not counting for the girl to actually hear him.

    Even though they had no other choice but to ditch their horses right where the woods started, the noise of them moving through the thicker and thicker vegetation was enough to muffle the sound of his voice.

    The girl continued to repeat her warnings over and over as they continued to push deeper and deeper into the forest. And sure enough, the entire group was forced to a halt when Sitra suddenly dug her feet in the ground and came to a grinding halt.

    "They are right ahead," she said with a trembling voice.

    ''For someone who had no problems rushing into the enemies back on the y, she surely is cautious enough when encountering simple monsters,'' Layn noted before pushing the girl''s hand away.

    Right in front of him, a massive army of monsters and animals stood in waiting. A small fire in the distance was the only thing that was stopping its advance. And through the mes, Layn could see the face of the person he cared the most about in this new life of his.

    "This is the moment I was saving my everything for," he muttered before decisively cutting the supply of magic to his trantion spell. Right now, he could care less about the future trouble that itsck would give him. After all, he could replenish its dictionary in just a few days.

    Layn channeled all the mana he managed to spare over thest few days along with the fresh stream of energy that he used to maintain his trantion spell all this time in the exactly same forbidden spell that he used when dealing with the Germanian''s troops.

    This time, however, he could only afford to create a small de. Yes, a de. Not even a knife. And using thest of his strenght, he rushed forward before jumping off the small ridge they were in, right in the middle of the entire gathering of the monsters.

    "I wonder how much energy do you guys have in you," he muttered in his ownnguage, one that would develop only in the far-off future.. And then he pressed the tiny crimson de against the skin of the nearest animal.

 Chapter 148 - Battle And Decision

    As soon as Tom''s crimson de cut through the monster''s skin, a wave of refreshing energy surged into his body.

    For a single moment, nothing changed in the ce. As if stunned by the sudden appearance of a human amidst their ranks, monsters and animals failed to react.

    Thump.

    The dried-out corpse of the random monster that Layn consumed fell to the ground. For some reason, instead of pushing its energy for the size, the monster that Layn took out was of average size.

    ''Heck, I was worried this forbidden spell would work on something like that, but I guess my worries were unnecessary,'' Layn thought as he stared at the monster''s corpse.

    While alive, it looked like an oversized ant that somehow managed to walk upright. The lower part of its body served as the mobility part, while the upper part of its crust would roughly respond to a human chest and head alike.

    Yet now, its chitin armor was bent inside, as if something sucked on it from the insides. It was the effect of all the blood drying out of the monster, or rather, all of its energy being stolen.

    "ROAR!" Only when the ant monster''s carcass fell to the ground did the army of monsters and animals react. With a powerful roar, they turned towards Layn, finally recognizing him as a real danger.

    Yet, it was toote.

    "Burn to cinders," Layn didn''t bother going for precision and expertise. Rather than taking his time to defeat the monsters one by one, he released the same energy he stole a moment earlier in a simple incineration spell.

    A simple one because its structure didn''t require that much focus to create. But it didn''t mean that the spell itself was weak.

    Layn sped his hands above his head before lowering them down along his waist. Yet in the ce where his palms touched, a sphere of burning light appeared. It was spinning in ce, resulting in its otherwise perfect shape turning slightly ellipsoid.

    Then, as if parts of the fire elerated to a speed sufficient for them to break apart from the core, they started to rain all around Layn.

    Whenever an enemy was hit, the smaller ball of fire wouldn''t set it alight but would burn through everything that made it what it was. In some cases, the moment it took the fire to eat through, the monster would manage to set the rest of its body alight. In other cases, the fire simply burned through its opponents before falling on the ground and setting fire below the monster''s feet.

    In a mere moment, Layn turned into a mobile center of the firestorm. He was culling huge numbers of opponents with each step.

    "Don''t take the entire spotlight for yourself!" A shout sounded in the area before Al charged out of the cavern and pushed his body against the shocked ranks of the monsters.

    Maybe it was the feeling of safety those monsters had from how far they were from Layn''s disaster, or maybe something else caused them to lose focus. But when Al rushed between them, he managed to carve a bloody and messy path for as deep as several meters before the monsters started to defend themselves.

    ''Who is that guy? Is that THE guy?'' Layn thought, free to spare a thought and observe the situation on the battlefield.

    Whizz!

    An arrow flew inches away from Layn''s face, falling a monster that somehow managed to sneak through Layn''s wall of fire. Tracing the trajectory of the arrow backward with his eyes, Layn looked towards the small cliff he previously jumped from, only to notice Sitra and her two subordinates already fully focused on looking for other targets.

    ''Still, we can''t linger here for long,'' Layn thought while biting his lips. But as much as he wanted to just grab everyone and run for it, the sheer number of the monsters made it impossible to achieve.

    "Well, at least I will be able to farm some stones," he muttered only so start working on another spell.

    In the battlefield so richly infused with magic oozing out of every wounded monster, Layn no longer needed to care about his mana expenditure. In a sense, whenever the speed at which he was draining the mana increased, the added casualties amongst the enemy would pay back the deficit by bringing even more mana into y.

    Even without using any of the stones that richly fell on the battlefield everywhere around, Layn could maintain his battle-stance for as long as there were enemies around.

    "LAYN!" Suddenly, Layn managed to make out a shout amidst all the shrieking, roaring, and outcries that filled the battlefield. His head instantly turned towards its source.

    "IREA!" Layn shouted back when he saw the girl''s face.

    ''Thank God, she seems to be alright!'' he thought, almost losing his focus.

    "RAWR!" This momentarypse of concentration almost cost the Archmage his arm.

    A monster which, unlike others around, wasn''t humanoid but beast shaped, lunged itself at Layn. Its razor-sharp ws only managed to cut through the air, though.

    "You little," Layn turned around in order to get rid of this more agile enemy, only to watch a wall of fire move away from the cave and consume everything in its path along with the monster that almost managed to injure him.

    ''Huh?'' Layn suddenly felt a strange coldness on his arm. He lowered his head only to see two ring cuts in his arms. In all honesty, it was hard to even describe his wound as cuts, given how the beast-like monster actually ripped chunks of meat from his arm. ''FUCK!'' he screamed in his mind before tightening his lips.

    ''I can''t scream,'' he told himself, falling on one knee. With a swift move of his hand, he tore apart a piece of his robe before wrapping it tightly around the wound on his arm. ''It won''t hold for long, but will do for now,'' he encouraged himself and raised his eyes...

    Only for Irea to sh into him, instantly wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

    For a moment, the battlefield around Layn disappeared. His entire world shrank just to the warm embrace that Irea offered. For a moment, there was only her smell, only her softness, only her presence.

    "I m****d you," Irea said, not aware of Layn''s recent loss of his trantion spell. But the Archmage didn''t need to understand the specific words to figure out what Irea told him. Not in this situation. Not at this moment.

    And what''s more, given how long he continued to use the trantion spell, parts of thenguage already etched itself into his mind, making it slightly easier for Layn to understand the ancient.

    Sadly, as he only used the vainnguage for a measly few days, the same thing didn''t apply to the othernguage he should know how to speak in.

    "Let''s kill all those beasts," Layn ordered, not bothering with the fact that no one could understand his words.

    With Al swinging his handy hammer around and eradicating the enemies one by one, with Layn''s incineration spell constantly iming scores of monsters, with the arrows of Sitra''s group and hacking of the mercenaries that followed Irea''s example and went into battle...

    The entire thing was only a matter of time.

    A time Layn surely used to construct a trantion spell of higher grade, one that wouldn''t lose all its data once dispelled.

    "Ah, that was tiring," Layn spoke up roughly five minutester. Out of that time, he took two minutes to create the advanced trantion spell, two more minutes to fune it to the number of people present, and thest minute to wipe out all the monsters that still stood on their legs.

    With their numbers already dwindling from the onught Layn''s group served them, the Archmage simply changed the direction of his balls of fire from the biggest groups into individual targets that still posed a threat.

    Once Layn''s damage concentrated, a single minute was more than necessary for his spell to wipe everything that remained alive.

    "Layn!" Sitra shouted, jumping and then sliding down the ridge before jogging to the Archmage''s side. "This is only a beginning. I can feel stronger enemies approaching!" she reported, acting as if Layn already turned into her fieldmander.

    "How long?" Layn did his best to articte his question in the simplest manner possible. While his trantion spell was already in full swing without the ample amount of data to analyze, even a high-grade spell like that would be powerless.

    "Roughly twenty minutes," Sitra announced only to suddenly receive a nudge in her side. "Huh?" she turned her eyes from Layn''s face to the clearly hostile expression of Irea, who still hugged her entire self closely to him.

    "Dear, let''s put the reunion for ater date," Layn spoke to Irea with a sour smile. "We need to ditch this ce as soon as possible, but it would be too much of a waste to just leave all those resources to spoil," he added as his smile red back up.

    "Everyone! Gather the magic stones! Find an animal that could be carried easily and appears to be tasty!" Layn shouted his orders without waiting for the approval of his girl. In moments like that, there was simply no time to be sentimental.. And with the enemies approaching fast, it was only a matter of time before a simple fight would turn into a truly dangerous situation. "We are moving out in exactly five minutes! Now, move yourzy asses!"

 Chapter 149 - At The Verge Of The Forest

    "Sir, we found forty-three mana stones in total!" Pavrien reported as soon as the group finally started to move again.

    "Great. What about other resources? Something valuable or useful enough to get my attention?" Layn asked, nodding his head to the man in gratitude.

    Even though the reunion between Irea''s group and the people that Layn brought was limited to a short hug between Layn and Irea, the archmage still felt grateful to all the people that loyally followed him.

    Even if following him was performed by following Irea, who apparently instantly imed the spot of Layn''s regent while he was away.

    "So you *** Layn, huh?" the burly man spoke up, instantly forcing the archmage to pay him some attention.

    ''So this is the guy,'' Layn thought as he scanned the massive man with his eyes. "Sir, it''s an honor to meet you, but I don''t think we have time for discussion now," he added, hoping that with the help of his trantion spell, the man would understand enough bits to figure out the meaning of what Layn said.

    "He wants to put your discussion forter. We are not safe, so let''s not be sorry, is what he meant," Irea stepped up and offered a helping hand. For some reason, it appeared as if she had an easier time ignoring the trantion mistakes than the man did.

    ''Do they use differentnguages?'' Layn thought, trying to make the best use of the little time he currently had. ''Well, if he is really THE General, it would be rather normal,'' he concluded before focusing his attention back on his surroundings.

    Because despite the massive victory back by the cave, Layn''s now reinforced group was still deep in the bowels of the area controlled by another overlord.

    "Three to the left," Layn shouted when he detected a hostile presence. He turned his head around to take a tally of their situation. "Antion, you are up!" Layn ordered.

    The former prefect didn''t hesitate to prove his usefulness. As soon as he heard his name, he angled his path.

    ''What a smart fucker,'' Layn thought while observing the man''s movements.

    Given how they were already jogging, if Antion were toe to aplete stop before rushing towards the enemy, he would lose a lot of momentum and end up left behind by the group.

    Something that would easily prove lethal so deep behind the enemy lines.

    Rather than stopping, Antion continued to run. He even made sure not to enter anyone else''s path, something that could likely prove to be disastrous.

    With all those limitations and problems, Antion took the smoothest way out.

    The group continued to run, not bothered by one of themgging behind a bit. In the end, before Layn could even get worried about the man, the presence of the hostility disappeared, and Antion returned to the formation with a proud smile on his face.

    ''I guess I will need to reward himter on,'' he thought as he shook his head before looking ahead once again.

    Soon, Layn''s senses tingled again.

    "Al, could you?" he turned his head to face the massive man only to see him open his mouth in a wide smile.

    Contrary to Antion, Al didn''t bother with all the delicacies of the formation. Or at least, he didn''t appear to mind the consequences of his actions at all.

    "To the right!" Layn managed to shout in thest moment when he saw Al turning to the wrong side.

    "Thanks!" Al shouted back before jumping gently and burying his feet into the ground.

    Given all the spoils, stones, and supplies Layn''s group was carrying, not to speak about the two injured mercenaries that had to be carried as well, Layn''s group was pretty slow. Thanks to that, Al didn''t need to lose a lot of his momentum.

    And the man was perfectly aware of that fact. As soon as he managed to find his bnce on his new footing, Al jumped right in the direction where Layn could feel some monsters trying to chase them.

    Thest thing the archmage saw before the man disappeared into the thick bushes was the glint of the sun reflected from the perfectly polished de of the man''s ax.

    "We should be getting close to the in," Irea tapped Layn''s shoulder before giving him a heads-up.

    "Great." Layn nodded his head with gratitude. With his mind fully focused on searching for the enemies, he couldn''t pay any attention to how far they had to keep running before they would reach a safe area.

    "Don''t be fooled like that!" Sitra shouted when she noticed the small conversation that happened between the archmage and his girlfriend. "The influence of the Overlord stretches for several miles further than does the forest!" she cried out, desperate to pass the message to Layn.

    "So the local overlord is a tricky one, huh?" Layn muttered under his nose as he nced to the side. Right as he did so, Al suddenly cut through the bushes with several bloody stains all over his body. Yet, the wicked smile on his lips was more than enough for Layn to ascertain that the man was actually alright.

    ''Given everything we saw so far, the local overlord might be actually far harder to deal with than the one I shed with,'' Layn thought as he continued to analyze the entire situation.

    From how the monsters were shaped, one could assume that there was a certain will behind them. It didn''t matter whether it was a human turned rouge, some mad sorcerer, or just a monster or animal that gained proper sentience.

    What was the most important part about the local overlord acting the way it did, was that Layn''s approach to conquering this ce would have to be entirely different from how he dealt with thest Overlord of Origin.

    "ROAR!" A loud scream sounded in the distance, announcing that some kind of powerful monster was on its way here. Just by judging the volume of the outcry, Layn felt a shudder travel down his spine.

    ''It seems like our local lord doesn''t steer fully clear away from the big ones, huh?'' Tom thought, directing his head towards the source of the sound.

    And sure enough, he could see an entire portion of the forest shaking and fanning, indicating that something massive was making its way through the forested area.

    "WE ARE OUT!" Irea shouted as soon as they passed by thest line of the trees. Now that they were on the massive in, their speed would skyrocket.

    But so would the speed of all the monsters chasing them.

    "Everyone! Bring the goods and injured forward. I, Al, Irea, and Antion will stay behind and hold the monsters!" Layn suddenly announced when an idea popped up in his head.

    Right now, they were chased by an entire army of monsters. Yet, due to the natural limitations that some of those animals and some of those monsters had, they were unlikely to appear unified or even cohesive.

    Some monstersgged behind because of their weaker mobility. Other monsters did the opposite, making full use of their agility to get to the front of the outstretched line of monsters.

    And then there were the massive behemoths, the powerful monsters that could make an entire forest shake. Those didn''t care about stepping on their allies at all, slowly making their way towards Layn''s group.

    Right now, in the open in, there was no reason at all for Layn and his group to keep running.

    A mere momentter, their unified group split into two. Layn could see an angry nce of Sitra as she ran along with the rest of her party, clearly unsatisfied by being cut away from the fun that was about to start.

    ''I''m sorry, but someone needs to protect the wounded,'' Layn thought as he nodded his head to the back to the girl. Then, he moved his face back towards the forest, just as the first monsters and frenzied animals started to appear from behind the woods.

    "Everyone! For each monster killed, we take a single step back. We want to keep killing them and escaping at the same time so that we will learn at what point they will give up!" Layn shouted a set of orders, already crafting another scheme in his head.

    ''If we learn the limits of the patience of the overlord, we might be able to keep attacking this ce.'' Layn thought. He already saw loads of meat and fresh fruits or herbs they could have at the camp with the eyes of his imagination. And he could turn this dream into reality, as long as he ensured that this forest would remain open for them to exploit it!

    "Prepare..." Layn ordered in a low voice while constructing a set of simple spells himself. While on the run, he made sure to turn a few magic stones from the battle at the cave into dust before covering his skin with it.

    Although it wouldn''t work as well as when the dust would be diligently dispersed into another medium, it was still better than nothing.

    "FOR SLAUGHTER!" Layn suddenly shouted as he released a whole plethora of different spells, all aimed at both killing and confusing the enemy at the same time.

    For others, the wave of monsters rushing at them with clearly bloody intent would be a reason for fear and terror. But for some reason, no matter how much Layn tried, he could only see the approaching monsters as an even greater source of magic stones he could use to regain his power!

    For him, those monsters were just delivering their core-stones to his hands!

 Chapter 150 - Reverse Battleball

    "Make sure not to break the line!" Layn shouted to others, making the full use of his quickly-growing trantion spell. ''I wish I could ask them to keep talking to themselves as they fight, but I guess that will be a bit too much,'' Layn thought before refocusing his attention back at the battle.

    Because with every moment, his group was pushed out of the forest. For an independent observer, it would surely look like humans giving way to the endless onught of monsters. After all, they continued to give ground bit by bit.

    In such a situation, it didn''t really matter that for a single step Layn''s party would make to the back, tens if not hundreds of monsters would fall.

    "We are going through them too quick!" Layn shouted, worried about their current pace. As the things were right now, it would be no wonder if the Overlord woulde out personally to deal with them.

    That was the reason behind Layn''s warning. As long as he managed to put a stop to the eagerness his people had in killing monsters, he could make them look like a threat not big enough to mobilize the strongest monsters that the Overlord could throw at them.

    After all, they didn''te here to fight but to pull Irea and the mercenaries out of the forest. Right now, the only reason why they didn''t just turn around and run was Layn''s curiosity and wish to explore the limits of this ce.

    "Guys! We are mowing them down too quickly!" Layn shouted after a few more moments passed. He also wiped his forehead clean from all the sweat his fireballs made his produce.

    Yet, at this point, only Irea listened to his plea.

    Right ahead, Al already had trouble with keeping up with the formation. From how he was swinging his ax wide, it was clear that rather than making use of the line, it was only bothering him, putting a limit to how wild he could go.

    On the other end of the line, Antion already lost his sense of self, clearly too focused on the fighting to hear any orders or to follow them. ''I guess he is overzealous for achievements,'' Layn noted before shaking his head.

    "They won''t listen. You need to do something," Irea spoke up, revealing a small hint of anxiety on her face. Puzzled by it, Layn took a closer look at her... Only to realize that she was already driving on thest fumes of her mana!

    Be it some spells she cast prior to the battle, or maybe she was just exhausted from using her magic all the time. Layn couldn''t know the answer to this question without asking, yet there was obviously no time for such luxuries right now.

    "Irea, you fall back. We will wound and concentrate on you!" Layn ordered only for his head to rock forward when he detected a presence way stronger than the others.

    So far, Layn''s group was attacked by mobile monsters. With the first wave came all sorts of horses, wolves, and foxes, along with the monsters of traits clearly inspired by them. There were some six and eight-legged horses, twin-headed wolves, multi-tailed foxes...

    It appeared as if the Overlord of this ce took nature as a basis and used magic energy to create monsters that lived and worked in a pretty simr way.

    But the thing that Layn saw finally broke that rule.

    The monster appeared to be a long, gianormous balloon. It had no legs, no arms, not even teeth or anything else that one could be used to.

    Rather than that, it moved around by rolling itself in any given direction. But as it continued in its path towards Layn''s group, something strange started to happen.

    Monsters leaping forward would suddenly crush into the ground. Those who walked slowly enough or just stood in the ground would suddenly start to float, only to elerate quickly and shoot out of the monsters'' sphere of influence.

    "What the hell is this?!" Al asked, stopping in his bloody path.

    For a moment, the entire battlefield turned silent and eerie, as if nobody, not even the monsters and animals, could tear their eyes away from the monstrosity.

    ''That''s strange...'' Layn continued toe up with various theories about the nature of this monster. He even went the extra mile to construct a powerful monster-busting spell. Yet, he ended destroying it halfway before he even had a chance to infuse it with mana. Rather than that, he whirled up his finger and filled this simplistic structure with his energy, sending a small pebble of condensed magic straight towards the monster.

    Yet, all ording to his expectations, when the pebble was scheduled to explode and cause a magic-storm on a microscopic scale... It appeared to rejuvenate the monster instead!

    "Anyone has any buffing or healing techniques?!" Layn suddenly shouted to his people, taking a step back on his own.

    Seeing this, the entire line wobbled for a moment, threatening to copse, yet thanks to Al quickly following suit, it somehow remained in ce.

    "What do you mean, healing techniques?" The massive man asked, clearly puzzled by the question.

    "Something that doesn''t harm the opponent," Layn exined before bringing his eyes back at the massive monster. Ever since it appeared, it continued its slow journey forward, relentless in its desire to crush Layn and his group. "I believe this isn''t a monster, but a floating core or something. It seems to reverse all the effects of whatever enters its sphere of influence!" Layn shared his guess, not worried about the other side listening in at all.

    After all, the humanoid type of build was the most versatile. It wasn''t some kind of bias that Layn developed as a human himself, but something that was extensively researched in the times of his first life.

    While there were many ws in the normal human build, in general, there was hardly anything better than any living being could evolve into. As such, the fact that humanoid-like monsters have yet to reach them, most likely meant that the other side didn''t have anything to get inspiration for this kind of monster yet.

    As such, the chances of them being able to understand the very concept of what speech was, was pretty minimal.

    "I could do it, but I don''t have any mana left," Irea volunteered before spreading her hands around with a helpless expression on her face.

    "It''s okay, use those stones," Layn didn''t mind wasting a bit of the mana stones. While they could be put to the best use by turning them into stone dust and used to passively continue sucking the energy out of the air, in times of need like right now, he didn''t really mind using them in the way everyone else considered to be natural.

    "Thanks!" Irea shouted back when she grabbed the pouch Layn sent flying towards her. A split of a secondter, she poured a handful of crystals on her palm.

    It wasn''t hard for Layn to see what was going on. Once the stones fell on top of Irea''s skin, the energy contained within started leaking out, only to be instantly absorbed into the girl''s flesh and bones.

    As soon as the minimal amount of energy returned to the girl''s system, she created a simple construct, one that not only used the stuff that Layn taught her but some other techniques that Layn could barely recognize as a part of the cultivation tradition before sting it forward.

    From the looks of it, the spell looked like your ordinary wave of wind, aimed at either throwing the enemy off bnce or actually cutting through him if the air was condensed enough.

    But that wasn''t the case this time.

    "I wanted to show it off to you in a better moment, but I guess I didn''t have the chance," Irea muttered silently, watching how the spell reached the area of influence of the ball-like monster.

    At first, the two of them just watched the situation with tense expressions. Layn continued to passively produce more and more spells that he would then instantly fire off and move on to produce more spells. He didn''t want to just use passive damage like during the battle at the cave as he didn''t want the Overlord opposing them to learn about this technique of his.

    ''After all, there are huge chances the next time we wille here, that bastard will figure out a way to oppose those spells of mine,'' Layn thought, watching the trajectory of Irea''s spell.

    And then, it hit.

    It was a sight that instantly made Layn feel like throwing up. In a single instant, the soft flesh of the monster suddenly started cracking before the entire soft-looking ball that was its body simply cracked apart and lost its cohesiveness.

    The first thought Layn had, was that the thing just melted. But then he realized. It looked like it was melting because all the guts that it had inside spilled all over the ce in a single instant.

    And so, the monster was dead.

    Yet, by the time it died, several of its identicalpanions already appeared on the verge of the forest.

 Chapter 151 - Layns Oath

    "Now that we know how to fight them, there is no point being worried!" Layn shouted in order to encourage his people. Even though he met Al just a few moments ago, the man already proved his usefulness, earning himself the right for Layn to consider him aadre.

    "Are we finally going to get serious?" The burly man asked as he nced towards the monsters rolling towards them.

    "No," Layn shook his head after casting a quick nce to the back. "Others already left the danger zone. We are withdrawing as well," Layn protested, unwilling to chase the endless glory and put everyone at risk because of that.

    "What a bummer," Al moaned, almost as if he was in real pain before shaking his head. "But well, you are the leader here," he grinned at Layn before theatrically taking a step back and resting his ax on his shoulder.

    "Are you sure?" Irea asked in a low voice, not trying to contest Layn''s decision at all. From her tone and curiosity, one could tell that she was just ensuring herself about the following course of actions.

    "Yeah, there is no point fighting them. We won''t be able to recover more stones either way," Layn said as he shook his head before taking a step back. Then another one. And then he pulled the entire group along, making them all jog out of the local overlord''s sphere of influence.

    "They are still chasing us," Antion would report every now on then. It was thanks to his keen eyes that Layn could keep a record of the behavior of the monsters.

    The first batch to give up were the slow monsters, the one that appeared right before the balls of the reverse effect steamrolled through the battlefield. Once those monsters realized their attempts at giving chase would be futile, they simply turned around and returned to the forest.

    With all the waves that Layn''s group eradicated before, only those massive, reversible monsters and a bunch of the quick and agile ones remained.

    And while the fast group also gave up on chasing them in roughly an hour, the big balls of reverse influence continued to roll towards them as if nothing in the world could even stop them.

    "Don''t you want to kill them?" Irea asked while turning her head to the side to look at Layn.

    "I''m still hoping that I would find some use for them," he replied, looking over his shoulder to make sure his group keeps roughly the same distance from those monsters as before.

    "Use them? Are you for real?" Irea muttered, unable to just ept such a ridiculous sentence at its face value.

    "Look, we have a way to quickly get rid of them if necessary. But we could also make a proper use..." Layn spoke as he watched the monsters, only to suddenly stop and shout, "SLOW DOWN! They are losing interest!"

    With his eyes glued to the back, Layn instantly became aware when he realized that the monsters suddenly started to roll back to the forest.

    ''Was it the distance? Was I really wrong about them targeting us?'' he asked himself before burying his feet in the ground to stop himself before turning around and rushing towards the ball-like monsters.

    Not waiting for anyone to follow up on him, Layn rushed to the back as if he wanted to suddenly charge alone into all the monsters that remained on the chase.

    And sure enough, in a short moment, the balls that already started to roll away suddenly changed their directions and started moving towards Layn once again.

    "So that''s it," Layn muttered before sharply moving his head to the side and looking at Al. "Can you get rid of the small monsters around them?" he asked before moving his eyes on the next target. "Antion, you make sure to gather their stones," Layn''s eyes moved once again, "Irea, make sure to keep our backs safe!"

    With the orders set and people ready to get in motion, Layn waited for a few moments to let the monsters gain a bit of distance from him before turning around once again and starting to run.

    This time, though, his speed was even slower. All for the sake of keeping those rolling and incredibly useful balls of meat on the leash.

    "They areing!" Al shouted as the wave of the agile monsters reached towards him. In a sh, his surroundings started to glister when the sunlight started to reflect off the afterimages of Al''s ax.

    Right behind him, Antion continued to either throw knives, pebbles, or just lumps of mana at the approaching enemies, making sure to throw them off the bnce before they could sh with Al.

    While improvised, those two made for a pretty efficient and simplistic meatgrinder on the battlefield. ''If I could get the two of them to cooperate with the idea of the academy... Their cooperation would make for a good ss for our new students to take!'' Layn allowed himself a tiny bit of luxury of thinking about the future despite still standing just a step away from the battlefield.

    "What do you even need those big meatballs for?!" Irea suddenly protested as she threw a simple fireball at a sneaky beast trying to get behind so that it could attack the group from the rear.

    "Can''t you see how much we could use them?" Layn replied with his voice infused with so much shock that Irea twitched. ''Huh? Was I supposed to understand it right away?'' she suddenly thought, allowing the worries to momentarily take over her heart.

    ''He''s been away only for a few days... But he already brought a new girl with himself? What if my position on his side will get threatened?'' Irea thought, instantly feeling the shock paralyzes her body.

    She wasn''t interested in exploiting the man. She was more than capable of achieving a peaceful and simple life with her own hands. ''I didn''t follow him for the benefit''s sake, but because I actually started to like him,'' Irea said to herself in her thoughts, unwilling to voice this simple realization out.

    This belief, this feeling, was something that she was long aware of. It''s just that she never had the courage to properly spell it out or at least address it.

    ''Is he dissatisfied with how slow I am? Is he going to throw me away?'' Irea''s thoughts continued to spiral down and down the dissaray valley, eradicating all the focus that the girl was so proud of.

    "Huh? Are you okay?" Layn asked as soon as he noticed that there was something strange going on with Irea. "Did something hit you?" he built upon his question when the girl fell to her knees.

    "Ah, I''m sorry," Irea said in a shaking voice, unable to as much as focus her eyes. With her head lowered down, she refused to look at Layn''s face, too scared to see what his expression was.

    "Dang, get a hold of yourself!" Layn shouted before leaning further and grabbing the girl underneath her knees and armpits.

    ''Something must''ve happened to her,'' Layn thought with anxiety while carrying the girl away. Right now, he could only count on Antion and Al to keep up the leash on the monsters.

    "You should be safe here for a while," Layn said when he finally found a suitable ce toy the girl down. "Listen, can you tell me how did you defeat that ball from before?" he asked while pushing the hair out of the way of Irea''s eyes.

    "I''m sorry, I''m sorry!" The girl continued to sob, clearly unable to gather her thoughts.

    "Tsk," Layn couldn''t help but click his tongue. ''Whoever made her like this, I will make him or her fucking pay,'' he thought as his expression darkened. But as he stood up, Irea reached forth with her hand and grabbed the cloth of his sleeve.

    "Don''t leave," she suddenly spoke some nonsense, staring at Layn with her teared-up eyes. She then lowered her head and looked down yet refused to let go of Layn''s sleeve. "Don''t leave me..." she muttered in a sobbing voice, already tearing up all over.

    "I''m not leaving you. I''m just putting you in a safe space," Layn said as he sighed before sitting down beside the girl and looking in her teary eyes. "Irea, if something happened, you know you can just tell me," he started, not sure what he should do at this moment.

    ''To be fair, if I were to choose between the two of them and Irea, I wouldn''t even need to think about it,'' Layn made sure to figure out his feelings on the situation before even attempting to tackle the problem Irea had.

    "I''m sorry, I''m so useless," Irea lowered her head again, unable to sustain eye contact with Layn.

    "Useless?" Layn asked in an exasperated voice, confused by the situation to no end. "Just where this kind of bullshit came from?" he asked, startled by the sudden revtion. "If you call yourself useless, then we might as well just lie down and wait to be killed!" Layn suddenly shouted before pointing his hand in the direction where the ball-like monsters wereing from.

    "I don''t know if you forgot it, but you are the only one capable of killing them!" Layn shouted, hoping that his passionate voice would reach across the wall that Irea already built around herself. "I have no idea where those doubts of yours came from, but you are crucial to my ns of using those monsters," Layn said before his eyes suddenly widened.

    He had to hear himself speak those words in order to fully understand the situation.

    "But that''s not where your value lies," he suddenly spoke in a soft voice while kneeling in front of the girl. "For me, you are the most important person in this new life of mine.. That''s why I will never leave, nor will I ever leave you alone."

 Chapter 152 - Classic Magic Weaving

    The rolling monsters clearly didn''t have any intention of respecting the romantic moment between Layn and Irea. Right when Layn made his oath, the rumbling caused by their continuous advance once again reached the couple''s ears. It put a stop to thefy atmosphere the two of them were immersing themselves in.

    "I will protect you," Layn announced once again, filled with confidence. But as he turned his head around towards the source of the noises, his confidence turned into a troubled expression. "But I guess I need to deal with those monsters first," he said before helping Irea up and turning towards the noise.

    "Wait, I didn''t tell you how I did them..." Irea stumbled as she rushed forward, worried that Layn would just leave her anyway.

    "It''s okay, I''m not going anywhere," the archmage turned his head around before sending the girl a wink. He then turned back to the direction the monsters wereing from and closed his eyes.

    His hands reached forth as if he attempted to grasp something ahead. But rather than just tightening into fists, his fingers started to weave the air as if Layn was actually holding a spool of invisible thread.

    ''There is no need to hurry. I have a lot of time,'' Layn continued to slow himself down. As someone used to the super-rapid pace of fighting, weaving the spells using the ssical method just felt weird.

    Rather than creating structures with his mind alone and just shaping the mana as it was outputted, Layn this time went with the more time-consuming yet far more efficient method.

    The manual spell casting consisted of three steps.

    First, a mage would pour a tiny bit of magic out of his fingers as he would weave different shapes together directly in the air in front of him. Each shape would have a specific function connected to the inner mechanisms of one''s own mind.

    The shapes would be connected to a phenomenon or instances through the mage''s memory. Someone who grew with a stove in his kitchen would use a square for fire function, while someone who grew roasting the food over a circr firece would use a circle for the same function instead.

    The main problem of this so-called ssical spell weavingid in the fact that there was a limited number of geometric shapes that one could produce. As such, unless one coulde up and memorize wast number of more and moreplicated symbols and still be quickly withdrawing them in the thin air, there was a hard limit to how far one could take this kind of magic.

    Or at least, that''s what the magical capitule of Layn''s academy thought before he came in with the revolutionary thesis that granted him the title of grand mage and started his legend.

    Layn''s graduation theorem was split into a simple and counterintuitive part.

    The simple part was made with a single sentence, "why do we needplicated shapes for different functions if we can use simple shapes for simple functions instead?"

    This question was the founding stone of the number''s magic, a discipline that was growing in poprity for quite a while before it ended up as the seventh most popr type of magic in the world.

    It took the concept that the scientists came up with, that any and all functions could always be expressed with a set of basic functions in the first ce, and applied it to the magic itself.

    That''s why a mage following Layn''s theorem wouldn''t bother creating aplicated function like "draw the air towards" but would instead use the "draw" function, "Air" target, and "six degrees to my left" as directed. By recing the ambiguous functions with one that had strict borders to their usefulness and functionality, Layn gave birth to whatter grew to be called the first scientific magic.

    The other part of Layn''s theorem was what brought strenght and poprity to this otherwise obsolete approach to magic.

    Layn randomly decided that rather than usingplicated functions and bringing the number of required founding functions up, one could improve the power or any other aspect of the spell... by condensing it instead. Rather than using ten basic, or rater fundamental, functions to do one thing, it was better to use a single fundamental function... but stacked ten times on itself!

    Rather than using a high-tiered skill like Incinerate, Layn realized that recing its structure with the same amount of squares and triangles that made up the simplest ''fire'' function was not only easier and more efficient but also more powerful.

    But even with all those things aside, even if one could sessfully create a structure for his spell to prosper, there were still two more steps in the procedure.

    "Cover your eyes," Layn smiled to Irea behind him as he finally opened his eyes. ''Now that the structure is done, it''s time for the worst part, huh?'' he thought, as he started to fill the structure with magic.

    The second step was the exact reason why numbers magic only reigned at the top seven spots instead of at the very pinnacle of magic. It wasn''t a factor that limited its power... But a factor that made it impossible to adjust the spell once its structure would be set.

    By using fluid structures, ones constructed on the go with one''s thought, a mage would be versatile with what exactly he wanted to do with his magic. But what was even more important, he was free to cut it free at any time he wanted.

    Layn didn''t have the same luxury right now.

    "Irea, I need you to pass me stones," the archmage uttered through his tightened lips, unable to even speak ours properly. All the energy he managed to recover so far was now gushing out of his body and filling the empty spots in the structure Layn drew a moment earlier.

    And it wouldn''t tell long before Layn wouldpletely drain his mana up without even filling half of the structure.

    "I''m on it!" Irea could sense that this wasn''t the moment to hesitate or ask questions. Before Layn could ever imagine it is possible to finish the task, she was already pouring them on her palm from a small bag before pressing the same palm of hers against the side of his shoulder.

    Once Layn''s exposed skin made contact with the stones, something weird happens. Even when Irea pulled her hand away, all the stones somehow stuck in a thick barrier towards Layn''s shoulder, as if something was sucking them in. Yet, no matter how Irea strained her eyes, she was unable to see anything at all.

    "It''s the magic draft," Layn exined as he continued to infuse the energy from the stones into his body before giving it out to the structure in front. "I''m sucking the magic out of them so quickly that it creates a physical eleration," he exined the phenomena to the girl before turning his head back.

    Now that his spell was almost entirely filled, he had to start paying attention to it.

    Bit by bit, Layn continued to fill the structure all the way up the upper limit of how much energy it could hold. Only when not even a single bit of magic could fit, Layn redirected his energy and used the stones to refill his own mana.

    ''And now the third step,'' Tom thought. If the first step was the challenge to one''s creativity and ability to oversee a huge thing all the way up from the smallest detail to the greatest crevice, while the second step was about amassing a perfect amount of energy to fill the structure, an amount that often proved to be too massive to handle, the third step was all about uracy.

    With the spell that Layn constructed, this task turned out to be even harder. Given all the resources Layn had to invest in creating such an overwhelming spell, there was no way he could afford to do it again for every other monster trying to reach him.

    It was never his intention to do something like this in the first ce.

    "Now, it''s time to show off a bit," Layn muttered before sending another wink to the girl. And then, he just snapped his fingers.

    The third step was all about aiming. It was easily the hardest step of the procedure despite just how simple it sounded.

    In order to aim such a structure that had no initial momentum, one had to decipher the flow of magic within the structure. Acting like waves in the sea, one had to be right on the point to release the structure in just the right time for magic to be oriented in a specific way.

    Layn forced the entirety of his attention towards this task. For a moment, the world around him appeared to disappear, reced with just the tiniest changes in the flow of magic in his structure.

    And then, he snapped his fingers.

 Chapter 153 - Technique Or Might

    Layn snapped his fingers. He could shout, sp his hands together. There was no specific rule as to what kind of action had to be used to release a ssical spell.

    ''If I remember correctly, some practiced to do so with farts,'' Layn smiled to his memories. In there, a specific faction of the academy took quite a lot of space. A faction that believed that ssical magic was supreme and decided to give up on any other kind of magic.

    While stupid by itself, Layn discovered that their ideas for the ssical magic itself weren''t that idiotic, though.

    Releasing a spell with a fart surely sounds ridiculous... Unless one considers a situation where two mages are fighting with just the ssic magic. In such a situation, using a fart to release a spell meant doing so without the other side noticing, as opposed to how Layn snapped his fingers to do the same.

    But Layn wasn''t taking part in a friendly duel between fellow practitioners. His enemy had no ability to counter his attack or even understand what Layn''s attack was, to begin with.

    As such, he didn''t need to bother with those kinds of mind games.

    Layn snapped his fingers.

    In an instant, the magic drawing that he left in the air before filling it with magic... Broke. Released from the confines of its structure, the spell instantly acted ording to its shape. In an instant, hundreds of small fire and directional spells mixed together, turning into a raging vortex of fire.

    It raised to the skies as if the rotation of the fire was giving it some kind of up-propelling force. Yet, once it reached a height of roughly fifty meters above the ground, the small fire-tornado suddenly ceased to move around.

    It still continued to revolve around its axis. It even continued to speed this rotation up. But in terms of spatial movement, Layn''s spell remained in ce.

    And then, it broke apart. As if it reached the maximum speed it could turn at, the vortex broke apart.

    But rather than splitting into a thousand parts and just falling randomly on the ground, the spinning vortex split into exactly five parts, each of which started to slowly fall towards the ground.

    "What did you do?" Irea rushed forward and probed Layn''s back. Even though she had her moment of weakness just a moment ago, she was still the person most capable of reading the archmage. Even with her mental state still not fully sorted, she was more than capable of noticing Layn''s intense exhaustion and more than willing to help him out.

    "Just watch," Layn smiled, holding back his exnation.

    ''I won''t get him to talk right now,'' Irea thought, looking at Layn''s face. But rather than trying to push him to do something, she obediently raised her head over his shoulder and looked in the direction of his spell.

    But strangely enough, it was hard to actually follow the fragments of fire vortex with one''s eyes.

    ''Woah,'' Irea moaned in her thoughts, awed by the impossible sight.

    At one moment, one of the fragments she decided to track down appeared to be like a small leaf, freshly blown away from a random tree. But as it continued to fall and drag Irea''s eyes with it, the girl suddenly noticed a certain thing between the ''leaf'' and the line of the ground.

    It was the ball-like monster that continued to bring terror to the battlefield. Or rather, it would bring terror to the battlefield if Layn didn''t force his group to pull out in a timely manner.

    "Isn''t it too small, though?" Irea whispered her question into Layn''s ear. From her perspective, not only the fragment of the spell was too small to even hinder the beast''s movements, it was way too far for the beast to even notice it!

    "Can you tell me just how dense magic is?" Layn suddenly asked, resting his back on Irea''s hands. Even though he still continued to suck the energy out of the stones, it appeared as if he was unable to regain his energy at all.

    "Huh? What do you mean?" Irea asked before moving her eyes back at the fragment of fire she was watching. Yet, it only continued to slowly fall, as if the force of gravity didn''t apply to it at all.

    "Magic has no mass, no thickness, nor any defined density. As such, how could we even begin to describe its shape or size?" Layn borated a bit more on his question, intentionally putting the girl into a thoughtful state.

    "What do you want to say... is that the shape of the magic isn''t real?" Irea asked, trying as hard as she could to figure out what Layn wanted her to understand. As little as it could be for someone else, for her,mitting a blunder of failing to meet Layn''s exception was something she couldn''t handle.

    Not when she just discovered she might have some rivals!

    "Close, but not quite there yet. Or rather, you are right, but that''s not what I wanted you to understand. Listen," Layn shrugged slightly in Irea''s arms before grabbing her hands and pulling her over to his front. He then lowered his head over her shoulder and pressed it tightly to the girl''s cheek. Then, he pushed his arm forward and pointed it at one of the fragments of the fire.

    "Do you think it''s small?" Layn suddenly asked, feeling how tense the girl was underneath his hands. "Right, this is not some sort of test. I just want you to be able to see it properly once it fires up," Layn added, suddenly worried about Irea''s inner state.

    "Ah," Irea spoke up after a moment, only for her breath to lock itself in her throat. ''Could it be...'' She continued to stare at the falling fragment of fire for a few moments longer before suddenly raising her head sharply and gazing straight into Layn''s pupils. "Isn''t small nor big unless we define at what distance it is away from us!" she eximed, ecstatic that she finally managed to solve the problem she was tasked with.

    "Good, but keep your eyes on the fragment," Layn said and smiled as he noticed just how giddy the girl turned in this single moment. "Once you realize that it''s not necessarily small at all..." Tom stopped his words as he glued his eyes to the fragment. He even used his finger to push at Irea''s cheek, forcing her to look in the same spot.

    ''Dang, she is too soft for my own good,'' Layn thought, unable to stop enjoying the softness of the girl''s flesh. He took a whiff, only to realize that being so close to Irea made it impossible to breathe anything else but her sweet, delicate smell.

    "Hey," Irea suddenly twitched as she protested. "Didn''t you want me to watch it?" she asked in a lecturing tone, "I can''t really focus if you grope me like that!" she shot her usation.

    ''Woops,'' Layn finally realized how wild his hands were going over Irea''s soft body. Once he got the taste of this fruit he had to be absent from for quite a while, his hormones nearly made him do the rest all in one go.

    "Sorry for that, just focus on the spell," Layn shook his head as he admitted to his faults before moving his eyes back at the spectacle as well. "Remember, it''s not that small," he added when the leaf almost covered the sight of the massive ball-like monster in the distance.

    "And off it goes...-" Tom whispered, right when the fire leaf and the monster crossed each other in his vision.

    The petal broke apart in an instant, showering a massive area with a deadly fire.

    It wasn''t just burning things. As soon as the ze would touch a tree, rather than setting it alight, it would just turn it into a pile of ash before eating into the ground. Even the earth itself wasn''t safe from the mes, as they continued to eat into it and transform the entire swath ofnd into a dark graveyard of a steppe.

    "It''s... beautiful," Irea trembled within Layn''s embrace as she spoke in a soft tone. For all the devastation this fire was causing, it was truly a sight to die for. "But," she suddenly turned her head, almost bumping her nose into Layn''s lips, "how did you do it?" Irea asked as she pointed her hand at the scorched remains of the monster.

    As the fire fell on it, even the sphere of influence that would normally reverse any action within it didn''t help. The fire simply ate through the web of magic that was creating that effect, falling into the flesh of the monster and burning through it. Yet, as that flesh turned out to be way thicker than Layn expected, even the me only managed to consume roughly half of the monster before its energy would dissipate.

    After all, a single fire like this held only a fifth of the total might of Layn''s spell. It was already a wonder that it was still capable of destroying such a weird monster!

    "How did you do it? Wasn''t it supposed to only be weak to support and healing spells?" Irea asked, tightening her fingers over Layn''s wrist. Her intense stare could only have a single meaning.

    ''She won''t be satisfied, no matter what I say,'' Layn thought, slightly troubled with the matter before suddenly shaking his head and looking the girl in the eyes.

    "Just like with everything, you could defeat those monsters with technique," he said before patting Irea''s head, "or you can defeat them with a might greater than their own."

 Chapter 154 - Layns Explanations

    "What the fuck was that?!" Al shouted, instantly jumping towards Layn. "How did you do it?!" While agitated, Al wasn''t mad, horrified, or hostile. Instead, the apparent awe in his eyes triggered a particr part of Layn''s soul to no end.

    "Old magic," Layn replied, finally allowing himself to spare this man any thought.

    ''Ever since we entered that forest, everything was rushed to no end,'' Layn thought, taking a moment to look at the man ahead. ''I didn''t really have the time to think about his presence yet,'' he added in his thoughts, closing his eyes to focus.

    ''If this really is that legendary guy,'' Layn thought, strangely scared to even think about this possibility.

    For someone like him, standing at the top was the norm. Layn wasn''t like that because of some sort of ill-sourced arrogance. He was simply a person who would assume the amount of responsibility for those around him respectable to his perceived might.

    Layn''s struggle to be as independent as he could, resulted in his humble self shrinking down.

    And while in terms of raw strenght, he was on a different level than Al, this man had the power to make Layn feel small.

    ''In front of him, I''m just a powerful mage. He is the damned father of civilization,'' Layn noted gravely in his thoughts.

    With this kind of moral advantage to his back, Al turned into a domineering figure in Layn''s eyes.

    Even if he was just slightly stronger than some of the monsters that Layn was killing en-masse today.

    "Are you alright?" Irea asked, forcing Layn out of his broken state of thoughts.

    "Yeah, I''m just tired," Layn replied, resting the back of his head against Irea''s chest. The soft pillow of her flesh instantly calmed him down. "If I were to break down to simple terms," Layn brought his eyes up before turning them down on Al''s face, "this was the pinnacle of how far the power of spirits can take you."

    If Layn was stupefied earlier, then Al instantly froze in a shock.

    ''I didn''t talk with him about spirits yet,'' Al thought grimly, barely managing to hold his smile up. "What could you mean?" he asked, taking a step forward.

    "This is a rather long story, so let me ask you one insanely important question first," Layn smiled as he countered. On the other end, Al clicked his tongue. "Have you ever heard about the vian tribe?"

    This question created the second instance when Al went silent. For a moment, he remainedpletely motionless before suddenly raising his eyes at Layn.

    "Huh? Yeah, without them, we would never have any chance about those damned celestials," Al said as he shrugged his shoulders. For him, this clearly appeared to be a stupid question.

    "Oh boy," Layn whispered, shaken by the sudden reveal. While he expected it quite a bit by now, it still came as a surprise.

    "Layn? What does that mean?" Irea asked while tightening her arms around Layn''s torso. Her lips created a pouting expression, signaling how unhappy she was being excluded from the discussion.

    Crack.

    "Boss, the monsters are now in retreat," Antion suddenly appeared from the nearby woods. He was fully covered in blood, yet he didn''t limp like someone injured.

    "Great, good job keeping us safe," Layn said as he nodded his head in acknowledgment of his disciple''s actions. "But I guess I won''t escape the question," Layn added after a moment, turning his head back to the girl.

    "The group you saw me with before, they are from vian tribe, or rather, a vian nation," Layn continued his exnation, raising his eyes to the sky. "While they exist in a few legends and myths, they are not that popr," he said, fully in a thoughtful state, "but in those few myths they do appear in, their power and ability are hard to overestimate."

    This time, it was Irea''s turn to freeze in shock. "Huh? Those people? They didn''t appear strong at all!" she protested, raising her confused eyes at Layn''s face.

    "Don''t underestimate them," Layn sighed and then shook his head a little. "I confirmed they use a kind of magic I never heard about. That alone makes them formidable, as I can''t predict their moves and intentions," Layn spoke out without holding anything back.

    "Either way, why are they here?" Irea suddenly changed the topic as a worrisome idea shed in her deep pupils.

    "I think you can call them scouts?" Layn suggested, unsure about the answer himself. "Well, they came here to see whether this ce can be turned into a refugee for their people," Layn shook his shoulders.

    ''I know this might be a bit much to stomach right off the bat...'' he thought, lowering his eyelids as he focused on the warmth of the girl on his back. ''Well, now that I think of it, didn''t I just drift along with the events?'' Layn suddenly asked himself, as if suddenly freeing himself from invisible bounds.

    ''Why did I just ept the Castor''s idea to let his people settle here?'' Layn asked himself, petrified by this sudden realization.

    But after just a short moment, his sudden moment of panic passed.

    ''No, this was the rational choice,'' Layn shook his head to get rid of those stupid thoughts. ''In a ce like that, any amount of manpower is wee, not to say about all the potential resources they could bring with them...''

    "Huh? So you already brought that vian tribe or whatnot under your control?!" Irea screamed out a shock.

    "Not at all," Layn quickly shook his head, not willing to allow this kind of misunderstanding to pester for any longer than necessary. "I only made contact with one of their officers. How would any potential cooperation look like?" Layn shook his shoulders. "How the heck would I know?"

    From the joyful, the atmosphere turned slightly tense.

    "Well, I think I would fell to my knees and praise you as a lord of the spirits if you could take over their tribe in just a few days," Al spoke up, instantly diffusing the tension.

    ''Huh?'' Irea suddenly thought, turning her gaze towards the burly man. ''He is still new to Layn, so shouldn''t he be the one with his expectations broken?'' she asked herself, confused by the moment.

    "I understand that you can have your worries, but this is the best course of action," Layn suddenly spoke up, addressing the entire group at once. "As you might have noticed, that forest is under someone''s influence. And as Irea and Antion already saw, this kind of being isn''t easy to fight with."

    "So you want to say..." Irea suddenly whispered, covering her lips with the tips of her fingers. ''Did I pull the entire colony into a nest of a monster like that?'' The realization struck the girl hard. She already doubted her abilities before, yet this time her cup couldn''t hold any more water.

    If there were things that were the droplet that made the water spill, this realization was like a stone thrown into the cup.

    "Irea, you couldn''t know," Layn spoke up, noticing the worrying changes on the girl''s face. "For all, you could guess, that massive monster I defeated controlled the entirety of this ce, am I wrong?" he asked, pushing Irea''s head up by probing her chin.

    "Y-yes," Irea replied. Her entire body was shaking. Her knees caved in, making the girl fall down. If not for Layn''s swift turn and grab, she would crash to the ground.

    "And that brings me to the question you asked, Al," Layn turned his eyes to the burly man, still patiently waiting for his answer. "Just like the vian tribe showed you new ways on which to grow, the ce Ie from stands even higher. What you take for the spirits, my civilization mastered," Layn said as he held his eyes on Al.

    "Aren''t you friends with Yelna and Markus? Didn''t they im toe from my own lineage?" Al suddenly asked, proving that he didn''t have muscles for brains.

    "Yes, I am," Layn confirmed Al''s words before smiling gently. "What you started, your descendants developed and worked on. All the way to the point of using it in the way you saw me use it," Layn exined, finally opening up to the man that he considered as his idol ever since the youngest years.

    "So that was a spirit magic?" Al asked, looking in the direction where Layn''s mes continued to burn through the thick vegetation of the forest.

    "Yes and no. While the real thing can be even slightly more powerful, I couldn''t bring out its full power. Sadly," Layn turned his eyes to Al before nodding his head in an advance apology, "the truth is, spirits magic is nowhere near enough to call yourself a mage. While it''s a foundation every mage must properly develop, in reality, it''s just the first step in exploring magic," Layn exined truthfully.

    The archmage pulled his hand forward before snapping his fingers. A small ball of fire started to float around his hand.

    "This fire is like a spirit''s magic," Layn exined before snapping his fingers again. And in a sh, the small fire turned into a raging inferno the size of a human''s head. "This is the modern magic," he exined before closing his eyes for a moment.

    For a second, nothing happened. Then, in a moment only Layn understood to be right, he snapped his fingers again.

    As if a firecracker went off, sparks split apart from Layn''s snapping fingers. The air itself instantly caught fire from the sparks. The explosion seemed to build on itself whenever it spread, endlessly elerating its growth.

    Yet, everything disappeared in a mere sh.

    "And this was the conceptual magic," Layn exined with a small smile. "Each type of magic is stronger because it uses the tricks of the others. Now, do you understand why I''m willing to agree to a lot just to learn the vian magic?"

 Chapter 155 - What Next?

    "Right, you exined the magic itself, but not what''s your n for the camp!" Al shouted out roughly an hour after the two groups rejoined and started their slow return to the camp.

    ''Huh?'' Layn thought, startled, unable to figure out just where did that question came from. "Isn''t it obvious? I nned to turn it into a magic academy from the very beginning, didn''t Irea tell you that?" Layn asked before moving his confused eyes on the girl.

    "I told them, but they then came up with various problems regarding this solution," she exined as she shrugged her shoulders.

    "Excuse me, what?" Layn brought his eyes back from the girl on Al before shaking his head. "Wait, let me reiterate, even though everyone knew what this ce was supposed to be while I was away, they still dared to make some ns for it?" Layn asked for rification.

    "That''s more or less it," Irea confirmed while nodding her head.

    "You know it''s not that simple," Al sighed before rushing forward for a bit so that he could talk while walking right beside the archmage rather than shouting through a distance. "Once you left, there was a need to pick a direction, pick an objective. No matter how big or small, a tribe without an objective will fade away," he stated before hanging his hands behind his back.

    ''For someone of your posture, this kind of gesture doesn''t make you look smart, you know?'' Layn asked his idol in his thoughts before shaking his head to get rid of those useless thoughts.

    "Well, now that I''m no longer away, there is no problem with just sticking to the original n... Or so I would love to say, but it''s no longer possible," Layn announced before looking at Sitra just a few steps away. "After all, we are going to have all sorts of peopleing to this ce, and I will need to amodate them all," he added.

    "Huh? You will need to amodate them?" Irea asked, puzzled by the way Layn put those words together. "Isn''t that in supermassive? Wouldn''t it be easier to just let the people settle wherever?" she asked, raising her eyes to look at Layn''s face.

    "Once again, this isn''t that simple," Layn replied with a sour expression.

    "Why don''t you just tell her?" Sitra suddenly entered the discussion with a question on her own. "Wouldn''t that be easier thaning up with some borate lies?" she continued, clearly set on burying a grave for the archmage.

    "Excuse me?" Irea moved her eyes on the other woman in the group. "If Layn is not telling me something, I fully believe he has reasons for it. I don''t know what the two of you went through while he was away, but I don''t think you have the right to scold him like that," she stated with a grim look in her eyes.

    "I''m sorry, miss, but you do not need to be so overprotective to your boyfriend!" Sitra countered with a wicked smile. "I understand that you can''t find a single redeemable feature about yourself outside of this voluptuous body of yours, but it''s not something you should force others to go along with as well!" she continued, clearly set on angering the girl.

    "Both of you, stop it," Layn ordered, already annoyed by this kind of bickering. "Sitra, you went too far. If you don''t know something, you are ought not to try to make up for yourck of knowledge with your guesses. Just like now, they are wrong, making you appear like not only some barbarian brute but also an arrogant piece of shit," Layn informed the girl with a cold look in his eyes. "And what''s more, while I''m going along with you right now because I have high hopes for cooperation with your tribe, don''t try to push your borders. Just like you said, Irea is my girlfriend, and I won''t stand for someone insulting her," Layn finished his part before moving his eyes on the aforementioned girlfriend of his.

    "As for you, you actually don''t need to be that overprotective that I will give to Sitra," he said while cing his hand on top of Irea''s head. "I''m really grateful that you feel obliged to do it, but this time, I was in the wrong," Layn said, unwilling to hold back the responsibility of his own actions.

    "It''s okay. I won''t pressure you to exin something if you are not ready to do it," Irea rephrased her earlier statement before grabbing Layn''s arm and hugging it with her entire upper body. "I will be happy if you tell me what she meant, no matter how long you will take to do so."

    ''Dang, how can she be so adorable?'' Layn thought while staring down at Irea''s deep eyes. Even though Sitra just attempted to put a small wrench in their rtionship, Layn could only see trust, affection, and unending loyalty in her pupils.

    "Well, what kind of man would I be if I didn''t do my best to make my girlfriend happy?" Layn asked out before shaking his head. A natural smile returned to his lips. "What Sitra was trying to force me to tell is that the moment I killed the Overlord of Origin, I became a ruler of sorts of the area that used to be governed by that monster," Layn exined while shaking his shoulders before casting a sharp look on the girl in question.

    "What? How did you..." Sitra couldn''t hold back her shock caused by Layn''s words. She only managed to stop herself from revealing more when she noticed Layn''s cold gaze.

    "While you didn''t teach me even a shred of the magic of your tribe, it doesn''t mean I''m an idiot," Layn stated with the same cold tone as the coldness in his eyes. "I know more about magic than your entire tribebined. As such, it was pretty easy to figure out where the influence of the Overlord of Origines from," Layn added while squinting his eyes.

    ''Well, I said that, but it wasn''t easy at all,'' he thought, going back to the memories from just a few hours ago.

    Ever since he left for this scouting mission, he was absorbing the energy from the space around him, as if he still had some magic particles roaming around his blood flow or flesh.

    ''Yet, I''m positive that I burned through everyst particle when fighting that wolf-like overlord,'' Layn thought, actually going over the entire notion just now.

    A major part of Layn''s image of someone capable of everything was the fact that he never really revealed his full capabilities to anyone. As such, in a situation like the current one, no one doubted the ims he made, even though they resulted from the logical analysis he did on the go.

    ''As such, there is only one way for me to gather the energy from the area passively... And for some reason, I was unable to suck the mana anymore once I stepped into the area of another Overlord.'' Layn lined up all the facts beforeing to a conclusion.

    A conclusion that would be unimaginable if he wanted to just guess it, but quite practical and logical now that he did the background work for it.

    "So, you know..." Sitra spoke in a disappointed tone before hanging her head to the back and releasing a deep sigh. "Well, that defines how far we will be able to go once our negotiations start, am I right?" she said as she looked sweetly at Layn.

    "Partially, but let me exin it to others first," Layn said as he nodded his head.

    "Basically, this entire ce is split between spheres of influence. Each of those spheres is controlled by an Overlord of Origin. What they are, where theye from, and why one needs to fight them to own the area on its own... I have no idea," Layn said and smiled at the same time as if he wanted to nail the point down that thisck of knowledge didn''t bother him in the slightest.

    Which, for people that knew Layn long enough to understand just how massive his thirst for knowledge was, would easily find out to be a lie.

    "The thing is, the entire area that was under the influence of the Overlord that I killed is now under my influence," Layn announced with a wide smile that soured pretty quickly. "I don''t have any idea how I can use this influence, whether the area I can control is going to change... There are so many questions to which I don''t have answers right now," he added before taking his time to calm himself down.

    "In the end," Layn spoke up after a moment of silence, "the idea for the academy is no longer usible. Even if we ignore the entire spheres of influence stuff, theke by which we have settled appears to be the only water source in the area. As such," Layn raised his eyes and looked coldly at Sitra.. "If we want a massive amount of people to migrate here, we will have to use everyst ounce of strenght, manpower, resources, and geography around us to prepare."

 Chapter 156 - Irrigation System

    "We should still be a day away," Layn muttered under his nose as the rest of the group busied themselves with setting up the camp. As much as he wanted to reach the camp already, with just four mounts for the entire group, there was no way to speed up their march any further.

    "What are you thinking about?" Sitra asked as she approached the archmage. Layn looked back, only to see her impressive figure with her already prepared tent serving as the background to her march.

    ''To think that not only Al but Irea would also be slower than her,'' he thought, taking note of this small detail of the girl.

    "Nothing much." Layn shrugged the question away. "Just some early nning for what we should do once we get back," he said, looking down at the ground.

    In just thest few moments, thezy and monotone moves of his hand-carved out quite aplex picture directly in the ground.

    "Yeah, yeah, tell me more," Sitra chuckled at Layn''s exnation before brushing away a stray strand of hair that got on her eyes. She then leaned over Layn''s arm, curious about the drawings of his making. "Is this some sort¡­ of an irrigation system?" she asked, moving her eyes ¨C filled with surprise ¨C on Layn''s face.

    "More or less," he admitted his doings before pulling the stick he was using to draw away. Layn then took a long look at theplicated of lines and rows that spread away from a circle that served as a base of the entire picture. "I''m not sure if I''m right with this, but I''m quite puzzled by the difference between the energy the Overlord I defeated had and the one I''m receiving right now," he revealed his little secret without the slightest care in the world.

    ''Or rather, that''s what I would love for her to think I just did,'' Layn thought as he scanned the self-made picture below his feet.

    "And what kind of great conclusions did you came up with?" Sitra pushed, uncaring for the potential trouble she was causing to the archmage.

    At first, Layn simply sent the girl a long, meaningful nce before shaking his head and ultimately averting his eyes. ''Well, she is kind of a deputy of vians, so I need to feed her some information,'' he realized before raising his eyes at the girl again. "If it''s not going to me, it has to go somewhere," Layn shook his shoulders. "And what''s the better ce for the energy to gather than in soil? Although only slight, its crystalic structure makes it easy for mana to store up," Layn exined the very basics of the magicmateriology, one of the founding subjects every student at his academy had to pass.

    "So you think that those aridnds can actually be a bomb of fertility?" Sitra asked before blinking her eyes a few times as if she wanted to make sure the sight in front of her eyes wasn''t just an illusion.

    But no matter how much she blinked, Layn''s body still remained on top of a small hill he picked to waste his time away while everyone was busy setting the camp. As such, his words couldn''t be an illusion either.

    "Even if that''s the case, we will need to iron that energy out of the ground for it to be truly fertile," Layn corrected Sitra''s slight misconception with just a passing notion. "As for the irrigation system itself," he started.

    "What are you guys talking about?" Irea approached the two of them as soon as she finished her own tent. With no surprise, Al followed closely behind Layn''s girlfriend, proving that he wasn''t slow at work either.

    "The irrigation system. Suppose a single guess of mine is right. In that case, this might be the most important project for us for the nearest future," Layn answered honestly before pointing his small stick at the picture below his feet.

    "System of canals?" Al asked, unsure about the meaning of the word.

    "That''s right," Layn nodded, pointing his stick at one of the three points starting in the founding circle. One of the three points symbolized the opening of one of the three main waterways Layn nned. "We will frame the entire project on those three canals," he pointed at the widest ditches in the picture.

    "Two of them will by the border of the current housing district," Layn pointed at a small box and two lines that run parallel to it. "The first one will end up spilling through the smaller canals to the south. We will use those canals to water the fields we will prepare there," Layn continued his exnation as he pointed his stick at various parts of the picture.

    "If we are already bringing up a single line there, what''s the point for making another canal right beside?" Al asked, looking all puzzled. "Wouldn''t it be easier to just make a single canal¡­ but wider?" he asked, proving that he at least had the basic idea of what the construction of canals was all about.

    "While the southern line will be used to water the fields, we will use the norther one to create the reservoir past the fields," Layn continued his lecture, exining every piece of his carving to the people despite it being just a makeshift picture he drew to help himself formte the n in the first ce. "As for the line going east right off the bat, we will use it to create another massive field, boxing the camp between those two crops-focused areas," Layn said before lowering his head and spitting. An unwise action with how dry his throat already became.

    "Wouldn''t that make it hard to fortify this position?" Al asked, looking up at Layn with concern in his eyes.

    "We are out in the desert. To a point, this camp is at the very hearnd of both deserts, be it the sandy or the grassy one," Layn pointed out before yawning. "If someone is determined and skilled enough to pass through either of the deserts, no matter the fortifications, they won''t pose any challenge to them," Layn countered without as much as a second thought.

    Those cameter.

    "Wait, you might actually be right," Layn suddenly admitted, as if it was the most natural thing for him to do. "Now that we can''t know for sure whether the monsters will continue to roam thend, we cannot take our detachment-born safety for granted," he said in a harsh voice. ''How could I fail to notice it?'' Layn asked himself, feeling as if all the memories from his journey back to the camp flooded his mind at once.

    Ever since he was blown away by that Overlord of Origin in its dying moments, Layn didn''t encounter a single monster. His first time to see a single monster again only happened when he went into the sphere of influence of another monster.

    ''Did the monsters migrate? Did they change their patterns? Or maybe they all disappeared along with the Overlord''s death?'' Layn posed yet another series of questions before tightening his fists. The aura of powerlessness spilled all over his soul.

    In a single instant, his joyous mood turned sour.

    ''If theck of monsters is something really triggered by the demise of the Overlord, some sort of fortifications will be of utmost importance,'' Layn thought, noticing his single wed detail about his ns.

    All of them included the presence of the monsters roaming the desert as a deterrent factor. Be it for the opponents or candidates to Layn''s academy, a march through hell apanied by those demonic creatures would be a fitting trial to anyone wishing to challenge the gates of Layn''s academy.

    Be it to graduate or to im its riches and knowledge for one''s own.

    "Now that I thought about it, you are fully right," Layn once again admitted to his mistake before scrapping the entire picture with a few swift strokes of his stick. "Let''s do it all over again, but this time with defenses in mind," Layn muttered to the public all over him while, in fact, using those words to encourage himself.

    Layn simply sat down on a small hill and carved out doodles directly in the ground in the next few moments. But what could look like a random set of lines and dots for a stranger was actually a detailed n on what would be the foundation of Layn''s academy and,ter, maybe even a city.

    "We will start from three points. First two arteries, we will cross to enclose the area as big as ten of our current camps," Layn said, once again pointing his stick down at the carving he made. "Between two massive canals and theke itself, we will be surrounded with water. Once we add some ramparts, ditches, and traps, the camp will be virtually unsiegable. The problem is¡­." Layn suddenly stopped his lecture as if a sudden question appeared in his mind.

    But what Layn decided to keep silent about, Al voiced out without any fucks given, "Unsiegable? And who would wish to siege it in the first ce?"

 Chapter 157 - Arrangments For Planning The City

    "Yuck, everything so dirty," Sitra said with disgust as she ran her finger through the brick wall of the first building she entered. "Are you really not bothered by this, guys?" she asked while turning her head back to the rest of the group.

    "Stop it," Layn said without even looking at the girl. "You are well aware that all those buildings were constructed in a hurry and just to satisfy the basic protection needs," he pointed out before looking at Irea to his side. "You did a great job at expanding the camp," he patted his girl on the head before turning his head around and looking every member of the party in the eyes. "You all did a great job," he praised the group.

    Before Layn went away, the camp consisted of measly two buildings. A shared lodging for the first pioneers and a kitchen area. And while the kitchen remained the mostplicated building with its heat exchange system, the brick-burning nt wasn''t that far off from being far more impressive.

    But the main point of theparison wasn''t in the production nt but in the scale of the entire ce. What used to be a field filled with tents through the day and just two buildings in the night turned into a proper settlement with a single house only required to house two people at once.

    "Still, this won''t do," Sitra didn''t show even a single hint of remorse after being schooled but fell into a deep thought instead. "Now I know that the absolute priority willy in bringing qualified personnel," she suddenly announced.

    "Wouldn''t that be quite hard?" Layn asked, surprised by the notion. ''If I were to just roughly guess... vians should be somewhere in eitherte medieval or early modern level of development. Unless it''s thetter, it might be nearly impossible to amass the numbers that I would like to have here,'' Layn thought, not even daring to attempt calcting the exact required numbers.

    "Dealing with the guild might be a pain in the ass, but as long as we get the King on our side, it should be a breeze," Sitra replied, casually dropping a valuable piece of information. While others could consider this to be an innocent slip of a tongue, Layn knew better than that.

    ''It seems she is slowly starting to open up... Or rather, consider my group as allies, rather than just people to use and then trample on,'' Layn thought, keenly observing everyst twitch on Sitra''s face.

    "Can I make a request?" Layn asked, raising his eyes with a poorly hidden hope brimming in them.

    "Do you want some whores or what?" Sitra replied with a question on her own, instantly raising her guard.

    "That coulde handy, but not yet and not just like that," Layn shook his head before taking a nce at the rest of the group. While he was talking with Sitra, they already distributed the houses between themselves, leaving the most modern one to Layn and Irea while ceding two others to Sitra and her bodyguards. "What I need are people with actual experience with managing the town. Only they will notice the problems with my ns with a single nce, as they are used to dealing with problems like that."

    "City nners?" Sitra asked in a half-assed voice, speaking to herself rather than actually posing the question. "I''m not sure what you meant by that, but I can get any amount of governors and economs. Ever since our borders started burning, we lost a fair number of cities and viges to the enemy," Sitra said, gently biting on her lips.

    ''Early modern period then,'' Layn decided when noticing this small expression.

    For people in the medieval and alike periods, the notion of patriotism didn''t exist. The entire country structure was created just for the strong to exploit the weak in exchange for protection from other strong people. The creation of countries, duchies, and even cities was all dictated by this simple social hierarchy.

    And in such a world, even the highest ss at the very top of the entire country wouldck the notion of love for said country. Not because they were some coldblooded and calctive people. While this part of living at the top had its weight, the crux of the problemid in something far simpler.

    With how the country was nothing more but an organized structure of influences and profits, theycked the awareness that the country and the nation could be something greater. Sure, they valued their own culture and pride, but if anyone were to ask a random person on the street where do they belong to, they would reply with the name of the vige, city, or maybe a province, but never a country itself.

    ''Since she has the national sentiments, as can be clearly seen in how distressed she was by mentioning her country''s losses, there is no way for the vians to be still in the high medieval period,'' Layn bit his lips as he concluded the analysis of this simple detail.

    A simple detail that changed a lot with how he viewed the other party.

    "That''s great, but there is a question in this suggestion," Layn added while raising his eyebrow, clearly anticipating the girl to figure out what he meant on her own.

    "How quickly can I bring them here, right?" Sitra guessed before resting her back against the wall of Layn''s new house. "If I get all the horses, then I should be able to return on my own within a week. If you draw me the ns, I can get them to the guild''s office and request immediate help, but bringing a mass of people here..." Sitra shook her head. "This is not something that can be achieved with fast horses and carriages," she said before raising her eyes at Layn''s face.

    "I understand. If I were to guess, about a month?" he asked while looking up at the bright sky.

    "More or less," Sitra nodded her head before moving away from the house and then even further before turning around and taxing the entire settlement with her gaze. "It would be a pity to build a ce only to tear it down a yearter. Give me the ns. I will depart right away," Sitra announced after a moment of thought.

    "I knew you would say this," Layn smiled before pulling out a small piece of rolled-up paper from underneath his clothes.

    While passing by the ns he redrawn from the carving in the ground on one of few pieces of portable writing material, Layn could appear as someone who was true to his words... But that wasn''t the case at all.

    ''That went way easier than I anticipated,'' he thought, barely able to hold back his excitement. ''It''s strange that she didn''t ask for some concessions right away,'' he thought before shrugging his shoulders and shaking his head. ''No, I bet she didn''t want the construction work to stall because of some mistakes neither of us could notice in that n of mine.''

    With everything set and decided, the two of them parted ways. Yet, by the time Layn finished cleaning up the interior of his house, he heard knocking on the doors made up from the few wooden nks his people fished out of theke.

    "Come in," Layn threw towards the door, too focused on moving a small broom around and dusting the insides to move from his spot.

    "Layn, those vians are departing!" Irea came in and shouted right from the threshold, making Layn lose his focus. As a result, the broom that hovered over the ground as it scraped its surface fell to the ground with a loud bang.

    "Thanks for telling me," Layn shook his head to get rid of the remaining thoughts about magic before turning around and leaving the house. He was cleaning it in the first ce so that once Irea would return from the kitchen, she would be able to rest in a ce cleaned out to a degree.

    "Here to see me off?" Sitra asked jokingly from her saddle when she noticed the archmage walking towards her.

    "Yes. Did I surprise you?" Layn replied in a simr manner, gracing the girl with a genuine smile. ''Even if this is all just part of her own n, it doesn''t change the fact that she will be of great help,'' Layn thought to rationalize his kind attitude towards the girl.

    "Not at all," Sitra shook her head as she gathered the reins in her hand. "I will make sure to return as quickly as possible... But there is a chance I won''t return alone," she said as she averted her eyes, clearly hesitant whether to tackle this topic or not.

    "I will understand unless you start dumping your prisoners and ves on us," Layn replied while resting his arm on Irea''s shoulders. ''While it''s not a problem to be nice to her, I can''t let Irea have any wrong ideas,'' he thought to himself.

    "I will do my best to pick suitable people..." Sitra hesitated once again before shaking her head and looking Layn directly in the eyes. "No. I will do my best, but I hope you will be able to deal with them," she said sternly.

    "I will see what I can do," Layn smiled in response while crafting yet another scheme deep in his thoughts. "But before you go, I want you to remember one thing," Layn suddenly said just as Sitra was about to hurry her horse and begin her journey back to viannds.

    "What''s it?" she asked, troubled to regain her bnce after being disturbed right as she was about to do something.

    "Once you return, you will teach me your magic."

 Chapter 158 - Hunters Guild

    "What are you up to?" Irea asked as she went out of the kitchen. Ever since the party returned from its arduous trip to the forest in the north, she spent most of her time turning the animal corpses into storable food.

    "Trying to figure out what we should do right now," Layn replied while staring at yet another picture he drew on the ground.

    "You are still troubled with those ns?" Irea asked as she looked over Layn''s shoulder. "Yeah, it''s all the same," she sighed before Layn could even say something.

    "I know that it''s pointless," Layn nodded his head as he replied. "I might know a lot about many different things, but nning a city?" he asked himself before shaking his head. "No, that''s not something I''m capable of doing. Or rather, I can''t do it in a way that won''t cause troubles down the line," he exined his thoughts with his eyes stuck to the picture below.

    "How about doing something else?" Irea proposed while she straightened her back and looked over at the kitchen''s chimney. ''Is she judging the color of the smoke or something?'' Layn thought as he got distracted for a moment before the stillness of the moment got him once again.

    "The problem is, there isn''t that much else to do," Layn replied as he finally raised his eyes up. He gazed at the several buildings nearby before shaking his head. "All we can do right now is produce the bricks. No matter what we try to build, it''s likely to be torn down as soon as the correction to my ns appears," he said, revealing the main reason why he was so down.

    "How about helping me around in the kitchen, then?" Irea proposed while leaning her head over her shoulder. "It''s pretty hard to take care of all the animals we managed to bring back," she said while looking to the back at the open doors to the kitchen.

    "Is that the case?" Layn asked while moving his eyes on the girl. "Dang, I didn''t really pay too much attention to the spoils at all. How are we looking?" Layn asked as soon as he realized that he missed this crucial detail.

    "In terms of meat, if we use it sparingly, it shouldst for two or three months," Irea replied after a short moment of calction. "That is, don''t expect to eat steaks or fried meat. A single or double chunk of it in a soup every now and then is all I can promise," she exined her thoughts before biting her lips. "I know this is not the perfect solution, but unless we want to return to fish and gruel in a week, we will need to hold back."

    ''That''s right,'' Layn thought. ''We didn''t bring a lot, but just enough to make our diet a bit better for a moment,'' he realized, forced to ept the reality no matter how bad it would be.

    "I don''t even want to think what will happen when people starting to this ce," Irea added after Layn failed to respond in any way or form for a long while.

    "That''s the easiest part. Once more people will gather here, we will have to find different jobs for them." Layn informed the girl, using the few bits of knowledge about management he gathered in the academy. "If we force everyone to strictly follow the most essential task, we won''t be able to keep them loyal and peaceful," he added before turning his picture into a mess with a few strokes of yet another stick he found.

    Then, he started to carve the ground once again. This time though, instead of nning another outline, he drew a set of seven squares arranged as a side of a pyramid.

    "Wait, I have an idea," Layn said after staring at his own picture for a few moments. "What if we create a hunting guild?" he asked, raising his eyes at the girl behind him.

    "Hunting guild? Like the mercenary one back in the town?" Irea asked as she nced to the far east where they came from not so long ago.

    "More or less," Layn nodded his head. "The guild would be divided into seven ranks. Starting with two parts out of ten. Each hunter would raise their share of the prey they hunt by one-tenth for each rank they advance." Layn started to exin his idea while adding arrows of varying size to each of the squares in the picture, with all of them pointing outwards.

    "Two tenths?" Irea asked before shaking her head and then casting an intense gaze at Layn as if she wasn''t sure if she heard correctly. "If we set the tax so high, no one will bother to hunt!"

    "A valid point, but," Layn smiled as he dragged his hand down and mmed it into the ground. "If they won''t hunt, they will only be able to buy the meat from those who will sell it. And with the tax set so high..." Layn stopped mid-sentence before raising his eyes on the girl.

    "Rarely anyone would ever sell the meat," Irea finished Layn''s words but didn''t appear to be convinced. "Still, eight out of ten?" She shook her head. "Even if they can decrease the task by working more, no one will start if the entry will be so damn exploitative!" Irea protested with all her might.

    ''Isn''t this the first time?'' Layn suddenly asked himself. ''Isn''t this the first time that she openly opposed me?'' Layn was just as surprised as he was happy. He liked the girl a lot and expected a certain degree of loyalty and obedience, but he didn''t wish for her to turn into a lifeless puppet.

    ''After those moments of doubt she had back near the forest, I would never imagine her to argue with me so quickly!'' he thought with joy, happy seeing the girl''s growth.

    "You are right," Layn suddenly admitted. "If people will have to risk going to that forest just to advance ranks, no one will bother doing it." He smiled despite apparently going against his own idea. "That''s where the standard quests wille into y," he added after a moment when he judged the tension to be high enough.

    "Standard quests?" Irea asked, sighing with exhaustion. "Another brilliant idea of yours?" she asked rudely, clearly too tired to mind her manners.

    "For the lowest rank, we will go with the letter ''F,''" Layn announced as he drew the letter in the box at the bottom of the pyramid. "For them, the standard task will be to help around with the gathering of wild herbs on the ins and doing odd-jobs requested by the locals," Layn informed before moving the tip of his stick towards the higher square.

    "For the ''E'' rank hunters, their standardized quest will be the construction work. We could asionally add some more quests for this grade whenever someone requests a thing that an ''F'' rank hunter could find troublesome," Layn continued to talk about this topic while Irea just stared wide-eyed at him.

    "Wait, what does construction work has to do with hunting?" she suddenly asked, pointing out the w in Layn''s n.

    "Dang, I didn''t think about this..." Layn admitted before rubbing his chin. "How about ves-guild?" he proposed with a small smirk.

    "Are you done wasting my time?" Irea asked in a tired voice, refusing to ept Layn''s invitation to a joke.

    ''She must be really tired,'' Layn thought, unable to find another reason behind the girl''s poor mood.

    "I''m sorry. But putting the name of the matter aside, I believe we could organize this ce quite well with a ce like that." Layn pushed with the topic even if Irea wasn''t all that interested in it.

    ''After all, she was born to the culture dominant in the current time. While the idea of adventurer''s guild is quite obvious, it might not necessarily work with how the world is right now.'' Layn thought, visibly deting as his enthusiasm started to vanish.

    "I don''t think it''s a bad idea per se," Irea said with a hesitant voice. "I''m just worried that putting the tax so high right off the bad would hamper the enthusiasm people would have to join something like that," she exined her own way of thinking.

    "How would you set it yourself, then?" Layn asked, making sure to get rid of all the irony that could possibly hide in his voice. After all, he wasn''t trying to put Irea down for opposing him but get her genuine advice.

    "I would have to think about it... But what if this tax only applies to the spoils directly from the forest area?" Irea proposed, raising her eyes at Layn.

    Looking into the girl''s pupils, Layn could see certain energy in them. An energy that had some hopes at turning Irea''s mood nice again.

    "So that everyone willing to join the hunters would have to go through a period of working for the city first?" Layn asked before putting a wicked smile on his face. "Oh baby, I didn''t know you could be so heinous!"

 Chapter 159 - Mission And Patience

    //For all those confused, this is a new set of characters, but a familiar location//

    A knocking sound sounded within the small carriage.

    "Come in," a middle-aged man sitting inside ordered without taking his eyes off the document scroll in his hands.

    "Sir, we have arrived," a young man in casual clothes opened up the doors to the carriage before reporting.

    "So quickly?" the man inside asked while raising his eyebrow a little before putting up a wide smile on his face. "That''s great. Anything strikes your fancy already?" he asked while scrolling up the document back into a simple roll. He then put it into one of the many shelves made just for this purpose before standing up and moving outside of the cart.

    "Make sure to ditch and burn it all," he ordered the same young soldier before turning his face to the group of slightly older people. "Are you ready, guys?" he asked.

    "All for the..." the leader of the group attempted to respond, only to be silenced by the man''s quick wave of a hand.

    "Keep the damned formalities to the minimum," he ordered as his smile took a slightly unsavory note. "Out here, I''m just Jacob, not your boss," he added while still keeping his smile up, although it lost all of its warmth.

    "Sigh..." the leader of the group shook his head. "Jacob, we are ready. But are you?" he then asked in a casual tone.

    "Yeah, let''s go," Jacob nodded his head before heading forward, straight for the massive gate of the militarized camp at the border with the desert.

    While someone could still recognize specific members of the group during their approach to the city, once they reached the massive flow of adventurers and mercenaries going in and out of the camp, even this little chance of them gettingpromised no longer existed.

    As they were traveling under the guise, Jacob couldn''t use any of his means to get past the queue. Even if some of them didn''t draw too much attention, the guards would be sure to remember his appearance.

    And as the most creative bunch of rumor-makers, they would be sure to announce his arrival in the city far and wide.

    "Your documents, sir," one of the guards at the gate asked as soon as the group reached the most important and congested crossing point in the entire camp.

    "Here you go, sir," Jacob replied with a lenient smile. ''It is nice to see that the guards are actually doing their duty,'' he thought, looking around as he passed a small token that served as the identification in one of the guilds in the outskirts of the civilization.

    "Woah, sir, toe here from so far..." the guard muttered as he ran all the checks necessary.

    "Life can get unpredictable, doesn''t it?" Jacob asked with a small smile, refusing to borate either on the point he brought or on the details of the guard''s question. ''It''s better just to let people have whatever guesses they have rather than feeding them any real details. The more false information you spread, the easier it will be to catch you on a lie,'' he recalled one of the teachings of his master and the current overlord of information.

    "Here you go, sir," the guard smiled as he passed the crystal token back to Jacob''s hand. "I wish you a pleasant stay in the camp!" he added before moving both his eyes and the entire attention to the next guy in line.

    The group managed to assemble within the city in the predetermined rallying point roughly two hours after they entered the massive river of people at the gate.

    While this kind of time didn''t sound too efficient given their status, this was a misconception only an amateur could have. ''We could save roughly one and half hours by sneaking in, but the risk wasn''t worth the effort,'' Jacob thought as he watched more and more of his people assemble in the dining hall of a random inn.

    "Jacob, do you wanna drink anything?" one of his men approached the man before hitting him with this seemingly natural question.

    "Yeah. Could you get me two cups of vodka?" Jacob asked, openly passing his orders in a way that no random listener could properly understand.

    A minuteter, way earlier than any of his drinks could arrive, Jacob stood up and left the ce. And right at its doors, two of the men from the main group already waited for him.

    "So I''m going with you guys?" Jacob asked before a smirk took over his lips. "Well, let''s get going then," he ordered before turning on his heel and moving deeper into the city.

    For the next three hours, the group of three simply wasted their time. They continued to walk around the ce as if in search of something while keeping the appearance of just randomly strolling around.

    "That''s strange," Giern muttered after some time. "Shouldn''t we notice something by now?" he asked while turning his face to his leader.

    "What''s the first rule in our line of work?" Jacob asked with a small smile, exactly the same he would wear whenever talking with some stranger. Noticing this, Giern quickly looked up at the man''s eyes.

    ''Thank the Gods,'' he thought, noticing that his boss eyes have yet to get cold. "It''s patience," he responded after a short moment of making sure that he didn''t miss any of the hundreds of other rules Jacob enforced them to follow at all times.

    "Exactly," Jacob nodded his head before his eyes suddenly glued to small detail in the distance. "If you don''t want to alert the people you are watching; you need to be patient. And if you are patient, your patience will be eventually rewarded," he said as he finally picked up the pace, approaching the direction where he saw something.

    And soon enough, the group stood in front of yet another Inn of the city.

    "This ce has to serve really good drinks for so many people to gather here," Jacob said, once again using the cryptguage developed just for this mission.

    "I would love to have a drink or two myself," Severnmented, finally breaking the curse of silence he pretended to cope with ever since their small group has formed.

    "That''s quite... daring of you," Jacob smiled to the point of revealing the whites of his teeth. Strange fires exploded in his eyes as he stepped forward, moving out of the corner that hid them from the view of the crowd gathered at the Inn''s doorstep. "But I can''t say I don''t like your enthusiasm!"

    ''As much as I would want to just arrest and then interrogate everyone here, we cannot cause such ruckus,'' Jacob thought while making sure to keep walking at a perfectly natural pace. ''Not unless we want to scare our prey out,'' he added in his thoughts before finally locating the person he was looking for.

    ''There you are,'' Jacob thought when he saw a man moving out of the Inn with the clear intention to address the crowd at its doors.

    "Everyone, the next batch of ten can enter!" The handsome, middle-aged man said with an apologetic smile. He then moved aside and pressed his back against the wall of the building.

    ''Huh?'' Jacob stood in ce, right at the very end of the massive queue, surprised by the strange movements of the man. ''If he wanted to just invite a few people in, why doesn''t he walk inside himself?'' he questioned himself, puzzled by this unorthodox behavior.

    But the answer came soon enough.

    As soon as the man stood to the side, the entire crowd rushed forward. If observed from above, it would surely look like some kind of stampede.

    In such a disorganized crowd, there were no rules. By the time the people started to climb the stairs, Jacob already understood what kind of precaution the man had taken and why.

    "STOP!" His powerful voice soon sounded, instantly rooting everyone in their ce.

    ''Huh?'' Jacob froze in his spot, just like the entirety of the crowd. ''Was this some kind of technique?'' he thought as he fought to regain the freedom of his movements, something he achieved quite quickly, yet with a surprising amount of effort necessary.

    "Boss..." Giern said before his face turned white. "I mean, Jacob," he corrected himself before Jacob''s disapproving eyes could reach him.

    "Yes?" Jacob decided not to pursue the topic, too immersed in analyzing the strange force contained within the man''s shout to bother with his subordinate''s mistake.

    "What should we do?" Grin borated on his question. "There is no way we will enter the Inn just by following the crowd! It would take too long!" he protested, unhappy with the content of their mission.

    "Didn''t I say it already?" Jacob asked, annoyed by his underling''s whining. "Patience is the key to everything," he started before his angered lips formed a curve, turning into a devious smirk. "But there are some times when one has to bend the rules to achieve the objective," he added as his smile deepened.

    He then stepped away and closed his eyes. Yet, as if he was the clumsiest person in the entire world, he somehow tripped on his feet while standing, falling on his knee. But as soon as his body was hidden within the massive crowd, he executed a shout on his own.

    "FIRE! EVERYONE, THERE IS A FIRE!" He shouted, executing his own technique at the same time.

    There was no fire whatsoever. The architecture of the camp and the materials used to build it made it impossible for any fire tost longer than just a few minutes. With most of the buildings in ce made with stone and other unburnable materials, it couldn''t spread to the neighboring buildings either, limiting the scope of potential damage to just a single, unlucky location.

    But with the power of Jacob''s illusion now spreading through the majority of the crowd, those people wouldn''t be given a chance to think about it.

    After all, when they see themselves surrounded by the sky-high walls of mes with only a single direction still free from the danger, rarely would anyone bother to calmly analyze the situation!

 Chapter 160 - Silent Standoff

    "Boss! There is some trouble!" One of the mercenaries rushed through the doors and reported.

    "What''s going on?" Markus raised his head from the pile of documents he was reading, looking at the man with curiosity brimming in his eyes.

    ''Just what kind of thing had to happen for them to be unable to solve it on their own?'' He thought, puzzled by the situation. ''Weren''t they amongst the best mercenaries in the entire camp?'' he recalled the high praises the owner of the mercenary guild sang about those people.

    "Sir, it seems that someone used the illusion techniques to stir the crowd up!" the mercenary reported properly, yet he refused to look Markus in his eyes.

    "And? If it''s just an illusion, either calm the people down or strike down the one creating it," Markus replied and shrugged his shoulders. He then moved his eyes back on the piece of paper he was holding.

    "Sir!" the mercenary protested, clearly unhappy with the solution Markus proposed.

    "What? Something else happened?" Markus raised his eyes from the document once again, clearly annoyed by the man''s persistence.

    "Sir, for someone to use the illusion techniques, one has to be a three-star cultivator at the very least!" The mercenary exined before shaking his head and finally gathering the courage to look at Markus'' face. "While we are confident in our ability, there is no way for us to fight this kind of powerhouse!"

    ''Right, there is still the problem of the cultivation,'' Markus thought, realizing what seemed to be the source of the problem. ''Since we don''t really know much about it yet, this guy might turn out to not be all that weak even if he refuses to do his job right now.'' The former saint analyzed the situation.

    Then, he threw onest look at the document at his desk before shaking his head and decisively standing up from his chair. "Okay then, lead the way," he ordered before releasing a deep sigh. ''If those kinds of situations will keep happening, I will hear no end of it from Yelna once shees back,'' he thought, already worried about that moment.

    Ever since they split their ways, Markus was subjected to constant bullying.

    First came the administration of the camp itself. After two days wasted on investigation aimed at finding out whether they had anything to do with the disappearance of the former prefect of the ce, Markus hoped that he would finally be able to do his task properly.

    But as it turned out, those two days were just the beginning of the worst kind of bullying he could encounter. One that didn''t harm him in any real way, but due to his bureaucratic nature, continued to stall his ns for recruiting locals for the job at the desert.

    First came the military officials. Once they were satisfied, not an hour passed by before the civilian officials came by to say hello and waste another two days'' worth of Markus'' time for the exact same reason as their military counterpart. Yet, even once they were done, it wasn''t the end of it.

    Ultimately, Markus had to waste an entire damned week before he was finally given the right to post a job offering in the mercenary guild. And three dayster, right when the resumes finally started to appear, another troublemaker came his way.

    ''What a damned job,'' the former saint thought, walking down the stairs only to see a small crowd of confused people sitting around a middle-ageddy.

    "Don''t bother with what''s going outside. Now that you are here, make sure to get a hold of this chance!" she agitated the people listening to her. In fact, the girl was so immersed in her job that she even failed to notice the appearance of her employer.

    ''Out of everything that happened here... Out of everything and everyone I encountered here, only she is capable of improving my mood a bit.'' Markus thought before moving his eyes on the entry to the Inn where he set his headquarters to be.

    He then approached it and opened the doors up without even a shred of hesitation. ''Whoever is stirring up the trouble is bound to be watching me now,'' he thought while making sure no thought of his would make its appearance on his face.

    For a moment, Markus just stood in the doors, watching the hectic scenes happening only a few meters away.

    ''Should I lower my defenses for a bit?'' he thought before acting on the impulse.

    As soon as a thinyer of magic surrounding both his physical body and his magical insides went down, Markus''s vision changed. The calm and prosperous border camp turned into a sea of fire.

    Everything was covered in the endless ze. From the buildings, through the streets all the way to the people themselves. ''It actually produces heat?'' Markus thought, awed by how detailed the illusion was. ''In a sense, it''s not really an illusion, but a mask ced on a specific area?'' he recalled one of the many lectures Layn gave him while they were touring the world and fighting the monsters as a single party.

    ''Yeah, that makes sense,'' he thought before gently exploding a tiny part of his energy away, repelling the sticky magic that attempted to keep hold of his senses. "Well, that will be enough," he said in a calm voice before raising his hand.

    In a second, he condensed a small chunk of his energy to a size smaller than a pea. But rather than releasing it just like that, Markus continued to squeeze it further and further, as if he wanted to reach some kind of undecided limit of how far magic could be condensed.

    Then, a single secondter, Markus simply released the hold over his magic, allowing it to disperse into the area.

    In an instant, the entire illusion broke apart when the condensed magic surged forth to dissipate into the air. Just likepressed air would surge outwards once released into the area of smaller pressure, the magic did exactly the same.

    Once the background in which the illusion spell was locked in was destabilized, the spell itself couldn''t hold its integrity either. Once a small part of it lost its footing in the now unstable matrix of the energy, the entire thing copsed on itself before dispersing into the air.

    "Whoever did that,e out," Markus said in a loud voice while making sure he didn''t appear to be screaming.

    The people below the stairs leading to the entry to the Inn were all confused by the sudden disappearance of the me. Only a few were quick-witted enough to connect the dots between what was happening and Markus'' words.

    But no volunteer came out to im responsibility for this mess. Rather than that, Markus spotted a small unit of guards already rushing to the scene, clearly set on causing even more trouble for him.

    "Come out while I''m asking, or I will pick you up on my own," Markus said while closing his eyes. But what others could take in an attempt to calm down or maybe give the person responsible a chance to escape actually was his method of focusing.

    Without the natural vision hindering his senses, Markus focused on the disturbed flow of magic in the area. While he couldn''t really absorb it like he could in the far-off future, inspecting it was a pretty easy task.

    ''There you are,'' he thought once the tracks he was inspecting quickly led him to the ce where the spell was cast. And unsurprisingly, a person was standing there calmly, not perturbed by the recent illusion at all.

    But rather than acting upon his words, Markus simply stared directly into the man''s eyes, with one of his eyebrows twitching in annoyance.

    ''How did he find me out?'' Jacob thought, genuinely surprised by means of the man. ''While breaking the illusion is quite simple given how precise technique it is, he also did it faster than I expected... Not to say how I didn''t notice him channeling any energy at all!'' His thoughts revealed all the small details. Details others could easily miss, but someone like him could form into a deep picture of the situation.

    ''Well, it doesn''t matter now,'' Jacob smiled before turning around and leaving the scene. ''I wonder if he will chase after me...'' he thought, ready to circte his energy through his cores at the first moment he would sense any form of killing intent.

    ''I guess I will let him go for now,'' Markus thought before shaking his head. ''There is no point trying to stir up a scene when the guards are here,'' he added in his thoughts while ncing towards the approaching patrol.

    "Guys, calm down. That fucker already left," Markus said out loud before pointing his hands directly at the man who he believed to be responsible for the entire mess.. "I don''t have time to deal with such a small fry, so do whatever you want with him. Just keep in mind," Markus smiled deviously while watching the back of the leaving man, "bringing me his head will give you some bonus points during the recrutation!"

 Chapter 161 - Who Does Layn Trust The Most

    "No. It needs to be at least twice as big," Laynmented on the makeshift maquette of the hunter''s guild constructed from the few wooden blocks and sticks that were still around the camp. "This will be the central spot of the localmunity. We need to make it big enough to fit everyone," he exined before grabbing a stick himself and reaching the corner of the drawing.

    There were only so many materials that could be used to make the maquette. That''s why, while its width and length were kept in the realistic scale, the height of the building was symbolized with various items stacked on top of each other.

    "Isn''t this a bit of overkill?" Irea asked when Layn finished his drawing.

    From the initial square that outlined the outer borders of the building, Layn doubled both its width and its length, quadrupling the indented size of the building.

    "It''s better to have more space than necessary than even a little too little," Layn countered before grabbing his stick and drawing in the mud once again.

    With how the camp was devoid of any useful materials of low tier, rather than wasting their materials at creating ns on something, Layn''s mercenary would simply clear out the intended construction site from all the grass. With just the dry ground left, they would then pour buckets upon buckets of water on it, turning the entire site into a shallow pond of mud.

    While the earth was still thick enough to keep the shape someone would draw in it, after just a few hours in the sun, most of the water would evaporate and turn the soft picture into a stable carving in the ground.

    ''While the idea for this kind of nning is great, it''s not that fun to walk around in the mud,'' Layn thought as he cast a nce at his dirty feet.

    "Well, our job here is done. Let''s move over to the other projects," Layn said and pped his hands together to get Irea''s attention.

    Just a few days ago, Layn was too troubled with the potential future look of the city to do anything with the current camp. But only a single day had to pass for the archmage to realize a certain problem. Or rather than realizing it himself, he was informed about it by one of the mercenaries that allegedly decided to drop the path of cultivation and specialize in brick-making.

    "Boss... I don''t know why, but the bricks we stored for longer than a week are all starting to crumble. The man reported right when Layn was fighting off his depression caused by theck of activity.

    "Huh? Something happened to them? Or don''t tell me you stored them before..." Layn attempted to guess the crux of the situation, but he held his words back when he saw the changes on the man''s face.

    ''No, I shouldn''t ask if they burned it before. That would be insulting,'' he realized, biting on his tongue to prevent it from running loose.

    "Sir, we didn''t ck with them. This is the first time we have encountered such a situation... But it''s also the first time for our bricks to be left unused for such a long time," the craftsman added, clearly troubled by the situation.

    "Okay then, let''s me check it out," Layn nodded his head before standing up and following the man to the stockpile of this primitive yet durable building material.

    ''To think there was something like that.'' Layn thought, recalling the memories of the moment when he discovered the reason for the strange behavior of the bricks.

    "We cannot leave them unused," Layn said after nearly an entire day of walking around the ce and inspecting the bricks in all stages of their formation. "For some reason, the magic inside them isn''t stable if they are not a part of a greater structure," Layn concluded.

    As bad as this sounded, this very discovery was the impetus Layn needed to break free from the prison of his own hesitations. Unable to just stay put and store the bricks for thetter constructions, he quickly came to a realization that the only thing they could do while waiting for Sitra to return... Was to expand the town without bothering how bad it could beter on.

    Ultimately, there was a huge chance they would have to tear down all the buildings they would construct in the current period. But there was nothing stopping Layn or his people from using said buildings in the period between their construction and inevitable death!

    "At least the canals are going as nned," Layn muttered when he arrived at the next construction site. But to be precise, rather than construction, the entire thing appeared like an excavation in process.

    With so little manpower, Layn could only move three people to work on this task. In itself, it was a pretty simple and repetitive job. First, the men would dig up a trench roughly two and a half meters deep and one meter wide.

    Once the sides of the ditch would be evened out and stered with ayer of mud that would be then left alone to dry in the sun, the two workers from the brick nt would bring their own products. Then, rather than forcing the diggers to change their line of work, the brick-makers themselves would fill the sides of the entire ditch with bricks.

    In the end, the entire thing was just one meter wide and high. The only problematic part was the ceiling of the canal. Without any way to make arches, Layn had no other choice but to put the bricks in a triangr shape so that one side of the canal''s roof would block the other.

    While this kind of structure wasn''t all that durable on its own. Thankfully, the practical test was more than enough to prove that once finished, the structure was sturdy enough.

    ''After all, if something is capable of withstanding Al''s serious stomping, there is no way it would crack just because of people passing above it.'' Layn thought when he concluded the tests.

    And right now, the severs project, the one thing that Layn figured would be useful no matter how the future city would look like, was surprisingly going in full swing.

    ''Is it the division ofbor or what?'' Layn asked himself, curious why this specific project was going so fast. ''Or maybe it''s the simplicity of the job?''

    All in all, there was only one weird order that Layn gave regarding the canal. There ought to be a hole in the thing every ten steps or so, roughly at the two-thirds of its height. Even once the finished part of the tunnel would be buried, the ce with the hole would be marked with a single brick left right on top of the freshyer of the ground.

    The reason for this smallplication was simple. In order for anyone to make actual use of the severs, there ought to be a way to connect the local waterway systems of each building with the mainline that would transport the waste out of the city.

    ''We should make sure to make use of the sewage as well.'' Layn thought, already picturing a massive nt where either ves or low-level hunters gathered to work around the ce. By making them fill holes in the ground with the stinky mixture of dung and piss, Layn could create a huge amount of fertilizer.

    What other ces would often discard to rivers andkes, Layn had an actual use for. After all, what was the point of polluting the only source of the water in the area by dumping the sewage away if it could be used to produce more food?

    "Are you happy now?" Irea asked, rolling her eyes. If not for Layn insisting for her to apany him, she could be back at her kitchen preparing more meals rather than wasting her time walking around.

    "Tell me, what did you learn from our short trip?" Layn suddenly asked, not bothering to answer Irea''s question at all.

    "Huh?" Irea shrugged in surprise. "That you like construction? I don''t know," she shook her shoulders, puzzled by Layn''s sudden change of topic.

    "Eh," Layn sighed before lowering and then shaking his head. After a short moment, he raised his eyes back on the girl. His face was now all serious. "Listen, and listen well. I can guarantee that I will always be here to manage the construction of this town," Layn announced while keeping his eyes on the girl.

    "What do you mean by that?!" Irea instantly red up. Given the recent events, she was easy to trigger by anything that even remotely suggested Layn and her parting ways.

    "There might be times when I will have other things to take care of. And out of everyone in this world, I trust you the most," Layn said. His eyes then wandered to the upper left corner as he thought for a moment before a troubled grin appeared on his lips. "I mean, I trust Markus with all my being and Yelna to a degree..." he said in a hesitant voice before finally making up his mind and finishing, "but I can''t tell whether they don''t have some hidden agenda."

    "In other words," Layn said after taking a moment to calm himself down and swallow a mouthful of saliva. "If there will be a time when I will be forced to do something away, and you will be left in this or any other construction site that will appear in the future..." Layn let his sentence hang in the air.

    "Then I will be the one who you will entrust with overseeing the thing," Irea finished his words, finally figuring out what he was hinting at all this time.

 Chapter 162 - Situation At The Border Fortress

    "Finally home," Sitra muttered when the fortress appeared in the distance. Her horse somehow felt the joy in its rider''s soul as it speeds up a bit, even though it was already tired to no end.

    "Ara," Sitra moaned in a slight surprise before pulling on the reins. "I can''t have you dying on me like that. Calm down," she muttered to the horse while caressing its sweaty neck.

    "Ma''am, there seems to be something wrong," Aabel, the higher in rank out of her twopanions, pointed out. "It''s like... It was under siege?" he added with a hesitant voice.

    "Huh? What do you mean?" Sitra asked while rapidly moving her head from the man to the massive building in the distance.

    There were no fires in the fortress. It was made almost entirely from stone and bricks, so it was given that it wouldn''t burn all that nicely... But the massive cloud of smoke that raised to the sky from the other side indicated that some enormous crowd of people camped on the other side of the valley the fortress protected.

    "Did the news spread?" Sitra asked the air when a sudden idea came to her mind. An idea that was too disastrous for her to ept without confirming it first.

    Her hands moved up. But just as she was about to strike her reins down, she looked down at her horse... And allowed the reins to gently fall back to their usual ce. ''I can''t do that. I need to be patient,'' she thought, unwilling to sacrifice the life of her loyal mount just to satisfy her curiosity a few moments earlier.

    Soon, the watchers on the high tower of the fortress noticed them. While Sitra was still way too far to notice their movements or hear their shouting, she was well within the range of seeing how the main gate of the fortress opened up.

    A group of riders appeared on the in as they rushed towards the small group of the girl.

    "Enemies?" Sitra muttered under her nose. She ced her hand on the handle of her saber. Thankfully, as the other group got closer, she managed to recognize their outfits, signaling that, at the very least, the fortress wasn''t taken yet.

    ''Did we lose?'' she thought, worried about the situation. The fortress stood at the very border between the country and the wild steppe. For it to be besieged like that, the only usible option was either for the enemy to conquer the entirety of the country in the few days since she left...

    Or for the news of the newnd opening up to spread throughout themoners and less loyal nobility.

    "Identify yourself!" The leader of the approaching group shouted when they were just about to cross the firing distance of a portable crossbow andmon magic. He ground his entire group to a halt.

    Obviously, Sitra had no other choice but to do the same.

    "Colonel Sitra returning from the deep scout!" She shouted over the distance, taxing her eyes to see as many details of the other group as she could.

    ''Who knows if they are not the Germanian in stolen uniforms?'' she thought warily, unwilling to just enter the range of the other group.

    "Sis!" One of the men from the fortress group shouted and broke formation. A grave military offense, but for some reason, there were no shouts of disapproval from hismander or fellow soldiers.

    "Igor?" Sitra muttered under her nose, unable to believe her own eyes. ''Wasn''t he in the northern frontier? What the heck is he doing in here?'' She thoughts, shaken by the implications of her brother''s appearance.

    "I''m d you are all right, sister," Igor said as soon as he approached the other group. At the same time, both parties visibly rxed.

    After all, it was impossible for a part of the ancient vian bloodline to defect to the germanian side!

    "What the hell are you doing here?!" Sitra wasn''t as pleased to see her brother as he was to see her. Not because she hated him or anything, but because of the implications behind his presence in this particr ce.

    "The entire country is withdrawing from the north," Igor revealed as a sour expression took over his face. "Two weeks ago, the barbarians invaded. We had no other choice but to shorten the frontier," he revealed the more or less recent news.

    Sitra could feel her body trembling. ''So this is it?'' she thought, raising her eyes to the sky.

    The copse of her country was obvious ever since several years ago. With the natural disasters starting the chain of events that struck down every single quality that her country once prided itself with, it was only a matter of time when the more organized nations would push their advantages.

    It all started from a simple drought over thirty years ago. It onlysted for two years and wasn''t even all that disastrous in its sphere of influence. But in those three years, most of the offices would no longer wee the capable individuals, but only the friends and families of those who already had their jobs.

    This kind of thing was always considered to be a high crime of corruption, but in thends where the crown''s gold appeared as the only stable source of ie, starving nobles no longer bothered with their honor.

    Between putting their honor in the books and putting a meal on their table, only a few resisted the urge to make use of their position.

    From that point on, corruption exploded in the entire country. With one province ckening the restrictivews against it, its neighboring areas would soon follow. Three years after the drought, when everything was already back to its usual state. Sadly, the entire country was already dissolving in the mess of internal struggle and small personal agendas.

    "But there is no time to think about it now," Igor forced his sister out of her thoughtful state. "Castor is eagerly awaiting the news in his study. Men!" Igor shouted as suddenly as he turned to the back in his saddle. "Give them fresh horses! Their report is of utmost importance!" he shouted before turning himself back to his sister.

    "What''s going on behind the fortress?" Sitra asked, ignoring all the topics that she wished to catch up on with her brother. From how he fared in the frontier, through his health and achievements all the way to the general situation in the country.

    Those things could wait. But their current situation could not.

    "It''s bad," Igor turned his horse around before leading his sister''s group to the people of his own. "Ever since the word got out about the steppe opening up, it feels like if the entire country rushed to those gates," he said while nodding his chin towards the fortress.

    The trip from where the two groups meet to the fortress itself took only a moment. With a fresh horse underneath her, Sitra could no longer care about its physical state, especially on such a short distance.

    But she couldn''t take her time once she passed through the massive gate to rest and learn about what was going on. As soon as her feet touched the ground, two officers appeared, spelling trouble.

    "You will need to go with us," they informed the girl with a voicepletely void of emotions.

    "What happened?" she asked after saluting. "What unit are you from?" she added another question, slightly shaken by the fact that she couldn''t report to her own superior first.

    But neither of the officers replied. In the end, they had no obligation whatsoever to answer and were clearly set on just doing their own job. Nothing less, nothing more.

    ''Dang it,'' she cursed in her thoughts as the two continued to guide her through the thin corridors of the inner pce. ''Is the situation really that bad? But for some corrupt big-shot to take over this ce just like that,'' Sitra continued to attempt to figure out just what the heck was going on.

    Before she could get any idea what was going on, though, she was finally brought to the ce. The two officers that guided her opened the doors to one of the bigger chambers in the entire massive fortress before standing at the sides of the doors.

    They had no intention of entering whatsoever.

    "Colonel Sitra, I presume," a man sitting at the very head of the massive table filling the room said. Despite how big the room was, only a handful of other officers and some servants were inside.

    ''What a waste of space,'' Sitra thought while ever so slightly tightening her hands. Given how hard it was to even walk around the ce due to how many soldiers were inside, the fact that the man before her took such a massive room just for his own use was already annoying.

    "General Kazan," Sitra said while squinting her eyes. "What might be the case for such sudden summons?"

 Chapter 163 - Confrontation Of Two Generals

    "Colonel Sitra, it''s been a while since west saw each other. What''s the hurry?" the man sitting at the head of the table asked with an ironic smile. "I know that the situation might appear urgent, but it''s not like anything will change if we have a short talk, won''t it?" Kazan said as he stretched himself to the back.

    "General, I''m obliged to go and give a report to my direct superior," Sitra said while squinting her eyes in cold annoyance. "For what reason are you trying to make me break the military code?" she pushed, unwilling to yield to the man.

    "Oh my, how diligent," Kazanughed before nodding his head. In an instant, the doors to the chamber shut closed with a loud bang. "But aren''t I a superior of your superior? You can give your report directly to me!" he proposed with a wide smile.

    Two of the officers, different from the ones who lead the girl to the chamber, approached her sides. While neither of them drew their weapons, their hands were looming dangerously close to the handles of their sabers.

    "You are not Castor''s superior," Sitra said without as much as flinching. "Unless you can produce a royal document with royal stamp giving you themand over the third army, then there is no corrtion between my service and your authority. Sir." She added before ncing over at the men surrounding her. "And stop with those childish provocations. Everyone in this room is as good as dead as soon as the two of them attempt to draw their weapons," Sitra added calmly while leaning her head to the side.

    "And here you go again," Kazan sighed. "Don''t you fear the military court for threatening a general of the second army?" he asked with his smile not disappearing from his lips for even a second. "For that offense alone, I could have you killed right here and now!" he announced while leaning to the back on his chair and spreading his arms to the sides.

    ''Not good,'' Sitra thought, sensing the presences that weren''t visible in the room. ''This fortress was built in thest era, so it''s likely to be filled with peepholes. I can''t underestimate his people,'' she thought while pushing herself into a state of focus.

    For a moment, the chamber waspletely silent. Sitra''s eyes were glued to the face of the general as if she wanted to see any hint of him going to order the attack. While this would give her only a split second to react, in this kind of close-quarters scenario, that was one of the few precious advantages that would weigh her chances between life and death.

    Then, a loud knocking reached everyone''s ears.

    "The hell," Kazan muttered. "Didn''t I order everyone out of this ce?" he asked himself before moving his eyes away from the doors. "Well, let them knock. Meanwhile, colonel Sitra," Kazan smiled. "Under my authority as the general of the second army in the times of military rule, I order you..."

    CRASH!

    The doors that separated the chamber from the rest of the caste burst open.

    Set to react as soon as the first extraordinary event, Sitra released her power from her reins.

    At the same time, as a group of men burst into the room with their weapons unsheathed, everyone already inside, along with the general itself, suddenly turned green.

    "Sitra!" Castor shouted in a stern voice as soon as he noticed what was going on. The sweat on his forehead and the several dents of his saber proved that he took an active role in cracking the doors open. "Stop it at once," he looked at the weirdly-looking girl without as much as ounce of fear in his eyes.

    Sitra''s eyes were floating around her head as if some kind of wind was propelling them. Yet, in this closed room, there was no wind to speak off.

    Her eyes were shining as if some kind of dormant power awakened in her, fueling every single twitch and move of her body.

    Sitra turned her head around and looked at her direct superior. For a moment, she watched him as if she would some kind of worm crawling on the ground. "Ah," then, with a slight moan of surprise, the power that fueled her strange stance vanished without a trace.

    "ARGH!" All at once, all the men holding themselves by their throat suddenly fell back on their seats. The power that choked them disappeared as soon as Sitra returned to her usual state.

    "ITS A TREASON!" Kazan shouted as soon as he regained his voice. He rose from his seat and aimed his hand at the newly arriving group. "Kill them a..." just as he was about to give out the order, his voice suddenly got stuck in his throat.

    "Kill them what?" An old man suddenly walked into the room. He supported each step of his with a simple, wooden crane. As soon as he passed by Castor''s group, all of them fell on their knees. Sitra did the same even before the man would have a chance to reach her.

    "General Arto!" she lowered her head with respect before the old man.

    "I don''t think this ruse should continue any longer," the man imed while calmly leading his eyes from one end of the room to the other. "The next time you attempt to snatch my people, I will have your head removed from the shoulders," the old general said as if he wasmenting on thest year''s weather. He then reached underneath his simple clothes and pulled out a sealed scroll.

    Scroll that was sealed with a seal that only a single-family in the entire kingdom could use.

    "I bring you a royal decree," Arto continued in the same voice, fully devoid of any emotions. "You will be fined seven southern viges by abandoning your post to the east. What''s more, you are degraded from your position of army general to the general of arms," Arto exined before throwing the scroll on the table. "Everything that I said is on the decree. Now, scram."

    Whenpared to how Sitra was about to deal with those men, Arto managed to actually achieve an actual effect without as much as raising his voice.

    General Kazan clenched his teeth. His well-groomed hair fluttered when his head started to shake in silent fury. But rather than acting upon it, he stood up and looked at the general.

    "Do you really think that you can just waltz in here and shame me in front of my subordinates?" Kazan asked in a silent, monotone voice. Anyone with eyes could see that he was holding back his fury on a very thin thread right now. "I hope you know that I will never forget about this," he added, looking directly into Arto''s eyes.

    "Threaten me as much as you want," Arto replied with a solemn tone. "I''m not representing myself here, but the dignity and rule of the vian Commonwealth," Arto announced as his eyes darkened a bit. At the same time, his old body suddenly started to give off a strange aura, as if he was a young and fit soldier somehow confined into the meek body of an elder. "Should I take your words for an act of treason?" he asked without as much as flinching.

    For yet another moment, the room turned silent. But instead of escting the situation, Kazan closed his eyes and took a few breaths. Then, he walked out of the head of the table and moved towards the doors.

    "If you think that''s the end of it," he said as he was passing by Arto''s side.

    "If you dare to act against the decree, it won''t be me that you will be going against," Arto replied in the same solemn voice as before. "But it will be the will of the Commonwealth," he added, turning his head and looking calmly at Kazan''s furious expression.

    "I will follow the royal order," Kazan muttered after a moment before swinging his arm forward and shouting, "let''s go."

    A few momentster, the room turned silent. This time though, there was no hidden tension that would keep everyone on it focused and ready to pull their weapons out at the first given notice.

    "Ah, that was tiring," Sitra sighed as she fell directly on the cold stones of the floor. "Thanks for the help, sire," she then nodded her head towards the elder.

    "Don''t mind me," Arto smiled as if he suddenly became a kind, old uncle of the family. But his happy expression didn''tst long on his face. Using his crane, he approached the closest seat at the table without paying any mind to the protocr value of each ce. "Now, can you tell me what did you find out in the steppe?"

    "Sir!" Sitra instantly sprung up to salute the man and stand at attention. Yet, before she could as much as open her mouth, Arto already waved his head with displeasure.

    "Take it easy, kid. While I usually don''t agree with anything that bastard says," the general looked towards the doors where Castor and his men stood guard, "but we are really not that pressed for time yet."

    "Sir," Sitra once again called out, this time in a rxed voice. Her body also slumped down. "That entire ce is generally just the same as the steppe that we know. However, there is oneke where building a city would be possible," she quickly brought all the information about the terrain''syout that she discovered during her trip.

    "Child, as long as one can live on thatnd, I don''t care how does it look," Arto said in a lenient voice before casting a sharp nce at the girl. "And you should already be aware of what I was asking about," he added.

    Sitra swallowed a gulp of saliva.

    "Sir, there is a small group already living there," she admitted before raising her eyes at the man. "Sadly, one of them already imed all of thatnd by killing the Overlord. While he appeared to be severely weakened right now..." the girl hesitated for a moment before shaking her head and finishing what she both wanted and had to convey.. "But it won''t be long before he will be a power that even with our entire might, we won''t be able to trifle with."

 Chapter 164 - Sitras Report

    "A powerhouse we won''t be able to control," Arto concluded Sitra''s report before rubbing his chin. "Do we know what he wants? How long will it take for him to be too strong for us to deal with him? How many men can he mobilize if we end up fighting?" He asked several questions, clearly not intent on giving up this insane opportunity because someone already imed it.

    "Sir..." Sitra muttered, looking at the man with surprise. Her eyes wandered to standing near the rubble that used to be the doors to the ce.

    But rather than encouraging the girl to change the general line of thinking, Castor only shook his head before lowering his eyes.

    "Child, I know that you already met with that man. I know that you don''t like the idea of going against him," Arto said, proving that he was perfectly aware of what was going on in Sitra''s head. "But we cannot let ourselves be driven by such things," the old general shook his head. "Right now, our nation is at the crossroads. And unless we find a ce where we can rebuild our might, we will perish." The lenient look in the old man''s eyes vanished without a trace, reced with an insane determination.

    General Arto was a man who only the corrupted wave of officers didn''t respect. He was a man who braved through the battles that would earn the name of cullings or massacres. He turned around the battles that any sane person would judge to be lost even before it would start. He singlehandedly managed to restore the quality to the third army he was in charge of.

    But all those achievements had toe at a cost. And this time, he was clearly willing to go against the man that Sitra saved just because he deemed that the best chance for his people.

    "Sir, from what I know, he doesn''t mind allowing more people to enter the area." Sitra finally figured out a way to approach the topic after a short while. "The man himself only wants to build an academy and is open to the idea of settling thend with many others..." Sitra continued, but from how her expression soured, everyone could tell that it wasn''t the end of the story.

    "But...?" Arto raised his eyebrow as he suggested the girl move on to the next part of her speech, one that everyone could already seeing.

    "I''m not so sure whether his people will ept us. But let me start from scratch," Sitra just teased the potential problems before suddenly shaking her head. She then looked straight into the eyes of the elder general. "You asked what does this man want, sir. And I can tell that he just wants to live in peace and prosper. What''s more, he is more than interested in our magic. Why is that, though? I can''t tell," Sitra answered the first of the detailed questions that Arto posed earlier.

    "How long will it take for him to be too strong for us to be able to challenge him?" Arto repeated the second question from before while resting both of his hands on top of his cane.

    "That question, I can''t answer," Sitra said as she lowered her head. "The magic he uses is starkly different to what I know. Without the knowledge about his magic, I''m in no way capable of judging how long it will take him to restore his former level of power... But I''m worried that it might be already toote for us," she concluded her answer while looking straight into the general''s eyes.

    "And why is that?" Arto pushed even deeper, unwilling to let the girl have any breathing room during this quasi-interrogation.

    "Because he dared to go against the neighboring Overlord while I was still by his side," Sitra revealed the important bit, one that Layn himself didn''t spare much mind.

    Yet, the effects of her words on the people in the room were enormous.

    "What did you say?" Even Castor couldn''t help himself and spoke up, only to violently shake his head and look at his superior before lowering his face in apology and backing off.

    "Do continue," Arto ordered while squinting his eyes.

    "The situation was like that," Sitra started before exining everything that she could recall from those events. From their frantic rush to reconnect with Layn''s subordinates, through the fight with the monsters... Even all the way to how Layn was set on using the strange abilities of those weird monsters!

    "What a madman," Castor muttered under his nose in a voice that just barely reached Sitra''s ears. ''He doesn''t sound shocked but more like... awed?'' she thought, knowing her direct superior for long enough to be able to catch on clues like that.

    "That man... He is really going to be a problem if we were to confront him directly," Arto announced his verdict as he ced his chin on top of his hands. With his cane now supporting not only his arms but also his head, he froze into a perfectly still, too focused on thinking to bother with moving his body.

    "Yes, since the situation looks like that, I don''t think it would be wise to enter thosends in force," Arto suddenly announced while raising his head.

    ''Doesn''t he look... relieved?'' Sitra thought, watching at how rxed the face of the general became. ''Wait, could it be that he wanted to find some ways to convince others that attacking Layn would be a bad idea?'' The girl thought, suddenly realizing what could be the true intention of this legendary man. But just as quickly, her thoughts soured again. ''No way. There is no way a man like Arto would allow me to guess his intentions,'' sheughed her own arrogance off before clearing her head of those useless thoughts.

    Whatever Arto''s intentions were, it wasn''t her problem to brood over.

    "But before we will conclude this meeting," Arto said as he moved his stare on Sitra again. "I have a feeling that it wasn''t all you wanted to say about the situation on the steppe." The general''s face once again turned lenient, as if he reversed back to his kind-uncle persona.

    "Yes, sir." Sitra straightened herself up as she replied to the man. "Everything that I said so far is centered around the person that bested the overlord. But given everything I heard and saw, he won''t be the greatest problem we might encounter during our nned migration." Sitra suddenly threw a proverbial bucket of cold water on everyone in the room.

    "What do you want to say with that?" Arto asked, not even bothering to hide his own surprise.

    "I mean the other people that are going to arrive at that ce soon," Sitra revealed the most problematic matter that she herself was quite worried about. "While I only got to meet the people that are directly following the man in question, I heard more than enough about the others that they are in cahoots with. And it''s actually more than just a single group..." Sitra cut her own story short just to build up a tension a bit.

    Right now, the people in the room made up the entirety of the upper echelons of the third vian army. From its direct overseer Arto, through the high-ranking officers like Castor, everyone stood near the top of the decision-making chain for the unit.

    And in this kind of group, Sitra stood out like a sore thumb. While her status was already higher than normal, thanks to her position as the second-ss mage in the army. However, it still didn''t qualify her to be present in such a gathering.

    ''That''s why I shouldn''t worry about what they are going to do with that information.'' So Sitra told herself within the confines of her head, trying to push away the responsibility of reporting on the people she already started to make friends with.

    "From how you put it into words, I think it''s safe to assume that it''s more than just a single group involved," Arto somehow caught a detail that Sitra didn''t intend to pass on yet.

    "Yes, sir." She obediently nodded her head, confirming the man''s guess. "From what I learned, there is a massive gathering of people who rely mostly on their physical might, without any higher technology or magic. While I can only guess their numbers, I believe they could match the count of our third army," Sitra said before lowering her eyes.

    "What''s wrong, child?" Arto asked, sensing that the next part of Sitra''s story was quite hard for the girl to voice it out.

    "Sir, those people... I only saw one of them. While there was no grace to his movements, he could easily fight off the monsters that many of our best soldiers would struggle to defeat on their own. But that''s still not the thing that worries me the most," she announced while averting her eyes.

    For a moment, no one dared to speak up, the old general included. But before long, Sitra couldn''t keep her pretense any longer. The more everyone waited for her to gather the courage to speak thest part of her report, the greater the anticipation would be.

    And ultimately, the greater the disappointment once they would realize that she made this situation so tense with only her guess as a basis.

    "Sir, it''s the other group that I''m seriously worried about. While I never had the chance to meet them personally, I got to hear quite a lot about them from the others in the camp." Sitra finally gathered her courage and started thest part of her story. "While there are only two of them... I believe those people could be a match for Layn. I believe they are a match for the man who took down an Overlord of Origin.... All on his own."

 Chapter 165 - Moment To Relax (smut +18)

    "Ahhh," Layn squeezed a moan through his lips when he fell off the simple bed. Even though his people spent quite a long time in the area of the camp, asking for a proper bed was still way too much.

    "Hard day of work?" Irea asked with a small smirk while she continued to work around the kitchen. All of the animals they hunted on their way out from the forest were already prepared and stored. This allowed her to prove her culinary abilities by turning them into proper meals.

    "You bet," Layn replied while stretching his hands up. Once the moment of leisure passed, he allowed his hands to fall freely on the pillows made by stuffing the skins of the animals with the same grass that covered everything in every direction on the in. "Now that we finished the first part of the canals, I had to figure out how to prevent overspilling the manure tanks," Laynined. Even though it was tiring just to talk about the day job, he still didn''t want to keep the girl in the dark.

    With how the duties within the camp were split up, Irea ended up cooped in the kitchen for the great majority of the entire day. She would wake up earlier than anyone to prepare a solid gruel for breakfast for everyone. She would then go to the brick nt to help in infusing the bricks with a bit of her magic before rushing back to the kitchen to prepare a solid dinner for everyone.

    Even now, when everyone was already done with their day''s worth of work, she was busy preparing the ingredients for tomorrow''s meals.

    ''I feel kinda badining about my work like that,'' Layn suddenly thought as he observed how busy Irea was with her work. ''Now that I practically dumped this job on her...'' he hesitated before fighting off hisziness and standing up from the bed.

    Given how busy the two of them were, rather than asking for a separate house to live in, Layn ended up moving all his limited stuff to the kitchen before turning the little free space there was inside into their private bedroom. While it was initially intended as the socializing center of the camp, it was long past the time since it wasst used for this reason.

    "Aren''t you tired?" Irea asked when she noticed Layn approaching her from behind. "Don''t worry, I''m alright. You can go to bed and wait for a little. I will join you there soon," she added with a lovely smile as she turned her face towards the archmage for a moment.

    "Mhmm..." Layn muttered as he embraced the girl from behind before hugging her closely. "How about I help you out a little?" he suggested after getting his dose of cuddles for a short moment.

    "If you want, I won''t refuse any help," Irea smiled as she replied. She then brough her hand up to touch Layn''s cheek. "But aren''t you too tired? I know you feel guilty for leaving me here to work all day. Still, it''s not that hard work, to begin with," Irea exined her view on the matter before leaning her head back, resting it atop Layn''s shoulder.

    "Aren''t you tired already?" Layn muttered into the girl''s ear while moving his hands on top of her hips before slowly moving his entire body to the sides as if he was performing some kind of slow, sensual dance.

    "Ooh?" Irea smiled happily as she pressed her ass against Layn''s crotch before starting to gently rub it up and down. "Is that an offer?" she asked in a flirty voice.

    "You could take it as one," Layn replied softly before sneaking his hands underneath the girl''s robe.

    While Irea''s hands continued to work on the food on the table before her, her mind was clearly as far away from cooking as it could be. Or rather, the cooking that was in her mind wouldn''t result in a dish but another mouth to feed down the line.

    "What a lovely proposition," Irea said before releasing a silent moan when Layn''s fingers invaded her secret garden. "But how long are you going to tease me like that?" she suddenly asked, turning her head around. She then raised her hand and pushed on Layn''s cheek before pressing her lips against his.

    For a moment, the world around them disappeared. For a moment, only the warmth of the other existed in their mind. Only the taste of their lips, of their mixing saliva, of the affection that they had for each other.

    "Take me," Irea whispered when their lips parted. "Right here and now," she added before going in for another kiss. Then, for the sake of herfort, she turned around before wrapping her hands around Layn''s neck, locking in for a deep kiss. "Take me hard," she continued to whisper in the short breaks between their kisses.

    "As you wish, my love," Layn whispered right in Irea''s lips before moving his hands from her crotch to her thighs. He then carved his fingers, getting a proper hold of the girl''s lovely flesh only to raise her up a bit and ce her down directly on the table.

    "Hah," Irea moaned when her hot butt cheeks met with the cold stone of the table. She then smiled and looked right down Layn''s eyes. "I can''t wait," she whispered before spreading her legs as far apart as the joins in her crotch allowed.

    "You really know how to drive me crazy," Layn smiled as he released his already erect penis from the confines of its clothes. He then closed in for yet another kiss. But rather than pushing himself inside the girl right away, Layn limited his initiative to just gently rubbing the tip of his manhood against her wet hole.

    Now that Irea was safely sitting on the table, Layn was free to move his hands however he wished. Rather than keeping them on her meaty thighs, he moved them up.

    At first, he caressed the girl''s waist. His hands were a perfect fit for her hourss figure, making it seem as if the two of them were created just to fit each other. But then, his hands continued to climb up, only to rest up just below Irea''s perfect breasts.

    For a moment, Layn continued to fully immerse himself in the kiss. As if the situation wasn''t leading to the obvious conclusion, he refused to push his hips forward or to move his hands up. Still holding the girl by her ribcage, he continued to wreak havoc in her mouth with his tongue, unable to stop savoring the taste of her saliva.

    "I''m already at my limit," Irea said when she ced her hands on Layn''s chest and gently pushed him away. Then, using the moment when she had a bit more mobility, she reached down before grasping on Layn''s erect rod and guiding it towards her itching ce. "Stop teasing me," she begged in whispers.

    ''Heavens, forgive me,'' Layn stared right at hear teared-up face, unable to hold on to his sanity. With her voice, her face, her smell, her heat, all working together to overwhelm his mind, he couldn''t hold himself back any longer.

    "Oh Irea," he muttered gently as he closed in once again. But this time, rather than going for the girl''s sweet lips, Layn moved his mouth towards the angle between her neck and her shoulder. And just like before, he showered her skin with kisses.

    Right as he finally listened to the girl''s request and pushed his hips forward.

    In an instant, Layn''s penis exploded with pleasure. Surrounded by nothing but the sticky warmth of Irea''s insides, he felt as if just sticking it in would be enough to bring him to fruition.

    "Argh!" Irea moaned heavily as her head leaned backward only to hit the wall. But right now, she couldn''t care less about such minor details.

    "You wanted me to take you hard, didn''t you?" Layn asked right in her ear before nibbling on her earlobe. He then moved one of his hands on her ass while using his left hand to finally caress her meaty breast. And as if he was using those two points to hold on to the girl, Layn pushed himself forward with all his might!

    Finally, the entirety of his manhood submerged itself in the girl. For a moment, Irea''s inner folds wrapped tightly around his rod as if refusing to let go. But rather than just enjoying the moment, Layn pushed his hand against Irea''s tit, only to pull himself forward by grabbing onto her butt.

    With every move, Layn''s speed continued to risers. With every Irea''s moan, his sanity would distance itself further and further away. And in what was in reality just a short moment, Layn already reached his limit.

    "I''m about to..." he attempted to warn the girl, unwilling to burden her with potential pregnancy in such a crucial moment...

    "NO!" Irea screamed from the bottom of her lungs as she wrapped her legs around Layn''s waist and her hands around his neck. Unable to stop himself, Layn released his seed right into the girl''s itching womb.

    Surrounded by her smell, wrapped in her warmth, feeling her lips dancing on her neck, Layn felt his consciousness wavering.

    "I''m sorry," Irea said.. "But I just couldn''t help myself," she added after a moment before falling asleep right in Layn''s arms.

 Chapter 166 - Mutual Confessions (r18)

    "Dang, that was insane," Layn muttered to himself as he held Irea in his arms. The soft and warm body of hersid perfectly within his hold as if it was created just for the sole purpose of him holding her.

    "I really need to take better care of her," Layn spoke to himself once again as he stared down at the girl''s sleepy face.

    "I wouldn''t really mind that," Irea replied with a soft voice as if she woke up just because of his words. Still sitting right on top of his manhood, she even started to move her hips around a bit, clearly not satisfied with just a single bout.

    "Are you okay for the next round?" Layn asked with worry. Ultimately, making love wasn''t something that could be done constantly. From the problem of getting other people in the camp horny through the sheer amount of energy, one would waste on such activity, having sex turned out to be quite a luxury for everyone in the camp.

    Especially given how unless there were two or more homosexuals here, Layn was the only one privileged to get his sperm sucked out by someone else.

    "With you?" Irea whispered to Layn''s ear as she pushed her body forward to rest it up on Layn''s chest. "I wouldn''t really mind if we spent the rest of our lives doing it," she added as a small smile appeared on her lips.

    "How about we go slow this time, then?" Layn proposed, more than happy to see how energetic the girl was.

    "Huh?" Irea shrugged in surprise, jerking her hips up a bit, only to fall right down on Layn''s crotch and release a slight moan while doing so. "Didn''t you like thest time?" she asked with her face overwhelmed with worry.

    "You are thinking too much," Layn corrected the girl before grabbing her by her ass and raising up. With her legs wrapping around his waist and her hands around his neck, she glued her entire body tightly to Layn''s as he moved from the kitchen table to the very bed he was in just a slight moment ago. "I just don''t want to put too much pressure on you," he added as he gentlyid the girl down on the grass pillow.

    Still locked between her legs, Layn then started to slowly move his hips up and down. There was no hurry in his movements. Rather than deriving the pleasure from rubbing his penis against the girl''s insides, Layn allowed himself to be infatuated with all the small details of the girl that she would only show during an intimate moment like that.

    From how sexy she would look when biting her lips to how she would gasp when he would kiss her breasts or suck on her nipple.

    For Layn, this was how the sex should really look like.

    ''In moments like this, I just can''t help butpare her with that Ortensia bitch,'' Layn suddenly thought, instantly souring his own mood.

    "What happened, dear?" Irea instantly caught on to the small change in Layn''s emotions. She moved her things up a bit before pushing herself up on the bed. All for the sole reason of catching Layn''s head and pushing it right into her breasts.

    For a moment, Irea just held Layn in this simple position, where his head was surrounded by her body. From his face shoved right into the softness of her bosom, through her own face locking it from above and her hands holding the back of his head in ce. "It''s all right," she whispered softly, taking a moment out of the strictly sexual act to shower him with affection and affirmation. "You can tell me anything," she added, gently running her hands through Layn''s hair.

    "I believe you already know that I''m from the future," Layn suddenly said in a meek voice. ''Well, at this point, it doesn''t really matter, does it?'' he thought while sensing a slight jerk of Irea''s body.

    "I had some expectations... But that exact thing? I didn''t know," she said, still in the same affectionate voice as before.

    "You see, everything started when I finished my course at the academy," Layn suddenly fell into the abyss of reveals. Once he gave away the most important factor of his past, it was as if the floodgates suddenly opened, making him reveal everything there was to the former part of his life.

    "Ever since leaving the academy, I was striving to learn more and more about magic," Layn started his story at the mid-way point of his life in terms of how old he was at that time, but at the most important part of his life when graded by the effects, it had on his future. "In my pursuit of knowledge, I just happened to party up with some random adventurers. Roughly two months after joining hands with them, I learned that they were actually the party of the generational hero," he continued his exnation.

    At this point, it was hard to say whether the two of them continued to fuck each other or not. Even though Layn was still balls deep in Irea, he didn''t move his hips at all, fully rxing in her loving hold instead.

    "And what happened then?" Irea asked, gently supporting Layn in his story. Even though for her, Layn''s revtion came from out of nowhere, she didn''t bother to question his story at all, believing that sooner orter, Layn would allow her to understand it all.

    "The things we went through together... The things that they saved me from... This would make a whole different story," Laynughed up before pushing himself up, forcing his head out of Irea''s loving hold. But rather than ending there, he pulled his manhood out as well, only to slightly change his position and wrap his hands around the girl only to cuddle her with his entire self.

    "In the end, due to all our exploits, I was granted the hand of the princess of the country I hailed from. Given how my entire life was centered around magic and nothing else at that time, I allowed her to trick me into thinking that she actually cared for me," Layn finally reached the sticky grounds, something that was the main reason why he never revealed the truth about his past to Irea before.

    Because he didn''t know how she would react upon learning that she wasn''t his first at all.

    "In the end, she coaxed me into her scam in just a year. I even ended up marrying her!" Layn eximed with glee, but his body couldn''t lie as his lips could. His hands tightened around Irea''s body as he pressed her even harder against himself, just as if he was worried that she would either escape or just t-out disappear.

    "What happened then?" Irea asked, holding back all the words of protest that Layn''s slightly painful hold could cause her to normally utter. Right now, she simply ran her hands on Layn''s back, caressing it as if there was no tomorrow.

    "I don''t really want to bother you with all the details... But as soon as she got pregnant, she revealed her true colors. Ever since that time, I learned that her real and only purpose was to chain me to her country and have a kid from a potent, magical bloodline," Layn revealed the truth about Ortensia scheme, something that he was well aware of for years at this point.

    Irea tensed up a bit. ''Isn''t this situation... Isn''t my selfishness before the reason why he broke apart like that?'' she thought, suddenly realizing that fact.

    ''ording to his story so far, it was the act of getting pregnant that brough all hell to his life,'' Irea noticed, feeling how a sudden bout of guilt squeezed her heart dry.

    "In the end, she was the whole reason why I delved even deeper into magical research. Ultimately, she was the main reason why I ever managed to develop the spell powerful enough to bring me back to the past," Layn revealed the crux of the entire story at the same time as he realized just how hard he was squeezing the girl to himself. "Ah, sorry for that," he said in a hurry as he rxed his hold over her frail body.

    "You know what?" Irea suddenly said as she made up her mind. With an angry expression on her face, she ced her hands on Layn''s chest before pushing him on his back. But rather than mounting him or even scolding him up for something, she moved to the down part of the bed before lowering her head above Layn''s penis.

    "Ah!" Layn almost screamed in pleasure when her lips suddenly caught on his manhood, only for her to push it deeper and deeper down her throat. Even though it was her first time to suck him off like that, the passion in her moves and fury that propelled it was more than enough to make up for theck of experience or technique.

    Before long, Layn couldn''t hold anymore. The feeling of her mouth all over him and her agile tongue wriggling up and about was just too much. "Stop it! I''m about to..."

    As soon as Irea heard Layn''s protests, she wrapped her hands around his waist before pushing her head all the way down as if she wanted to choke herself on his manhood. Even when the flood of his sperm made its way towards her throat, she refused to move even an inch, obediently swallowing everything that Layn could throw at her.

    "Ah," Irea gasped for air when she finally brought her head up. Even though she tried her best to swallow the entirety of Layn''s load, her face was still a cum-covered mess.

    But rather than clearing herself up, she looked at Layn with longing in her eyes.

    "Listen," she said as she ultimately decided toy down on the bed right beside him before cuddling up to his arm. "I understand that this whore from your past? Future?" she got confused for a moment before shaking her head. "It doesn''t matter. I understand that this Ortensia whore hurt you deeply," she said as she traced her finger on Layn''s chest. "But please, don''t take me for her," she said in a stern voice while looking deep into Layn''s eyes.

    "I would never..." Layn attempted to protest, only for Irea''s finger to rest on his mouth, shutting him up.

    "When I made youe inside me, I didn''t do it to get pregnant with your kid. I mean, I didn''t do it as to get some sort of control over you," Irea said in the same, angered voice as before. "I did it because I felt that I would implode if you didn''t flush me down with your seed," she said before lowering her head and cing a kiss on Layn''s chest. "I did it because I hoped it would feel great for you," she ced another kiss on his neck.

    "And I did it because I wanted to show you just how dedicated I am for you," her lips moved to Layn''s mouth, reigniting the sparks of enthusiasm in his body.

 Chapter 167 - Fulfillment (affirmation, Smut, +18)

    "I''m sorry, burdening you with my past like that," Layn said in a grim voice, torn between self-inflicted guilt and depression that those memories brought to him.

    "It''s okay," Irea mumbled silently, once again pushed Layn''s face into her bosom. Even though it was only a passing thought for her, it appeared that this position somehow had a calming effect on the archmage. "It''s all in the past. You don''t need to let it bother you anymore," she continued her sweet whispers while caressing Layn''s head with her hands.

    For the next few moments, the two of them simply cuddled in their primitive bed. Just the warmth of their bodies was enough to bring satisfaction for them.

    "Thank you," Layn muttered after a moment before showering Irea''s breasts with kisses. The taste of her skin was just too great for him to hold back.

    "Don''t mention i-it," Irea replied, only to turn her words into a slight moan when Layntched on to her nipples with his entire mouth and started sucking. "What are you, a toddler?" she asked with a chuckle. "No matter how much you suck, no milk wille out, dummy," she yfully scolded her man.

    But it was clear that she didn''t really mind it at all. Her legs started to rub against''s Layn''s, indicating that what was between them started to itch a little.

    "I can feel how wet you are," Layn muttered in the short breaks between eating her breasts out.

    "Can you?" Irea asked in a flirty tone, pulling Layn''s head towards her chest a bit harder. In response, Layn decided to ramp up his game a little, adding his teeth to the y.

    "Ah!" Irea let out a slight moan when Layn bit on her nipple for the first time. The movements of her legs turned even more impatient. Her hand moved down and started to caress Layn''s manhood which once again turned hard enough for the action. "Do you want me to suck you off again?" she asked between her moans.

    "You already did so much for me," Layn replied while shaking his head. He then wrapped his hands around Irea''s back before rolling on top of her. He then moved his head up from her breasts before gracing the girl with a lovely smile. "Let me pay back the favor now," he said before moving his head down on her breasts again.

    At first, he simply continued to y with her chest. His hands massaged her mounds with steady movements as his fingers sank deeply into her soft flesh. But with each passing second, Layn''s lips continued to move down, showering every patch of Irea''s skin with kisses.

    From her breasts, Layn moved to her belly. From her belly, he moved to her abdomen, constantly marking his math with more and more kisses. Then, when he finally reached her sweetest garden, he suddenly stopped his advances.

    "What''s wrong?" Irea asked, torn between expectations and lust. Even though she didn''t ask to be pleasured orally, it was clear that she was now anticipating it.

    "Nothing much," Layn replied, raising his head to look the girl in the eyes. "I just wanted to tease you up a bit," he added with a gentle chuckle before pushing his head down andtching on the small, protruding bit right at the top of her pussy.

    "AGH!" Irea released a loud moan as soon as Layn sucked on her clit. But rather than stopping there, he continued to suck on it for a while before moving on to rub it with his tongue.

    "This is..." Irea attempted to say something, only for her hands to grasp at the pillows below when a wave of pleasure shook her body. Unable to fully control her body anymore, she sped her thighs around Layn''s head as if in an attempt to hold it in ce. "Don''t stop!" she screamed out, cing one of her hands on Layn''s head while using the other to rub her breast.

    ''How the heck can this feel soo good?'' Layn asked himself as he moved his tongue down before licking the lower lips of the girl. As weird kiss as it was, Layn couldn''t get enough of Irea''s taste, of her smell, or even of how she was reacting to every little thing he did.

    ''Well, it''s time to ramp up the game a bit,'' Layn thought with amusement as he moved his tongue down before pushing it inside her overflowing hole.

    Even though this ce was wide enough to amodate his penis, Irea somehow still managed almost to squeeze his tongue dry with her insides. The inner wraps of her body continued to tighten over his tongue as if she couldn''t differentiate between his mouth-muscle and penis.

    "No!" Irea suddenly moaned. Surprised by the fact, Layn raised his eyes. His attempt at sounding off Irea''s true intentions failed, though, given how he could see the girl''s face due to her chest blocking his view. "I don''t want that," Irea continued to moan in pained pleasure, confusing the archmage to no end. "I want you inside me," she continued to moan as her entire body turned giddy.

    "So you are ready, huh?" Layn asked happily, raising his wet face from her sticky crotch. But Irea''s face could no longer give him any hints. Just a single look at her eyes was enough for Layn to realize that Irea already reached the point of no return, too immersed in pleasure to make any sense at all.

    "Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me." At this point, Irea continued to repeat this simple request over and over again. Her entire body was shaking in anticipation. Her pussy was overflowing with her juices, ready to be prated at any moment.

    "Well, as lovely as you are right now, I''m not going to make you wait any longer," Layn said with a smile. He rose up only to move upwards on the bed a bit, just to align his hips with Irea''s crotch.

    Sensing the movement, Irea brought her thighs up before spreading them apart in an attempt to make the entry even easier for her man.

    "Fuck me, fuck me, fuck me." Her silent mantra continued as she was clearly unable to hold for much longer.

    "Irea," Layn suddenly said in a serious tone, hanging his head right above the girl''s face.

    "Yeash?" Somehow, the girl managed to respond in her half-conscious state.

    "I love you," Layn whispered his confession right into Irea''s ear. At the same time, he pushed his hips forward, forcing his penis inside the girl.

    In an instant, her insides squeezed on him as if trying to deny him entry. But with how wet Irea already was, Layn didn''t really have much trouble pushing his penis all the way in.

    Layn stopped his advance only when his balls hit Irea''s crotch. Fully immersed in her flesh, he went for yet another deep kiss, all the while enjoy the feeling of her hot wraps coiling around him.

    ''It''s great already,'' he thought as he retracted his hips a little, ''but it can be even better,'' he thought as he pushed himself in once again.

    Whenever Layn would push his penis forward, Irea''s insides would push against it. Whenever he would pull out, her wraps would greedilytch to his rod as if refusing to let it go.

    Layn''s movements continued to speed up. Even though he could feel some kind of barrier at the deepest parts of the girl, he refused to lose any morale, bravely pushing even deeper.

    At this point, Irea couldn''t do anything but moan silently as Layn rocked her body silly. Her breasts continued to jiggle up and down, matching the rhythm of Layn''s attacks.

    Soon, both of them reached the limit of what they could endure. Irea shot her hands up, only toy them down on Layn''s back. Her fingers coiled, leaving painful bruises on Layn''s back.

    But rather than deterring him, this bit of pain only made him more aggressive.

    With Irea reacting to even the slightest of his moves, Layn couldn''t hold any longer. He continued fucking her as if there was no tomorrow, letting her insides rub his penis all over. And soon, just like anyone could expect, a wave of pleasure rocked his abdomen before traveling up and leaving his body through the very tip of his penis.

    As soon as Irea''s body detected his sperm, she tensed all over, coiling around Layn''s manhood even harder than before. The strenght of her inner wraps reached a point when he couldn''t even move an inch, locked in ce as more and more sperm continued to flush up from his system, only to be pumped straight into Irea''s core.

    "Ahhhh," Layn sighed when he ejected all his strenght in the girl. Numbed by the pleasure, he fell on top of her body, once again resting his head on her soft breasts. As her chest continued to move up and down along with Irea''s heavy breath, Layn immersed himself in the rapid pace of her heart.

    With her legs wrapped tightly around his waist, with her hands cuddling him as tight as she could, Layn couldn''t even move an inch. Surrounded by Irea''s sweet smell and overwhelmed by the luby of the beating of her heart, he finally managed to fully rx.

    "I really want to bear your child," Irea whispered softly, still overwhelmed by the waves of pleasure that would asionally shake her entire body.

    "I can hardly believe I am saying this," Layn spoke in a tired voice, already half asleep on the softest pillow in the universe, "but I would be really happy if you did."

 Chapter 168 - Impossibility

    "That man... Is dangerous," Jacob muttered under his nose as he scanned through the many reports his subordinates provided him with. Confined in one of the most run-down rooms of the most run-down Inn in the entire area, he locked himself away from the world.

    Jacob would act like that only when he would be fully set on tackling a problematic case. And from the looks of things, this problematic situation could actually be more than he could handle.

    "Recruitment posts, logistical preparations, hidden correspondence... Just by looking at those things alone, I can see how formidable he will be as an opponent..." Jacob muttered, voicing his thoughts out to have a better shot at analyzing them.

    Even though he spent thest few days trying to crack the intentions of this man, Jacob continued to struggle with the task. While just the things reported were enough to turn this matter into a massive headache, there was still the time of their encounter to think about.

    "If he is capable of defeating my illusions so easily, why does he bother to look for some small fries?" Jacob asked himself, unable to find the answer to this seemingly simple question.

    ''Does he need manpower? But what for? An army? Or maybe for some odd jobs? Or could it be...'' A sudden thought almost paralyzed the man. Even though he was already sitting at the desk with all the papers on it, he still couldn''t stop himself from rushing to look for a single detail that could confirm his guess.

    Several pieces of precious paper thrown around the roomter; Jacob froze in ce while staring at a simple line of text.

    A line of text that he ignored earlier. A line he ignored because it would be insane to draw such overarching conclusions from a single written sentence.

    "He is actually trying to conquer the desert?" Jacob muttered softly before falling heavily down on his chair. In the deste Inn, he was staying at, this seat was the only luxury he couldn''t stop himself from organizing.

    Then, a knocking sound forced Jacob out of his nearlyatose state.

    "Come in!" he shouted towards the doors, even if they appeared to be fragile enough for a mere whisper to break them apart. But that was only another illusion of his, one that didn''t require all that much effort or energy to maintain.

    "Sir! They finally made their move!" Giern reported as soon as he rushed inside the room. "I already have Severn watching them, but it doesn''t seem like they will remain in the city for long!" he concluded his report, finally allowing himself to catch a breath.

    "I see..." For a moment, Jacob remained motionless. His eyes were glued to this very single sentence that slightly alerted him previously and confirmed his guess a momentter.

    "Okay, we are moving out," Jacob said, standing up from his desk. His expression was already dark, as there was no time for it to darken.

    "Sir? Are we in trouble?" Giern asked, startled by the unfamiliar expression on his boss'' face.

    ''We are dealing with all sorts of people and monsters, but this is the first time for me to see Jacob so shaken!'' he thought, forcibly stopping the trembling of his body. A trembling not caused by his boss'' mental state, but anything that was capable of forcing the man into it.

    "I need you to go to the magistrate. We will need every the camp can spare," Jacob ordered as he marched towards the doors.

    The entryway to the room would normally consist of several nks pieces together and holding on a verbal promise. But those doors were taken out and burned, only to be reced by a state-of-the-art gate. One that derived its strenght not only from the precious materials used to create it but mostly from its ability to circte its owner''s mana.

    Outside of its natural defenses, there was one more reason why Jacob splurged on this expensive piece of furniture.

    "Shrink," he said as soon as he ced his hand on the doors.

    And the doors followed the call, instantly turning into an object that easily fit into Jacob''s palm.

    Neither of the two men lingered in the ce to stand awed by the marvelous sight. Even though magical items like that were rare toe by, Giern has served under Jacob for long enough to already get used to this peculiarity of his.

    "Boss, what''s going on?" Giern asked. His face was tense, but given hisck of knowledge about the current state of affairs in the city, it has yet to reach the white color of someone struck by a terror.

    "Do you remember what provision packets are?" Jacob asked a question on his own instead of replying in a straightforward manner.

    "Ah, those!" Giern shouted, instantly putting a smug smile on his face. "It''s a rough ssification of the variety of resources necessary toplete different kinds of tasks," he recited the form that everyone in their line of the job was bound to remember.

    Along with hundreds upon hundreds of other rules, regtions, and forms.

    This mental demand for storing an enormous amount of wisdom and information was the real burden of the job. The main reason why not even a single cultivator of a rank below high-grade two-stars could even dream of entering the ranks of interrogators.

    "When I saw it in the reports, I dismissed it," Jacob admitted as he continued to hurry along the road. "I didn''t expect that this might be actually true," Jacob continued to scold himself up, forgetting about the very first rule in their line of work, the rule that he was the first to enforce in his group.

    "Reports? Provision packets? Impossible?" Giern muttered under his nose, trying to piece the clues together. Then, his eyes widened as his body trembled slightly. "Sir, is he going to..." this time, Giern didn''t even need to have his head scolded by Jacob to shut the hell up.

    Even though the chances of someone eavesdropping on them was abysmal, it wasn''t something he was willing to discount.

    Not when such an enormous price was at stake.

    "This is where we part ways," Jacob said when he reached a crossroads. To one side, the military district of the war camp stood. But rather than going there to request immediate assistance, Jacob turned his eyes towards the opposite direction.

    On normal days, there would be nothing of interest there. Just a small za decorated with an ordinary water fountain. And to be honest, even now, this ce was exactly the same as always.

    That is, as long as one were to discount a massive crowd of people packed into every nook and cranny of that open area.

    ''Shit, they already started,'' Jacob thought, not even wasting time to see his subordinate off. ''I need to stall for now,'' he thought calmly.

    As the chief interrogator, he had to be even better than all the other aces that filled the ranks of this elite formation. And the ability to keep his head cool even in the direst situations was one of the few prerequisites one would be required to fulfill before applying for the promotion.

    ''Now that I think about it, reaching the three-star rank is nothing whenpared to all the other shit we are bound to be capable of,'' Jacob thought as he reached the outskirts of the za.

    "Everyone! We will be departing now!" Markus''s voice vibrated through the air of the entire za. Even with how crowded it was, there was no doubt that everyone could hear him clearly.

    But what was happening in the square didn''t matter much. It was what was currently taking ce right outside of it that made Jacob''s blood coil.

    The crowd blocked his view. Thankfully, for a three-star cultivator like him, it wasn''t any inhibition. With just his energy-sense alone, he could feel a disaster, something that shouldn''t exist.

    He took a few steps forward, pushing through the people as if they were flies only waiting to be swatted away. And in just a single moment, he saw it.

    A thing that wasn''t supposed to exist. A thing that solely belonged to the domain of the old gods.

    A thing that confirmed Jacob''s earlier guess.

    It was a dark, spherical mass of ckness. Or rather than the color itself, the disaster simply consumed all the light, making everyone perceive it as a piece of perfect ck.

    And as if it was nothing to be amazed at, scores of people continued to walk out of the ck sphere, reinforcing the already massive crowd in the za.

    ''They made a fucking portal!'' Jacob screamed in his mind, losing his mind for the first time since he passed the promotion exam.

    But before he could do anything or evene back to his senses, something changed.

    Impossibility

    "Okay!," Markus who was standing atop the fountain that decorated the middle of the za, smiled gently. "Now that everyone is here, let''s not waste any time and go!" he said and waved his hand.

    And as if it never existed in the first ce, the impossibility, the ck portal, disappeared just like that.

 Chapter 169 - Pressing Negotiations

    "Boss, they are here," a man suddenly walked up to Markus and reported in a silent voice.

    "Right on time," Markus muttered before moving his hand up and patting the man on the back. "Good job. Continue the investigation," he praised the man before giving him the next orders.

    ''You shouldn''t have tested me back then,'' he thought as the massive crowd of people continued to walk towards the outer gate of the camp. Looking around, he could see the few expensive mercenaries that he hired personally after the rmendation from the local mercenary guild.

    In the crowd consisting mostly of opportunists and fortune-finders, there was only a handful of truly valuable people. Between roughly a thousand-strong group, there were only seven craftsmen, fifteen mercenary warriors, and roughly fifty of Al''s nsmen.

    "So you are Marcus," one of the forementioned people approached the saint. "I have a letter from Antion to you and one to Al that I will need to pass on directly. I hope that won''t be a problem," the middle-aged man said in a perfectly neutral tone as if he wasmenting on the weather.

    "You can pass it to me once we take the corner ahead," Markus looked up and to the left before giving his reply.

    There were people watching every single step of theirs. As such, even something as simple as talking with each other had to be a precisely thought-out operation.

    "Are you foreseeing any problems to arise?" the man asked, not daring to as much as look at Markus'' face.

    "Something hangs in the air," the former saint replied ambiguously, unwilling to share the details of something so vital out in the open. "It will be for the best if you guys were to be prepared for the fight," he added before biting on his bottom lip.

    ''While I hope it will all go smoothly, I''m not some kind of naive idiot to blindly believe in it,'' Markus thought, watching the side-streets his crowd passed as they moved forward.

    And soon, his guess proved to be correct.

    As soon as the front of the group reached the perimeter of the gate that separated the warcamp from the actual desert, they stopped.

    People moving in the middle and back part of the crowd have yet to see that a problem arose, so they ended up pushing forward, squeezing those in between.

    And as Markus reached the very corner that he mentioned a moment earlier, he saw what the reason for the sudden halt was.

    "The leader of the group, step forward!" An officer from the military part of the camp stood ahead of a massive troop. The troop that blocked the exit from the camp from the crowd that Markus gathered.

    "What are we going to do?" One of the mercenaries approached Markus, openly asking him the question.

    After all, now that the confrontation came to be, the number of things they need to keep hidden greatly decreased.

    "For now, just keep still. Don''t do shit unless they openly attack," Markus ordered before making his way towards the front of the crowd.

    Given how everyone was squeezed up, this task was a challenge on its own. Which in turn made the whole matter slightly problematic with how there was a limit to the patience that the soldiers had.

    ''I know I can get through them way faster,'' Markus thought, already able to see the faces of the military ahead, ''but let''s see whether they will make any mistakes,'' he summed up his n and even slowed down his pace of squeezing through the people.

    "I''m asking onest time," the officer spoke up as heid his hand at the handle of the sword by his waist. "The leader of this group, step forward!"

    Markus reached the very end of the crowd... And he stopped there. Given how he was the mastermind of the entire event, he even had the magical energy he managed to obtain from loosely crushed magic stones just to prevent anyone from recognizing him.

    "And why should we give you our leader?" He shouted, acting as a random person in the crowd. "This gate only serves to prevent invasion. There is now that you can use to forbid us to venture to the desert!" he shouted again, trying to see how far the other party was willing to go to stop them.

    But rather than shouting anything back, the officer simply smiled before turning around and putting two of his fingers into his mouth.

    "WHEEZ!" the high sound of whistling seemed to prate everyone''s ears in an unpleasant fashion.

    And nothing happened.

    At least, not on the military end.

    One of the men that just happened to stand right beside Markus suddenly moved forward. He pushed the people blocking his way away without even the slightest hint of effort before walking out to the open space and turning around.

    On his lips was a satisfied smile.

    "I''m the three-star cultivator and high interrogator in the direct service of the Star Emperor!" the man introduced himself before moving his eyes right where Markus stood. "Please, we are not here to fight, but some things need to be sorted out. Come out," he pleaded, keeping his eyes glued to Markus'' face.

    ''What a clever rat,'' he thought, hiding what was going through his head with a wide smile. And then, as if he was a kid in some kind of game, he ducked.

    ''Now that your line of sight is broken, I wonder if you will still be able to track me,'' Markus thought as he moved around blindly for a moment before standing up straight again.

    But in reality, what he did was just a simple act of defiance aimed at showing the man that he wasn''t as easy to track as the man most likely wished he would be.

    "I''m the leader of this group," Markus said, stepping out of the crowd with confidence. His pockets were full of the magic stones that he busied himself with sourcing for the first three days of his visit to the camp.

    Those that he managed to turn into small pieces were all embedded into his clothes, constantly providing him with a small surge of magical energy.

    But as the event at the Inn previously proved, that could be less than enough. And for that very reason, Markus had no other choice but to fill his pockets with magic stones, ready to suck them dry of energy at any given notice.

    "I''m not going to ask you whether you know it or not, because putting it frankly... There is no way for you to know thatw," Jacob said as he put a wide smile on his face. "This entire desert is a imed territory of the Star emperor. If you are going to settle there for whatever mad reason you came up with, you need to be aware of the restrictions, duties, and taxes that you will be obliged to satisfy," he exined the situation, intentionally using tax and duties separately even if they, for the most part, meant the same.

    After all, how could he lead the negotiations if he were to give his exact wishes right off the bat?

    "Excuse me, but that won''t work," Markus responded with no hesitation. "No matter what you will ask for, no matter what you will expect us to do, you should be well aware that you don''t have the might to enforce it," Markus said openly, not hiding away his disdain for the local powers.

    "Are you sure to be so quick to ignore thews of the Star Emperor?" Jacob asked, opening his eyes wide in surprise.

    It was the first time for the high investigator to show his true feelings. He changed his face back to a neutral expression pretty quick, but it was pretty obvious that his negotiation opponent didn''t miss it.

    "For me, that Star Emperor is just a name," Markus replied while shrugging his arms. "For me, he is yet another target for the Cultivator Hunters, the people that I decided to release from the chains of hatred and bring away to a ce where no cultivator could make them recall why they sent out a killing spree in the first ce," Markus said, telling a slightly modified story of his ancestors.

    To be perfectly honest, he didn''t lie much. Given the conflict between the spirits worshipers of Al and the cultivators of the current day, calling them cultivators hunters wasn''t that much of a stretch.

    "What did you say?!" Jacob raised his voice a bit, this time making sure to keep his expression straight.

    "Are you deaf, dumb, or just pretending to be either of them?" Markus asked, taking a step forward and finally allowing his aura to rein free rather than keeping it restrained. In a second, everyone in the city felt as if the heavens suddenly doubled in weight.

    Everyone in the crowd fell to their knees. Most of the soldiers behind the investigator did the same. Only a selected few, Al''s men and Markus mercenaries among them, managed to resist the sudden pressure.

    "Since you were so kind to exin yourws to me, I will be kind enough to repeat myself. Or rather, to tell you what reality is," Markus said, taking another step forward.

    "With me, I have the first batch of fifty seasoned cultivator hunters. Each of them has the blood of at least ten people on their hands. Every single one of them is itching to go on a rampage right now but are not doing it only because of my strict order," Markus said, finally taking his stop roughly five steps away from the high investigator.

    "If you let us pass right now, they will be sure tomend your behavior in their letters," Markus said before reining in his aura once again and smiling.

    For a moment, the atmosphere in the ce almost rxed. It wasn''t some kind of mind-trick, but a simple effect of releasing people from their pressure.

    "What letters," Jacob asked, squinting his eyes. While he managed to withstand the pressure of that man, it wasn''t an easy task. Not even for a three-star cultivator like him.

    "Letters to the remaining army of those hunters, currently massacring every poor little fellow that is unlucky enough to cross their path," Markus replied before raising his hand to his mouth... Only to get rid of a piece of meat that got stuck between his teeth.

 Chapter 170 - Panicked Offer

    "In the end, are you trying to threaten us?" Jacob asked while squinting his eyes. But what made Markus add a massive score of bonus points to the man''s name in the former saint''s inner evaluation system was the fact that the man didn''t back out under his pressure.

    "Call it a threat; call it to advise. I don''t really care," Markus shook his arms as he replied. "But right now, I still have yet to hear a single proper reason for you to stop this entire crowd at the gate. Since when people are forbidden from adventuring en masse?" Markus asked, pressing his points.

    ''He wants to change the topic,'' the former saint thought, trying to analyze the situation as calmly as possible. ''And that means he is just buying time,'' Markus concluded before casting a short nce to the back. Even though the talks have yet to turn into a long stalemate, some of the people were already getting restless.

    "Ever since this encounter started, you continued to im that we have no right to stop you here," the high interrogator spoke up, gracing Markus with a lovely smile. "So far, I ignored that part, but I guess it''s time for me to address it," he added before taking a step forward. For a moment, Jacob entered a contest of stares with Markus, as if curious who woulde out victorious from it.

    But rather than continuing this meaningless stand-off, he then stepped to the side. He passed by Markus, clearly intent on addressing the crowd.

    "The amount of goods that you are going to pass by the gate falls under the Logistical Regtory Act," Jacob spoke out with his face towards the crowd. Still, no one had any doubts about who those words were truly aimed at. "As such, I''m well within my right to strip you of roughly half of the possessions that you are carrying. While the tax would only require half of it, not reporting the excessive amount of cargo obviously results in a regted fine," Jacob said in a calm voice. While it wasn''t silent at all, given how massive the crowd ahead was, it was pretty doubtful whether anyone outside of the first few rows managed to hear shit.

    While this alone was enough for anyone with brains to understand that this whole act was nothing else but an extension of the earlier negotiations, Jacob still had some reasons to continue it.

    "What''s more, there is a strict limit to howrge an exploring party can be," he said as he turned around to face Markus again. "Tell me, are you going to im that your party is actually only fifty people strong, with all the other people just happening to be here?" he asked while a small smile appeared on his lips. "Or do you want to tell me that you don''t care about the regtions, the same regtions that the locals set up to prevent a single force from taking over the riches of the deserts all to themselves?" he asked another question while taking a step forward.

    "What the heck do you want?" Markus asked, not keen to answer any of the man''s questions. ''If I allow him to set up the pace of the talks, it will be his win no matter the oue,'' he thought. While on its own, this kind of statement would sound stupid, there was one great disparity between Markus and Jacob that made it so hard for the former saint to win this battle of wits.

    And it was knowledge.

    Without the perfect understanding of the localws, Markus had no hopes of iming victory over the legal grounds of what he was doing. After all, whenever he would strike down a single argument, the other party could use its authority to bring forth two morews forbidding what Markus wanted to do.

    And no one would be any wiser whether suchws actually existed or were just a story that the high interrogator came up with to confuse Markus'' side.

    "What do I want?" Jacob smiled, sensing the blood like some kind of seasoned hunter beast. "So you are not going to pretend any longer than you have those serial killers pacified and ready to strike us down at any notice?" he asked with a vicious smile.

    But Markus didn''t reply. For a long while, he simply stared at the man''s face as if trying to judge something out of it.

    Then, instead of opening his mouth, Markus raised his hand.

    "The moment I lower my hand," he started, finally looking back at Jacob''s face, "the massacre will begin," he said in a monotone voice as if he was too bored with the ongoing situation to care about it any longer.

    "So we are back to threats. Do you really have nothing else..." Jacob attempted to ridicule Markus'' warnings, but he wasn''t given the time to do so. Midway through his words, Markus simply brought his hand down.

    "KILL!" In an instant, several shouts erupted from the crowd. And while nothing happened in an instant, just this swift reaction to Markus'' words was worthy recognition.

    "Do you think that shouts alone will be enough to scare me off?" Jacob asked, finally starting to lose it. ''This guy is pissing me off to no end,'' he thought while gritting his teeth. ''But I can''t challenge him directly. He is way too...'' he thought, only for all the rms to go off in his head in a moment that could only be called random.

    Jacob raised his hand at the same time as he coated it with ayer of protective energy. It was all but an instinct acting out.

    An instinct that saved his life.

    As soon as Jacob looked up, he saw a massive ax embedded into his hand. While it somehow managed to break through his protectiveyer of energy, it appeared as it lost just the right amount of momentum to lock itself against Jacob''s bone rather than cleanly cutting his arm off.

    And then, the mess in the crowd became obvious. But it onlysted for a second, after which a small number of men walked out of the crowd.

    ''Who are they?'' Jacob thought as the sudden rush of blood to his head prevented him from thinking clearly. The seriousness of the attack and how potentially disastrous this injury could be to him have yet to sink in.

    But the people that Markus called forth didn''t bother with giving the high interrogator any time to recover.

    Each of their steps was worth three or four steps of his. The only reason why his head wasn''t looped off yet, was how carelessly and slowly those people moved forward.

    Yet, at the same time, Jacob couldn''t help but feel as if both their speed and how lose their ranks were had some kind of meaning that was escaping from his attention.

    His heart rate started to increase as more and more energy started to flow through his veins. It was Jacob''s body reacting to the injury and attempting to mend it.

    "You have time until they reach you," Markus said with aidback attitude. He looked as if he was only interested in finding a good spot to watch what was about to transpire on the square.

    "Time for what?" Jacob asked, feeling how the first needles of panic started to sink in his soul. ''I''m a high interrogator... Just for injuring me, I could order them all to be executed on the spot!'' he thought angrily when the devastating realization struck him. ''I could order them to be executed... But who would be capable enough to actually fulfill my order?'' Jacob asked himself while taking a moment to judge the strenght of the approaching people.

    But as he looked towards them, he noticed something weird. While their pace of movement was as slow as that of a snail, in this short moment during which he didn''t pay any attention to them, they managed to close half the distance that initially separated them!

    And then there were their eyes. There was no hint of mercy or remorse in them. Just a simple focus on fulfilling the task mixed with something that Jacob couldn''t put into words. ''It''s like this primal rage you can often see in infuriated monsters,'' Jacob thought before involuntarily gulping down his saliva.

    "I need you to let me and my unit apany you to wherever you are going and epting the ims we will make to thend we will find," Jacob suddenly said, surprising himself with this act.

    "Denied," Markus instantly replied, not bothering to even think about the offer.

    "Come on!" Jacob protested, quickly reaching the barrier beyond which there was only a chaotic realm of panic. "I cannot ask for less, but with that power on your hand, it''s not like you believe the Star Emperor will have any means of enforcing those ims of ours, don''t you?"

    In his panicked state, Jacob revealed the only way out for everyone to leave the ce satisfied.. Markus people without any further obstacles standing on their path and Jacob without a warrant for the heads of him and his entire family.

 Chapter 171 - Star Emperors Apperance

    "What I believe in, what I know, and what I can guess are not the things that you will ever be privy to know," Markus said in an annoyed voice. He crossed his arms on top of his chest before squinting his eyes and looking deeply into the high interrogator''s eyes.

    "I guess I don''t have any other choice then," Jacob said, backing out a few steps and reaching to one of the pockets hidden underneath his robes.

    Once he was done searching through his stuff, he pulled out a small, wide, and thin crystal emanating with a faint, red glow.

    "This is the ipetency token. Each of the interrogators only has three of those given to them for their entire career," Jacob introduced the item that most of the people around would have trouble recognizing.

    ''Away for him to push back any and all responsibility?'' Markus thought, trying to read the situation before the other party would actually make their move.

    "I already used one of them back in the days. But let me first exin what will happen if I do snap it in half," Jacob added with a sour smile. Unless the face he was making was nothing but an act, it seemed that his soul was boiling in a mix of powerlessness and wish for vengeance for the humiliation he received today. "Once I snap it, a signal will be sent to my superior, informing him that there is something going on that I cannot handle on my own," Jacob exined as his sour smile only deepened.

    "And who that direct superior might be?" Markus asked ironically, pushing his head to the side as he did. "Your mother? Your lover?" He added a few guesses to infuriate the man even further.

    "No," Jacob replied calmly, shaking his head in denial. "It''s the Star Emperor himself," he added a momentter.

    ''Huh?'' Markus froze. His eyes were glued to Jacob''s face. He looked towards his hand holding the potentially dangerous item.

    And it was trembling.

    ''Is he bluffing?'' Markus asked himself, trying to see through the man''s ruse. If this was all but an act filled with lies, then he would lose face and a lot of time by agreeing to negotiate. But if the man was actually honest, then Markus would likely end up against a local powerhouse.

    A powerhouse that Markus waspletely ignorant about.

    ''If we look at it like that, there is a fifty-fifty chance that he is telling the truth and fifty-fifty chance that this star emperor or something is stronger than me,'' Markus thought. Even though he was a schr, he didn''t mind making a bitch out of the probabilistic math in a situation like this.

    "In other words, there are three to one chances that you are fucked against me being fucked," Markus said out loud, not giving even a shred of fuck over the fact that the man would have no idea how Markus arrived at such a conclusion.

    "Try me, bitch," Jacob replied as some tones of madness exploded in his eyes. His fingers visibly tensed as if he was already attempting to break the stone.

    For a moment, Markus remained silent. For a moment, he watched the man in front of him as intensely as if he suddenly turned into a woman perfectly in the middle of Markus'' striking zone.

    In other words, for the briefest of moments, Markus saw Yelna instead of this man.

    "Okay, let''s top this dick-measuring contest," Markus suddenly said as he raised his hands to the sky. "My wife would kill me if I dared to fight with that pussy emperor or something on my own. And between that ruler of yours and my wife¡­." Markus bit his lips after he said, clearly having some problems with voicing his ideas out. "Well, let''s say that I have yet to grow the balls big enough to ever oppose any of her wishes," he added, confusing Jacob to no end.

    ''Why the fuck is he talking about his wife now?'' he thought, looking with an intense stare at the man ahead of him. Then, a slight glint appeared in his vision for a moment. A reflection of the sun blocked his view for just a fraction of a second.

    "Hello, dear," Markus said, turning his head to the side.

    And for some reason, there was another person there.

    "What?!" Jacob muttered as the needles of panic once again started to sink into his soul. ''Where did she came from?'' he thought, startled by the sudden appearance of a girl.

    She was pretty short, roughly one and a half heads shorter than her alleged husband. Her posture didn''t give out any feeling of danger or might. There was no aura around her whatsoever, proving that she had no cultivation at all.

    ''With all of that, she shouldn''t be a threat¡­ But why does her mere presence makes me shudder?'' Jacob thought, startled by the weird situation.

    Clink!

    The strange sound of something breaking suddenly caught Jacob''s attention. His eyes were drawn to the source of the sound.

    And then he saw it.

    The crystal that he bid his hopes on suddenly proved to be sliced in half. And as if some strange force that held it together ran out, the upper part of the crystal slid down the same angle at which it was cut.

    "What did you¡­." Jacob said as he rushed to grab the other part of the stones, still hoping to be able to attach it back. But the shine in it already disappeared. The crystal has died.

    And that meant the Star Emperor now knew that something really bad was going on in the War Camp.

    "What did you do?" Jacob muttered, unable to gather the strenght necessary to shout. He fell down to his knees, staring at the two halves of the ipetence stone. Without their inner light, there was nothing that he could do anymore.

    "So you were that eager to fight that bastard," Markus smiled as he turned around and spoke to the newly appearing figure.

    "How could I pass such a rare challenge?" Yelna smiled viciously as she spoke way more words than she would usually use while conversing. It was the only proof of how excited she was for the fight that Markus required.

    "Now then," Yelna muttered as she turned around and looked at the high interrogator, revealing the excited look on her face. "When that bastard is going to show up?" she asked while putting both of her hands behind her head.

    "You¡­" Jacob muttered as he stared deeply into the female''s eyes but ended up not saying anything more. How can you treat the emperor with such disrespect? How can you be so arrogant? Do you seek death? Those questions somehow became meaningless when put against the excited and fearless look in the girl''s eyes.

    "Yes, me," Yelna said. "What about me?" she asked, trying to pry deeper into the mind of the poor investigator.

    ''This guy stands near the top of this world. It must be hard for him to be faced with a reality like that,'' Markus thought, taking pity over the man. Then, after he made his decision, he stepped forward and ced his hand on Yelna''s shoulder. "Let him off, dear. He is not worthy of your attention," he said, trying to let the man go out of mercy alone. "But I will need you to tell us when that emperor or stairs will arrive," Markus intentionally twisted the title of the man that the interrogator held in such high regard.

    "You guys are doomed¡­." Jacob muttered, falling to his knees. His entire body was trembling. "There is no stopping it. He ising," he continued to mutter as if he lost all his sanity.

    "He lost it," Markus muttered to Yelna, looking at the man with pity. "But well, that makes it pretty hopeful," he added after a moment.

    Then, something strange started to happen to the space around the man. As if the space itself was stretching and tensing down consecutively¡­

    And then, one simple thing changed. The kneeling interrogator disappeared, reced by a young man standing in the exact same ce where the interrogator was a moment earlier.

    "What''s going on here?" The man asked, looking around without even a shred of anxiety. Rather than that, his eyes were filled with curiosity and amusement. Then, his eyes locked on Markus and Yelna. "I guess it''s you two that made my loyal man so desperate," he said as he cast his eyes on the cut crystal lying on the ground.

    And then, his face tensed up a bit.

    "Yelna," Markus said, putting a wide smile on his face. "You are up," he said as he rustled the girl''s hair.

    In a sh, the girl disappeared from her spot. As if she turned into a thunderbolt, she instantly changed her position to one just one step behind an alleged Star Emperor.

    "Futile," the man''s face tensed up as he kicked his leg backward.

    ''He didn''t even look behind,'' Markus noticed, observing every tiniest movement of the man.

    But Yelna was far from fazed by this unexpected counter. Rather than avoiding the man''s kick, she lightly jumped and stepped on the top of his feet, using the force of the man''s kick to jump even faster and higher.

    Her rise to the sky was normal.. Her speed was exactly that of a normal man jumping while being kicked. But as her momentum broke and she reached the highest point she could from her jump, her entire body shed before the girl thundered down with a force of real lightning!

 Chapter 172 - Squarely In The Face

    Yelna was toote.

    Her thundering kicknded squarely where the Star Emperor was standing... The only problem was, the man already moved away by the time the girlnded.

    "Ugh, that was close!" the surprisingly young man eximed as he dusted off his robe. "But where is all this aggressioning from?" he asked, leaning his head to the side.

    "I can see through him," Yelna said before dropping her guard and rxing. She simply stood in her ce, roughly ten meters away from the man she just attacked.

    "Great, that will save us some effort," Markus said with glee before turning his head to the man that reced the high interrogator from before. "The Star Emperor, I assume?"

    "I don''t really like this name," the man roughly in his thirties shook his head with a troubled smile. "This title makes people think as if reaching my level was the end of the path, while it''s actually only a beginning," the man smiled, rxing just like Yelna a moment earlier. "But I believe it''s my turn to question now. What the hell is going on here?"

    "I''m sorry, but I missed the part where that''s your business," Markus replied harshly. After a single sentence from Yelna, he adopted a dismissive attitude towards the man. "Now that we know you cannot match my wife, I don''t see a single reason to exin my ns to you," he added, looking down at the man.

    "And there it goes, passive-aggressive tone!" The youthful man eximed, raising his hands to the sky. "Why are all the viins like that?" he asked the skies and actually waited as if he expected some kind of answer to actuallye. "Would it kill you to just be polite for once?" he asked, squinting his eyes in the first reveal of a portion of the rage that was brimming in him.

    "You have guts to use us of being aggressive after your subordinate threatened us," Markus countered before locking his hands behind his back. ''If Yelna can see through his moves, then this fight is already over,'' Markus thought, putting his mind atplete ease.

    "I will severely punish him for that... Or so I would say if I didn''t know the worth of loyalty," the Star Emperor countered on his own but ultimately withdrew his hands back. "I can already understand what he did and why he did that. As such, I can only hope you will understand that everyone is equal in the face of thew," the man announced, finally dropping the pretense ofidback attitude.

    "We just want to leave the city and go explore the desert," Markus shrugged his shoulders as he opened his mouth. "Surely, you are not going to im that yourws restrict foreigners from leaving this ce?" Markus probed, slowly reaching the limits of his patience.

    While it was obvious that the locals wouldn''t let such a massive group enter the desert at once, Markus expected all the resistance to cease within just a few minutes.

    For every minute they spent talking on this side of the gate, they would have a minute less to travel through the desert.

    ''If we don''t hurry up, we will add one more day of sleeping in the sands rather than in the houses at the camp,'' Markus thought as he looked up to gauge the position of the sun in the sky.

    "There are surely nows stopping one from leaving my dominion," the young man eximed as if he wasn''t going to press the issue at all. "But it''s a different matter altogether if you are moving sizeable quantities of goods and wares outside of the human realm," he added, slowly allowing the aura of his power to circte around him.

    Noticing the change in the air around the man, Markus cast a nce at Yelna. But the girl didn''t act weirdly, still standing rxed out in the open.

    "We only took the supplies necessary to stay in the desert for a while," Markus shook his arm, still trying to solve the situation without needless bloodshed.

    He wasn''t against the idea of fighting per se. The former saint simply considered this solution as too wasteful time-wise to actively seek it out.

    "Do you want to say that your people are going to eat wood?" The man asked as he nced over the many carts that Markus'' organized crowd brought with them. And while those carts were hidden within the crowd, it was clear that this man had no problems peering into their content.

    "I''m not sure if you ever visited the desert yourself, but wood is a scarce material there," Markus replied, squinting his eyes in annoyance. "While it''s desert, the nights out there are cold. Without fire and something to burn in it, half of those people would freeze to their deaths," Markus said before shaking his shoulders. "Is that really what you want for them? So that half of them won''t ever return while the remaining half will be permanently scarred due to frostbites?" Markus continued to throw his usations.

    ''If my guess is right, then at least half of his poweres from the reverence of the people,'' Markus thought, keenly observing the situation.

    The entire ruse with Yelna attacking the man right off the bat was another ploy aimed at obtaining more information about this particr opponent.

    And while Markus wasn''t Layn when it came to magic expertise, he was still more than capable of noticing several things about the weird flow of mana around this man.

    "Still, there arews in this ce. It doesn''t matter what do you think about them," the man said as he took a step forward. It was clear that he was also getting annoyed with how the situation appeared to stall out.

    "There is no entity powerful in this world enough to enforce anyws upon me," Markus said without the slightest hint of care. But rather than just waiting for the man to attack in hopes that Yelna woulde to his rescue, Markus properly fixed his position and leaned forward, ready to enter the battle at any given notice.

    "So you really are viins," the star emperor said, putting a small, cheeky smile on his lips.

    And then, he attacked.

    As if thews of space didn''t bound him, he reappeared right behind Markus.

    ''I guess he judged I was the easier target,'' the former saint thought, hiding the grin that was about to appear on his face.

    With the man behind his back, Markus couldn''t see his movements at all... But they were so full of the magical energy that he would have to be unconscious or dead drunk not to perceive them.

    But he didn''t dodge. He didn''t jump away, nor did he attempt to do anything that could get him out of harm''s way.

    Markus simply... epted the attack with his entire self, even going as far as to pull all of his energy as deeply into his body as he could.

    The attack connected, sending a crushing wave of energy through Markus''s insides.

    But he continued to suck on the energy as if he wanted to condense it into a point that existed only theoretically.

    Magic attacks like this one normally were the more useful, the more energy the recipient of it had. While there was the part of strengthening the purely physical effects of one''s fist, whenpared to the energy attack that came after, they were nothing to be worried about.

    And thanks to Markus sucking all of his energy insides, there was no energy left for the enemy attack to disturb it. Rather than that, the energy of the Star Emperor had no other choice but to follow the flow.

    By the time the Star Emperor realized what was going on, Markus already had quite a feast at his expense, filling his drained paths with fresh, undistilled mana.

    "Not bad," the former saint said as he stretched the fingers of his right hand. He turned around and looked at the man who just stood there with a nk expression on his face. ''It seems he is still trying to understand what happened,'' Markus thought with amusement. And then, he threw a casual punch.

    But it was a casual punch for someone of his posture. Given how he was over a head higher than the man and at least twice as bulky as the youthful man, what Markus considered to be a casual strike turned out to be a hefty hit for the man.

    That is, it would turn out if he didn''t escape.

    Rather than using the same weird technique as before, the man simply jumped away. Several feet away from Markus, he definitely felt safe.

    "Not so fast!" Markus shouted, infusing his fist with the same energy that he stole from the man a moment earlier. Given how it was yet to fully diffuse with Markus'' own energy, once released, the mana instantly sought to return to its owner.

    And just like that, despite being far away from his reach, Markus struck the Star Emperor squarely in the face!

 Chapter 173 - Seeking Death

    "What?" The star emperor asked while holding his hand to his itching cheek.

    Markus''s attack wasn''t serious. It was a simple bitch-p, one he would serve a random civilian that would dare to insult him back in the time he was hailing from.

    In short words, Markus''s attack wasn''t aimed at hurting the man physically but at insulting his ego. By showing him how easy it was for the former saint to reach his face, something that most of the cultures across the entire world would grow to consider one''s most honorable part, Markus only wanted to enrage the man.

    Not because he wanted to turn this ce into a ughterhouse. Markus did what he did, aiming to make the fight easier for Yelna down the line.

    After all, whenpared to the former hero, he was but a weakling.

    "How dare you..." the youthful man asked, raising his furious eyes at Markus. "Just when the heck did you grow the balls to strike my handsome face," he uttered through his teeth, circting his energy at the greatest pace that he could.

    At the same time, the world around man started to warp. It was as if his energy was so potent that the very fabric of space was unable to hold it any longer, making it twist and warp in order to amodate the overreaching mana in the air.

    ''No, that''s not it,'' Markus thought, keeping a close look at the man and everything that at least seemed to be connected to him. ''His energy isn''t even that great,'' he thought, unable to stop himself fromparing the guy ahead with the other man that he knew to be capable of wielding an extraordinary amount of mana. ''Whenpared to Layn, he is but a child in the dark... So how the heck can he cause effects like those?'' Markus was puzzled by the situation, but that didn''t mean he believed to have anything to worry about.

    Just like one wouldn''t consider a circus'' un a threat only because they knew some tricks, Markus couldn''t look seriously at this joke of a mage no matter what kind of tricks he had up his sleeves.

    After all, tricks are just that. Pitiful tricks. In the face of an overwhelming might and skill, they were nothing.

    "HOW DARE YOU?!" The man finally lost it, screaming the question from the bottom of his lungs.

    "Just like that," Markus countered without care, sending another p in the direction of the man''s face.

    This time, the connection between the magic that Markus absorbed and the mana of the Emperor was too weak to carry the true force of the attack. But it was still more than enough to change where the effect of Markus'' p ended up at.

    And once again, the face of the Star Emperor had to receive a huge dose of humiliation when Markus p reached his other cheek.

    "As you can see, we have more than enough means to deal with you. So let''s think together what choices do you have right now," Markus said with a wide smile as he opened his arms wide. For a moment, he looked like some kind of saint attempting to take all the sins and troubles of the world on his own shoulders in order to carry them all on his own.

    "The itch of your face is proof that we can reach you. No matter how fast, how agile, or how strong you are, you cannot match my strenght," Markus said as if it was the most obvious thing under the dome of the skies. "And that means you are nothing more but a pest in the eyes of my wife," Markus added while pointing his hand at Yelna.

    "That''s what you want to believe in," the star emperor replied in a calm voice. In the short window that Markus used to speak up, this man managed to calm his senses and look with a cool head at the situation in front of him.

    ''Impressive,'' Markus thought, stopping the corner of his mouth from raising in satisfaction. ''It''s nice to have an opponent that''spetent enough to stay calm in the fight,'' hemented in his mind before shaking his head and looking at the man again.

    "Look, I will be honest," Markus announced while crossing the arms over his chest. "Ever since your first bout with Yelna, my wife," Markus said before making sure that the man would understand that both Yelna and wife referred to the same person, "this fight was already settled," Markus announced, refusing to go into the details.

    "Do you take me for an idiot to believe that?" The man asked as his face darkened up a bit.

    "You will believe whatever you want to believe, but let me finish first," Markus squinted his eyes as he looked at the alleged Emperor with sparks of annoyance flying through his eyes.

    "Right now, you have three options. The first and the easiest one is to just let us go," Markus stated, rxed to the point where he didn''t mind closing his eyes for a little while. "We didn''t steal from you. We didn''t kill anyone yet. By doing so, you would gain our favor and possible concessions once we establish our camp on the desert," Markus exined the easiest way to solve the situation. "Of course, as you already made your stance, this would cost you quite a bit of your prestige, something that I believe you are more than willing to fight with your life on the line to preserve," Markus added as a wicked smile grew on his lips.

    For a slight moment, the face of the Star Emperor twitched. It was just a simple hint for anyone watching, but for Markus, this small tingle of the man''s eyebrow was as good as a solid proof that he struck the jackpot with his guess.

    ''So it was really this kind of magic,'' the former saint thought before moving on to curse himself in his very own thoughts. ''If only I actually cared about those lessons back then,'' hemented in his heart, voluntarily assuming all the me for the situation.

    "While you might not recognize the word, what you are using is called renown magic. Something that even in our ce belonged to the theoretical magic, as the situation at the time it was discovered didn''t allow for any extensive testing of it," Markus exined before shaking his head. "But that''s not the point here. Your second option is to fight, end up losing, and be humiliated even more than in the first option. In this way, we will leave just like nned, but there will be no goodwill between us. As such, you could forget about any sort of cooperation that would make yournds flourish otherwise," Markus exined the other possibility... But his mind already wandered off.

    ''The renown magic... In this time, it wouldn''t be all that much of a problem to work on it,'' Markus thought, already passionate about the possibility.

    There was a certain theory within the orthodox circle of the mages within the Imperial Academy. If one gathered enough renown to make rumors about him turn into legends, themon perception of his achievements would let him achieve what he was rumored to aplish. That and the fact that the rumors of one''s deeds were often greatly exaggerated made it the only magic in existence that seemingly didn''t have any limits.

    Sadly, due to the massive war that shook the entire world back then, there wasn''t any time to conduct proper experiments. As such, by the time Markus entered the academy, the group of the old mages that gave birth to the idea of renown magic was no longer amongst the living, burying thest hope of the Imperial Academy to ever match the Royal academy.

    ''I know it''s silly, but the spirit ofpetition from back then is still burning in my veins, I guess,'' Markus thought, recalling all the sleepless nights that he had while trying toe up with some kind of genius invention that would let his academy finally overtake theirpetitors.

    Sadly, every single one of his magical achievements turned out to be overshadowed by the insane achievements of the arcana team of the royal academy. A team that Markuster learned Layn hailed from.

    "I doubt that he still even remembers that race... But it would be nice to learn more about this magic, even if just for the sake of surprising himter on," Markus muttered under his nose, only realizing that he voiced his thoughts when both Yelna and the Star Emperor alike sent him weird looks.

    "Woops, sorry for that," Markus instantly lowered his head and apologized. "I allowed my thoughts to wander. But now that I''m back at the topic, there is the third path you can take," Markus said, raising his head and looking the Star Emperor right in the eyes.

    "That is, refusing to cooperate and refusing to surrender," Markus said as a cold glint shed through his eyes. "In that case, I will only leave my followers alive while letting both Yelna and the Cultivators hunters off the hook to ughter everyone else," Markus said.

    ''Even though I would like to avoid this option as it''s unpractical, I can see how useful this town could be as a border fortress guarding our camp,'' he thought to himself, ready to make the best use of any of the possible scenarios.

    "I really hate that arrogance of yours," the youthful man said while clenching his teeth. "But please, can you tell me just how did youe to the conclusion that you could win a bout against me?" he asked before moving his eyes on Yelna. "I don''t know if you still remember, but she failed to as much as delivering a single hit!"

    Yelna squinted her eyes a bit when the man pointed his finger at her. Noticing this, Markus froze in ce for a moment. "Man, are you seeking death?" he asked in a trembling voice, terrified by the girl even though she had yet to make a single move. "But let me humor your curiosity," Markus added as he moved forward to stand between the alleged Emperor and his wife. "From the very moment that she touched you, she has this and any of the future fights with you," Markus said, not bothering to hide what in another scenario could be quite a secret to keep hidden. "That''s why she acted rashly before, just to get a hook on you," Markus shrugged his shoulders.

    "As if I would believe that," the man replied, pulling out his sword. So far, he only used his hands, his mana, and martial arts that mixed the two. But now he was going to get serious.

    Markus sighed.

    "Well, I guess you are not that smart as you looked to be," he said as he stepped to the side. "Dear, if I may ask..."

    Yelna leisurely took a step forward.

 Chapter 174 - Heart Of The Emperor

    Yelna didn''t bother to rush towards the man. She simply walked over as if she wanted to ask him out for a coffee somewhere.

    "You are seeking death!" The man shouted, shing his sword at the woman. There was no finesse in his movements, no grace at all. He simply shed away with his sword as if he wanted to scare the girl off rather than actually hurting her.

    "Stop it before you hurt yourself," Yelna said, taking a step forward, right within the range of the iling sword of the Star Emperor.

    DING!

    A single metallic soundter, the weapon of the mannded several meters away, burying itself all the way to half of its height in the ground. Just how deeply it prated the ground was a testimony to the strenght of the counter that threw this weapon off the man''s arm.

    "I can believe you fell for it," The Star Emperormented, using the momentum he got from Yelna''s counter to spin around. Once he showed his back to the girl, he leaned his upper body forward while kicking with his leg backward.

    "Is that all?" Yelna asked, catching the man''s leg by its ankle. She moved just half a step away, allowing the attack to pass right by her skin.

    "As if!" The man shouted. At first, he attempted to wrestle his leg out. Unwilling to let go of this advantage, Yelna held it in ce... Only to realize that she fell into the man''s trap.

    Rather than trying to free his leg, the star emperor used Yelna''s hold as a foothold, kicking the rest of his body up and turning around over his leg, sending a powerful kick right towards Yelna''s head.

    "As I asked," Yelna muttered as she let go of the man''s leg, instantly making him start falling to the ground. But rather than just letting him hit the ground, Yelna pushed her fist forward, straight towards the man''s shinbone.

    Crack...

    "ARGH!" The shout of pain escaped from the man''s mouth when the bone in his leg cracked.

    ''Did she hold her attack back?'' Markus thought, keenly observing the fight. Knowing what to expect and what to look out for, he could understand it on a far deeper level than the Star Emperor who was fighting with the girl.

    Everything that this pitiful man saw was just a fake appearance created by Yelna. Thanks to her blood and abilities, she could move at a rate that the man likely wasn''t able to even notice. Along with her physical strenght came an even greater advantage, her reaction speed.

    Those two elements would normally put a hard limit on how fast one could be. After all, there would be no use of even the greatest speed if one''s mind would be unable to catch up with one''s movements. The opposite was exactly the same. With insane awareness and low mechanical speed, one would be doomed to suffer from hits he would be perfectly aware of but unable to dodge.

    Only by mastering both her mechanical strenght and bringing her thought eleration to its limits, Yelna managed to break free from the realms of speed that most of the humans were forever locked in.

    ''I know I should be used to this way of fighting of hers, but it awes me every time I see it,'' Markus thought, feeling how something warm spread through his lower abdomen.

    What the Star Emperor took for a first to his guts was actually Yelna covering her mouth as she yawned, swatting away some pesky fly and burying her fists into the man''s guts. What the Emperor saw as a dodge was a leisure stroll to the side.

    This fight was never just or fair. Ever since Yelna got the hook on the man, something that allowed her to use her topmost speed, this fight was decided.

    "Don''t underestimate me!" The Emperor suddenly shouted, stopping the one-sided pummelling that he was subjected to for thest few moments. His handsome face was nowhere to be seen. It was covered in bruises and cuts all over, giving testimony to how precise udia was with each of her strikes.

    But this time, the furious words of the man were followed by an actual attack. ''To be fair, this thing is actually massive,'' Markus thought as he looked at the mana the man gathered in the palm of his hands. It felt like if he took a mountain worth of mana and then condensed it all the way to the size of two gloves that covered his hands.

    "Prepare to meet you make... GUH!" The Emperor attempted to taunt Yelna, only to have her fist greet his face again.

    "That''s one impressive skill," Yelna spoke up, proving just how impressed she was with the man''s attempted retaliation. "Sadly, it''s futile if you can''t hit me," she added, only to shake her shoulders with a bored expression on her face.

    "I WILL KILL YOU!" The man shouted, taking a wide swing. Even though he was lying on the ground, which by itself limited the range of his motions, all his injuries also severely weakened his power.

    ''What?'' Markus finally dropped his rxed act. Because the swing missed by a great margin and was already weakened by a huge amount... Was so devastatingly strong that it caused the nearby buildings to copse.

    "YELNA!" Markus shouted. His worry-o-meter exploded through the scales as he dashed towards the rubble that used to be the scene of battle between the two.

    "Tsk," Yelna spit a mouthful of saliva mixed with blood, making her well-being known to the former saint. Her face was bruised all over, and there was even a small cut on her arm - likely caused by a piece of debris flying by. "Layn''s magic hits a lot heavier," she spouted a taunt before disappearing from where she stood.

    ''Aaaand it''s over," Markus thought, standing in his tracks. He only saw this expression of extreme interest and agitation on his wife''s face twice. Sadly, not even one did that happen while he would pin her down in their bed.

    The first time happened during the subjugation of the monster considered to be the demon lord. Even with Yelna''s skills, Layn''s magic, and the attributes of everyone else from the party, they barely managed to beat that monster.

    And the other time was when Layn went on a rampage.

    In other words, Yelna turned serious. And before Markus could as much as blink, she appeared behind the Star Emperor.

    "GUH!" the man released a pained moan, when in the next moment, Yelna''s hand appeared in front of his chest, all covered in blood. And right between her fingers was the man''s heart.

    "How...?" he asked with a weakening voice, only to fall down on the ground. He was dead before his head struck the floor.

    "Disgusting," Yelna said in her usual, limited fashion before dropping the heart on the ground. At first, she raised her knee to bash it into the still-beating organ, but ultimately she decided not to be as rash.

    ''This guy was too weak to be the main boss of this entire ce,'' Yelna thought, looking down at her bloodied hand. Using thest moment of her abilities spiked up, she shook her arm as quickly as she could, forcing all the blood to fall off her hands.

    ''It will be better not to provoke whoever this guy was serving,'' Yelna thought, raising her eyes and looking in the distance. ''I guess we already pissed them off.'''' A wicked smile appeared on the girl''s lips. "I can''t wait," she spoke softly, not even realizing that she voiced her thoughts out.

    "You really are something else," Markus muttered weakly before releasing a heavy sigh. "Well, now that we have this sorted out," he said before turning back to all the people that observed the fight, e on, guys!" Markus shouted, but rather than directing all his words towards his followers, he moved his head towards the guards on the gate. "I don''t think there is anyone left willing to block our path," Markus said as he moved towards the corpse of the alleged Star Emperor. "Or does anyone believe to be stronger than this poor guy?" he asked before sending the corpse flying with a single kick.

    Yelna didn''t want to desecrate the body to not stir up a fight with powerhouses hidden in the world. On the other hand, Markus preferred to make full use of all the requisites he had on the scene.

    At first, the soldiers simply froze in ce, not sure how they were supposed to react. Markus could see the looks that the simple soldiers sent to their officers and the looks those officers threw at theirmanding officers.

    And just like expected, before anyone else could fall prey to Yelna''s wrath, the entire military started to fall apart. One by one, soldiers started to run from their posts, clearly aware of how they would end up if they stayed.

    "Good," Markus said as he finally calmed down and took a step forward. "With this fight, we hereby dere ourselves rulers of this city. Now, you can proceed however you want," he said with a small smile before taking another step. And then another.

    And soon, Markus leads the entire crowd outside the Camp''s gates, leading them into the desert. And then further, all the way into the camp, where they would make for the fine manpower required to power all sorts of development projects!

    ''Theing days are sure to be interesting,'' Markus thought, as he looked onest time towards the Camp behind him. And then, he never looked back ever again.

 Chapter 175 - Item That Started It All

    "What are you fiddling with?" Irea asked when she entered the house initially designed as Layn''s lodging.

    With theck of manpower that the camp constantly struggled with, all the ns for the grand mansion were abandoned. All in favor of small, practical lodging.

    "That''s a long story," Layn smiled as he exined. "Do you want to sit down and listen, or are you in a hurry?" he then asked, raising his head from the floor filled with all sorts of tools, scraps, and materials.

    "I already prepared the dinner, and today the boys have a barbecue at night," Irea recounted out loud before looking down at Layn with a happy face. "Yeah, I have the time for the long story," she announced cheerfully.

    "Then, if you could get us something to drink, I would be more than d to invite you to sit down with me," Layn replied cheekily, even going as far as to show the girl his tongue.

    "You little..." Irea initially acted as if she took the bait, only to yfully shake her head and disappear from the doorway.

    ''She''s is too damn cute,'' Layn thought, unable to contain his feelings.

    Ever since he confessed everything to the girl, it felt as if a massive load was taken off his shoulder. Whether it was from the fact that he was no longer all alone with his truths, or the fact that he would be remembered for who he was really, not who others believed him to be... Layn couldn''t decide.

    That''s why, rather than trying to tackle the heart issues that many philosophers over the ages would be troubled by, Layn decided to focus on the work instead.

    Because no matter how much he drove his people into work, no matter how motivated and efficient they were, they were reaching the dead-end.

    "I hope some herbal tea will be enough," Irea spoke when she returned a momentter. With how quick she was to return, Layn couldn''t help but guess that she had both cups prepared even before she first entered the house-turned-workshop.

    "That''s strange," Layn leaned to the back, watching how Irea set up a small stool for them to have somewhere to put the sses away.

    "What is, dear?" the girl asked, turning her head to Layn with confusion in her eyes.

    "You see, we don''t really know each other, but I feel like I already know everything about you," Layn said, closing his eyes. "But thenes a random moment like that, and you manage to surprise me how much you have still hidden, still for me to see," Layn said, getting into a philosophical mood.

    "Don''t tell me you are going to figure out the new morals now?" Irea probed her man a bit, sitting right beside him and casting a nce at the materials dirtying the floor. "What are you doing with those?" she asked, grabbing a few pieces of crystal into her hands.

    "Exactly the same thing that started our little adventure," Layn said with a small smile before picking up one of the coins that made up nearly half of the mess. "This one is already a finished product, but the others are still quite bad," Layn said, passing the small, round piece of luxury metal to the girl''s hand.

    "This isn''t a normal coin," Irea noticed out loud pretty quickly. "Wait, isn''t it generating mana? It might be a small amount, but..." she spoke before suddenly turning silent. For a moment, her eyes danced from one item to another on the floor before she reached out and grabbed another coin.

    This time, it was the one made from gold, the rarest of the semi-precious metals of the world. "This certainly does produce more mana..." Irea muttered before suddenly raising her eyes at Layn. "Don''t tell me..."

    "Yes," Layn replied even before the girl could form her guess. From the look in her eyes, the archmage was certain that she already figured his n out. "This is going to be the currency of this ce. I intend to create some sort of barrier that will stop those coins from leaving the country that we are going to establish here. But that''s not all," Layn exining before putting on a mysterious smile.

    "So there is something else..." Irea said and smiled as well, enjoying this little game of guessing. Her eyes once again scanned through the materials and things that were within Layn''s reach.

    ''If he is working on something, then everything necessary to make it has to be within his current reach. Anything outside would only need to be used early on or sparingly in general,'' she formed a frame of what she should look at and how to interpret it. And injust a few moments, she noticed severalyers of strange discs, all of which had a hole in their middle.

    "Another shrine?" Irea guessed, trying to put various parts she saw together with her imagination alone.

    "Close, but not right on the spot," Layn chuckled before theughter took over his body for a moment. "Well, that''s the long story I mentioned before. I''m not sure if you realized it already, but we are about to hit a bottleneck," Layn said, moving his eyes from the tools on the floor to the doors of the small building.

    "Huh? Aren''t we progressing pretty well?" Irea asked, surprised by the sudden change of topic.

    "For now, we do," Layn admitted, but instead of smile, his lips took up a sour form. "But it''s only a matter of time. Without men to make more bricks, we can only set so many houses every day. And by dedicating everyone to building and crafting bricks, we will soon run out of food and other stuff necessary to keep going here," Layn exined, turning his eyes from the opening of the door only toy them on the dark wall of the building.

    But he wasn''t looking at the wall per se. Rather than that, his eyes moved in the direction of the dominion of the neighboring overlord.

    "So those things are... a weapon?" Irea attempted to make another educated guess. "Weapons for us to fight with those monsters?" she precisied her suggestion, turning her head over her shoulder as she awaited Layn''s reply.

    "Not quite that," Layn shook his head. "Right now, I''m trying to construct a small tower capable of holding those coins and connecting their effects," Layn exined. He then picked up the same discs that Irea noticed a moment earlier before stacking them on top of each other. The finishing touch came in the form of a metal rod that fit perfectly into the holes of all the discs, turning them from a pile of elements into an actual piece of craft.

    "Wait, what are those grooves for?" Irea asked as she inspected the discs a bit closer. "ce to insert the coins?" she raised her eyes at Layn.

    "Just look," Layn smiled as he grabbed several of the coins wasting away on the floor. Not even bothering to be precise, he pushed the coins into the grooves the girl mentioned before retracting his hands.

    At first, nothing happened. Even after a prolonged while, there didn''t seem to be any effects.

    "And it should start about..." Layn waited for a moment before finally saying, "now!"

    Right when Layn articted thest word, the spine that held all the discs together suddenly turned bright red. Then, it looked as if all the discs melted together, finally turning into a single item rather than a bunch of elements bound together with nothing but a force of gravity.

    And then, just like the same shrine that caused them so much trouble back in Irea''s academy, the small pyramid started to produce energy.

    The energy that anyone could use for themselves.

    "Wait, are you going to attempt trading with the monsters?" Irea asked, opening her eyes wide.

    "Pretty much, yeah," Layn confirmed the girl''s guess without the slightest care in the world. For him, this kind of idea didn''t seem to be in any way or form disturbing or surreal. "You see, from what I learned about being the Overlord of any area, they perceive magic... in a slightly different way," Layn said as he squinted his eyes.

    "In short words, I believe they can control all the magic that naturally urs through theirnds. And the total amount of magic they possess seems to be tied to thends they control," Layn added before a sudden smile appeared on his face.

    "You know what, I''ve been thinking about how to solve this problem of conflicting interest. We want thend because of its resources. They don''t want us to take theirnds because that''s where they get their magic from." Layn exined how the situation looked to the girl, not involving just their perspective but also the needs and points of importance for the monsters.

    "So, what are you going to do about it?" Irea asked, too confused with everything that Layn said to be able to guess the rest of the picture on her own.

    "You see, I was curious how one would look at this item if they weren''t interested in changing the form of magic," Layn said before suddenly standing up. He picked two rings from the single shelf decorating the room before grabbing the pyramid itself and walking outside.

    "Come, wear those rings," he ordered the girl before cing the pyramid right at their feet. He waited for a moment with his hand stretched in the obvious ''stop'' sign before suddenly raising his eyes at the girl. "Now, try to get some mana from the air," he ordered.

    At first, Irea had a confused look on her face. Then, as she looked at the material, the rings were made from and the small glister it had, she nodded with understanding. But then, her expression soured. Then, her face tensed, as if she was trying hard to do something that shecked the power to achieve.

    "I give up," she said after a moment, taking off the ring.

    "Good," Layn smiled happily, clearly knowing what to expect from this small test. "That means that my theory was correct." Layn''s smile only widened as he looked in the direction where the neighboring dominion was.

    "I wonder if they are smart enough to understand what they can use those towers for,"

 Chapter 176 - Pushing For The Negotiations

    "The boys are not happy," Irea muttered silently, even going as far as to lower her head to stop others from noticing this small remark.

    "I know," Layn nodded his head as he replied with a whisper. "It would be strange if they weren''t worried," he added with a small smile.

    Right now, everyst person in the camp venturer for thends of the neighboring Overlord of Origin yet again. But this time, there were no archers from the far north that could help them out.

    And little to say, even if their belongings were quite limited, not to say worthless, the thought of leaving them all to fate didn''t sit well with most of the mercenaries.

    "Sir! What if someonees and wreaks havoc in the factory?!" One of the mercenaries protested strongly. ording to the rumors Layn heard at that time, the man was even willing to strap himself to the brick-producing nt in an attempt to stay back and protect it from harm.

    ''I didn''t expect that everyone would take this journey that heavily,'' Layn thought with worry, casting a stealthy nce at his followers.

    Outside of Irea, whose loyalty Layn didn''t dare to question, he could only fully trust two other mercenaries.

    First was Antion, the former prefect of the Military camp. Starting with how much he abandoned to follow after Layn and how likely he was a pretty valuablemodity to sell in the nearest prison, Layn didn''t expect any form of betrayal from him.

    The situation with the other guy was quite the opposite. ording to his nature, Pavrien should be the person most susceptible to attempts at taking advantage of the situation, whatever that situation might be. But his scheming nature and wit also meant that he was too intelligent to harbor any hopes of ever standing against Layn.

    There was also the factor of possible rewards and punishment that those two would receive in plenty for whatever service or disservice they would provide.

    Then there was the matter of Al. While Layn didn''t expect any sort of open and bloody betrayal from him, he could also understand the man''s unwillingness to go.

    At first, Layn thought that convincing Al to the n would be the easiest part of the entire task. After all, this mission harbored a huge chance of falling out with the monsters, which would result in a fight that Al clearly craved for. But that man wasn''t as stupid as one would think one''s ancestors were.

    While initially interested, Al''s enthusiasm quickly vanished when he realized that the actual mission wasn''t about fighting with the monsters but making a mutually beneficial pact with them. That''s why, now that the man reluctantly agreed to participate out of the sheer hope for a nice fight, Layn didn''t expect any direct betrayal.

    After all, he would settle the business with this man once everyone''s forces would assemble on the camp, provoking the debate of who should lead everyone towards the brighter future.

    But right now, it was the mercenaries that remained that Layn was worried about.

    Given the difference in strenght that he was always sure to show up, Layn didn''t expect any of the mercenaries to openly go against him... Which meant they were likely to try something sneaky. And given how delicate the situation they were putting themselves to be in, that gave those discontent mercenaries the best possible way to stir up trouble without directly opposing Layn''s orders.

    "I guess they have yet to realize the limitations to our growth," Layn said, slightly clenching his teeth. "They are too eager for their own good," he added in a normal voice, not carrying for the people in question eavesdropping on his words.

    "Isn''t this mission aimed for the future?" Irea asked, quickly realizing how broken her question was. "I mean, we can somehow make do by ourselves. I thought expansion into the forest was for the sake of the people that will start arriving soon," Irea exined her earlier question, looking up at Layn''s face.

    "That''s not the case at all." Layn shook his head. "In fact, I''m not really bothered with the manpower. It''s just that..." Layn started speaking, only to turn silent a momentter. "No, let me put it in other words. Tell me, what would you do if there was no source of light in this world besides the sun, but you could produce light with magic?" Layn asked a strange question out of the blue, putting Irea in a spot.

    ''Is this another of the tricky questions of his?'' Reminded by the previous instances when Layn attempted to lead her to some kind of answer, the girl almost panicked. Only a few deep breaths allowed her to keep her mind sane as she finally stirred it into action.

    "I guess I would use my magic to produce light unless it would be absolutely necessary not to do this?" Irea answered her question, although the shaky voice was a great giveaway of how much of a guess her answer actually was.

    "That''s exactly the point," Layn nodded his head. He then put a thoughtful expression on his face. "People use magic when it''s convenient. But they are not likely to use magic to light their way to toilet if they are candles always within one''s reach and ready to use, right?" Layn smiled as he brought out this random example.

    "I guess?" Irea replied, not really sure how she was supposed to react.

    "There are powers are mighty if not greater than magic in this world. Those powers can turn stuff that we use magic to deal with today into something that will happen in the background, without our involvement whatsoever," Layn said as he raised his eyes towards the distance. Right at its edge, the green tops of the forest slowly started to appear.

    "What kind of stuff do you mean?" Irea asked. The gears in her brain continued to spin as she processed everything that Layn said.

    "Let''s bring the topic of the bricks again," Layn proposed before sinking in his thoughts for a moment. "With proper automation, we could make a nt that produces the bricks... all on its own," Layn revealed, alreadying up with a blueprint for the nt and all the necessary machinery needed to set it up. "Humans would only need to make sure the nt has the necessary resources for it to keep going," Layn exined, as his eyes finally moved down, indicating that he left thend of his dreams and thoughts.

    "That''s..." For a moment, Irea looked at Layn as if he suddenly turned into aedian. But as she continued to look at his face, she slowly began to realize that he wasn''t joking. "Is this really possible?" she asked, more herself rather than anyone else.

    "It''s pretty easy, in fact," Layn added, making the truth even harder to ept for the girl. "The problem is," Layn started, looking towards the trees in the distance," we are likely to bepletely out of resources necessary to kickstart the process," he said, squinting his eyes.

    Far in the distance, a small cloud of fog started to rise.

    "And that''s why we are desperate to get a part of the forest?" Irea asked, proving that she was at least capable of guessing that much.

    "Exactly," Layn smiled before patting himself on the chest, where the small pyramid with magical coins was hidden. "We are going to give them an offer that only an idiot would refuse. If they do, then we will fight to conquer a small part of the forest," Layn announced something that was already well agreed upon, even if no one ever said a word about it. "But in the off chance that they will understand my intentions, I''m more than willing to just exchange territory with them so that both parties are happy!" Layn shouted, hoping that the message would reach the ears of those stubborn enough to harbor any thoughts of opposing not only him but his ns as well.

    "I guess we will learn what those monsters will make out of your intentions soon," Irea said, ncing towards the rising cloud of dust in the distance.

    "Yeah," Layn said, standing down and raising his hand up. In a sh, the entire group came to a stop. Once everyone stopped moving, Layn started to walk forward.

    The horde of the monsters that created the duststorm was getting closer with every passing second. But Layn continued to walk forward as if he was going to meet a friend, not encounter a horde of maddened monsters.

    "I wonder if it will work," Layn thought, pulling out the artifact from underneath his robe. With this pyramidical item in his hands, he continued to walk towards the wave of the monsters.

    A hundred meters.

    Fifty meters

    Ten meters...

    The monsters never stopped. They crashed right into the barrier that Layn created roughly a meter ahead of himself.

    "I wish to speak to one of your representatives," he said as he approached the invisible wall and stared right into the eyes of the first monster that caught his eye.

    Then, the monster''s pupils suddenly turned ck, as the wolf-like beast suddenly ceased to struggle.

    In an instant, all the monsters calmed down before retreating.

    All the monstres outside of the one that Layn looked in the eye.

    "I guess we can finally have some mature talk," Layn said with a small smile, looking at the wolf-like monster.

    But no matter how long he waited, there was no response. Not a word. Not even a single bark.

    "Well, I guess I will start, then," Layn smiled before cing the pyramidical item right in front of himself. "This is the price I''m willing to pay for a part of the forest."

 Chapter 177 - The Voice

    For a moment, the eyes of the wolf-like monster shed, only to return to their normal state a momentter. And once again, Layn was left to ponder whether theck of any reaction from the monsters was a good or bad sign.

    "This item by itself doesn''t hold much value," Layn said openly, something that he considered to be the truth. After all, all it took to create the energy-coins holder was several metal tes, a bit of wood, and two magic stones worth of powder. "But in order to make it work, you need to use those," Layn said, slowly reaching to one of his pockets and pulling out one of the coins he created earlier on.

    "..." Once again, the wolf left Layn without any reaction. Not a word, not a howl, not even a nod of its head.

    ''Well, let''s keep going,'' Layn thought, slowly pushing the coin into one of the empty slots.

    When using one''s eyes, it would be impossible to spot any difference. Any difference outside how the coin was now stuck in the item. In order to notice what actually just happened, one had to use their magical vision instead.

    On its own, the pyramid had no effect whatsoever. While there was quite a bit of stone powder fitted inside, the way in which it was ced around the tes made it impossible for the powder to actually transform the magic from the air. While some could consider it a waste, Layn believed that creating a simple magical circuit would work better in the long run.

    That''s why the item truly showed what it was capable of only when Layn inserted a coin in it. With a magic-producing entity now present, the magic circuit finally closed. And in a single instant, a small stream of refined magic started to flow out of the spiky top of the pyramid.

    ''Still no reaction?'' Layn thought, looking up at the monster''s head. More specifically, Layn directed his gaze right at the wolf''s eyes, hoping to figure out what the entity behind it was thinking.

    "I''m willing to give out this many coins for the first part of the forest," Layn said, pulling out a small pouch from another pocket of his. In it, there were thirteen coins, capable of filling everyst spot on the pyramid.

    Not sure whether the monster noticed the connection between adding coins and the changes to the item, Layn pulled out another metallic disk before putting it into the slot.

    If the magic produced by the pyramid was akin to a small breeze earlier, not it turned into a small but noticeable stream.

    "It''s nostalgic to see it work," Irea muttered from behind Layn''s back.

    "Isn''t it?" Layn replied, turning his head around to look at the girl with a charming smile. But as much as he wanted to just keep flirting with her, this wasn''t the right time for it. "Right, make sure that no one will follow me now. It will be quite troublesome if our boys will overreact and cause the end to the negotiations," Layn ordered as he slowly stood up.

    Ever since the meeting between his force and the monsters started, Layn was on edge. Every single of his moves was painfully slow, all for the sake of keeping the other party calm andposed. After all, this was likely the first time in this world for anyone to try tomunicate with monsters.

    ''I just hope they won''t fuck it up,'' Layn thought, casting a quick nce to his people remaining in the back. But as he could no longer influence their actions in any way or form, he was left with the hope that they won''t go against his n on their own.

    Now that Layn stood up, the wolf-like monster finally showed some reaction. While it only stood up as well, this was the very first thing that the monster did. And as little as it was, it at least proved that it wasn''t just some corpse that Layn was talking to.

    "I want to show what my people are interested in taking in exchange for this item and coins to fuel it," Layn said in a calm voice to the monster before slowly starting to make his way towards the forest.

    Given how the monsters intercepted them roughly between the edge of the forest and the edge of the Overlord''s sphere of influence, Layn''s journey to the forest actually took a while. And all the time that he spent walking slowly, the single wolf-like monster apanied him.

    ''I know I might be walking right into a trap...'' Layn thought before clenching his fingers into fists, ''but this is necessary. Those who don''t risk cannot be the winners,'' Layn thought, trying to calm himself down.

    As far as the road was, the archmage managed to reach the edge of the forest without any troubles. ''I can feel more monsters hiding inside,'' he thought, raising his eyes towards the line of the trees for a moment before lowering his eyes. ''I don''t want to alert them, though,'' he thought as he ced the pyramid on the ground and looked at the wolf.

    "Now, I will show the measurements of the area we would like to purchase and make use of," Layn said, still unsure whether the monster could understand him at all. ''Even if they don''t understand thenguage, I should make it simple enough for them to understand the concept of what I want,'' he thought, standing right beside the ce where he left the item at.

    Then, Layn made a slow, long step forward along the edge of the forest. Once he moved to a new ce, Layn took a nce behind, just to ensure that the wolf was still watching him. Then, without further ado, he continued his weirdly long steps while counting them in his head.

    ''That should be enough,'' Layn thought when he reached the two hundred steps. He then looked to the back, only to notice the wolf sitting exactly as far as it sat back when he started his march. ''Did it run after me and then quickly sat down? Or did it teleport?'' Layn asked himself, puzzled by the sight. ''Well, whatever,'' the archmage ultimately ignored this question as he turned his face towards the edge of the forest.

    "Now, I''m going to go just as far into the forest," he said to the wolf before spreading his legs wide and making his first step towards the trees.

    This time, Layn could clearly see the wolf standing up and following him. But rather than getting discouraged, Layn felt reassured.

    ''Even if the Overlord can''t understand my intentions yet, I think I should be able to convey...''

    "That will be enough," a sudden voice reached Layn''s ears. Startled by the sound, he rapidly turned around, getting ready to fight for his life.

    But there was nothing that could warrant his aggression. The wolf that followed him so far just stood in ce as before, staring calmly at Layn''s face.

    "Yes, you heard right. I now understand what you want, so there is no reason for you to go any deeper into my forest," the voice came again. While Layn could perfectly pinpoint its source to the wolf-like monster that almost became hispanion by this point, it was strange to hear someone talking even if that wolf didn''t move its jaws even the tiniest bit.

    "I''m not speaking to you normally, but by invoking concepts in your head," the voice exined the situation. "I learned it from the spell that you constantly use on yourself," the voice added, making Layn freeze on the spot.

    ''It can copy my spells? What''s more, it can understand their meaning?'' Layn thought, alerted by the situation. For a moment, his blood pressure spiked, reflecting how stunned he was. ''Nah, I''m stupid,'' the archmage suddenly insulted himself. ''Expecting any less from an Overlord would be simply arrogant,'' he thought before gracing the wolf with a smile.

    "To be honest, I hoped we could exchange our territory. You see, my people are in dire need of wood and other materials that I''m pretty sure there are plenty in this forest," Layn said, not going to y some mind games with the owner of the voice.

    This was the moment when two powerhouses met. If they started their rtionship with maniption and lies, it would surely descend into chaos and war down the line.

    And the war was something that Layn was pretty sure he wanted to avoid.

    "So it''s not thend but its fruits that you wish for?" the voice asked. For some reason, there were hints of amusement in it, proving that the negotiations were happening on a different ne to what Layn expected.

    ''Well, I can''t assume that the monsters will think the same way the humans do,'' he thought to himself, recalling how big of a mess this patronizing way of thinking caused. ''I should not make the same mistakes that lead to that bloody war of faiths,'' he thought, recalling the stuff that he was forced to learn back in the academy.

    Back then, Layn considered the lessons of this recent history to be aplete waste of time. After all, they wouldn''t further his magical studies by any way or form. But now, as a grown-up archmage, he could see pretty well why the knowledge of the massacres, disasters, and partial genocide was forced into the heads of the young mages.

    "For now, you should return. I will send this thought-clone of mine with you so that we can have a long and proper chat," the voice announced.

    Layn looked at the wolf, alerted by the sudden whirlpool of pure mana that descended on it. But instead of burning the monster alive, the energy somehow burned itself into its flesh.

    On the physical ne, nothing big happened. For a moment, the monster''s eyes shed with bright light, only for said light to disappear a momentter.

    "Now, you should return to your people," the voice appeared once again, hurrying Layn. "It''s only a matter of time before your underlings will get into action," it added before vanishingpletely.

    "Huh?" Stunned and awed by the encounter he just experienced, Layn had some troubles figuring out what was thest advice that this voice gave.

    Then, when he looked in the direction where he came from, something clicked.

    "Those idiots!" Layn screamed through his tightened teeth before leaning downward. Then, by adding mana to his feet, he tensed his entire body only to rx both his muscles and his mana at the same time.

    ''Please, let me make it there in time,'' Layn wished, as he lunged back to where his people remained.

    Sadly, before he could return, a massive ball of fire exploded over where Irea was.

 Chapter 178 - This Will Kill You A Little

    "No..." Layn muttered, watching how the ball of fire rose from the spot where he left his girlfriend at. "No, that doesn''t make any sense," he told himself as he rushed towards the scene.

    ''They know that I would kill them all if a single bead of hair would fall off her head,'' he thought, trying to figure out just what could''ve happened. But as Layn got closer to the ce where the massive fire-magic had yet to settle down, he saw that all the logic in this world had no meaning against idiots.

    Irea was alive. That was the most important thing. But outside of that, there was hardly anything positive that Layn could tell about her state.

    Her hands were burned dark. The skin was scalding off her arms. All the soft hair that Layn loved to y with was gone, leaving only the bare skin. In fact, the top of her head appeared to be in the worst state after her hands, with red bubbles marking it all over.

    Yet, despite all those injuries, Irea held her ce and her hands in the same position.

    ''What happened here?'' Layn asked himself, forcibly stopping his jump short of its initial distance. Without any idea what just happened, he couldn''t carelessly waltz into the ce.

    "D-dear..." Irea attempted to speak out, only for a spasm of unbelievable pain to shake her entire body. But even as this torturous experience exploded in her mind, she held her burn-out hands extended forward. "I-I stop-ped t-them," she said in a breaking voice. Even though her face was scarred almost beyond recognition, Layn saw how the corners of her lips moved up in a smile of satisfaction.

    Layn wasn''t angry. He wasn''t furious, shocked, or even mad. His head and soul werepletely devoid of any emotions right now. In a sense, one could say that Layn''s soul left his body, leaving just an empty marite.

    But there was one thing that was different about him. The power that he never bothered to showcase or flex to others was no longer restrained. All the energy that Layn stored in his cultivation now returned to its usual ce in his aura.

    The world itself around the archmage started to crack.

    "You dummy," the archmage said, slowly approaching the girl. In his eyes, there was no love or affection. But there was no worry, anger, or fury either. It was the dead look that only some of the few veterans and survivors of massacres could have.

    "Boss..." A silent voice reached Layn''s ears. He had to seriously search around the burnt-out area to find a shape that shouldn''t belong there.

    "Pavrien?" Layn asked, turning his head towards the messy shape of darkness sprained on the dark ground. "What happened?" Layn asked the dying man without even an iota of feelings in his voice.

    "I-I tried to stop them," Pavrien spoke up weekly, barely capable of moving his lips.

    Tom approached the man, seemingly ignoring Irea altogether.

    "D-dear..." Irea called out after her partner. Her eyes filled up with a flood of desperation, loss, and longing.

    "DON''T YOU FUCKING SPEAK!" Layn shouted. But this wasn''t your usual shout. With his aura already brimming with mana, it seemed as if his shout sent a shockwave traveling in all directions. Whoever was hit by the wave had his ability to speak sealedpletely.

    They could still move their mouth. They could push the air out of their lungs. But their vocal cord were all immobilized by Layn''s order.

    ''To think that I would use the primal magic so easily,'' Layn coldly noticed. There was no happiness in his soul, even though he just did something that required extensive preparations on a damned whim.

    Then, he ced his hand on the burned-out body of Pavrien. From the looks of things, he was the one hit the worst by the attack. And the simplest way to figure out what happened was to ask the person that seemingly knew that.

    "Regenerate," Layn said. ''Since I''m already in the zone,'' he thought, going for yet another instance of the primal magic.

    Primal magic in itself was the simplest kind of magic one could ever encounter. It didn''t require structures. It didn''t even require extensive knowledge to pull off.

    The problem with primal magic that made it one of the least popr arts in the magic academy was one of its requirements. The one thing that someone has to do to achieve was the perfect understanding of what wanted to do.

    By invoking the primal magic of the explosion, one would only be able to pull it off if he had a perfect grasp of all the naturalws that made the explosion happened. If one missed even the tiniest element of the picture, the magic would simply fail to act.

    In Layn''s original timeline, primal magic was only used by the specialized staff. Layn also got to use it once, but for the sake of keeping him from bing the absolutely strongest being in the entire world, he was forbidden from using it ever since.

    Because in essence, primal magic was all about invoking the veryws that governed the entire world.

    As such, while Layn was used to confirm one of the theories with the primal magic, which was the only situation when anyone could use this kind of magic in the modern world, he never got the chance to dabble in this magic ever again.

    That is all the wait until today.

    As soon as Layn spoke the word and invoked thew of recovery, the oppressive aura that surrounded him instantly changed its feel. Then, it flew down to Layn''s hand, right as he ced his finger on what seemed to be Pavrien''s head.

    In an instant, the magic filled the man. But rather than healing his injuries, it started to kill everyst bit of his injuries.

    His burnt skin and flesh evaporated. His broken bones vanished. The parasites that the man wasn''t even aware of all went through instant genocide.

    And once everything that was wrong with his body was gone, all the magic that Layn infused in the man, along with the magic obtained from dissolving his dead flesh, now started to rebuild his body all over.

    ''Thank God,'' Layn thought while keeping his perfectly straight face. ''It seems that constructing my body from nothing but magic alone means that I actually understand the process,'' he thought, bringing back the memories of the hours he spent on learning human anatomy just to be able to pull out his recovery after the time leap.

    ''Who would''ve thought that all those hours in the study would payout like that?'' Layn thought, barely stopping a chuckle from escaping through his lips.

    The spell didn''tst long. As Layn was the one supplying mana for it and constantly keeping up the necessary information for thew to be invoked, his perception stretched the experience of this moment by a fair margin.

    What others saw as just a few second''s worth of act seemed like over a month for the archmage.

    Thispse in perception was also the reason why Layn didn''t dare to use this kind of magic on Irea. Not only because failing to hold the spell could potentially end up hurting her way further than she was already injured.

    Layn made that decision because of another reason. Because there was no way Layn could keep his sanity and calm mind while watching the girl go through one of the most painful experiences that a human could go through.

    "Sir, it was Befrel," Pavrien spoke up as soon as his body allowed him to. With most of its flesh getting reced by the magic itself, the skill that restrained everyone''s vocal cords no longer applied to him. After all, his vocal cords were slightly injured by the silencing spell.

    And that meant the recovery would take care of this slight injury as well!

    "Why did he attack Irea?" Layn asked, instantly aiming for the most important question.

    If this was all just an ident, he could find it in his heart to spare the man. But if there was even a hint of the intent behind this action...

    "Sir, I believe Lady Irea is the one behind this explosion," Pavrien replied, instantly shocking Layn.

    "What?" Layn shouted his question, losing his pristine focus for the very first time since all his emotions retracted. "What do you mean with that?!"

    "Boss..." Pavrien turned silent for a moment only to shake his head, get on his feet and then fall t on the ground, striking his forehead against the burned-out ground. "They wanted to send the attack your way, hoping to stir up trouble between Boss and the monsters. I conspired with them all the way in hopes of stopping them when the time woulde... But I didn''t expect Lady Irea to take action," Pavrien exined, striking his forehead against the ground again.

    "I don''t understand. How can Irea be responsible for what happened if she wasn''t the one casting the spell?" Layn asked, even though he could already tell the answer to the question.

    "Boss..." Pavrien pleaded before turning silent for a moment. Then, as he raised his eyes, he looked straight into Layn''s pupils. "Boss, she forcibly pulled the fire towards her. I can tell that she just wanted to protect you," he added with a sense of guilt written all over his face.

    "Well, that will be enough," Layn said, standing up from the man. ''I can tell she is hurting all over,'' he thought, turning his face back towards the girl. "And that means," he muttered, approaching Irea once again. "I really need to do my best now," he said, cing his hand on the girl''s back.

    "Dear, this will kill you a little. So I only want you to tell me one thing," Layn started, keeping the entirety of Irea''s body in a magic hold to prevent her from moving. "Do you trust me?"-

 Chapter 179 - Merciful Yet Brutal Healing

    Irea didn''t reply at all. It seemed that the pain from her injuries was finally reaching her brain through the barrier of shock, adrenaline, and the painkiller spell. Her lips only trembled, refusing to even pry open.

    But the answer was clear in her eyes. While Irea''s face was torn by the torture of being burnt alive, her eyes were as calm as the surface of the ocean. As calm as human eyes could be.

    "I will take that for yes, then," Layn said, approaching the girl and hugging her as if she didn''t look like a monster with all hercerating wounds. He hugged her tightly, seemingly ignoring the insane pain she had to go through when her burned-out wounds got squeezed and rubbed.

    "Now, go to sleep," Layn whispered into Irea''s ear, infusing his voice with magic. This was the lowest level of hypnotic magic, something that most mages refused to acknowledge as magic art in the first ce. Back in Layn''s academy, hypnotic magic was considered to be right on the verge of the true suggestion magic and just tricks of hypnosis.

    But right now, with how weak Irea was, this was the perfect magic for the moment.

    Irea''s eyes slowly died down, covered by her eyelids. In just a few moments, from being tensed from the pain all over, she rxed in his arms, as if no pain in the world could affect her anymore.

    ''Now it''s all a game of time,'' Layn thought, steeling himself for the round of one of the greatest magical shenanigans he could ever pull off.

    "First, dposition," keeping the girl in her blissful sleep, Layn pushed his magic into the wounded parts of her body. Then, he ignited it without mercy, setting all her wounded flesh alight.

    Normally, a person would easily lose their might under such treatment. But with how Layn cut the connection between Irea''s body and her psyche, he could save her all the pain of the treatment.

    And then, he basically did everything that would happen when using the primal recovery magic.

    The main reason why Layn wasn''t going to just use the same primal magic on the girl was his own heart. He was simply unwilling to subject his lover to the world of pain that this kind of process would involve.

    Sadly, given how the primal magic worked at the lowest level of the magic, the patient that underwent its treatment couldn''t be affected by other kinds of magic.

    That''s why, instead of leaving everything to a more or less reliable spell, Layn ended up doing everything by hand.

    That, and there was a reason why he asked Irea if she was willing to die for him.

    Because to some degree, once Irea would wake up, she would no longer be the human she was born as. While her soul and her mind would remain the same, she was going to be a different being altogether, one that only had one more specimen in the entire world.

    Namely, Layn himself.

    "Burn away," Layn muttered, waving his hand lightly away. As if dust subjected to a strong wind, all the wounds of the girl cleared out. The burned flesh, infested tissues, all the parasites, and small traumas that Irea had in herself all turned into dust and withered away.

    "Now, condense," Layn''s said softly. His eyes started to shine a bit when an overwhelming amount of mana started to flow both through the inner pathways he created by cultivating the local arts and through his aura.

    ''Huh?'' Layn twitched in surprise when he felt the two forces starting to react with each other. In the spot equally distant from both his inner and outer flow, some sort of void appeared.

    Just from a single look, Layn could tell that it was doing something insanely intricate and specific to the flow of his mana.

    ''No, I cannot let myself be distracted,'' Layn scolded himself, ignoring the strange urrence and focusing his attention back at the girl in his arms.

    ording to his order, all the mana that could no longer be contained within his own flow would fill up the gaps in Irea''s body. Slowly but steadily, more and more magic-infused itself into her injuries, as if recing the very sh that Layn took away a moment ago.

    ''Now for the hardest part,'' Layn thought, feeling the girl up a bit. Not for the sake of cheap arousal, one that he would never get while trying to save the girl''s life. All for the sake of reading her vitals because the amount of healing and reinforcement he could introduce into her system depended heavily on how much she could withstand.

    "Dear, I know you are sleeping right now, but you need to listen to me either way," Layn whispered into the girl''s ear while slightly tightening his fingers on her delicate flesh. "What''s going to happen next will be hard, even if you are sleeping. But you need to hold for as long as possible. This is the one and the only thing I will ever seriously request of you," Layn whispered before pulling his body away from the girl.

    Then, he looked at Irea''s face and opened his lips.

    "Transform," Layn spoke out without producing any voice.

    The mana inside Irea''s body instantly turned into vortexes. Rather than turning into flesh itself, they created a powerful ma for even more mana.

    At the same time, all the residual energy left after the two massive spells shed converged all over Irea''s body. Then, when there was no more mana to suck away from the air, Layn''s own energy started to lose grip over his system, slowly getting sucked into the small whirlpools of magic.

    "More..." Layn whispered, feeling how the mana in his body continued to decrease. Bit by bit, a greater and greater percentage of his own power moved over to the girl''s body.

    ''Click.''

    There was no sound. There was no sh of light. But for some reason, Layn could tell the vortexes reached their saturation point, beyond which any further intake of mana would simply go to waste.

    "NOW!" Layn shouted, using his own loud voice to ensure his magic would fire up. It wasn''t something that he would need to do in his prime, but now, deprived of more than two-thirds of his mana, Layn could no longer guarantee the oue of his spells.

    That''s why using every little means of making them more likely to seed was a given.

    This time though, it wasn''t mana that moved.

    In a single second, the pouch by Layn''s belt exploded, releasing all its coins from the inside. A small pile of coins of varying sizes and materials arranged themselves into an orderly array before shing out.

    A small mist appeared all over the array, only for Layn to scoop it all up with another small spell of his. And then, as if he was flushing out the bucket he just filled with water, Layn threw all that tiny mist into the same vortexes he fed with a greater part of his magic a moment ago.

    "MEND!" Layn shouted from the bottom of his lungs, slowly losing his grip over the reality. With the scale of the spells he was using ever since a few moments ago, any ordinary mage would copse many steps ago.

    Even though thetter part of the process didn''t require any more mana to hold the spells up, it didn''t mean Layn could keep those intricate structures going all without any effort.

    What earlier cost Layn his mana to perform was now all burdening his mental state, chipping away at his consciousness with every moment.

    But as tiring and hard to hold as this spell was, Layn could see its effects with his naked eye.

    With the sufficient amount of mana in each of the vortexes, they quickly turned into a semi-fluid mass that filled the gaps left after the first stage of the treatment. But outside of the mana alone, this newly-made, artificial flesh had one additional element in it, one that no one else in this world had.

    The magic-stone dust.

    It was the same dust that Layn used to suck the thin mana out of the air. The same dust he used to make most of his artifacts. And exactly the same dust he used to make the magic coins previously.

    And right now, this dust was turning into an integral part of Irea''s flesh, making her the very first human in this world to be able to use the world''s mana directly.

    ''As great as a bonus as it is, I can only hope she will be able to withstand the treatment,'' Layn thought, as the visible part of the process came to an end. At this point, Irea no longer had any visible injures on herself. The only hint that proved that there was something wrong with her in the first ce was thepleteck of hair.

    Given how it wasn''t any important part of the body, Layn didn''t dare to diverge his mana and mental resources into remaking her hair as well.

    But that was only the outside. Right now, Irea appeared to bepletely healed.

    But the true battle was happening in her insides.

    ''Come on, you can do it!'' Layn encouraged the girl in his thoughts, using all his focus and remaining mana to keep the girl stable.

    Because what she was going through right now wasn''t some kind of sickness or post-injury exhaustion.

    What her body was doing right now was trying to assimte the parts of the flesh that Layn regenerated.

    And whether or not the additional element in her flesh and blood would make her body reject the transfer all depended on Irea''s power of will alone.

 Chapter 180 - Traitor

    Layn continued to watch over the girl for over an hour. At this time, he didn''t care even the slightest bit about anything that was happening around him. His focus was fully and solely dedicated to supporting Irea''s effort at recovery.

    But that didn''t mean the time itself had stopped.

    "Keep running, fool!" Antion shouted, calmly jogging after the escaping traitor. There wasn''t a single bead of sweat on his forehead or expression of anxiety nor tiredness in his eyes. From his disposition alone, it was clear that he considered his current hike as nothing more than that.

    The same couldn''t be said about Befrel. Roughly a hundred steps ahead of Al, he was using everyst bit of his energy, magic, and cultivation to keep his legs moving. Yet, despite pushing himself to his limits, he just couldn''t shake that annoying pest off his back.

    ''Damn it all!'' Befrel cursed in his thoughts, constantly pushing himself to his limits. His body was soaking wet from all the sweat he produced, yet he didn''t feel cool at all.

    Even though the open ins were nowhere nearly as harsh as the desert itself, it didn''t mean the sun didn''t do its work there. Under the constant assault of its warm rays, Befrel continued to lose his strenght with each passing second.

    ''I was so close, I was so damn close!'' he moaned with disappointment in his thoughts. Even though he was desperate, his desperation didn''t give him any additional energy. Rather than that, it seemed to be a massive leach on his soul, sucking his mental will to resist his fate.

    ''It''s all because of that whore,'' he thought. For a moment, his thought mellowed down, sprinkled with the mead of achievement. ''At least she got what she deserved now,'' he thought, recalling the moment when his state-of-the-art spell fired off.

    She managed to divert it, preventing Befrel from starting a massive conflict between the two entities that the Star Emperor could have trouble subjugating. And while that meant the end of Befrel long and harsh mission, it also meant that there would be no chaos that would allow him a swift escape.

    Tick.

    Befrel tripped on a random stone protruding from the grasnds. Or rather, protruding from the ground, but fully invisible under cover of thick and high des of grass sprawling all over the massive in.

    ''Dang it,'' Befrel thought, feeling how all the hope of ever returning home vanished from his soul. Even though he knew he couldn''t outrun that damned traitor of a perfect, he still hoped that some kind of miracle would save his life from the hands of that damned bastard.

    But the great Gods didn''t seem to look at him with favor today.

    That''s why Befrel didn''t bother to stand up. ''I didn''t have a huge advantage over him,'' he thought, expecting to feel the man''s kicks and fists at any given notice.

    ''Any moment now,'' he thought, even going as far as to close his eyes to prepare for the inevitable. ''What''s taking him so long?'' he asked himself, but the sudden prospect of opening up his eyes and checking the situation was just too scary for the man to handle.

    For as long as he had his mission, he was willing to brave through the greatest dangers and act as a friend to the monsters that shouldn''t exist and people who allied with said monsters.

    ''But now that my mission is fulfilled, I have nothing to worry about anymore,'' Befrel thought, ready to depart from this world at any time.

    But Antion continued to refuse to touch him.

    ''Heck, I tripped a long while ago. Did something kill him?'' he thought, unable to hold the pressure of ignorance. Forcing his body to act, Befrel opened his eyes up before pushing his upper body up.

    And there he was. Standing exactly a hundred feet away from him.

    "Stand up and run," Antion said with a cold look on his face. He didn''t even hold his weapon, proving that he didn''t even consider Befrel to be his opponent.

    ''That damned bastard,'' feeling the sting of the insult to his pride, he clenched both his teeth and his hands. ''Well, being in his position, I wouldn''t bother acting kind either,'' Befler thought, suddenly feeling the remorse.

    ''Well, no point getting anxious about the moral side of things now,'' he thought after a moment, forcibly removing all the hesitation from his thoughts. ''They might look and act like humans, but they are not humans. There is nothing wrong with turning the life of monsters into hell,'' he repeated the same words he heard from the Emperor''s interrogator that gave him the mission to infiltrate Layn''s group.

    And those were the words that Befrel decided to believe now.

    ''Even if they are all a lie,'' he thought, grimly acknowledging the fact that what he believed in was nothing more but a sham made to ease his mind in a situation like the one he was in.

    "Just kill me already," Befrel finally spoke up, shouting over the distance to his purser.

    "Stand up and run," Antion replied coldly, not minding the requests of his prey at all. "I won''t let the stray stone im the achievement of catching a cursed traitor like you," he said, cing his hand on the knob at the end of his sword.

    Amongst everyone in the camp, Antion was the only one to use this noble weapon. Not because he was the only one capable of wielding or purchasing it. Given how every single member of the party was an aplished adventurer before joining Layn''s group, it would be strange for all or any of them to be unable to afford such a rtively cheap weapon.

    But there was a difference between using a weapon one was used to and the weapon that one only ever heard about or saw someone else use. Even if Befrel could afford to buy a sword for himself years ago, he decided not to after carefully asking around just how many years would he have to train to master it.

    After all, for an adventurer, several years of training would mean bankruptcy and starvation.

    ''Well,'' Befrel thought, standing up and looking at Antion in the distance. He released a deep sigh before reaching towards his belt. "At least I will die by the weapon I adore," he said out loud, not minding the other party listening to him at all.

    If Antion were to deprive himself of his weapon just to deny thisst wish of his, then Befler would gain an advantage. An advantage that he could potentially turn into a window of opportunity to escape.

    And if he didn''t, then Befler would at least fulfill one of his wishes before disappearing from this world.

    "Who said I''m going to kill you?" Antion suddenly asked, leaning his head over to his side. Then, he started to slowly make his way forward, still refraining from pulling his weapon out. "Do you really think I''m that stupid?" Antion asked once again.

    ''Layn would kill me if I dared toy a single finger on this guy,'' Antion thought, already picturing the rage seeping out of the leader of their group. Not minding the treason alone, something that Layn would possibly be able to forgive in some specific circumstances...

    From the moment Befrel, even if indirectly, ended up hurting Irea, his fate was already sealed.

    "I guess that''s the situation we are in," Befler said, losing all his hope when Antion still refused to pull his sword out. "I guess there is only one thing left for me to do then," he said before pulling out a small dagger from a sheathe hidden underneath his clothes.

    But he didn''t throw it at Antion. He didn''t even hold it in his hand as a sort of super-closebat weapon. With one move, he brought the knife to his own throat.

    "As if I would let you."

    A calm yet domineering voice spread throughout the entire in. Even those uninvolved with the situation at all could hear it.

    "What was that..." Shocked by the change in the situation, Befler attempted to slice his throat open in a hurry, only to realize that whenever he would push the knife closer to his throat, it would somehow appear further away. ''Is he messing with my senses?!'' Befrel thought in panic, recognizing the possible nature of the spell. ''But that would mean...'' he thought, before something struck the side of his head, depriving him of consciousness.

    "Boss!" Antion sprung up and saluted Layn as soon as he appeared right behind Antion''s prey. His raised hand indicated that he was the one to strike the traitor unconscious. "Sir, by your presence here... I assumedy Irea managed to make it out alive," Antion said, making sure to not form this sentence into a question.

    "Yeah," Layn replied shortly, staring down at the lifeless body of the traitor. His eyes were filled with some strange, dark presence that Antion never experienced before. "She just needs some rest now," he added before lowering his hand and moving his eyes from the unconscious man to his loyal subordinate.

    "Take him back to the camp. I have some means to get all the information we want from him, but I will need peace and quiet ce to do it," Layn said before turning around and leaving. Or rather, before turning around and suddenly disappearing, as if his entire body turned into a fine powder and disappeared on a random gust of wind.

 Chapter 181 - Unexpected Help

    "Sir, if I may ask, how did the negotiations go?" Antion asked as he followed Tom back to where Irea was resting.

    "Sadly, the troubles within our camp prevented me from getting any real talks done," Layn replied honestly, not seeing any merits in lying to the man. "But it''s not like we will returnpletely empty-handed. Rather than that, I already know what we will have to build back at the camp next," he added, looking in the direction where their small settlement was.

    "Huh?" Antion shrugged in surprise, not expecting the matter of buildings toe up so suddenly. "We will need to build something. The need for that kind of building only appeared after you met with the other party..." Antion muttered under his nose before sharply raising his head and looking at Layn''s face. "Boss, is this going to be an embassy of sorts?" he asked, putting forth his guess.

    "There are not that many surprises in my life," Layn replied ambiguously before turning his head and looking at his subordinate with a small smile. "But you hitting the mark with your first guess is one of those rare instances," he added before shaking his head. "But let''s leave the talking forter. We should hurry it up," Layn added before leaning forward a bit and increasing the pace of their run.

    Astonishingly, the distance from where they caught Befler and where everyone else was, wasn''t that great. While the traitor managed to run for a good fewteen minutes, Layn and Antion were both more than capable of covering it in less than a single minute.

    ''No matter how long we spent out in the sticks, Antion still holds a huge advantage over the others,'' Layn thought. Ever since Irea''s state stabilized, his mind was more free to roam and consider other matters. ''I guess I paid a little too little attention to actually teaching them,'' he thought. ''And that might soon turn out to be a problem.''

    Layn looked towards the small gathering of people nearby. Ever since the two of them speed up their run, thend around them turned into an array of shes rather than a concise picture of nature. Only due to their destination being right ahead of them could the archmage see anything at all.

    "Boss!" the rest of the group that gathered in this ce shouted all at once.

    "I''m here. How''s she?" Layn asked, rapidly scanning the area to figure out the location of his girl.

    "Lady is still sleeping," Pavrien said while raising his head from a makeshift pillow made by clumping a bunch of grass together. "Also, I wanted to express my sincere gratitude for saving my life," he added, lowering his head despite the pain that instantly surfaced in his expression as he did so.

    "Don''t push yourself too hard," Layn ordered the man. ''Given how he was almost revived rather than healed, he should still give his body some time,'' Layn thought. Even though he didn''t care anywhere as close for any of his men as he did for Irea, that didn''t mean he had no feelings of loyalty to those men. After all, they all risked their entire futures to follow after him to the ce they considered as a hellscape.

    "Water..." A soft voice reached Layn''s ears. He instantly rocked his head, directing his eyes towards its source. And just like he could instantly tell from the sound of the voice, it was Irea.

    "Men!" Layn didn''t even need to pass any orders. As soon as his short shout woke them up from a momentary daze, the entire gathering rushed to offer their help to the girl.

    ''She shouldn''t wake up yet,'' Layn thought, both confused and happy with the situation. Sadly, the happiness soon turned into worry. ''Why did she wake up earlier than expected, though?'' Layn asked himself, rushing to find the answer before it would be toote.

    "Dear..." Irea spoke up with a weak voice.

    "Yes?" Layn instantly rushed to the girl, dropping on his knees and grasping her hand. ''Looking at her in this state,'' he thought before sping his teeth and slightly tensing the hold over her hand.

    "I feel strange," Irea said, averting her eyes a little before bringing them back and looking Layn straight in the eyes. "I''m cold... But I''m hot at the same time. I feel weak... But I can feel power brimming in my veins..." she attempted to exin her state.

    As the girl spoke, herplexion didn''t improve. But, while it didn''t worsen either, it was clear that it changed. With her usually pale skin suddenly turning red, Layn guessed that the temperature of her body raised.

    ''Where does her feeling of coldnesses from, then?'' Layn asked himself, pushing his mind to its limits to figure out the answer. ''Is her body rejecting the magical parts?'' Layn took a guess, but after a quick inspection of the girl''s internal state, that didn''t seem to be the case.

    "You feel weak because your body is exhausted," Layn said in an attempt to calm the girl down. "And you feel strong because of the treatment that I used on you... Just like I said, you are no longer fully a human. Now you are part human part magic being," he exined before gently touching the skin of her arm.

    It was one of the ces that was fully made from pure magic.

    "This part here was created from the magic and mana dust," Layn said, gently moving his finger up. And as he started to speak, a hint of an idea appeared in his mind, allowing him to exin the girl''s state.

    ''I guess she will react differently with how she still has part of her natural flesh,'' Layn thought, this time inspecting the flow of energy in the girl''s body.

    Just as anyone could guess, the parts remade by magic were brimming with energy. Given how Irea''s flesh now had a trace amount of the mana dust in it, her regenerated parts constantly absorbed small amounts of mana from the air, contributing to the feeling of hotness that Ireained about.

    But once again, her body wasn''t uniformly made from mana, like it was the case with Layn. The flesh that remained wasn''t used to this kind of volume of energy. Thankfully, rather than rejecting it, her muscle tissue, bones and skin were happily gobbling up all the energy the rest of her body could offer.

    ''But why does that make her feel cold?'' Layn thought before riding his finger up to a part of Irea that somehow managed to avoid any injuries or burns in the explosion. "Just to make it clear, do you feel cold or hot here?"

    Irea raised her eyes as if she couldn''t tell where Layn was touching her. "It''s hot," she replied, moving her eyes back at Layn''s face.

    "Strange..." Layn muttered in response, rubbing his chin. ''What am I missing?'' he asked himself once again, trying hard to figure out the problem.

    "You were mistaken with that hot part in the first ce," suddenly, a familiar yet foreign voice reached Layn''s ears. He looked up, only to see the same wolf-like monster from before calmly sitting roughly a few steps away from their group.

    "MONSTER!" In an instant, when others realized its presence, everyone jumped to their feet. It was clear that they still had no idea how did the negotiations go, making them assume that they were all under attack.

    "Chill down," Layn ordered everyone, infusing his voice with a bit of magic. This kind of sloppy execution of suggestion magic wouldn''t give him even the worst passing grade in the academy. But in this world? Where mental defenses appeared to be only a byproduct of one''s natural growth?

    In this worldcking any form to technique to shield one''s mind, this skill was as good as the perfected crafts that only some of Layn''s professors from his past life could cast in the entire world.

    "What did you mean by that?" Layn asked politely, still waving his hands at his men to hold their horses down.

    "The parts you remade are what are making her feel cold. After all, all the energy rushing towards it is creating a cold breeze," the wolf yawned, proving that it wasn''t its vocal organs that did the talking.

    "And why did you tell me that?" Layn asked once again, squinting his eyes as he did so. ''While what it said makes sense, I can''t really see the reason for the overlord to help me,'' he thought, suspicious about the intentions of the other party.

    "Isn''t it pretty obvious?" the wolf asked before wagging its tail. "Just bring us some more of those coins of yours. I examined the treasure you left us with. If you wish, we should be able to have a fruitful rtionship," the wolf added.

    Layn looked around. The faces of his men didn''t change at all despite the colossal bomb-dropping right on their heads. And the simplest exnation for that was that they did not hear the wolf''s words at all!

    "I will make sure to bring more coins, but I will need some mana crystals for that," Layn replied in his normal voice, hoping that his people would connect the dots.

    "I understand," the wolf nodded its head before standing up and approaching Irea.

    Layn''s mercenaries visibly tensed up as the monster passed by them, but bound by the suggestion magic and the explicit order, they didn''t do anything.

    On its end, the wolf approached the girl before touching her sweaty forehead with its nostril.

    "She should calm down in the next five to ten minutes," the monster said directly to Layn''s mind before yawning once again andying down on the ground. "Now, how about we discuss how many coins we would receive for each stone I would provide?"

 Chapter 182 - Making A Deal

    "This is not going to be a discussion. I''m not the man that likes to haggle," Layn said, looking directly into the wolf''s eyes. "For every stone that you guys will provide us with, I will bring a single coin in return," Layn said before shaking his head and smiling. "I''m the only one in this world capable of creating those coins. And I can promise that all of them will be made as well as I will be capable of making them," Layn added, waiting for the wolf''s reaction.

    "That''s..." For a moment, the wolf hesitated. Or rather, the being that was controlling it as its medium. "I think that we can agree on that. But we will only provide you with tier..." the monster started its exnation, only to be stopped by Layn suddenly raising his hand.

    "I know it goes against themon sense of this world, but it doesn''t matter what grade the stones are. Rather than their grade, I''m more interested in their size," he said, confusing everyone around him.

    Given how the wolf seemingly only transferred its words directly into Layn''s brain, everyone around him had to be pretty confused about the entire situation. But with Irea still unconscious and in fever, barely anyone had the time to bother with the matters that didn''t involve them.

    After all, they were all aware of what would happen if Irea didn''t wake up soon.

    "What goes againstmon sense is you revealing all this information so easily," the wolf replied before shaking its head in a strangely humane fashion. "But I''m not someone unable to ept the honesty of others. We will bring you the first batch soon. Just wait for a moment."

    Layn looked at the wolf for a moment before shaking his head and moving his attention back to Irea. While striking a deal with a neighboring Overlord was something that was so great he didn''t actually believe it could happen, he couldn''t feel any bit of joy if Irea wouldn''t be there to enjoy it with him.

    "You don''t need to worry about the girl either," the wolf added once it saw Layn rushing to the ce where Irea was sleeping. "Her body needs some time to adjust to its new form... But still, for using suchplex magic... You have my praises," the wolf added, strangely unbothered by the number of weird magics that Layn was capable of using.

    "I''m not really sure how to understand that,'' Layn moved his eyes towards the wolf after cing his hand on Irea''s forehead to check her temperature. "Aren''t Overlord supposed to be greedy beings only caring about theirnd and magic they can get out of it?" Layn asked, looking directly into the wolf''s eyes.

    "Dear..." Before the wolf could reply, Irea finally opened her eyes once again. This time, there was no anguish visible in her pupils, indicating that she was slowly getting rid of the negative effects of Layn''s operation.

    "Are you okay, love?" Layn''s attention instantly switched fully to Irea. He caught her hand between his palms while looking intently at the girl below.

    "Did I do a good job?" she asked with a small, shy smile, seemingly unbothered by what Layn did to her.

    "You did great," Layn replied, closing his eyes as tears threatened to appear in them. "I''m sorry for putting you in such a dangerous situation," he added, revealing the sea of grief and regret that his soul was bathing in.

    "Oh, dear," Irea said in a weak voice, raising her other hand to Layn''s cheek and wiping off a stray tear that somehow made it out of his eye. "I''m just happy I could be useful to you," she said, closing her eyes for a moment.

    Tears appeared in her eyes a momentter. Startled by this sight, Layn instantly rushed to investigate if there was nothing else wrong with her body, only to arrive at a conclusion that she was actually okay.

    The different kinds of flesh seemingly managed to assimte. While her natural body parts couldn''t suck the magic out of the air on their own, they became capable of absorbing the energy provided by the new flesh bestowed upon her by Layn.

    What her body was working on right now was nothing more but a simple clean-up of all the residual magic that couldn''t be absorbed earlier on.

    "Didn''t I tell you?" The wolf spoke out once again, gently wagging its tail. "She will be okay," it added before turning its head towards the forest in the distance. "The stones will be here in a moment," it added before turning silent once again.

    Layn looked towards the forest, curious as to what he was supposed to see there. But rather than seeing some humanoid carrying a small pouch or maybe dragging a cart, he saw a small swarm of weak monsters all marching towards them at a uniform pace.

    ''Is this some sort of sneak attack?'' Layn suddenly thought, alerted by the sight that he didn''t expect at all. He even went as far as to steal a quick nce of the wolf, only to shake his head a momentter. ''No, if it wanted to fight us, it should be more than aware that those small fries can be defeated by even the weakest of us,'' Layn thought, calming down a little.

    But what happenedter, when the swarm of monsters arrived, was simply baffling.

    The group stopped roughly ten steps away from Layn''s group. All the monsters sat themselves down on the ground... And then they all just died.

    "What?" Layn couldn''t help but voice his surprise at the sight. Nevertheless, he wasn''t the only one to do that.

    "Here, the stones you wanted," the wolf swung its head as if in an attempt to point at the mass of monster corpses right beside it.

    "So you can''t produce the stones on your own?" Layn asked out loud, although in a silent voice. "Well, that doesn''t matter," he added after a moment before raising his eyes at the wolf. "Still, I didn''t expect you to kill your own underlings to make this trade."

    "I don''t think the method of obtaining the stones is of any concern for you," the wolf replied, leaning its head to the side.

    "That''s true," Layn nodded his head, admitting the right to the Overlord''s medium. Then, he turned his eyes towards his mercenaries. "Guys, I think you know what to do now."

    "Yes, boss!" the men replied without even a hint of hesitation. With Layn at Irea''s resting ce, they didn''t need to worry about her health any longer. Free to do what they were trained to do, they all went towards the scene of carnage with small knives and axes before getting themselves all bloody while extracting the stones from the monsters'' corpses.

    "When can we expect the coins for this trade?" the wolf asked while yawning.

    "Processing the stones would take me one to two days, turning them into coins two more days," Layn pretended to count out loud even though he knew the answer right away. ''I need it to understand that I can''t just do the trick with a swing of my hand,'' he thought before shaking his head.

    "How about a week?" Layn proposed before shaking his head again. "No, that''s the wrong way to put it. How about we do the exchange once a week?" he fixed his earlier statement.

    "And where would it take ce?" the wolf asked, seemingly unbothered by Layn''s small mishap.

    "I already told my people that we will need to build an embassy of sorts. But since our camp is going to expand soon, I need to ask one thing," Layn stated before moving up from Irea''s makeshift bed and looking at the wolf. "Do you think it''s possible for you toe up with human-looking monsters? It would be of great help if you could use them to bring the stones to mynds and get the coins back to the forest," Layn proposed, already picturing all sorts of problems that would arise if there would be a caravan of monsters frequenting the city he wanted to create.

    "That won''t be a problem at all," the wolf nodded its head before raising it and looking directly into Layn''s eyes. "Is that all for today?" it asked.

    "Just one more thing," Layn smiled wryly before moving his head in the opposite direction than the forest was. "Do you know the outline of this ce?" he asked before turning silent for a moment.

    ''Should I ask about this?'' he thought, calcting the cons and pros of asking a simple yet important question.

    "No, I need to ask this. You see, originally, I intended to turn the border between ournds into a frontier, where hunters would hunt your underlings for those stones and meat," Layn said, openly admitting to having ns of conquering thends of neighboring overlord.

    "I assume those ns are no longer, given how you share them with me," the wolf replied, slightly baring its teeth as it did.

    "Yes, that''s exactly the case," Layn nodded his head as he admitted. But then, his disposition changed. His face turned serious as all the remaining energy that he had infused itself into his aura. "But that doesn''t mean I can''t give up on the idea itself. That''s why I want you to tell me one thing."

    "Speak your mind," the wolf replied, encouraging Layn.

    "Do you know what kind of Overlord borders mynds in the opposite direction?" Layn asked before putting a wide smile on his lips. "Because just like I guess you can guess, I''m going to change the target of my hunters to hisnds!"

 Chapter 183 - True Star Emperor

    "Sir, your delegate has returned!" the chambein announced the news in the strictly protocolized way. Even though he was shouting, his head was lowered.

    In the face of the Star Emperor, not even his direct attendants dared to stare at his glorious face.

    "He may enter," a young manying in a luxurious bed with a jade beauty glued to each of his sides said. His long, dark hair sprawled around the vast array of decorated pillows. In his private chambers, the Star Emperor didn''t bother with wearing any clothes, opting to conduct his day naked as to never have to waste even a moment when a wish to dual cultivates with his concubines woulde forth.

    "Sir," the chambein replied, lowering his head even further. This feat alone was worthy of the three stars tattooed on the man''s face. In a sense, without the help of cultivation-backed psychique, no man would be able to lower his head so low.

    Then, as if someone passed the message through the massive doors to its other side, the gate to the chamber opened up.

    But rather than a single person walking in to report, entire conduct entered the ce.

    It consisted of an array of eight ves with their eyes gouged up and reced by precious stones. Their ears were lopped off, and the wounds after them sealed with golden tes. Their tongues were cut away.

    Out of the natural way those people were born, only the ability to sense things through touch remained.

    "What is this?" the Star Emperor looked at the small pnquin that the ves brought inside. Even though its sides were covered by cloth, the ruler of the empire could easily see through them. "I was told that my delegate was returning, not some devastated corpse," he said, directing his eyes towards the ve at the front of the conduct. "Go and kill yourself," the Star Emperor ordered, seeking a way to soothe his surprise-induced rage.

    "..." The ve didn''t respond. Without his tongue and with his mouth sewn together by a golden thread, he had no means of talking in the first ce.

    But instead of rebelling against this kind of outrageous order, he simply kneeled down before grabbing the two golden tes sealing the wounds that used to be his ears and tearing them away.

    In an instant, a river of blood flushed out of his freshly opened wounds, quickly leading the man to the ce where the Star Emperor could no longer abuse him.

    In a sense, this was the one order that every ve in the Star Pce craved to hear.

    "Why do I have to do everything myself," the owner of the room pushed the sleeping beauties away, making both of them fall from the luxurious bed. Then, woken by crashing into the ground, the two of them instantly pressed their foreheads against the floor, unwilling to as much as twitch.

    "Am I surrounded by idiots or what?" the man continued as he walked towards the deceased ve. If any of his other servants could see, they could easily cease to just by experiencing the amount of rage visible on the man''s face.

    Nevertheless, the Star Emperor kneeled directly in the pool of blood flowing out of the dead ve''s head before smashing his fist directly into where the man''s heart was. With a single sharp pull, he brought the still beating and warm heart out of the corpse.

    "Out of my way," the man muttered, instantly setting the pnquin on fire. With how thin the cloth covering it was, it took only a sh before the wooden frame of the thing was exposed, allowing the man direct ess to the bloodied corpse of his delegate.

    "You need to answer some questions of mine. I didn''t allow you to die yet," he muttered, mming the warm heart directly into the hole of his delegate''s body, the same hole someone used to pluck his heart out before.

    "Live," the Star Emperor said, cing his hand on the corpse''s head and sending a revitalizing surge of his energy through the slowly decaying flesh.

    "ARGH!" In an instant, the corpse bent in half. The man calling himself a Star Emperor in the face of Yelna and Markus moved his upper body up, desperately gasping for air. But the joy of feeling the wind''s breeze of his face, the joy of feeling anything at all, was soon reced by nothingness when the domineering aura of the true Star Emperor seemingly squashed his delegate''s personality and emotions away.

    "What happened for you to end up in such a sorry state?" The Star Emperor asked, taking up a face of a kind ruler. He even went as far as to ce his hand on the revived corpse''s head, gently caressing his hair.

    "Your majesty," the eyes of the revived man widened when he realized who he was speaking with. In an instant, he averted his eyes while trying to smash his forehead against the floor.

    "There is no need for that," the real Emperor said in an amiable voice. But at the same time, a slight tinge of annoyance appeared deep within his eyes. "Just tell me what happened and who dared to go against my authority," he said, still running his fingers through the man''s hair.

    "Your majesty, I came to the Military Camp at one of the special zones to investigate a certain rumor," the delegate said, forcing its mind topile everything that happened into the most precise and short version of the past events. "I was told that someone was organizing a mass expedition into the zone. After having the scene investigated by a High Interrogator, I learned that the rumor was actually true," the man reported everything that happened, rxing under the constant, gentle caress of his absolute ruler.

    "So it''s the person organizing the expedition that defeated you like that?" The Star Emperor said, seemingly not minding how unbing it was for him to ask any questions at all.

    "Your majesty, I wish to im that I fought with them on the even ground... But that wasn''t the case. And no, it wasn''t a single man. If I recall correctly..." the delegate hesitated for a moment, "he came there with his wife. And it was his wife that turned me into this sorry state I am right now," the delegate said, averting his eyes in shame.

    "So a woman did it?" The star emperor said, slightly raising one of his eyebrows. "When did you be so weak for some woman to be able to best you?" he then asked with a small hint of anger in his voice.

    "Your majesty, it''s not like that," the delegate continued, turning more and more confident with his words while failing to notice the small changes happening to the real Emperor''s face. "They weren''t cultivators. They didn''t fight like any cultivators I saw or heard off," the man said, shaking his head. "What''s more, in that woman... I didn''t feel any energy at all!" he added, raising his head to look at the Emperor in hopes that the man would see the truth in his eyes.

    But he didn''t get to see the man''s face. By the time his face finally equalized with the Emperor''s, another surge of energy fried the delegate''s brain.

    "This damned idiot dared to attempt looking at my face," the Emperor said with scorn, removing his hand from the corpse''s head. Now that its brain was gone, not even the Emperor could bring him back to life.

    After saying those words, the Emperor moved his hand to the side, only for the nearest of his concubines to crawl forward with her eyes glued to the ground. After reaching blindly for her owner''s dirtied hand, she started to lick all the filth from it.

    "Aurelian," the Star Emperor said, not even bothering to turn in the direction where the man woulde from.

    "Yes, sir?" an inconspicuous man appeared in the room, seemingly out of nowhere. The fact that he was privileged enough to call the Emperor with sir spoke of how important and capable he was.

    "Find out where did this trash headed for itsst mission. Then, go and investigate everyone that dealt with the matter he picked up," the Emperor said, pping the licking concubine away as soon as he felt that his hand was finally free of filth. "Also, call for Urelius," he added after a moment of thought.

    "Urelius, sir?" Aurelian asked, not daring to raise his head even by an inch as he did so.

    "Yes, Urelius," the Star Emperor said as he looked at the corpse in the burned-out pnquin. "My delegates are too precious to throw them away normally, so I can only enjoy myself whenever one of them dies," the Emperor said as he looked towards the other concubine of his, one that was unlucky enough to be further away from him when he gave his previous order. "Get the body and that whore to him. Once hebines the two, bring the finished product to my secret chambers," the Star Emperor ordered.

    Without making as much as a single sound, Aurelius disappeared. Then, the Emperor looked at the corpse once again. Even despite all its wounds, there was still one feature that the Emperor made sure to preserve.

    It was the corpse''s face.

    ''In the end, only my face is handsome enough to get me going,''

 Chapter 184 - You Are Screwed Now!

    The road to return from their diplomatic expedition back to the camp turned out to be way easier than it was when they went out the first time. With the deal with the neighboring Overlord now signed, they didn''t need to worry about a random party of monsters appearing from the depths of the wide grass and attacking them.

    Rather than worrying about potential attacks, everyone was happily thinking about the ways in which the camp would develop with the influx of the oh-so-important materials.

    With wood, they could finally start some actually warm fires. Having wood also meant that they would no longer need to spend hours every day just to gather enough grass to heat up their houses.

    Then came the magic stones.

    While wood was important, it was ultimately a resource that they could somehow source from other ces. But the mana stones were the ultimate necessity for Layn to turn his camp into the academy he wanted it to be in the first ce. Because without artifacts filling thends of the academy with magic that anyone would be capable of using, there would be no point or even a way for Layn to teach anyone the truths of magic!

    "Boss, I think we can finish it in just two days," one of the mercenaries reported as he brough a thin, stone b with some kind of ink stered all over it.

    Layn took the item to his hands, and after shielding it from the scorching ze of the sun, he could make out the rough outline of how the embassy building would look like.

    "How about making it a little bigger?" Layn proposed, with the far future already on his mind. "This ce is likely to turn into a logistic hub rtively soon, so we cannot make it just big enough to fit our current purpose," Layn exined his idea before passing the stone b back to its rightful owner.

    "Yes, sir!" the man saluted before stealing a nce at the lifeless body of Befrel carried by Pavrien and Antion right behind Layn. "Boss... If I may ask... What are you going to do with this traitor?" he asked.

    "Well," Layn said before suddenly turning silent. He raised his head a little as if looking into the sky could help him toe up with an answer. ''While I already know how he will end up as I''m not sure it would be wise to reveal it prematurely,'' Layn thought, looking at the unconscious man on a simple stretcher. "It all depends on Befrel himself," Layn ultimately announced, waving his hand away to stop the man from any further inquiries.

    "They are going to kill me," Befrel suddenly said, proving that he wasn''t unconscious at all. "Right now, he is trying to avoid saying it out loud to not lose your own loyalty," he added, throwing those words at the very same person who was worried about his wellbeing enough to bother Layn.

    "As I said, what will happen to you all depends on your own cooperation," Layn said, looking at Befrel with an honest dose of amusement. "If you will answer all my questions, you will be killed for trying to set us against the neighboring Overlord. If you will refuse to cooperate and won''t answer my questions... Well, then I will use methods that don''t require your cooperation in the first ce," Layn shrugged his arms, taking a leap of faith by admitting that the man wouldn''t make it out alive.

    "See?" Befrel asked his former colleague. He then lowered his head back on the stretcher and muttered, "they are going to kill me anyway. Just get it over with," he added.

    "And what did you expect?" Pavrien suddenly spoke out, despite how silent and withdrawn he was from the conversations around him. "You attempted to put us all into peril by putting us against the monsters we barely managed to escape from thest time we shed with them," he said, looking at the man he was carrying with a full dose of scorn. "Normally, you would be either killed on the spot for treason or brought to the master of dying to make sure your death wouldst for at least a few days," Pavrien added with hate oozing out of every word he uttered.

    "What''s even worse, your actions lead tody Irea almost dying," Antion joined the discussion. "While she might be our Boss''s partner, she is also the one who cooks for us, the one who mends our wounds, motivates us to work harder... If you sought any form or amount ofpassion from us," Antion said, turning his head around while taking care not to drop the stretcher, "then your hopes were misguided," he added before turning his head back towards the direction they were moving towards.

    "Like I ever cared about any of your bunch," Befrel uttered through his tightened teeth. He finally came to reveal his true face. "I never hoped for help from any of you. I spit at yourpassion," he suddenly turned feisty, as if some sort of hope reignited in his soul. "I will die, and I can do nothing to stop it. But now I''m sure that you will all die as well!" he suddenly shouted before breaking up inughter.

    "What is this lunatic talking about?" Layn turned his head around, just in case that the man saw some sort of hint that the rescue was on its way. But no matter how much he stretched his eyes, he couldn''t see a single extraordinary thing.

    "Irea!" Layn shouted, turning his head to the back of the small caravan.

    Even though the girl was still recovering, her way of healing was starkly different from anyone else. With an insane amount of energy now brimming in her body, rather than letting it rest, she was tasked with running in circles around the entire group just to get used to all this new power in her own flesh.

    "What''s up?" the girl appeared by Layn''s side in a short moment, proving that she wasn''t cking on her recovery at all.

    "Can you see anything strange around us?" Layn asked, unwilling to take any chances with the potential counterattack of Befrel''s allies.

    "Yeah, there is a cloud of dust rising in the distance," Irea replied without even a single second of hesitation, pointing her hand... Right in the direction of their camp.

    "Can you guess how far they are?" Layn asked as he strained his eyes in the direction the girl was pointing at. Sadly, no matter how hard he tried to notice what she saw, his eyes seemed to lie to him, showing him just the uniform picture of the endless grasnds.

    "Yeah, I would say twice as far from the camp as we are," Irea replied before stealing a quick nce at Layn''s face. "Ah, I do not see it directly!" she suddenly shouted before getting a bit closer to the man and cing her hands on both of his cheeks. "Look a bit up. Can you see that the sky is slightly darker all the way in the back?" she asked, putting her cheek directly against Layn''s and pointing her hand at the area she was looking herself at.

    "Yeah?" Layn replied, holding himself back from nodding his head. While holding his head cheek by cheek with his girl wasn''t something insane, at the same time, it was precisely the kind of natural and gentle intimacy he always hoped to find.

    In a sense, in this slight moment, Layn was the happiest he could ever be.

    "So we can return to the camp, get this fucker to speak, and prepare for..." Layn''s words suddenly got stuck in his throat.

    "It''s toote for you, you fuckers!" Befrel read the sudden break in Layn''s words as his own, personal victory. "The emperor and his people areing for you now! You are screwed up right now!" he continued to celebrate with his joyous shouts, proving that while he had no hopes for his own survival, the perspective of Layn''s entire group ceasing to exist was revenge good enough for his own life.

    "Oh, shut up," Irea said, rolling her eyes as she pped the man''s face. But what she failed to understand was that not only her endurance increased after her treatment, but so did her strenght.

    What Irea intended to be a simple p turned into a brutal attack that smashed a quarter of the man''s jaws out of his face.

    "Dear, hold your horses," Layn said in a strange voice, with his eyes glued to the other party in the distance. While it wasn''t within his range of visibility, it was well within Layn''s range of magical senses.

    And what he managed to fell from the approaching party was so shocking that he wasn''t able to put his own thoughts into words.

    "Stabilize him," Layn said, pointing his hand at the heavily injured traitor. He then moved his eyes back to look at the distance. "There is no helping for you," he said, ncing over at the Befrel. "Those people are our allies."

 Chapter 185 - Reunion During Emergency

    "Are you okay?" Irea asked, looking at Layn with worry. "You know, I don''t think they will try to me you for what you did," she added, grasping her partner''s hand in an attempt to cheer him up.

    "You don''t know them as well as I do," Layn replied, happily epting the invitation of the girl''s hand. His eyes were glued to the now visible cloud of smoke produced by arge group heading their way.

    And now, there was no mistaking it. With the distance now close enough for him to see the outline of the entire group, Layn was more than sure that the two people leading it were the twopanions of his from an entirely different timeline.

    "What does it matter?" Irea asked, leaning her head over her shoulder. "I don''t think they are bad people. You didn''t include them in your gran arcana intentionally. Rather than that, from what they told me, they are the ones that involved themselves in the matter of their own volition," she added as she shook her shoulders. "All in all, if they want to me anyone, they only can me themselves," Irea said, tightening her hold over Layn''s hand.

    "You see, the reality is not as simple as we often want it to be," Layn countered, still unable to get over the anxiety filling his brain.

    "You know, I really wish I could just kidnap you for a moment. I think a good fuck could cure your anxiety," Irea said yfully, pushing herself to Layn''s side. "I know it''s a simple solution, but it''s a solution nevertheless," she added, hiding her head in Layn''s chest.

    "I really regret all the time I spent living without you," Layn admitted, moving his arm to coil it around the girl and hug her closely. "But I will have to spare you the trouble this time," he added, turning his head towards the group in the distance. "It would kill my pride as a man if I ever admitted I could get it over within the little time we have left before they will arrive," he added, turning the entire situation into a small, situational joke.

    "Heh," Irea chuckled but didn''t borate any further.

    For the next few moments, the two of them simply stood at the border of the camp, waiting for the other group to reach the ce. Behind them, every single mercenary left stood in line, ready to receive their guests.

    "Are you guys done flirting?" Al asked as soon as he approached the pair. He then swung his head towards the distance, unable to stop a smile from appearing on his lips. "It seems that they brought some of my people as well," he added. But this small smirk disappeared from his face in the very next moment. "Huh?" he moaned in surprise, turning his head around.

    "Something wrong?" Layn asked, noticing the peculiar behavior of the man. But even when he followed the sight of the man, he couldn''t see anything but the endless expanse of grass in the direction his legendary ancestor was looking.

    "Not really," Al replied. "I guess it was just a stray feeling," he said.

    ''That didn''t sound convincing at all,'' Layn thought, although he ultimately decided not to voice this belief of his.

    Then, the archmage twitched.

    ''What was that?'' he asked himself, unable to figure out what this strange feeling was.

    But that feeling didn''tst long. Before the long-awaited guest would have a chance to finally reach the camp and reunite with their old friend, Layn, Al and Irea all turned their heads in the same direction.

    Only to notice a lone rider pushing its horse to its limits to reach its ce as soon as possible.

    "LAYN!" the winds carried the voice of the rider. As it got closer, Layn recognized the rider''s face.

    "Sitra?" he muttered under his nose, unable to believe in the random chance that would make all his acquaintances reunite with him at the same time. "What is she doing here?" he asked out loud, confused to no end.

    Layn''s expression quickly sank from happy and anxious to anxious and determined.

    ''She doesn''t look like someone who just brought a report,'' the archmage thought. A strange yet familiar feeling dwelled deep within his soul, pushing him into making a step forward. Then another one.

    And soon, Layn was running towards the girl, disregarding the calls of his old friends that he could already hear from the direction opposite to his chase.

    "LAYN!" Sitra shouted, quickly reaching the perimeter of the camp.

    Layn stopped in his tracks. Now that the girl was close enough, he could see the state she was in.

    And it wasn''t good.

    Her forehead was dirty from all the sweat and blood that mixed on it. From how she held herself by her side, it was clear that she was injured. Even her horse was in a sorry state with all kinds of scratches and wounds marking its sides.

    "Layn!" Sitra shouted once again as she jumped from the horse only to fall to the ground, tumble for a little bit and then fall face-first on the grass.

    "What''s going on?" Layn rushed ahead, grabbing the girl''s shoulders and raising her up. Even with this little touch, he could feel how weak she was.

    "They areing," she whispered weakly, barely capable of holding on to her consciousness. "Castor attempted to stop them, so they killed him. They even angered some kind of being on their way here!" she added before choking on the blood in her throat that she then proceeded to cough up.

    "Layn!" A shout came from behind. Before the archmage could even turn his head around, Markus fell to his knees right beside him, looking at the girl with a weird look on his face.

    "I wish we could have time to reunite properly," the archmage started before raising his head and looking in the distance, in the direction opposite to where Markus came from, "but it looks like we don''t have time for pleasantries," he added, rising to his feet.

    As Layn turned around, he finally could see just what kind of people Markus brought with him.

    "Yelna..." Layn said in a tense tone, clearly capable of feeling the distant echo of hostility in the woman.

    "Layn..." the girl replied in the same fashion, perfectly capable of jumping into a fight at any given notice.

    "Stop it, you two," Markus quickly stood up and put himself between the two. "This is not the time to talk about the past quarrels," he said. His eyes roamed between the injured Sitra on the ground and Layn''s face. "Can you tell us what''s going on?" Markus asked, looking at the archmage with all seriousness.

    "Do you remember the legends of the vians?" Layn asked, unwilling to move his eyes an inch away from the direction Sitra came from.

    "Yeah, what about them?" Markus asked, puzzled by the sudden topic that Layn dropped. Then, his face nked out. "Don''t tell me..."

    "Yeah," Layn said, cutting straight to the chase. "They areing," he said, offering Sitra a hand to help her stand up. "And it looks like they are not as benevolent as our legends recorder," he added before taking a step towards where Sitra imed the danger wasing from.

    "I thought that after all the fights and troubles in the Warcamp, we would get a little breathing room," Markus said, twisting his lips into an unpleasant grin, "but it seems like it won''t be the case," he added, standing up and following after Layn.

    In the end, the entire group stood in ce, roughly a hundred steps away from the border of the camp. They were all prepared to jump straight into the action. The only problem was...

    No one seemed to being their way.

    For a long while, Layn simply stared in the distance, ready to intercept any attack that coulde their way... But nothing was attacking them at all.

    "Sitra..." Layn said in a low voice, turning his face towards the injured girl.

    "I promise, they areing," she said, trembling under the intense stare of the archmage. "I saw them kill Castor with my very own eyes!" She shouted as tears appeared in her eyes, invoked by the unpleasant and terrifyingly sad memory.

    "Who are they?" Layn asked, not sure what to think about the entire situation. But just as Sitra opened her mouth to respond, Layn''s body twitched again.

    This time, he didn''t bother trying to figure out what it meant. Because in the current situation, the answer was pretty obvious.

    "They areing," this time, it was Yelna to say those words. She held her knives in her hands, proving that she could already perceive the killing intent of the still invisible party.

    "They are close," Layn said suddenly when he managed to feel the approaching group up. Then, a devastating idea came to his mind.

    "They are invisible," Layn said while clenching his teeth. Not waiting for anyone''s reaction to his words, he raised his hands as he started to chant one of the many spells he had at his disposal.

    Dark clouds appeared out of nowhere above them. At the same time, Layn''s skin started to rupture, almost instantly covering him in blood. But rather than dirtying his look, his blood would instantly evaporate, speeding up the process of the formation of the storm clouds above them.

    And then, fat, oily drops started to pour from the skies, finally revealing a massive army of monsters heading their way!

 Chapter 186 - Clash Of The Horde

    The ck drops of the oily liquid fell down from the sky under the power of Layn''s skill. But what others could consider a disaster for all the crops that were nted around the camp was a measure necessary for everyone to finally see their enemies.

    This time, it wasn''t the vian''s that Layn was seriously worried about encountering. That is unless this mythical tribe had a hidden power of turning into eight-legged monsters roughly the size of a bear each!

    "They areing," Layn said weekly, tired from slightly overexerting his mana potential. Even though the trade with the overlord to the north ended up going through and supplying him with enough material to create several mana-sucking artifacts, their output was way smaller than the amount of energy required to cast such a massive kind of spell.

    "Can we go ahead?" Al asked, approaching the archmage from the back.

    "If you feel confident of fighting those things... Feel free," Layn replied, resting his weight on the shoulder Irea instantly offered to him. But before his ancestor could shout out in joy and rush to the fight, Irea raised her free hand.

    "I''m sorry for not just listening, but I don''t think it''s a good idea," she said, raising her hand towards the approaching horde of monsters. "How about we cast all the wide-range magic we can?" she proposed before ncing at the man she was supporting. "We will be unable to do so once our people mix with those monsters," she said, slightly trembling from the fear of potentially crossing Layn''s trust by not following his orders right away.

    "That''s actually a good idea," Layn replied, shaking his head. "I guess I''m too tired to think straight," he added, biting his lips. "Markus!" Layn shouted, struggling to turn his head to the side.

    "I get it," Layn''s old friend didn''t even need to hear what the archmage wanted to say. The two of them knew each other for long enough to be able to simply feel the other''s intention.

    "All those capable of using long-range and wide-area attacks, on me!" Markus shouted, taking three steps forward himself.

    Both Layn''s mercenaries and the people that Markus brought himself didn''t hesitate when it came to following the order. As one man, those who were capable of the feats that Markus requested rushed to the front, with those only capable of fighting at a close range following close behind.

    In less than a minute, a group of three that first noticed that something was wrong turned into a proper frontline with people ready to either fire their attacks or defend their position to thest man.

    ''Or rather, that''s how they look,'' Layn thought, staring at the group. ''I wonder how long they willst when the real fighting begins,'' he thought, making sure that his small knife, the only personal weapon he ever carried on himself, was safely tucked behind his belt.

    "On my mark!" Markus shouted, taking the leadership position without even a second of hesitation. He raised his head, staring at the monsters rushing towards them.

    "FIRE!" Markus shouted.

    Roughly a fourth of the entire group released their attacks. Some invoked magic. Others made use of their cultivation techniques. But while the magic appeared to be the most effective weapon on this kind of battlefield, it was simple arrows that made up the majority of the ranged attacks.

    "Can you bring me closer to the front?" Layn asked Irea politely, grasping at the handle of his small knife. Even though the girl didn''t pull him away from the fight, the eagerness of the others made them stand in line with Markus, who stepped forward a moment ago.

    "You are too exhausted to fight," Irea countered, tightening her hold over Layn''s arm. "I''m sorry, but this is the one thing I won''t agree to," she added, clenching her teeth as she continued to throw fireballs from her hand.

    "I''m too tired because I don''t have enough mana to fight right now," Layn replied, taking his arm off the girl''s shoulders. Even though only a few momentssted since he used his massive spell, the artifacts hidden in the pockets of his outfit managed to recover just enough mana for the archmage to be able to stand on his own.

    "I''m sorry," Irea replied, grabbing Layn''s arm and pulling him back. Her eyes were all teary, likely from how worried she was about disrespecting Layn''s direct wishes. "I''m sorry," she repeated, openly crying while she continued to lob the fireballs over the heads of the men in front of her.

    The battle has already started. While the monsters had yet to reach the frontline, the ranged attacks of Markus and Layn''s people started to rain down on them.

    Fireballs would fall and then explode, spilling their liquid guts all over and setting fire to the in. Sadly, unless the monster would receive a direct hit, the fire itself didn''t seem to faze those monsters at all.

    The arrows fared no better. Those that missed the monsters didn''t even serve as a deterrent. Even those that managed to find their targets seemed to only inflict light injuries on those monsters. As such, the natural stopping effect of the ranged attack didn''te.

    "NOW!" Markus shouted again as if he hadn''t given the order a moment ago.

    ''What the hell does he do?'' Layn thought, although holding this kind of thought to himself. Now that he relinquished the order to his friend, he wasn''t going to introduce chaos by forcing people to listen to him instead.

    After all, undermining the authority of themander on the battlefield was one of the crimes that was considered high treason no matter the age. Not because it deprived the ranks of the necessary authority, but because it introduced potentially devastating chaos to the chain ofmand.

    But soon, Layn''s worries proved to be wrong.

    With the monsters just a few meters away from the frontline, the cultivators that filled nearly a third of the group''s rank used their techniques.

    The attacks were greatly varied. Some brought forth powerful gusts of wind; others covered the area ahead of them with dense fires. There were even some that somehow managed to pluck huge chunks of earth and rocks right from underneath the monsters, only to throw those like boulders at the approaching enemy.

    In a sense, each of these technique attacks was either too weak to hurt the monsters at all or just barely enough to inflict any serious damage on them. But when a huge amount of thosebined in a chaotic manner, what was a weak attack before, turned into a powerful if not genocidal onught in a mass.

    The gusts of wind fanned the mes. The liquid mes covered the boulders, effectively turning them into cluster bombs. Even the icicle spikesbined nicely with the fiery attacks of others, first putting themselves into the bodies of the monsters only to introduce a rapid temperature change when the fires reached them a momentter.

    Effectively, what Layn considered to be the least important part of their group''s strenght turned out to be the attack that managed to stop the horde in its tracks.

    Those cultivation techniques worked only for a slight moment. But by stopping the impetus of the charge, they did more than anyone expected from them.

    Or rather, they did way more than Layn expected all those techniques would ever amount to.

    ''Was I wrong about all this cultivation thingy?'' the archmage thought, sucking everyst drop of mana that his artifacts would provide. At the same time, he couldn''t help but notice that his girl, outside of still trying to pull him to the back, was reaching the limits of how much magic she could throw.

    "Calm down," Layn said, grabbing Irea''s hand and pulling it down. "You did enough already," he added, pulling her into a deep hug.

    "No!" Irea cried out. "I can still do more!" she protested, trying to wrestle herself free from Layn''s hold.

    "Listen," Layn lowered his head, putting his forehead against the top of the girl''s head. "Just like you are worried about me, I''m worried about you," Layn said, ignoring the metallic sounding from the front. This sound announced that despite the devastating effects of the techniques, the horde finally entered the closebat range with his people. "My life would lose its meaning if you died to overextension here," he said, caressing the girl''s back.

    Then, Layn let go of the girl, taking a step back to look at her whole. "I recovered enough of my strenght to take part in the fight," he said in a calm yet determined voice. "I know you are worried about me, but there is one thing that I absolutely have to do," he said, reaching with his hand to caress the girl''s cheek.

    "And what is that?" Irea asked, raising her teary eyes at Layn.

    "It is to look cool in front of the girl I want to spend the rest of my days with," Layn replied before pulling his dagger out and turning around, only to head straight for where the line of Markus men already started to cave in under the pressure of the monsters horde.

 Chapter 187 - How To Fight This Battle

    Layn rushed forward. He knew that if he stalled even for a moment, Irea would use her cuteness and charm to stop him from going.

    But in the current situation, there was no way for Layn to hold back on fighting.

    ''They are bleeding for me,'' he thought, squeezing between the mercenaries and Markus'' sourced people alike. Even those that knew who he was were too busy fighting for their dear life to even notice the small disturbance, even less the Archmage himself.

    ''How do I deal with all those monsters in a quick fashion?'' Layn asked himself, analyzing his options as he moved forward.

    The magic from the artifacts he had on himself wasn''t anywhere near sufficient for him to fight with the ssical magic he was best versed with.

    While it was only a rough estimate, for every spell Layn would cast in this fight, there would be one more person dying while the Archmage could do nothing but wait for his mana to regenerate.

    ''Maybe I should burn the powder again?'' Layn thought, touching a small patch of specially prepared cloth of his robe, located right above his heart. Given how little stone-dust he managed to procure in the initial deal with the neighboring Overlord, there was only so much enchanted cloth that he could create.

    Extracting the stone dust from the artifacts was out of the question. Keeping in mind how he used the very first artifact he created in this timeline to wreak havoc by manipting others to try prying it open, Layn, this time, set his mind to make his new items safe in use as possible.

    And while their rate of failure was nearing zero, it also meant that dismantling them to ess the properly valuable parts would be a pain in the ass in a normal situation, not to say in the middle of a damned battle.

    ''No, the dust won''t do,'' Layn thought as he finally reached the front of the battle. He had to push his hand forward in an instant, using his small knife to parry a shing attack of one of the monsters.

    CLING!

    The sound of the metal bending under pressure could be heard. With one look, Layn realized that his handy weapon couldst a few hits at most.

    "I should take better care of it,'' Layn thought, using the little mana he had to cover the weapon with a smallyer of magic. While on its own, it had no purpose at all, it was capable of absorbing the energy of the attacks rather than putting that burden on the metallic structure of the knife itself.

    ''I should''ve thought about getting some kind of weapon in advance,'' Layn thought, sliding underneath the monster and pushing his knife straight into its guts.

    A river of ck blood gushed out of the monster''s wound, instantly turning Layn''s robes so dirty that they were unlikely to be ever fully cleaned again.

    ''The blood spell...'' Layn thought when the hot liquid covered his face. But the potential way to solve the problem quickly evaporated from his brain when he felt a sting on his face.

    And then another.

    And then his entire head started to burn as if someone set it alight.

    ''Was that blood acidic or something?'' Layn thought, crawling out of the corpse of the monster he slew. But just as he was about to make his way back to the open battlefield, something hard cut the skin on his back open.

    ''A magic stone?'' Layn almost voiced his thoughts out loud. Only the repulsive stench of that ck blood stopped him from opening his mouth in a fear that it could also turn poisonous.

    As repulsive as it was to move his hands around in the still-warm flesh of the corpse with all that smelly and acidic blood around, Layn didn''t hesitate to do so even for a second. Feeling the burn on his back and face alike where most of the monster''s blood fell, Layn continued to move his hands around until he finally caught hold of the sharp element that prickled his back a moment ago.

    ''What''s with this weird stone?'' he thought once he brought the small item to his eyes. While it appeared like any other stone one could find across the entire wast continent, it also had one inherent trait that set it apart from others.

    Its entire surface wasn''t perfectly smooth like it was the case for the other stones. Rather than that, it was rough, as if its surface was made from millions of ditches, each of them way too small to be noticeable with one''s naked eye.

    ''Could it be...'' Layn thought, feeling how the panic slowly started to settle in his soul.

    Not because of anything that was happening on the battlefield. But because of what this stone meant in regards to the Overlord that created it.

    Just like Layn dusted off any stone he could find to bring forth its ability to suck the mana out of the air in quantities noticeable by humans, the stone in his hand filled the role in a simr although inferior manner.

    Thanks to its uneven feel, its actual surface was many times greater than one would im from inspecting it. And while it still limited the effective area that the stone could use to suck the magic out of the air, it was also far better at it than any of the other stones Layn encountered in his past.

    For the battlefield, it didn''t change much. With greater mana production in their hearts, the monsters were stronger than any of the ones Layn or others could encounter on the desert or other areas like it. But that fact was already well known by everyone who exchanged attacks with those monsters.

    What truly made Layn worry was how the Overlord behind the attack appeared to know the trick to using the full potential of the stones in this magic-conductor-deprived world!

    "Well, it doesn''t change anything for the ongoing battle," Layn spoke under his nose, casting aside all his long-reaching worries. In the middle of the battle, there was no time to ponder about the next move of their opponents. Right now, Layn had to focus on actually winning the battle.

    Because if the monsters were toe out victorious, then it wouldn''t matter whether another Overlord figured the trick to the stones or not. Or rather, Layn would be too dead to ever bother with this matter again!

    "Make way!" Layn shouted, holding tightly to the newly acquired stone as he rushed forward. Thankfully, his shout waspletely meaningless, given how during the time when he struggled to crawl out from underneath the monster''s corpse, its livingpatriots managed to push the line of Layn''s men by several steps already.

    ''Suck all the energy from the stone,'' Layn dictated what he was doing to himself, using this kind of mantra to fully focus his attention on the battle. And as soon as his voice sounded in his thoughts, he would follow up with the action.

    ''Use the energy to sharpen your hand,'' Tom thought, covering his hand with a thickyer of pure mana that he then shaped into a simple spike.

    ''Find a monster to suck the energy away from,'' Layn thought, frantically scanning the battlefield around him.

    Thankfully, it was so full of monsters that he didn''t need to look for long. Layn took two steps forward. By this time, the monsters noticed the appearance of their enemy behind their line, instantly throwing three soldiers at him.

    Layn lowered his head, dodging a wide sh of the monster''s ws. He then jumped to the back, happily epting another monster as the pillow that softened his fall. But even despite this kind of favor the monster did to him, Layn stabbed it with his mana-covered hand nevertheless.

    ''Once you prate the target, suck its energy,'' he spoke in his thoughts, instantly using the opening to rid all the monster''s flesh out of the magical reinforcement that made it so powerful.

    ''A monster with a real, physical flesh?'' Layn distracted himself for a moment when he realized that no matter how much mana he sucked out of his target, its body didn''t appear to vanish at all!

    ''Well, that''s another thing to bother with once the battle will be over,'' the Archmage took note of this strange urrence before using the freshly stolen energy to kick the monster''s carcass away.

    Layn once again covered his hands with dense mana, this time adding anotheryer all over his body. While this kind of shield wouldn''t shield him from more than just a few attacks, it was still better than going into the battle as he initially did, with just the cloth robes and no armor whatsoever!

    "Out of my way!" Layn screamed, taking the two iing attacks with nothing but hopes that his mana shield would hold on. But as the monsters pressed on with their feverish attacks, they entered Layn''s range.

    And it was the one thing that monsters like them, with mana roaming freely in their veins, shouldn''t do.

 Chapter 188 - The Battle Continues

    "Thanks for the delivery," Layn muttered, suddenly all calm. Without even a shred of hesitation, he threw his mana-covered hands away, straight towards the attacking monsters.

    Slit.

    By the time the ws and teeth of the invading horde could reach the archmage''s skin, he had already sucked most of the energy out of the monsters'' bodies. With nowhere else to go, the energy amassed in his flesh, reinforcing it.

    As such, he was left without even the slightest scratch.

    "Now, that feels good," Layn raised his head, looking at the monsters around him. The time seemed to slow down, but it wasn''t the case at all. It was Layn''s battle instinct kicking in, a product of one of the many reinforcing spells he was craving to use.

    Layn rushed ahead. With his hands acting as his swords, he managed to streamline the process of obtaining more stones to suck the energy from. He would make a cut, recall the mana from his hand to grab the stone, and then coat it all back with the same mana from before.

    By leaving a small channel in his palm free from the influx of energy, he would then suck all the mana from the stone, unleashing a flood of fresh power all around his body.

    ''Now that I think about it,'' Layn raised his eyes as he jumped from one monster to another, turning the hunter and the pray situation around all on his own. ''Wasn''t it a bit too long since Ist allowed myself to let some steam off?'' he thought arrogantly, fealing how the heat of the battle shrouded his mind a little.

    ''No, that''s not the case,'' Layn thought a few momentster, already several tens of meters deep within the belly of the horde. ''That''s not what I was thinking about,'' he realized, though unable to picture just what he was thinking about. So then, to abate his hunger for power, he continued his culling, decreasing the number of the enemies simultaneously as he continued to grow in strenght.

    ''That''s right,'' Layn managed to crack the lock over his recent memory soon after, using a flood of energy from seven more monsters to create the necessary momentum. ''Isn''t it nice tobine cultivation with real magic, after all,'' Layn asked himself, smiling gently.

    The method of dual-circting mana within one''s own body was possible for him only thanks to cultivation. While sucking so many stones in a quick session strained his ability to absorb energy pretty quickly, this rampant energy in his core instantly rushed to heal the injuries.

    For the next several minutes, Layn was locked in the struggle of two powers. One was the energy from the stones, constantly fueling his cultivation core and injuring the pathways all over his flesh. The other was the energy already in his core, one that he properly purified in the process of cultivation. Pushed out by the iing energy from the stones, it had no other choice but to mend Layn''s inner injuries, keeping the stable bnce between the two seemingly opposing forces.

    Layn had to spend the entire seven minutes, constantly on the verge of burning his cultivation out, to finally ovee this struggle.

    It felt as if the mana found a new path towards his core, a path that waspletely unexplored and deprived of energy. With the influx of energy now split between more outflows, the burden on Layn''s inner part of the body greatly lessened.

    But it was this new part of himself that he finally noticed that made all the difference.

    For every bit of mana that Layn consumed, the world around him appeared to slow down. This time, not only as an effect of Layn''s reinforcing ability. It was as if his mind unlocked itstent power, capable of processing the information at a much greater pace than before.

    And the process of growth of this side of his was insane.

    With the energy flocking into this newly opened area of cultivation, it almost instantly all sank in the path itself, reinforcing it. But while this process was strangely simr to how Layn treated Irea in the recent past, the archmage didn''t feel even a tingle of pain.

    It was as if instead of ripping apart his cells and rebuilding them anew, this mana provided those cells with so much energy that they simply morphed into the state, allowing them to amodate more of it.

    And with each instance of this happening, Layn''s movements turned faster and faster while the world continued to revolve slower and slower.

    ''So that''s what all those stars mean!'' Layn suddenly had a moment of enlightenment.

    He didn''t really bother with what he still considered an inferior way of using the mana one had ess to. But now that the power of his brain seemed to multiply by at least tenfold, he could no longer im the cultivation to be so ridiculously weak as he believed it to be.

    With no other choice, he had to acknowledge that, after all, there was some potential in this manner of using mana.

    And he did all of that while running around the thinning formation of the enemies, killing anything that dared to stand in its path.

    At this point, Layn no longer saw the monsters as the enemies he had to eradicate to save everyone at the camp. They now turned into a feed, one that could unlock the absolutelytent power of his body and soul for him to use.

    ''The first star is about one''s physical realm,'' Layn thought, detaching his aware self from the part focused on serving the monsters a taste of genocide. ''Then what I''m going through right now should be about one''s mind, possibly heart,'' Layn thought.

    "Layn!" A voice somehow made its way through the archmage''s ear, entering his brain. Shaken off from his happy daze, he looked towards the source of the call.

    "What''s wrong?" Layn shouted back, looking at Markus while moving between the next three of his targets.

    "The right nk!" Layn''s friend shouted, pointing his hand in the direction he was speaking about. "It''s faltering!" he added before rushing back into the fight himself.

    Layn looked around to scan the picture of the situation. He was currently near the left nk of the camp''s defensive formation. It was the ce where most of Al''s nsmen took a stand, giving a reason why they had the least trouble holding the line.

    At the center, Markus and Yelna reaped the monsters as if they were monsters themselves.

    ''Right, this is a battlefield that most suits Markus,'' Layn thought after observing something umon.

    Markus fought like a madman. It was his sole effort that lessened the burden of the center of their formation, allowing them to hold the line as well.

    But what was surprising was Markus overperforming Yelna.

    Between the two of them, it was hard not to say who was stronger. Despite not wielding any magic whatsoever, Yelna was hailed as a hero for a reason. Even if she didn''t like to appear as one, her skills with her daggers were something that even Layn himself feared.

    But on this particr battlefield, she couldn''t even hold a candle to Markus.

    And speaking about candles...

    The weapon that Markus used when he really got serious was truly weird. Rather than a sword, staff, or at least a club, he liked to fight with a street light. In situations where he couldn''t procure one, he would craft a simr item himself, always refusing to give any sort of exnation for this weird behavior.

    But now, Layn finally learned the truth. The reason why Markus was so adamant at using this umon weapon.

    Right now, the former saint danced around his opponents. He swung his stick with a candle at the top around.

    But he wasn''t striking the monsters at all. Rather than that, he seemed to charm them. And after just a short moment, the magic stone of the monster would burst out of its body, rushing towards the light of the shake.

    Before the impact could destroy Markus''s weapon, the one spell of the weapon would absorb the mana, further reinforcing its attractive force.

    ''At this rate, he alone will be able to kill all those monsters,'' Layn thought, already calcting how long it would actually take for the influence of Markus''s weapon to cover the entire battlefield.

    ''Still, that''s too wasteful,'' he added in his thoughts a momentter, grinding his teeth against each other. ''This spell alone steals all the power of those stones, leaving nothing for the user to gain after the fight,'' Layn thought, rushing towards his designed position.

    On the right nk, the situation was the worst. Despite initial sess, the cultivators from the warcamp didn''t manage to hold their ground. By the time Layn appeared in front of them, a massive gap had already appeared.

    At any moment, monsters would be sure to fill it up, breaking the only thing that gave humans the advantage in the fight.

    At any moment, the monsters would break their formation.

    And that''s why Layn jumped right in the middle of it.

 Chapter 189 - Source Of The Mistake

    "Kill!" As the battlefield progressed from the phase of intense fighting to basically the cleanup, the morale returned to the otherwise beaten people of the camp. That''s why, rather than just silently massacring every monster left on the in, Layn decided to hold his horses back.

    The people that fought to defend the camp had to score a few more kills with their very own hands.

    This way of letting the soldiers vent the frustration caused by the losses and wounded wasmonly unepted in modern times. Allowing one''s troops to disperse and vent on the civilian poption turned out to be a problem big enough to warrant a special council that ended with iming this kind of action as a crime of war.

    But that was the case back in Layn''s original timeline. And thisw was implemented for the sake of protecting the civilians. Right now, it had no binding matter... especially since Layn was quite positive that hundreds if not thousands of years would have to pass for saidw to be actually implemented.

    ''Now that I think about it, the ecological freaks would skin me alive if they saw me encourage this mass ughter of monsters,'' Layn thought, watching how both the few mercenaries that survived the ordeal and the people that Markus brought joyfully gave the carnage their best.

    "That should generally wrap things up," Markus said, approaching the archmage from behind. Even though he was one of the strongest fighters, he no longer saw any reason to keep fighting. Most likely, he came to the exact same conclusion as Layn himself.

    "Still, I expected you to use those blood arts of yours," Markus said, looking at Tom with a questioning look. "Some kind of new technique?" he guessed, leaning his head to the side.

    "More or less," Layn nodded his head before shaking it vigorously. "Well, it''s been a while," he said, extending his hand out.

    "Come on," Markus said, grabbing Layn''s hand and pulling him into a deep, bear-like hug. "We didn''t see each other in years. How are you doing, man?" Markus asked. His voice changed, turning slightly higher than usual as tears of happiness welled up in his eyes.

    "Seen better days," Layn replied passively, overwhelmed by the affection shown by this male friend of his. ''Did he decide the swing the other way in the time we were away or something?'' Layn asked himself before sending a quick look at Yelna nearby.

    Just like the two of them, she was on standby. But contrary to the two of them, she didn''t join in the long-awaited reunion. Still, she kept a keen look on the battle to prevent any further unnecessary casualties.

    "I guess that applies to everyone," Markus said, letting go of Layn''s body and taking a step back. "But now, I need one answer. Tell me, are you..."

    "Yes," Layn replied even before Markus could finish his question. "But I have no idea how that spell affected the two of you," he added, spreading his arms wide in a gesture of ignorance.

    ''I knew that they came here, and I tried to figure out how the arcana worked on them... Or wait for a second,'' Layn once again attempted to crack this mystery when his eyes fell on Yelna''s hand. Or rather, on the item she was holding in it.

    ''Isn''t that her dawnbringer?'' Layn asked himself, recalling the name of the weapon she cherished ever since the times of their journey together. ''But if they moved in the same way I did...'' he thought before all his thinking ceased.

    ''That would be impossible unless they used some other method to travel through time,'' Layn thought, sharply turning his head to look at Markus. "Where were you when the leap happened?!" Layn asked, agitated to his limits.

    "Huh?" Markus shrugged, surprised by Layn''s sudden eagerness. "Back at our observatory, at the tip of the northern penins," he gave the answer without the slightest hesitation.

    Even if they could potentially have opposing interests in the current time, solving the riddle of time travel would benefit them all. And nothing that happened before it held any meaning today, now that all their pasts turned into a distant future.

    "That''s strange," Layn lowered his head and rubbed his chin, puzzled by the unexpected answer. "I assume you used some kind of hooking mechanism to catch on the prism, right?" he posed another question, looking at Markus with hope gleaming in his eyes.

    "Huh?" Markus only shrugged in unease. "The hell are you talking about? We just stood in ce and hoped the Shield of Aegis would suffice to ward off the danger," Markus reported his own experiences, putting a wrench into the way Layn hoped to solve the mystery.

    "Ah, I forgot about that thing," Layn said. Once again, he retreated into the study of his thoughts, trying to figure out the math necessary for those two things thate together.

    Shield of Aegis wasn''t a hook. It was a simple shield that nullified any and all magic effects from the surroundings that were aimed against what it was protecting. And while it could potentially be used as a cart to ride the wave of changing the times, it stillcked the hook required for Markus and Yelna to enter the prism, or in other words, the magical path that connected two points in time.

    "Something wrong?" Markus asked, noticing the unease of his former partner. Even though they didn''t see each other in years, he was still capable of understanding the tiny amount of hints that Layn would ever let show on his face.

    "I just can''t figure it out how did you manage to hook in," Layn exined his doubts, too focused on analyzing the subject to even look up at his friend when he spoke to him.

    ''It shouldn''t be possible unless they were in the prism in the first ce," Layn continued to think, eliminating more and more possible exnations with each passing second.

    Given how his base assumptions about the entire thing turned out to be false, he had no other choice but to reanalyze the entire thing from the get-go.

    ''But for a prism to be that wide... It doesn''t make sense,'' Layn thought, falling to his knees and starting to write off equations directly on the ground while using the blood of the nearby monster as an ink. But even after putting his thoughts into writing, Layn was still unable to get his math right.

    ''It would be impossible unless I fucked up the supply,'' Layn thought after a few moments spent on crunching the numbers in every possible way. And while there were many variables that he could potentially get wrong back when constructing the theory for the gran arcana, only onebination appeared to allow for such a massive derivation from the intended oue.

    "What was there in the supply part?" Layn muttered, straightening one finger of his hand with every item he listed out. "The darkwood core, crystalized magic, heavenly residue, nuclear core," he counted all the items that he used to fuel the gran arcana.

    And out of them, only two could lead to a mistake.

    The first was the heavenly residue. Despite its haughty name, it was actually an incrediblyplex drug, one that Layn had to spend over three years to source a quantityrge enough from the ck market.

    With just the possession of this extremely toxic drug alone, he stood to lose not only his position at the court and castle but very likely his life as well.

    Given how dangerous that substance was, Layn never dabbled into researching it a lot, limiting his scientific input to just testing its energy potential.

    And as it turned out, this drug appeared to be a miraculous substance. Whilebining several magical-infused alloys was possible andmon, with the growingplexity of the end-substance, the chances of materials properly fusing were growing smaller and smaller.

    With more than four source materials, it was said that only a few workshops in the entire world were capable ofbining them.

    And then came the heavenly residue, a drug said to be sourced from the mythical heaven itself. And abination of over seventeen different alchemy materials.

    This was the sole example of a material that was believed to note from this world. Whether it was heavens or some dying star that produced it, Layn didn''t know. But he was more than happy to use all the energy contained within the unstable state of this matter.

    ''I made sure to test all its possible release gradients, so the mistake shouldn''t be there,'' Layn thought, recalling the experiments that he did. By dposing thepound material back into its prime parts, Layn learned how to safely release the energy store in the connections that allowed thepound elixir to stay as a uniform object.

    But this was something that Layn did more testing than necessary to ensure he was right on the money with his numbers.

    ''And that leaves the nuclear magic,'' Layn thought, feeling how uneasiness spread out through his body. ''I knew this was still a theoretical field of magic and research, but still...'' he thought, hesitating to even reveal the potential nature of the problem that caused his gran arcana to malfunction.

    ''Unless...''

 Chapter 190 - Small Council

    "Right, I don''t want to spoil the mood after the battle, but I believe there is one thing we need to quickly do," Markus suddenly said, breaking Layn free from the world of his thoughts.

    "We need to decide the status and the future of this ce, I know," Layn shook his head as he replied. Standing up, he threw onest look at the scribbles he did on the ground.

    The monster''s blood didn''t make for good ink. Its dark intensity quickly faded away, making it hardly distinguishable from the earth itself. And even those slight stains quickly disappeared, sinking deeply into the ground.

    "I guess we will need to invite both Al and Sitra to the talks," Layn said, raising his eyes at his old friend.

    "The girl that warned us about the attack?" Markus asked, moving his eyes towards the girl. Given her injures, everyone simply assumed she would be out ofmission. But there she was, behind the middle line, still pulling and loosening the string of her bow.

    ''Just look at her hands,'' Layn thought, noticing how their once delicate fingers turned into a bloody mess. With each shot, she would die her string red with her own blood all over again. ''She is really desperate to kill those... Huh?'' Layn suddenly shrugged, looking back in the direction where Sitra came from. ''Who did kill Castor? vians or?'' he asked himself, puzzled by the possibility.

    As sad as it was to lose a man like him, that was how life always was and always would be. No matter the age and the development of the world, people would randomly die on asions, be it because of their line of work or in a simple ident.

    The duty of living wasn''t to despair and waste their own lives over it but to remember those who died with the grace they had while they were alive.

    "That will do," Markus nodded his head after ncing over at Sitra for a short moment. He then moved his head around towards his wife, silently standing in the middle of the battlefield. From the looks of things, she was still trying to prevent any further casualties. "Yelna!" Markus shouted, attracting the woman''s sight. "We will leave this ce to you," Markus announced, not even asking her for her opinion.

    During peaceful times, Markus would never dare to act like that towards his wife. But in the times they were currently in, there was no time to waste for pointless arguing.

    Yelna nodded her head and turned her eyes back to the few ongoing fights. Just like Layn and Markus, she held herself back from interfering with the fights that looked good. Her body would move into action only when one of their people would be in real danger.

    No matter what kind of future Layn, Markus, Al, and Sitra would decide on, they would need hardened people to push it forward. Killing all the monsters just for the sake of ending the battle would be counterproductive in every possible scenario.

    "Where shall we sit?" Markus asked, stretching his back. Being the brightest star on the battlefield tired him out immensely. Right now, he was holding on with the power of his sheer will alone.

    "Let''s go to the kitchen," Layn proposed, catching up with his friend. As the two of them passed through their men, Layn tapped Sitra''s shoulder. "You did enough. For now,e with us," he said.

    It wasn''t an order. The girl didn''t belong to their group at all. But she was currently the only link between Layn''s group and the faction of vians that were interested in peacefully migrating to Layn''s controllednds.

    "I... Okay..." Sitra said, lowering her weapon. Hate burned vividly in her eyes as she looked towards the battlefield.

    At the current moment, only a few monsters remained. Nevertheless, even now that the odds turned against them, those beasts continued to charge at humans. As if they didn''t value their own life.

    "Markus!" Before the three of them could walk any distance away from the field of battle, one of the burly men from Markus'' group approached them.

    "Ation," Layn''s friend lowered his head in the greeting.

    "We finished up our part, now, what are we to do with the corpses?" the massive man asked.

    ''Did they meet before?'' Layn thought, watching at the interaction between the two. ''Right, he was the one to lead Al here in the first ce. It''s only given they already know each other,'' Layn analyzed the situation, silently waiting for it to end.

    "Is this the man?" Ation asked, suddenly moving his eyes on the archmage.

    "This isn''t the right time," Markus said, his voice lowered.

    "No, this is the perfect time for it," Layn countered, entering the conversation. "We are going to discuss the future of this ce now. I don''t know where Al is, but tell him to go to the kitchen," Layn said, looking at the burly man without even a hint of fear or intimidation in his eyes. "If he has any questions, he can ask those then," Layn said, cutting the discussion and moving ahead.

    "Sorry for that. He is a cranky little today," Markus said while lowering his head and sping his hands together. Then, he followed after the archmage.

    Soon, their trio reached the kitchen. Even though it was slightly bigger than all the other buildings in the camp, it could only fit one or two more people before the insides would get cramped. Especially given how a lot of maps would likely be used during this meeting.

    "Shall we wait for Al or start already?" Markus asked after a moment of silence, raising his eyes at Layn.

    "I think it will be better if we wait," Layn replied, shaking his head. While they had no idea how much time they had before another attack woulde, there was no point in listening to Sitra''s report if they would have to repeat it all to Alter.

    "I''m here," Al said, entering the kitchen a mere momentter. Following him was the same man that they had met before. "I hope you don''t mind Ation''s presence. I don''t have great brains, so he will fill for me in that regard," the leader of the ancestor''s group said, sitting down at thest remaining chair.

    "That''s not a problem," Layn said, standing up and offering his chair to Al''spanion. "Right now, there is a lot to discuss, so I will start with what I consider the most important bits," he added, turning his eyes to Sitra.

    "A few days away from our camp, there arends filled with people and various nations. Sitra represents the group called vians. I met them by chance after my fight with the Overlord of this area," Layn said, instantly waving his hand away to skip all the questions forter. "Sitra, what''s going on?" Layn asked, putting all the pressure of the meeting on the girl.

    "The situation on the border is getting desperate. While my and Carter''s highest superior arrived and saved us from political death, with the entire country copsing, he can hardly do anything anymore," Sitra announced, taking up a piece of coal from the kitchen before drawing directly on the table. "This is the border fortress that separates vian hintends from the steppe," she said, drawing a thick barrier between the two with only one ce where one could cross. "Those mountains are impassable, not unless you travel hundreds of miles away," she added, pointing her hand at the thick barrier.

    "What does that mean for us?" Markus asked, holding back all his questions regarding the details of the entire vian nation thing. "I mean, with all due respect, but as you could see a moment ago, we have enough problems on our hands already, even without taking the potential civil war of yours into ount," he said.

    While this kind of approach appeared to be senselessly brutal, it was also pragmatic. While Layn was open to cooperation with those people, mostly for the sake of learning their magic, it didn''t mean he could risk the lives of those already following him to help Sitra.

    "So far, it''s not a civil war. One of the generals that took over the fortress with what seems like thest order from our King limited our moves. In the end, we had no other choice but to send a two-fold scouting party. Our path went from the fortress all the way to roughly this area," Sitra continued her report as if nothing had happened at all. "In this ce, we encountered monsters," she pulled her coal away, pointing her finger at the parts of the map she drew.

    "Our unit wanted to go back, but the soldiers that this bastard sent forced the fight. As he was holding the ground in desperation, Carter ordered me to bring the message to you. But as I rushed here, I noticed another horde heading this camp''s way," Sitra said before raising her eyes at Layn. "Listen, right now, you do not need to worry about the monsters alone," she said, as a grim look appeared on her face. "If that bastard ends up iming all the remaining forces of via, then thisnd will be all conquered within a week!"

 Chapter 191 - Ations Query

    "And that''s the situation," Layn said in a grim tone, turning his face towards his fellow aces of the camp. "Not only are we against an overlord, different to the one we are trading with, we are also against the clock in the race of supporting a faction friendly to us in vians," Tom said, painting the picture of the entire situation.

    "We are all against that... for what actually?" Al asked, looking around him as if to point at the entirety of the camp. After all, indoors, there was hardly anything he could find interesting to look around at. "A few run-down buildings that barely ssify for that kind of name?" he asked, shaking his head. "Wouldn''t it be easier to just let the two of them duke it out together and then make allies with the winner?" the burly man suggested.

    For a moment, everyone turned silent. Not even the slightest murmur came out of the mouth of those present.

    p.

    The sound of a hand hitting the front of a head filled the room when Ation expressed his exhaustion.

    "Al, it doesn''t work like that," Ation said, putting an uneasy smile. "Right now, we are the weakest of the three. With all due respect for the heavy work that you guys put in this ce whenpared to that kind of swarm? Or with force capable of picking up a fight with it?" Ation shook his head. "They will just roll over us. If we decide to stand by the side, it''s even likely that one of the sides will try to use the other to get rid of us. Not in a y against an equal opponent, but in an attempt to weaken the other major force," Ation exined, proving that not all of Layn''s ancestors represented the level that modern science often pictured Generalpanions to be at.

    ''I guess the legends came to be just to praise Al. Keeping capable figures by his side would make it harder for the storytellers to unt his epess,'' Layn thought, noticing the disproportion between what he expected and what he got.

    "If we are not ying on the same board as those two, they won''t consider us a yer," Layn said, shaking his head. "As such, we won''t be able to get any backing for the faction potentially friendly to us," he added, exining this weirdlyplex yet ultimately simple problem.

    "Wait for a second," Sitra finally dared to speak up. Given how she was surrounded by the people who proved to be way more than just capable on the battlefield, this normally haughty girl turned strangely silent. "Did you say that you made a deal with another overlord?!" she eximed, standing up and smashing her hands at the desk.

    Once more, the room turned silent. This time, however, it wasn''t Al that everyone directed their eyes at, but Sitra instead.

    "Is this a problem?" Layn asked, pretending to be confused. ''That''s what I was waiting for,'' he thought internally, forcing his lips not to let them form a smile. "Well, that''s the case, so let''s move on," Tom said. He was perfectly satisfied with Sitra''s reaction and already had ns in his head how to use itter on... But for now, there were other topics they had to talk about.

    "Moving on, my ass!" Sitra protested, once again mming her hands against the table. "Do you not realize how insanely impossible it is to strike any deal with an Overlord?!" she cried out. Her face turned weird when she was met with confused stares from everyone. "Oh, right, you guys have no idea..." she muttered as she sat back in her seat, powerless.

    "Either way," Layn said, moving his eyes from Sitra back to Antion and Markus. "I believe we can all agree on intervening in this situation, right?" Layn asked just to make sure everyone was on the same page.

    "No objections here," Markus said, speaking up for the first time since the meeting started.

    "It''s not a good idea... but the only one we can have for now," Antion nodded his head, expressing the consent of the remaining part of their group.

    In this small council, the range of everyone''s influence was well established. Layn, as the yer of the Overlord, had the ultimate right of decision. Ultimately, they were on hisnd and had to follow his rules. In terms of any conflict, he already proved to be well-versed in local ways of using powers, giving him the edge of ignorance over both Markus and Yelna.

    On the other hand, Markus came here not only as a friend but also as the leader of the greatest group currently in the camp. The mercenaries he recruited before reaching for the camp were paid directly by him, making him the leader of the most populous faction in the camp.

    Then came Al and Ation. While Al was the real leader of his own group, he was smart enough to leave the tasks he was bad at to the subordinates that could fill the gap of skill he wascking.

    Between Layn''s powerful butcking numbers group and Markus leading the people that were basically the opposite of Layn''s party, their ancestors were ced in the middle.

    Al could boast quite the numbers, several times the number of mercenaries that followed Layn. On the other hand, even his unit was outnumbered by Markus hired mercenaries. Their advantage, thoughid in the fact that they were all from the same tribe instead of being people that just worked for the money.

    With this dynamic in the room, Sitra was the only one who didn''t boast a potential faction on her own. Yet, given how important the rtions with vians would be down the line, giving her a spot at the council was just a move ahead of its time aiming at establishing proper diplomatic rtions with the other said.

    In other words, Sitra, even if she didn''t realize it yet, already served the role of an impromptu ambassador.

    "Well, now that we have this matter dealt with, let''s move on to the future of this camp," Layn said, leaning back over his seat. "Personally, I don''t really give two fucks what we are going to do here in the longer term. If you want to settle down and create cities, I''m game. If you want to use thisnd as a hunting ground, just help me figure out how to produce monsters," Layn said, preparing the ground for the small bomb that he was about to drop.

    "But you are not going to give up on your wish to get an academy here, right?" Markus interjected, raising his eyes at Layn. While others could consider this kind of interruption quite intrusive, the small smile on his friend''s face made Layn certain that, at least from Markus''s side, he didn''t need to expect any objections.

    "That''s right," Layn said, nodding his head. "While there is a chance I will be able to recreate the gran arcana and move everyone back to their time, I personally wish to stay in this ce and this time," he suddenly announced.

    Once again, the room turned silent. With only five people inside, it shouldn''t be that hard to keep silence. Sadly, as if some kind of ill fate dabbled in reality, everyone in the room somehow had the habit of silently speaking to themselves when thinking, making for quite a background noise.

    "I understand," Markus nodded his head as a hint of nostalgia entered his eyes. "It''s for Irea, right?" he asked, looking at Layn with random curiosity.

    "I don''t see how is that important," Layn said, squinting his eyes for a moment before releasing a deep sigh and nodding his head. "But yeah, I follow the idea that home is where your loved ones are," he said bluntly, not even getting his cheeks red while at it. "There is nothing for me to return to in our original time," Layn said, looking at everyone in the room. "On the other hand, I would rather devote my life to studying the current times before doing my best to preserve it for as long as possible," the archmage announced, leaning over the table sitting in the middle of the chairs.

    "I understand," this time, it was Ation to speak up. "But I don''t understand one thing," he added, staring straight into Layn''s eyes. "From everything that I heard, you intended to move through time while your friends," Ation nodded his head to Markus with respect, "somehow were caught up in the spell." Ation took a short break to water his throat. But even after this, he remained motionless, as if gathering the courage for the question he was about to throw out.

    "My point is," Ation finally picked up after nearly an entire minute of dead silence. "Howe did we get involved?" he asked.

    "To be fair?" Layn asked rhetorically before taking a deep breath and revealing the devastating truth without even a shred of hesitation.. "I don''t have the slightest idea."

 Chapter 192 - Fake Inteligence

    "HOW COULD YOU..." Ation shouted as he jumped out of his seat, mming his hands on the table.

    ''If this continues, this poor table will turn into scrap wood,'' Layn thought, realizing just how much beating this simple piece of furniture went through.

    "I have some clues," Layn picked up where he left, sending Ation a deadly cold stare. "But I will need to research them further to figure out the truth," Layn said before standing up as well.

    "But there is one thing I need to say right now," the archmage announced, before suddenly bending in half, with his lowered head directed at where Al and Ation sat. "For the trouble, I caused you by misusing my power and knowledge, I deeply apologize," he said, not hesitating or stumbling even for a second.

    ''Give credit where the credit is due,'' Layn thought, wishing to abide by this rule both when he could get praised but also when he had to be punished.

    "That''s..." Ation spoke up, only to turn silent. To his side, Al pulled on his tunic. "We ept the apology," Al replied, nodding his head to Layn. "Progress inevitably invites danger. And I doubt that you did us like that intentionally," he added, probing Layn to raise his head. "You said that you have no idea, but you have a clue as to what happened," Al said, staring at the archmage''s face. "Can you exin it in a way that an idiot like me will understand?" he requested with a small smile.

    ''That was way easier than I expected,'' Tom thought, raising his head with surprise written all over his head.

    "What, did you expect me to challenge you to a duel or something?" Al asked with a small sneer. "It''s not like I could win it anyway, so what would be the point of that?" he asked, disarming everyone in the room with his honesty.

    "Well, that''s certainly is true," Layn replied, turning his head away as a small blush appeared on his cheeks. For all the power he had, he was more about actually using it for something rather than squeezing praises just for the sake of hearing them. "Ah, I mean no disrespect with that," Layn suddenly shouted, waving his hands around as if to ward off any potential insult to Al''s face. "It''s just that you are not good much against me. Out of everyone, I think only Yelna could truly beat me," Layn revealed without any hesitation. Yet, as he brought Markus'' wife up, his lips involuntarily formed a pained grin.

    "Yeah, she could really beat me up," Layn repeated, lowering his head as the memory of one of his greatest defeats ever reyed all back in his memories.

    "She would be surprised to hear that," Markus said with a small chuckle, hiding his face behind his hand. "Before we learned that there was no malicious intent in your actions, she was dead-set of giving her own life just to save this world from you." Markus continued to stealthilyugh, despite everyone being easily able to see him do so.

    "Well, I bet that fight was just another spar for her," Layn blushed again. While he didn''t value his pride as high as some others, it was still hard for him to keep swallowing it in the face of his former defeat.

    "Either way, what about the exnation?" Markus asked before moving his eyes at their ancestors. "I believe you own it to them," he added, looking directly at Ation.

    Al appeared to be perfectly calm as if this topic didn''t include him. Out of the two of them, it was Ation that was actually pushing for this topic.

    "Well, let''s forget about all the reasons and focus on the process itself," Layn said. He didn''t even need to think whether to exin it or not. ''If even Markus says so, then there is no need to think about it too much,'' Layn thought, discarding all the possibilities of his old friend betraying him.

    The two of them fought together just a moment earlier. ''If the two of them were really after my skin, I would never leave the battlefield alive back then,'' Layn thought, reassuring himself in the decision he made.

    "Omitting the details once again, the spell I invoked required an insane amount of energy for me to pull it off. That''s why I used every artifact, every technique, every theory that I could get my hands on," Layn continued his exnations. But as he spoke, he could see small changes appearing on Markus'' face.

    "Just one question," the former saint asked, even going as far as to raise his hand. "Did those theories you used involved..."

    "Nuclear magic?" Layn guessed.

    "How did you know?" Markus asked, his face painted in surprise.

    "Because that''s the only thing I can''t be sure how it worked," Layn replied without even a moment of doubt. "While there were some artifacts that I didn''t dare to pry too deep into on my own, I thoroughly tested them," Layn sighed, lowering his head. "The only thing that I took for face value was the recent writings about nuclear magic. If I recall it, didn''t theye from your ce?" Layn suddenly recalled a small detail.

    ''If that''s true, then there is a chance he knows a little about the topic,'' Layn thought, perfectly aware of Markus'' thirst knowledge, a thirst that could only be challenged by his own.

    "I only have one question," Markus said, lowering his head as if he already knew the answer. "Was the treaty you used called, on magic nuclear and its practical applicancies?" Markus asked, strangely still in his seat.

    "Yeah," Layn nodded his head. "How did you know?" he asked instead.

    ''What does the treaty I used have anything to do with the topic?'' Layn asked himself, running through every possible option that came to his mind. ''Could it be... that the treaty was wrong?'' he suddenly arrived at the most likely conclusion. In an instant, Layn''s eyes moved on to Markus'' lowered face.

    "That treaty was an intelligence tactic to hide the real nature of that power," Markus suddenly announced with a grim voice. "This magical theory originallyes from something strictly physical, something that my friends in the government were testing out. But guess what," Markus raised his face, revealing aplex expression on it.

    It looked like a mix of desperation, helplessness, and regret.

    "Back when they were still testing it, the brass got scared of the results. They were too disastrous to be effectively used," Markus imed, yet Layn could see that the real bomb had yet to appear in the room. "And that was all for purely physical kind of nuclear theory. The magical one was suggested to work as well, but in order to stop the world from autodestructing in some random war, we downyed the might of the nuclear theory..." Markus suddenly stopped his exnation. He swallowed a mouthful of saliva before turning his head to the side. "We downyed its might by a lot," he said, starting to shake slightly. "By an awful lot," he added after a second, lowering his face in shame.

    "So that''s the case," Layn said, rubbing his chin again. With this new information, everything was slowly starting to make sense.

    Originally, the world he expected to return should be roughly a few years prior to the moment of casting the gran arcana. But that was all with the assumption that Layn''s calctions were all correct.

    ''I spent years perfecting them,'' Layn thought, gritting his teeth. ''To think that they were wrong because of a damned variable,'' he identally bit on his finger as he thought.

    "How much?" Layn asked, raising his eyes at his friend''s face. "How much did you downy it?" he asked again, taking his turn to m his hands against the table.

    Maybe it was already damaged from the former abuse, or maybe Layn simply failed to control his emotions. But this time, the simple table couldn''t handle the attack, breaking in half as soon as Layn mmed his hands on it.

    "Well, let''s me show it," Markus muttered silently, extending his hand towards the archmage.

    "Right, here you go." Layn understood his friend''s intention on the go, passing one of the mana-sucking artifacts to him.

    Not moving his hand an inch, Markus closed his eyes. And then, a light appeared all over his palm, only to raise roughly to the level of everyone''s eyes.

    "All set?" A voice came from the ball as a strange mist lifted, revealing a magical recording of some kind of event.

    "Isn''t that Manterau?" Layn asked, recognizing the outline of the town. While he has never visited it, it was known well enough for the two disasters that first chased away all its poption and then swallowed the city whole for Layn to recognize it.

    "Yeah," Markus nodded his head.. "And now, you are going to see the true form of the second disaster."

 Chapter 193 - Nonmagic Nulcear

    The image in Markus ball was slightly unstable. With the fog on which Markus disyed, his memories continued to sway on the little wind that could enter the building, making the image a little distorted.

    But it was all in terms of convenience. For the sake of observing the scale of the disaster, this quality was more than sufficient.

    "T minus fifteen!" A voice came from the steamy orb. It was the old andmon military code. ''Normally, they would need to add units in front of it was about anything but seconds,'' Layn thought, observing everyst detail that the picture showed.

    For a few more seconds, nothing happened. The city in the distance stood magnificently. Even for Layn, destroying itpletely would take not only quite a lot of strenght but even more time and effort in preparation.

    After all, while magic appeared to be nearly omnipotent, the spells still had to be fueled with mana.

    From the vantage point of the observer, one couldn''t see the exact details of the city. If not informed prior, Layn would quite easily assume that this was the city... but before the first disaster.

    "Now that I think of it, I don''t think I ever heard what was the first disaster," Layn suddenly noticed, talking up to Markus.

    "Yeah," the former saint replied.

    "Ten, nine," the voice in the orb started to count down.

    "Because it was all a hoax, a sham to make all the inhabitants leave," Markus added after a moment.

    ''I wonder how much did the people have to tell about this,'' Layn wondered before reining his attention back towards the picture.

    "Six, five," the counting continued, proving that whatever was about to transpire was all a nned thing, not some natural and unpredictable disaster.

    Something that was set by humans up, as such, capable of being replicated.

    ''For them to go for such great lengths,'' Layn thought, staring keenly into the memory orb. ''Its effects really would have to be so insane that it would be actually hard to imagine,'' he added in his thoughts, squinting his eyes once the count got closer to finishing.

    "Three..."

    "Two...

    "One..."

    While only Markus knew what to expect, and only Layn had a rough idea of what could potentially happen, everyone watched the image in the orb with bated breath. While by itself, the memory appeared nearly as just a still image, the countdown made everyone feel excited about what was about to happen.

    And then it did.

    Out of nowhere, at speed greater than a human eye could register, a massive ball of mes appeared in the city.

    Both Markus and Layn, along with literally anyone who ever got above the level of fighting cooks in their grandparent''s farms, had their senses enhanced with magic. That''s why both the image recorded and what Layn actually saw slightly varied from what amon folk would experience.

    "The image is dimmed," Markus muttered as the ball of fire appearing to the size of around a thousand camps of theirs started to rise in the air.

    ''It isn''t over yet?'' Layn thought, watching how the originally perfectly circr ball of abyssal mes started to elongate and dim out a little as the atmosphere rushed in to fight against the fiery anomaly.

    But that was happening all above the ground. On the floor level, the true form of the disaster was finally unveiled.

    At first came the shockwave. Everything in diameter roughly five times the fireball''s simply ttened. It didn''t matter that Manterau, as one of the recently settled cities, was mostly constructed from concrete and magic-reinforced stone. In the face of the overwhelming might like that, the concrete would simply sizzle away.

    Then, when everything that could be broken already achieved that state, the second wave of disaster came.

    Some fires started somewhere in the rubble. Normally, small fires like that would never be able to set the entire city alight, but that wasn''t the case here.

    ''Is the air... rushing in?'' Layn thought, analyzing everyst detail of what he was looking at. And soon, he could see how those small fires all over the ce, fanned by the draft, quickly devolved the city from an organized living area to nothing more than just and of a firestorm.

    Soon, the entire thing was nowhere to be seen. Any of the buildings that still stood were either devastated by the shockwaves, burned out by the mes, or simply gone.

    "Magnificent," Layn involuntarily spoke out. There was this visceral fascination in watching the devastation on this scale, especially when he was aware that what just happened... Had nothing to do with magic, to begin with.

    "To think that the world was so close to grasping at the origin," Layn muttered under his nose a momentter. Then, as he looked around the room, he realized just what kind of faux pass he hadmitted.

    Everyone around him was shocked beyond their wits. Only Markus managed to keep a sane look in his eyes, thanks to the fact that he saw this entire thing happen with his very own eyes. The impact of watching it happen from the recording had to be way lesser than experiencing it in the flesh.

    "After staring at the sh, I took two years to heal my eyes," Markus muttered, adding another piece to the picture.

    "And you are telling me that this is the theory applied to magicless materials," Layn muttered, still too overwhelmed by what he saw and the implication of it to actually speak like a normal human.

    "Yeah," Markus replied, hanging his head low. "We hid the truth about this entire thing to prevent others from learning about it." Markus shook his head. "Can you imagine what would happen if those warmongering nations of our time were to get their hands on a weapon like this?" he asked impassively, clearly just looking for an excuse right now.

    Because ultimately, his attempt to hide this kind of thing from the world ended up with Layn mistakenly taking the fake information about the nuclear theorem for granted.

    "Now it all makes sense," Layn said, biting on his tongue. "If this is the scale of energy unleashed during nuclear reactions, then it''s no wonder my gran arcana actually had way more magic than it actually should," he said, lowering his head a bit.

    "I had three amplification artifacts and two fueling ones. If I were to eyeball the power of that explosion, multiply it by the amount of mana fuel and then by the amplification..." Layn''s words came out slower and slower as the realization slowly started to reach his mind.

    "Layn?" Markus raised his eyes, noticing the stifling notes in the archmage''s voice. And he knew his friend for long enough to understand how rare it was for the great Layn to speak like that.

    "Ever since I realized that there was something wrong with the arcana, I always believed that the difference could be within percents, maybe several times the difference in magnitude whenpared to what I expected," Layn announced, barely moving his lips as he spoke.

    "Now you sound really scary," Markus said, raising from his seat and reaching for Layn''s chin. He then raised it up, forcing the archmage to look at every one. "Tell us what does that mean," Markus ordered, not even using the authority that he had as the member of the council, but just requesting as the friend of Layn he always was and always considered himself to be.

    "If the scale was a few times greater than I expected, then the entire world would be swallowed in the spell. But beyond that, nothing would happen," Layn said, raising his eyes as requested. "That''s why I could ept you appearing in this time, given how you could shield yourself to withstand the wave of magic rather than riding it like me," he said before standing up from his seat and walking away to the doors.

    For a moment, Layn opened the doors and continued to breathe in the fresh air in the silence. Then, once he was done with this strange ritual, he turned his entire self around while closing the door behind his back.

    "But with this scale of energy release... The gran arcana reached several times greater magnitude than I expected. No, I said it wrong," Layn suddenly admitted to making a mistake, just as he raised his eyes at the small crowd in the room. "Not by several times... The Gran Arcana was stronger by several orders of magnitude!" he finally announced, revealing the true scale of what had happened all that time ago.

    "And what does that mean for us?" Markus asked, already shaking from the devastating realization that started to settle in his soul.

    "In hindsight?" Layn asked before shaking his head. "Well, if it was what I expected, then returning to our original time would be an easy job. All it would require would be a sufficient amount of mana," Layn said before shaking his head. "But from what you just showed me, I can be sure about one thing," he added before looking Markus directly in the eyes.

    "Invoking Gran Arcana on such scale couldn''t end up with anything else but the very fabric of time and space breaking apart," Layn announced, shaking his shoulders.

    "And what does that mean for us?" Ation asked, clearly done with how the discussion turned to a professionalnguage he had no clue how to understand.

    "In short, there is no going back," Layn said, closing his eyes. "Not because it''s impossible," he added before looking Ation directly in the eyes.. "But because the world likely doesn''t exist beyond its new timeline, anymore."

 Chapter 194 - The Future Look Of The City (part 1)

    "So we are all stuck in this new timeline because of your mistake?" Al asked in a calm voice, scanning the reaction of the archmage with his calm eyes.

    "That''s one way to put it," Layn replied, lowering his head. "For that, I can only apologize. It wasn''t my intention whatsoever. What''s more, I believe this nuclear thingy is also the reason behind your appearance in the first ce," Layn admitted, once again lowering his head.

    He could be an overlord''s sessor, one of the strongest if not the strongest mage of both his original time but also in the time he currently resided in. But if he failed at something and caused the lives of others to drastically change because of his own failure, then it was all up to him to mend his own mistake.

    "Well, stuff happens in life," Al said, only to instantly reach with his hand to the side and grab Ation''s hand. At this moment, Al proved that his instincts were no worse than Layn''s or Markus''s'' given how Ation only attempted to stand up right when Al grabbed his arm. "Brother, I know how you feel. We have been unreasonably torn apart from our fates, but it''s not like we can me this new friend of ours for it," Al said, ncing over to Layn''s side.

    "I know," Ation wrestled his hand free before casting a hateful look at Layn. "I know," he repeated as the look in his eyes mellowed a bit. "He didn''t do it intentionally. The chances are, if not him, someone else would do itter. We just happened to be unlucky to get caught up in a mess," Ation said, shaking his head with every word. "But please, do not expect me to be all buddy-friendly with him now!" Ation shouted before turning around and leaving the ce.

    "And there go your brains," Markus muttered, watching how Ation mmed the simple doors shut on his way out. "At least he had the decency to close the doors after leaving," he added beforeughing out loud.

    For a moment, both Layn and Al, not to speak about Sitra, sat in silence, confused by Markus'' reaction. But after a mere moment, the two men started tough as well, leaving only the poor vian girl out of the loop.

    "Well, now that we have this cleared up, let''s talk real business," Al said after a prolonged moment of clearing up the atmosphere. "In terms of my request, I wish to take care of the military side of things. Whether it is about kicking some unruly assess in the city you guys are going to build or protecting its borders, you can leave it to us," Al stated before leaning back on his chair, indicating that he was already done talking.

    "What about using your men as manpower for building and working?" Layn was quick to ask. ''Without them to help out, our progress will be too slow,'' he thought, already trying toe up with means of closing the gap that just appeared between reality and his ns.

    "Why do I get the feeling that you see us not as your ancestors but free men to do the heavy lifting for you?" Al sneered lightly only tough out once again. "For now, it''s okay. I know that everyone needs to do their absolute best to survive here. But I don''t want this situation to remain forever. Once more, people start to flock into this ce..." Al said, cutting his sentence short as he raised his eyes on the archmage.

    "I understand. I think that''s a fair deal. What about you?" Layn said, turning his eyes to Markus.

    "I''m game," he nodded his head before suddenly shaking it. "Wait, let''s not settle anything before we all express our ideas," he added before pulling out a rarity among rarities in the camp, a sheet of real paper with some kind of map drawn on it. "This is how I projected theyout of the town for the time being," Markus said, hovering his hand above the sheet.

    "Your academy would take this area. I left it empty to make sure you would be able to design it to your own liking. But in terms of the town, I think this general look would be the most efficient, all things considered," Markus said, moving his hand to the part of the map further east, closer to where the true desert was.

    "Any reason for such cement?" Layn asked, moving his eyes between the project and his friend''s face. "I can see that you need the water for the city, but wouldn''t it be better to put it closer towards the forest?" he asked, already keeping the deal with the local overlord in mind.

    "Wouldn''t that be dangerous?" Markus asked, opening his eyes wide. "I know that you made a deal with it, but are you sure you can uphold it? Are you sure that overlord won''t try to go back on its word?" Markus asked the very question that gued Layn''s mind just a few hours ago.

    "That''s a good point. But there is one more thing I think we need to discuss before agreeing on theyout," Layn said with a small smile before turning his face to the Sitra, who sat silently in the corner. "Did you bring the thing I asked you about?"

    "Yeah, I have it right here," Sitra replied as quickly as she realized she was the one put under the fire of Layn''s question. But instead of paper, she pulled out a strange, square device.

    Once thrown to the table, it started to open itself up, as if some kind of hidden springes acted up under the force of impact. Bit by bit, the entire piece would split into four parts that would next open up to the outside. Once the process repeated itself five times, the original thick and small box turned into a thin sheet of wood nearly twice the size of the table.

    And from the looks of things, what was drawn on the picture was nearly an exact copy of the design that Markus came up with on his own!

 Chapter 195 - The Future Look Of The City (part 2)

    "That''s why I was silent about it," Sitra exined herck of actions earlier as soon as everyone else in the room looked up at her with varying degrees of surprise on their faces. "I hoped to use this as a favor I could trade to enlist your cooperation..." she said, only to cut her sentence short and shake her shoulders. "Now it''s not all that valuable, isn''t it?" she asked the rhetorical question.

    "Wait a second..." Markus stopped anyone else from making any decisive ims, taking a closer look at the map. "Did the people who drew this attached some notes to this thing?" he asked, raising his eyes at the girl.

    "They did, but Castor was the one carrying them," Sitra replied. Her face darkened due to the unpleasant memory. "I remember a few things, but I can''t promise to be able to exin everyst detail," she added after a moment.

    ''She''s acting... No, she looks strange,'' Layn thought, keenly observing the girl. As the one who knew her the longest out of the three men in the room, he could notice theck of the usual fires in the girl''s eyes.

    She turned from the cheeky and overconfident individual to a simple soldier without any real thought in her head. While that could be exined by Castor''s death''s impact on her, Layn couldn''t really believe something like that would be enough topletely break the girl like that.

    "Still, this thing is done in way greater detail than my piece," Markus said, lowering his face even further over the wooden sheet. "But we need to add some changes. This map implies using the six-block structure, something that won''t really work out with the solutions I have in mind," Markus said, pointing his finger at one of the smaller details.

    "Six-block structure?" Layn asked, ignorant about the topic as much as a living human being could be. "You mean that there are six housing units per block?" he asked, noticing the group of eight squares below Markus'' finger.

    "Yeah," Layn''s old friend nodded his head in response. "When I was traveling from the Warcamp to this ce, I thought about several ways to improve the standard of living for everyone," Markus said, reaching to the back and pulling another sheet of paper from there. "Here, take a look a this," he said, unrolling it directly at Sitra''s map.

    "The hell is... Wait a second..." Layn stared at the schematic presented by his old friend for a moment when his eyes suddenly opened up wide. "Is this something like... an engine room?" he asked, raising his eyes at Markus.

    "More or less," Markus confirmed Layn''s guess with yet another nod of his head. "I nned to install it in every industrial area. By cing one steam engine inside and feeding it with a sufficient amount of fuel, we could forcefully enter the steam age without all the necessary yet costly requirements one would fulfill to do it in the more natural way," Markus exined his idea. "I originally aimed to build a simr structure in the housing areas, just that instead of the engine, we would put a boiler inside," Markus said, pointing to the parts that would have to be changed on his picture.

    "You thought about it so far already," Layn muttered, full of awe for his friend''s achievement. "How are we going to get the engines without coal and iron, though?" the archmage asked.

    ''I know there is that underwater structure that is likely full of resources of all kinds,'' Layn thought but ended up shaking his head a momentter. ''No, unless absolutely necessary, I don''t want to dabble in the goodies out there,'' he thought. ''Breaking the bnce of monsters appearing and killing each other could potentially bring far more costs than benefits of using the materials that ce is made with,'' he concluded.

    "That''s one of the problems I decided not to think about," Markus replied, shaking his shoulders. "We don''t know the details about this ce. We don''t know the details of thends of other overlords. Only when we confirm that there are no deposits in either of those can we start thinking about what else can be used to rece those," Markus said, shaking his arms once again.

    "Man, I get where you areing from," Layn said, lowering his head while at it. "I know that we can use the knowledge of the future to rush ahead with technology... But don''t forget that everything that we know was created over ages of development and trials." Layn looked down at the schematics proposed by Markus. "Just look at those springs. While I''m not great at physics, I''m good at maths. If I''m right, then there is no way to create a spring capable of withstanding the potential burden in this ce," Layn said, pointing his finger at the specific details of the blueprint. "Not with our current means, that is," he added, trying not to discourage his friend too much.

    "That''s why I called it an idea in the first ce," Markus replied, raising his head from the blueprint with a wide smile. "Now that we are here, it''s time to start thinking about how we can deal with all those problems," he added, his smile widening even further.

    "If I may ask..." Sitra said in a silent voice, even going as far as to raise her hand.

    "Speak freely," Layn said, allowing the girl some voice in the discussion.

    "While I didn''t follow thest few minutes worth of your talk at all," she started, averting her eyes either out of shyness or just embarrassment, "if ites to theck of technicians and craftsmen, then isn''t allying with my faction the most straightforward way to solve it?" she asked, leaning her head over her shoulder to ent how confused she was.

    "That might actually be the case," Layn said, releasing a deep sight.

    "I agree..." Markus agreed with Layn, moving his eyes on the girl.

    "So," Al finally raised his head, entering the discussion for the first time since the talks moved over what he and his people expected from the camp. "When are we going to a war?"

 Chapter 196 - We Need Forge

    "You are not going to participate in the opening day?" Irea asked as soon as she returned from the kitchen. As the cook of the camp, she was already used to waking up earlier than anyone just to prepare everything for a healthy meal.

    But this time, Layn didn''t ck for long past her. By the time she returned from her early round of kitchen duty, the archmage already sat on the earthy floor of their house, working on the coins.

    "I don''t really have time nor interest in that," Layn shrugged, putting a small knife away. With how rare the metal was in this ce, had no other choice but to rely on stone to prepare the coins. "And I still need to get all those coins ready," he added, pointing at a set of smithing tools littering the floor.

    "Still, if you don''t appear to the public, they won''t regard you as one of the leaders," Irea added as she sat on her knees beside the archmage. "It''s not like I''m hungry for power, but I think you are the most suitable to be the leader here," she added, leaning her head as she looked at Layn.

    "That might be the case," Layn said impassively, putting his entire focus on the small crucible. In there, several kinds of stones that proved to be weak to the temperature mixed with the crush of magic stones. Stirred by Layn''s magic, the two elements of the mixture continued to mix while the long, circr form awaited its use. "But I was never really interested in being a leader in the first ce," Layn said once he was satisfied with the process.

    "So that''s the case," Irea muttered, moving her eyes over to Layn''s hands. "Don''t you think they will be angry that you are not using precious metals for the coins?" she asked, pointing at a small pile of stones with her chin.

    "I don''t think monsters would care for vanities like that," Layn replied while putting a small smile on his face. "It''s less about the value of the coin but more about its function," he said, using his mana to wrap his hands in a protective cover before grabbing the crucible and moving it over the wooden form.

    In its truest sense, the real form was actually made from Layn''s magic barrier. The wood was just the anchor allowing Layn to shape his barrier to mirror the structure of the wood.

    For a moment, the room turned silent. As Layn poured down the solution to the long tube, he was too focused on the task to talk while doing it.

    "First one is done," Layn said, stabilizing the heavy container as he moved the filled form away, only to rece it with a fresh one.

    In the end, a single crucible worth of materialsted for four different forms. Each of them could beter cut to produce between ten and twenty coins depending on how thick Layn wanted them to be.

    "How many more do you need to do?" Irea asked, moving her eyes on Layn''s face. "Don''t we have enough already?" she added another question, leaning her head over her shoulder.

    "The more we make, the better," Layn replied, grabbing the predetermined amount of the two different materials before stuffing them into a crucible. "In a sense, I think we should hurry up and create some sort of a forge," he said before biting his lips. "But that solution has some problem on its own," Layn added, already deep in his thoughts.

    With all the materials back in the crucible, Layn took a mental swing before smashing an invisible hand of his mana the container.

    "Let me guess," Irea grabbed her chin before massaging it a little. "Creating a forge would speed the process up but make it hard to control the output, right?" she guessed before looking at Layn with curiosity.

    "That''s exactly right," Layn nodded his head. "While we could just push all the coin-creating things on others if I kept the job of turning the stones into powdered form..." Layn muttered silently, trying to figure out a solution to the problem on the go.

    "Ultimately, you will have to rest this task in the hands of someone else," Irea replied, raising her head up. "I mean, I don''t want to pressure you into doing it, but at some point, the scale will simply overwhelm you," she added before shaking her head. "You know, I just don''t want to see you turn into a money-making machine for others," she continued, her voice starting to shake. "Gosh, what am I even saying..." she suddenly uttered, hiding her face in her hands.

    "It''s okay, I understand what you mean,'' Layn said while putting a small smile on his lips. "I''m d to hear that you think that way, but I don''t think this is something we need to worry about for now," he added, moving his eyes down on the coins. "If it''s just crushing the stones, I can do it pretty fast. But creating a forge should be our top priority," Layn said, looking at the materials in the crucible heating up.

    Without a proper forge, Layn had no other choice but to use his own magic to heat the container up. But while that might be a problem for him several weeks ago, with how he was right now, there was hardly any limit to the magic he could spare.

    "I will go and pass that to the others, then," Irea said, standing up from her spot in a single, fluid motion. "How big do you want it to be?" she asked as she approached the doors.

    "Roughly twice the size of this ce," Layn replied, keeping his eyes on the crucible. "We really need only one or two forges. There is no need to invest in more of them if we don''t have materials to actually push through it," he added before suddenly turning his head and ncing over at the girl. "In fact, just tell Markus that we need to get a small forge for the coins.. He will understand."

 Chapter 197 - A Fruitful Stroll

    ''The weather is surprisingly nice,'' Layn thought as he moved out of his shed. With all the wooden forms now filled with the mana-producing material, all he had to do was wait for them to cool down before cutting the rollers into proper coins.

    Using the free time that he now had, the archmage decided to go for a stroll to see how others were doing.

    "Stretch the markers further!" Yelna shouted in the distance. Despite not being a talkative person, she was more than capable of overseeing the workers in almost any field of work. On its own, it was a great testimony to what she had to go through in her life to gain an understanding of so many varying jobs.

    But whatever that was in her past that made her sopetent was now paying off. "The canal can reach severalnes further, so don''t be too shy when marking out the further fields!" Yelna continued to shout her orders before she finally noticed the strolling mage.

    "Layn," she said, nodding her head in a greeting. Even though she was polite, there was a small fire in her eyes, proving that she still had some suspicions about the archmage.

    "Hello," Layn smiled, ignoring the slightly hostile attitude of the girl. ''With what I made her go through, I guess she will never grow to forgive me,'' he thought, recalling some of the less pleasant memories of his. "How is the work going?" he asked, trying to strike up a proper conversation.

    "Rtively good," Yelna moved her eyes back on the fields. "Where do you think you are going with those markers?!" instead of taking up Layn''s invitation, she focused back on her work.

    "I won''t bother you too much, then," Layn said as he released a deep sigh. He then got back to his stroll.

    ''Whenpared to just one day ago, this ce is finally bustling with activities,'' he thought, watching how crowds of people moved from one ce to another.

    The area of brick manufactory used to be the most popr before Markus brought more people. As the very basis behind the expansion of the camp, it was a ce where not only someone constantly kept the production going, but also a ce where everyone would go while working on other projects.

    Yet, it was nothing inparison to what was happening around it right now. Twenty people worked around the clock at the manufacturing process at the same time, and all the while, further fifty continued to bring more brick-making material to the ce.

    "The next batch goes to the forge area!" Al shouted, overseeing the production. He then noticed an approaching archmage. "Layn, it''s been a while!" he shouted, dropping his facial expression and spreading his arms. "How do you like this ce now?" Al asked with a wide smile on his face.

    ''He is just like me in this regard,'' Layn smiled gently. "It''s great. Right, I was going to ask," he said, pointing his hand at the people constructing something right beside the existing brick manufactory. "You guys are building another one?" he asked.

    "Yeah," Al nodded his head in response. "With how many people we have here, the need for housing and different workshops is immense. There is no way we would be able to keep up with the demand with just a single one," he said before shaking his head. "That''s is, that''s what Ation and Markus said when they delegated the job to me," Al said as he grinned.

    "That''s understandable. If you have any questions or troubles, don''t wait to contact me," Layn said before nodding his head and bidding his friend farewell. Out of all the projects that people worked around the camp at, the forge was the one that interested him the most.

    "I can tell you are going for the forge," Al smiled as he saw Layn turning around. "Head for the coast. That''s where Markus decided the forge should be," he instructed the archmage before turning around. With no further words, Al rushed to a group of people packing up the finished bricks on one of the few carts that people at the camp had already constructed.

    ''We really need to spike up the trade of the stones as soon as possible,'' Layn thought as he headed back towards the coast. The location of the forge turned out to be pretty close to Layn''s lodging. In a sense, Markus set it to be in the very central point of the future academy, likely aiming to give Layn some peace of mind regarding that ce.

    ''Now that I think about it, this seems to make up for a pretty good separation of power," Layn suddenly thought, frozen by the idea. It shocked him so much that he even forgot that he was heading for the construction site of the forge.

    ''If we get Al to manage the military, Markus to manage thews, and me to manage the cirction of the money, we will be forced to cooperate, won''t we?'' Layn thought, already seeing how the future government of the camp could look like. ''In this way, I wouldn''t need to bother with too much politics, limiting my influence without totally cutting it out,'' he thought, raising his head towards the forge. "And for that end, this forge will be essential," Layn muttered, looking at the nearby construction site.

    Nearby was a rtive word here. Using the old camp as the basis of theparison, the forge would be at the other end of the camp than Layn''s shed. But when taking the current scope of the camp in mind, the archmage was pretty lucky to have his house so close to his future workce!

    "While I won''t deny that, I have a feeling that there is something deeper to those words," Markus said, suddenly appearing behind Layn''s back. As the archmage was too consumed with his thoughts, he failed to notice the appearance of his friend.

    "You bet," Layn smiled after shaking the surprise out of his mind.. "Actually, I think you should hear me out," he said, turning around to face his old friend.

 Chapter 198 - Food Problem

    The day passed without any major events shaking the camp out of its peace. The projects progressed all with a surprising rate of growth. What used to take weeks of time for a few people was something that a huge group could achieve between meals.

    Yet, at the very end of the day, when all the workers and cultivators either went to rest or to have their evening watch, Layn and his direct friends only started the most important part of the day.

    "The first meeting of the council starts now," Yelna muttered under her nose, sitting with her knees curled all the way up to her chin.

    Even though the work progressed quickly, there were many important matters and businesses that had to be dealt with as an absolute priority, stopping the workers from creating a ce suitable for the council. As such, they ended up in the same ce as before, being the camp''s kitchen.

    And with both Yelna and Irea joining the group, it was now really crammed.

    "Let''s start with the essentials, then," Irea said, standing up from Layn''s knees. "In terms of food reserves... We don''t have any food reserves," she said before releasing a deep sigh. "Combining up everything that you guys brought and what we managed to save up, we canst for three days," she added before lowering her head. "And that''s already with strict rations," she muttered.

    "Do you have any idea how to solve this problem?" Markus asked before moving his eyes to his own wife. "Yelna? Can the fields yield anything so quickly?" he asked.

    "Three days..." Yelna muttered, rubbing her chin. "If west three days, some of the older crops should be ready," she said in a low voice. Yelna squinted her eyes as she thought about everything she learned during the day, calcting the chances and probabilities. "But that won''t change much. The crops can only help usst one more week," she said before shaking her voice.

    ''I knew this would be a problem, but since I didn''t expect them to arrive so suddenly, I failed to prepare for it,'' Layn thought, ming himself for the situation. "How about delegating a huge group to fishing and fishing alone?" Layn asked, trying to find out a solution to the situation.

    "In a sense, that could buy us a few more days..." Irea replied before hesitating for a moment. "But I don''t think it will be easy to force all those hardened sons of bitches to just go and fish for the entire day," she added, revealing the reason behind her stress.

    "Leave it to me," Al said, proving that while he wasn''t all that active during the meeting, he didn''t ignore what was said at all. "We are not in a situation where we can bother with what we want and what we don''t want to do. I will put those mercenaries in line," he said before lowering his head back under cover of a cap someone gave him during the day.

    "Still, that gives us half a month, maybe a month if everything goes well," Irea summed the situation up. "Even if we could somehow make our crops bear fruit faster than usual, it still wouldn''t be enough to feed everyone here," Irea said before going back to her seat.

    As she plummeted down, she hid her face in her hands for a moment before lowering her guard and looking up at the faces of people gathered in the building. "In this situation, I believe we need to procure food either from our neighboring and friendly Overlord or from vians," she said, putting the harsh truth out for everyone to see.

    "I''m worried that asking for food from the overlord might be risky," Layn muttered. He wasn''t happy to go against his girlfriend during the council, but that was the very idea behind this council in the first ce. To sh the ideas and reasonings in order to find the best course of action that benefited everyone the most. "I think they already need to kill their own to get the stones. While this might be okay for them because of how profitable that trade is for both sides, I don''t think they will easily agree to sell our the corpses," Layn exined his way of thinking without holding back at all.

    "And that leaves us with the vians," Markus muttered, raising his eyes at the archmage. "I hope you are not trying to make it so that we would rely on them more than necessary," he said, casting a small shadow of doubt over Layn''s intentions.

    "That''s not the case at all," Layn shook his head. ''But still, to think that this shot woulde from Markus,'' the archmage thought, puzzled by the unexpected development. ''While I knew someone would ask this question, for it to be him...'' Layn hesitated for a moment before dropping the topic. ''Well, someone was bound to ask about this, so maybe it''s better Markus did it,'' Layn concluded before raising his eyes at his friend. "Right now, we don''t know the intentions of the faction that Sitra ims to be friendly to us. While dealing with them is an option we need to take into ount, I would love to have some more power backing our words before that," Layn said, presenting his stance on the matter.

    "Speaking of the power, are you happy with the forge?" Markus suddenly changed the topic, proving that he asked the previous question just to get it out of the way. "If what you said is true, we should be able to just overwhelm theints of the monsters with the number of coins we could throw at them," he proposed, putting forward a usible idea.

    "I don''t think we should spread those coins so easily," Layn protested. "They are only as valuable as we make them be. What''s more, they can work as the plugs to the deep magic of the world," Layn added, revealing the true value behind all the coins he was doing. Then, as if to prove his words, he pulled out a bunch of the stone coins before distributing them amongst the people in the room.

    "So that''s the case," Markus muttered silently, rubbing his finger against the nk face of the coin. "Yeah, you are right about it, then. We can''t spread them too carelessly," he agreed before passing the coin on the table.

    While this item on its own had an immense value in the current world, there was no personal greed in the room. Everyone knew that those coins, ultimately, were the shared wealth of everyone at the camp. As such, there was no incentive behind attempting to im them for themselves, especially with how there was no ce where one could go to spend those coins!

    "Well, that also brings us to another matter," Layn said, putting one more coin on the table. He then started to y with it, allowing the atmosphere to tense up a bit in anticipation of what he was about to say. "I believe the current moment is the high time for us to divide the power in this ce.. We might be friends and allies, but without a concrete frame of cooperation and obligations, we will end up shing with each other over the least important things."

 Chapter 199 - Division Of Power

    "What do you want to propose, then?" Markus asked, quickly picking up the role that Layn foresaw for him in the entire affair.

    "Right now, we have six people that could take up high positions," Layn said. "Starting with Irea and me, we have two people from our group. Then we have Al and Ation managing the group of our ancestors. Then, finally, there is Yelna and you, making up for the third group," Layn counted everyone up.

    "I believe that Al''s group primary role should be in the military. Between the two of us, I don''t really care about political power, so you can have it all. On that end, I wish to be in charge of managing the production of our coins," Layn exined his idea without pulling back anything.

    "Wait, you gave out the roles for the three of you. What about us?" Yelna protested, pointing each of her hands at Irea and Ation, respectively.

    "Just bear with me for a moment," Layn said with a small smile.. Even though there was no deep sympathy between him and Markus''s wife, they had mutual respect for each other. Moreover, given how capable the two of them were in their respective fields of expertise, they were more than happy to cooperate even if they didn''t really like each other. "That''s how I figure we could split up the duties and privileges between the groups. But ultimately, we are all a single group," Layn added, putting a huge emphasis on thest two words.

    "So you will mess up with secondary positions or something?" Markus asked, proving that he didn''t see through Layn''s n yet.

    "Look. If I will be in charge of producing the money, then I would like to propose Ation to be in charge of practically spending it. Then, if Al will be the head of our military, I would like Yelna to be the chiefmander of the troops. And by the method of elimination..." Layn cut his words short, hoping that someone else would pick up the topic.

    "I will be in charge of whatever it is that Markus will be doing," Irea continued Layn''s words. She then turned her head around, gracing Layn with a quick peek at her lovable smile. "Right?" she asked yfully.

    "So you are basically going for separation of theoretical and practical power?" Markus asked, putting a small smile on his lips.

    "Yeah. That''s why, while I projected you to be responsible for creating and setting upws, I believe it should be Irea that would go around and enforce them," Layn exined his idea in even greater detail. "In this way, it will be impossible for either of the parties to seize all the power for themselves as they will always be checked in whatever they are doing by others," Layn added.

    "What are you setting all those precautions for?" Yelna suddenly came out and asked. "It''s not like we are going to split up and fight over this poor piece of a backyard," she said, pointing her hand towards the window.

    "We are not going to fight for it between each other," Layn repeated Yelna''s words. His face turned serious. "This is true. For us, this ce ispletely worthless for now. We also know each other too well and for too long to break apart because of anything that this ce can have to offer," Layn added, fully agreeing with Yelna''s doubt.

    "Why all the precautions, then?" Markus asked, supporting his wife.

    "Because we don''t know who wille after us," Layn said grimly, revealing the one thing that could easily stir up the room in an instant.

    Not because he dared to look at their situation long-term. There was absolutely nothing wrong with that. Rather than that, being able to see the picture through the perspective of a long time was a trait that any leader had to possess.

    What Layn said was disturbing because it confirmed the idea that had already hung in the air for a while.

    It confirmed that Layn had no intention of leaving this ce and returning to his own time.

    In a sense, it was a decision that Layn made himself but one that affected everyone else outside Irea.

    "Well, I can''t deny that," Markus decided to support his old friend after a long moment of hesitation. "If we want this ce to oust us, we need to make sure to prepare it for when we will be no longer here to take care of everything,'' he said, putting a nostalgic tone for a moment.

    "To be honest, I didn''t expect you toe with a system that would be... so restrictive..." Yelna said, squinting her eyes as she looked at Layn.

    "What, did you expect me to attempt grabbing all the power and bing a tyrant of this ce?" Layn asked, openly ridiculing the girl''s worries. "Now that I have Irea by my side, I''m already a happy man," Layn said, wrapping his arms around the girl''s waist.

    "Yeah. We would have to be blind not to see that," Almented from the side, without even raising his head from the wall he was resting it against.

    "Still, you need to have some sort of ambition to get going," Yelna pressured the archmage without any stops as if Al didn''t say a word at all. "Without ambition, you will just end up cking. And we can''t have ckers on a position as important as you got for yourself," she said, looking at Layn with clear hostility.

    "I don''t think you need to worry about that, dear," Markus said, putting his hand on the girl''s shoulder before pushing her down on hisp. He then raised his eyes at Layn before revealing a small, nostalgic smile. "He wants to create an academy here. That''s his ultimate objective. Because if I''m right, he ns to imnt seeds in this world that will change it for a better one," Markus said, looking Layn directly in the eyes.

    "Am I right, brother?" he asked after a moment, proving just how well he knew his old friend.

 Chapter 200 - Meeting At The Cafe

    Consal sat in his preferred chair at the cafe, sipping on the rich, dark liquid in his cup. The delicate sea breeze caressed his bearded face while half-naked servants continued to please his eyes.

    The glistering sweat on their delicious bodies continued to appear as the girls worked hard to serve all the guests at the establishment.

    "The hell are you doing here?" the middle-aged man asked, taking another sip.

    "I knew I could find you here," Jeah smiled, approaching the outdoor table and taking a seat in one of the free spots. "How is your health?" he asked.

    "Cut to the chase," Consal lowered his eyes at the young man. Unfortunately, his expression wasn''t pleased at all. "I know you wouldn''t waste your time toe here and just ask for my wellbeing," he said, spouting out facts without a care in the world.

    "And that''s what I love about you, man," Jeah smiled, rxing back in the chair.. "You are one of the few people in the continent that still treat me as such," he said, gently raising his hand to call for a waitress.

    "Excuse me, I will take a cup of what my friend is having," Jeah smiled at the young girl, keeping his stare at her eyes. "Also," he added, turning his eyes towards Consal, "if you would be as kind as to offer him a refill..."

    "Right away, sir," the girl replied, lowering her head with respect before disappearing back into the wooden shed outfitted with the cooking utensils.

    "What was that for?" Consal asked, twisting his lips in an ugly grimace. "If you came here to bother me," he started, throwing an angry look at the young man.

    "Come on," Jeah scoffed, taking upon the airs. "Is that how you are going to answer the Star Emperor himself?" he asked in a light tone.

    "This is the way I will talk with someone whose ass I smacked in the past, and I will whack in the near future if he will keep bothering me," Consul replied, openly threatening the young man.

    "Damn," Jeah lowered himself in his chair. "That hurt me back then. I couldn''t walk for two weeks straight!" he uttered through his tightened teeth, clearly recalling the distant memory in vivid colors.

    "You better hurry up and cough up what brought you here, then," Consal replied, turning his annoyed eyes at the young man. "My patience is limited," he added before turning his eyes away.

    The waitress from before, dressed in only a short piece of white cloth tightly wrapped around her hips and another one covering her chest, approached their table. She held a pot of boiling hot water in one hand along with a coffee-making set in the other.

    "Sir, if I may," the girl interrupted the meeting without even the slightest hesitation. As if reading the wishes of the young man, she turned her back to the older of the two before setting the entire equipment up on the table.

    "Consider this an opening to our conversation," Jeah whispered in a scheming voice before releasing a hearty chuckle.

    At the same time, the waitress started the coffee-making ritual. Bending her upper body forward, she almost shoved her backside into Consal''s face. Yet, despite almost exposing her entire self, she somehow controlled her hips so that the treasure hidden below the cloth would remain like that.

    At the same time, her hands started to do the real magic. She took a perfectly shaped spoon of the dark powder before pouring it into a fresh cup. She then pressed a tight, wooden mesh on the powder with what seemed like an extremely thin cloth wrapped around the entire wooden thing.

    Then, with all the preparations done, the girl straightened herself up, walking around the table a bit as to face Consal.

    "Sir," she said, bending her back in half as she picked up the pot with hot water, all the while allowing Consal a long and pleasant look at her exposed and sweaty cleavage. Then, she brought the neck of the kettle towards the cup, starting to pour the boiling water into the cup.

    Bit by bit, the girl brought her back up. Even though she kept her eyes on the decorative cup she was pouring the water in, her blush made it clear that she was aware of all the greedy stares originating from Consal''s eyes.

    Soon, the additional service was over. With water reaching the very top of the cup, the girl picked up a thin yet long silver hook before submerging it into the cup. Then, with a swift yet steady pull, she brought the wooden mesh with all the coffee dust out.

    "Sir, enjoy your coffee," the girl said before turning around and hurriedly leaving.

    "That was something else," Jeah muttered under his nose before moving his eyes on his old friend. "Wasn''t it?" he then asked.

    "What the hell do you want from me?" Consal muttered in a cold voice. The huge mood improvement caused by the girl was instantly reced with a freezing cold rage once the girl left.

    "I have some rats trying to take over one of the stone farms," Jeah revealed. For the first time since he arrived, his looks turned back to how he would appear back in his throne room. "They disobeyed my people and even killed my envoy," Jeah said, gritting his teeth.

    "What''s in it for me?" Consal asked, leisurely taking a sip of his fresh coffee. "That empire of yours was your sole ambition," he added after a moment, throwing Jaeh a hateful stare. "You abandoned the party on your own, and now you want us to work for you?" he asked before shaking his head. "Dream on!" Consal asked, taking another sip as he moved his eyes back at the shapely bodies of the girl parading through the terrace.

    "If you help me out, I will give you a restoration nut," Jeah mentioned casually before throwing a look at Consal''s pants. "Didn''t you hear? With it, maybe you could fix your thing back to how it used to be."

    For a moment, Consal remained silent. Then, he threw one more look at the girls walking around in skimpy outfits. Next, the sparks of a strange fire exploded in his eyes.

    "Now, now, at least you learned how to start a conversation," Consal said in a reconciler tone. "Now, what kind of mission are we talking about?" he asked, calmly taking another sip of coffee as he looked at the young man bearing the role of the continental Star Emperor.

 Chapter 201 - Emperors Confidants

    "Those are all the reports I received so far," Jeah pulled out a small, yellow stone from the inner pocket of his robe. He then ced it on the table before pushing it forward.

    The stone didn''t have rough edges like the mana one. Instead, it was round as if someone took the effort to perfectly polish it out. As such, it rolled on the table quite easily.

    "Let''s see," Consal lightly took the piece between his fingers. He then snapped the stone into bits, allowing the spiritual energy contained within to flow into his body. "You are aware that you will have to pay a visit to the rest of the folks," he looked down at the Star Emperor. Consal slowly absorbed the information written on the mana he consumed.

    "Yeah, you didn''t need to remind me," Jeah sighed. For a moment, he didn''t look like the ruler of the major part of the continent. He looked like a simple guy burdened with the task of dealing with a rowdy bunch..

    "Well, I get the gist now," Consal raised his eyes before shaking his head. "It should take roughly a week to organize everything," he said as he stood up from the chair.

    "Can you round some of them up yourself?" Jeah asked, raising his eyes at the man with genuine hope.

    "You can leave Far to me," Consal offered up with a small smirk.

    "Why doesn''t that surprise me," Jeah sighed before following the man''s example and standing up. "Could you take me with you?" the Star Emperor asked, twisting his lips in a displeased, thin line. "Casting it always makes me want to puke," he added.

    "Yeah, yeah, I know," Consal replied in a bored voice, used to the young man''s whining. "Come," he said, reaching forward with his hand and snapping his fingers.

    Consal created two highly different areas between his fingers thanks to the extremely precise maniption of his energy. On his thumb, his mana thickened up to the point of warping the space itself. On his middle finger, Consal pushed all of his energy away.

    By snapping his fingers, Consal collided those two fields. Using the instantaneous discharge of mana between the two fields, he ripped a hole in the space itself.

    The mana that surged between his fingers instantly rushed into the opening, paving the way to the target somewhere else in the sea of a higher dimension.

    It was impossible to enter it. With their bodies, humans were bound to the four dimensions they operated at. But that didn''t mean one couldn''t make use of this aspect of the world.

    ''There,'' Consal thought when his consciousness caught on a familiar feeling. In this other dimension, everything appeared as congestion of mana and mana alone.

    As humans learned to cultivate by finding out the mana inside themselves, it was easy to recognize the auras of others in here.

    With the point of connection set, Consal closed the loop. By using the higher dimension, he conjured a connection between two ces far apart.

    "Let''s go," the middle-aged man said, pushing through the rift in the space.

    There wasn''t any additional sensory effect to traveling through the fissure. Just like humans couldn''t enter the other dimension, they were unable to stick to it while traveling. For an average human looking from the side, it would appear as if the two of them... simply walked from one ce to another.

    "Consal?" a middle-aged man of great build and even greaterck of hair on his body raised his face. Then, he moved his eyes between Consal and his youngerpanion. "Tsk," he clicked his tongue before reaching to his pouch. "Here," he muttered, pulling out a golden stone from underneath his robe and throwing it towards Consal.

    "What was that?" Jeah asked, looking at the exchange while squinting his eyes.

    "Just a small bet," Consal smiled, grabbing the stone and hiding it in one of his pockets. "Now then," he said, moving his eyes from Jeah back to For. "Are you ready?"

    "I was born ready, baby!" the bald man pped his hands together, almost making his entire body jump on the spot. "It''s rare for anyone to go against us, so I''m all the more hyped for the fun fight!" he added, clearly enjoying himself at the moment.

    "So that''s why you agreed to help me out with him," Jeah muttered, clearly unhappy with how the situation was developing. "Well, happy to join from the start or not, that means we have one less man to worry about," he summed the situation up before ncing over at the two men. "Any ideas where to find the rest?" the Star Emperor asked.

    "What, did you lose theirmunication tokens?" gler asked, sending Jeah a strange look. "I understand that your position is getting to your head, but it''s not like we managed to fully conquer the ce," the bald man said as his face took a turn for a serious expression. "We might be strong, but don''t you ever dare to overestimate what you are capable of," he added. Far then turned his face around, away from the sight of the perfectly confident face of the youth.

    "You can leave those lectures to some newbies," Jeah''s face darkened as he spoke. "I''m not really interested in listening to them," he added, harrumphing as he turned his chin up and face away.

    "The problem is, if you fuck up, we are all fucked up," Consal joined in on the conversation, instantly putting down the fires of Jeah''s haughtiness. "It would be lovely if you would always keep in mind that while we will attempt to save you if something wrong happens," the man said, looking at Jeah with strange sparks in his eyes.

    "You don''t need to finish," Jeah said, squinting his eyes in annoyance. "If I screw up for real, you guys will save me," he said, putting a small stop to his words at the exact same point that Consal did a moment earlier. "But once you will be done with the saving part, you will make sure that I will regret not dying on the spot," Jeah said emotionlessly. He then calmly raised his eyes at the two older men.

    "It seems that at least you remember some of the basics," Consal smiled, always happy to put Jeah back in line.

 Chapter 202 - Changing The Deal

    "Are you scared?" Layn casually asked, turning his eyes to one of the mercenaries that Markus brought to the camp.

    Right now, the archmage and a group of seven people, only two of which were with Layn since the very beginning of the camp, awaited the appearance of the monsters at the location they all agreed upon earlier.

    "Sir?" the youth muttered as he raised his eyes. While his hands didn''t tremble, just by looking at how tense all his muscles were, one could fathom just how terrified this young mercenary was.

    "There is no need to worry," Layn smiled, unable to keep teasing the man when he saw how strongly the man soaked in his words. "They stand to lose far more by breaking the negotiations than they do by coping up with our requests," Layn said before pointing his hand at a massive bag filled to the brim with stone coins.

    ''If I recall correctly, we owe them only a tenth of that,'' Layn thought, ncing over at the treasury of questionable worth.

    In fact, if someone were to take a look inside the bag, they would be infinitely disappointed. If the bag was filled with gold and silver coins, one could use it to finance an establishment of some kind of major noble family that could easily shake parts of the continent. .

    But not a single coin within the bag was made out of precious metals. Yet, thanks to what it was actually made up with, every single stone coin was worth more than several times its weight in gold!

    ''Still, finding someone to trade those coins with is extremely beneficial,'' Layn thought as he continued to await the appearance of the monster delegate. ''Even if we had some human settlements nearby, it would be too risky to give them those coins,'' Layn analyzed the situation, already capable of foreseeing how those artifacts could easily spark a massive war.

    Every single coin in the bag could produce a small amount of mana. On its own, this kind of quality wasn''t that umon. As long as one tried hard enough, there was a wide variety of herbs, ores, and even stuff like art and masterpieces that could be beneficial to one''s training.

    But only those coins would continue to reliably suck more and more mana from the air only to provide it in an essible form to anyone interested and in the area.

    Those coins were the ultimate currency both for humans and for the monsters alike, as they allowed everyone to directly tap into the vast sea of mana that would be otherwise hidden away from them.

    ''Now that I recall how much of a turmoil a single artifact like that could cause... And in a prestigious academy at that!'' Layn thought, resting his head down on the wet ground of the teau.

    "Sir, I can see movement in the distance!" One of the mercenary escorts reported soon thereafter.

    ''Damn,'' Layn thought, forcing his body up. ''I hoped to have a little more time to rest,'' he whined in his thoughts before focusing his eyes on a distant cloud of dust gathering on the horizon. "Yeah," he muttered. "They areing," he added a momentter.

    The cloud of smoke approached their position pretty quickly. While its appearance on its own was already strange given how thend was rtively wet and dustless, Layn decided not to indulge in analyzing this phenomenon as well.

    ''This entire ce has too many quirks to it for it to be just another piece ofnd,'' Layn thought, putting this as the topic to think aboutter.

    And soon enough, the source of the dust got close enough for people to be able to see the details of the approaching party.

    As if expecting Layn''s new position at the negotiations, the group of monsters arrived prepared.

    Along with the wolf Layn was already familiar with, the group consisted of roughly twenty massive monsters, pretty simr in build to the modern horses'' Layn was used to. The main differenceid in their size, as rarely any modern horse could have its ass at the heigh of Layn''s head!

    "Wee to the camp," Layn said, stepping to the front of his group. The nervous, small movements of those mercenaries that saw sentient monsters for the first time didn''t bode well for the prospect of leaving them to deal with the matter.

    "I''m relieved to see you waiting here," the wolf replied directly to Layn''s thoughts.

    "Come on," the archmage shrugged. "If you speak to me like that, everyone else will be bewildered," Layn said, pointing his hand at the rest of his temporary party.

    "I see," the wolf opened its jaws, releasing a strangely gentle voice for its vicious build and many scars that covered it. "It''s a pleasure to learn that you didn''t intend to cheat on us," the wolf reiterated its previous message, this time sharing it with everyone on the spot.

    "A man''s word measures up to the man himself," Layn said, using one of the few quotes he ever bothered to remember.

    "That''s quite a nice saying," the wolf grinned, as far as Layn could judge from its inhuman expression. "But let''s not waste each other''s time. What is the meaning of this?" the wolf pointed its nose at the massive bag. Yet, despite how hostile his words sounded out of a sudden, there wasn''t even a hint of hostility or anger in those words of the monster.

    "Well, let''s say we were presented with an opportunity to expand the scope of our trade," Layn smiled, taking a step forward and cutting the cloth rope that held the opening of the bag together. "On that note, I need to push one statement ahead," Layn said as soon as the sight of a mountain of stone coins revealed itself to the wolf''s eyes.

    "You didn''t need to open the bag at all," the monster shook its head. "I could sense the effects of those... coins for a while now," it added, turning its pupils at the archmage.

    ''Is it curious?'' Layn thought before biting his bottom lip. ''No, this is no time to think about matters like that,'' he forced all the useless thoughts aside, focusing on the deal right in front of him.

    "First off, if any of the requests or suggestions I make during this meeting will be below your bottom line for whatever reason," Layn started, only to lower his head in an advance apology. "Then I wish for you to understand that insulting you or your ways was never my objective, just an unfortunate ident caused by theck of knowledge," Layn said, deeply lowering his head to the monster.

    This act could be taken for cowardice. The looks that the batch of fresh mercenaries threw at Layn as he lowered himself down before a monster only signaled how little they thought of the archmage in this very moment.

    "How cultured," the wolf grinned once again, revealing the long rows of its sharp teeth. "Feel free to speak," it added a momentter before throwing a quick nce at the group of already hostile mercenaries. "And don''t pay any mind to those who are too weak to see the difference between the two of us," the wolf said, openly staring at the group of Markus'' mercenaries, "and the worms like them."

 Chapter 203 - Layns Propositions

    "You little..." One of Layn''s added escorts couldn''t handle the insult. Heid his hand down on the handle of his sword, stepping forward as he started to pull it out.

    "Stay where you are, you idiot," Layn scolded the enthusiastic youth. For a moment, the archmage took on the same face he would wear on a human battlefield. The face he used to ward off against the weaker-willed enemies. He then turned to the wolf monster before nodding his head yet again. "I apologize for that. It seems I need to train those youths far further," the archmage added, casting a deadly stare at the man guilty of the negotiation''s hup.

    "Oh, I do not mind at all," the wolf-monster assured before leaning its long head to the side in a pretty cute manner. "That is, as long as we will ount for it while striking the new deal," it added.

    There was hardly any way to bring the wolf''s expression. After all, it was a monster that looked like an oversized wolf, but a wolf nevertheless. As such, it was pointed to look for any human shows of emotion. Yet, despite all of that, Layn could see with the eyes of his soul as the monster smirked.

    The youth to the archmage''s back clicked his tongue, realizing what the entire y from before was all about.

    ''He is at least not that stupid to ignore the reality when it''s thrown in his face,'' Layn thought, silently judging the character of the young mercenary.

    This was one of the problems that Layn didn''t ount for.

    His main wish behind setting the entire camp project in motion was to set up an academy where he could teach the true magic. As opposed to the cultivation schools that were the current lifestyle of the world, Layn wished to spear the knowledge of real, logical magic to everyone.

    But doing that had to be done with precise and concise steps. ''As much as I want to change the world, I can''t do it all at once. For my n to work, I need ambitious students, Layn thought, sizing up the young man with his eyes.

    "That can be arranged," the archmage said, gently squinting his eyes. "Let me begin with our requests, then." Layn raised his chin, looking at the wolf''s eyes as he would look at the eyes of an important noble or rich business partner.

    In short words, Layn approached the negotiations with the idea of the other party being his equal. Not someone to exploit, not someone to make use of, but someone to share benefits of cooperation.

    Exploiting could only go a short way. As a system that was all about draining everything from the other side, it only helped out in the short term. ''If I want it to work in long-term, I need to make sure they will be equally happy with the exchange as we will,'' he thought, taking a deep breath.

    "Well then, keep in mind that I do not intend to insult you or your kind in any way or form," Layn raised his hands, putting an emphasis on this aspect of the situation all over again.

    "Yeah," the wolf replied. "I understood when you first said it," it nodded its head. With its mouth closed and its sharp teeth hidden, it almost looked like some kind of extra size dog.

    "First off, then, are animals," Layn brought one of his fingers up. "If it''s possible, we would like to procure a small herd of animals. From wool-bearing ones, through the stronger ones that could help us tilt the fields, all the way to even some that could help me defend mynds," Layn exined the first of his wishes. He also made sure to name the area as his sole property rather than sharing the authority over it by mentioning others.

    "To a degree... I will be able to amodate this wish," the wolf said, raising its head and looking towards the bright sky of the day. "I won''t spare you any fighters yet, but I can get you everything else," it said, moving its sight back on Layn. "That is, as long as you will treat them well," the wolf added after a moment, retracting its attention from the topic.

    "Great," Layn said with a genuine smile appearing on his lips. "Next, the mana stones," the archmage announced before turning silent. For a moment, Layn observed the wolf''s reaction, sadly, to no real benefit. "We will need even more of them," he said, looking at the monster with curiosity.

    "Didn''t you just procure a lot of them on your own?" the wolf asked, turning its head to where the battle took ce just yesterday. "Yes, I can smell it all the way from here," it said, turning its eyes back to Layn.

    "That''s true," the archmage admitted regardless of the shocked stares that his entire escort threw at him. "But it''s simply inefficient," Layn said, shrugging his shoulders. "If we are attacked, we will defend, and we will make the most out of the situation. But I''m not going to waste the few men we have to hunt for the stones," Layn said, smiling towards the wolf. "It''s inefficient. If that''s okay with you, it would be simpler and faster to just buy more of them."

    Layn kept his smile after finishing his turn in the negotiations. Now, it was the time for the wolf to decide on how things would go. Stressed out far more than he showed up, Layn bit his lip in anticipation.

    "I can only double the amount," the wolf shook its head, appearing to be perfectly aware of how unsatisfactory this answer was for his negotiation partner.

    "That''s better than nothing," Layn said, releasing a small sigh of relief. ''With all the projects I have in mind, magic seems to be the greatest shortcut in the face of thecking resources,'' he thought as he approached the pile of mana money.

    "So, how about we get the price for those two things before moving on?" Layn suggested with a smile, pouring a huge amount of stone coins from the bag to the floor. "Then, we won''t spend too much trying to move the huge amounts from the final price."

 Chapter 204 - Break Not Short Enough (slightly +18)

    "That was tiring," Layn said, falling to the grass-filled bedding of his. Even though the negotiations concluded in a satisfactory manner, the archmage couldn''t help but feel a sense of defeat.

    "You know you can''t take rest yet," Irea said, looking over at her man. "I know you are tired, but try to push yourself a little more," she asked as she sent Layn a lovely smile.

    "I know, I know," Layn shrugged on the bed. "Just give me five minutes," he requested, burying his face in the poor-quality pillow.

    ''I still need to convert the stones into coins, organize the blueprint for the academyyout, check for problems in different areas, and then there is the council meeting...'' he thought, despairing over the amount of work that he still had on his shoulders for today.

    "Just how do you cope with constantly working?" Layn asked after a moment, looking over at the girl..

    While he was busy negotiating, she was busy turning the little food they had into actual meals. Even after Layn returned with a fresh batch of stones, she continued to fulfill her duty without even a single bit of whine.

    "Someone has to do it," Irea shrugged her arms as she moved from chopping the few pieces of meat the camp still had to stirring a massive, metal pot where various ingredients would turn into a nutritious soup. "And since there are barely any men left with all the work that we are organizing right now, I could as well do it myself," she added, once again gracing Layn with a smile.

    "I guess you are right," the archmage said, moving up and sitting on the edge of the bed. "There are things that anyone can do and things that only you or I can do," he added, trying to force some motivation back into his system.

    "In that case, how about trying to work a bit more for now?" Irea asked, leaning her head over her shoulder as she continued to move adle around the massive pot. "I will make sure it will be worth your while once the sun sets," she added as a small blush appeared on her cheeks.

    "Stop that," Layn said in a stern tone.

    "Stop what?" Irea asked, almost jumping in surprise. Her face revealed just how confused she was by Layn''s sudden and unexpected reaction.

    "Do not treat yourself as some sort offorting tool," Layn said in a tense voice. "While sleeping with you is one of the brightest spots for each of my days, it''s not something that you should try to incentivize me to work with," Layn said. He was angry at himself for allowing a situation where his girl would say something like this to happen.

    "Ah, you are so sweet," Irea smiled cutely. Then, she pulled out herdle before putting it back on the table and moving over to where Layn was sitting. Then, she pushed her arms forward, coiling them around the archmage''s chest. "But you don''t really need to think like that," she added, whispering right into Layn''s ear. "I enjoy myself with you pretty much as well, so I don''t think there is anything wrong in treating our rare moments of privacy as a way to rx after a hard day of work," she added, moving her hands all over Layn''s body.

    "Didn''t you just say, after a hard day of work?" Layn muttered,pletely ignoring that part on his own as his hands started to feel the girl''s body up.

    "There should be nothing wrong with a little break, don''t you think?" Irea asked, sliding her hand into Layn''s pants while keeping her eyes on the archmage''s face.

    "I''m worried that..." Layn took a little break as a wave of pleasure traveled up his spine. After all this time and all the private moments the two of them shared, Irea was perfectly aware of just how to get a rinse out of him. "I''m worried that it won''t end up as a short break per se," he added, barely holding against the girl''s attack.

    "Oh?" Irea smiled. "Do you dare to doubt my ability?" she asked, sliding down Layn''s leg only to kneel in between his legs next. "How about I prove just how wrong you are?" she asked, pulling Layn''s pants down.

    Just as one could expect from the situation, Layn was all ready and raring to go.

    "Look at you," Irea smiled as she started to move her hand up and down. "And here you were iming that it would take too long," she said as she lowered her head and wrapped her lips over Layn''s lower head.

    "I still can''t get over how much better you got at it," Layn whispered, barely capable of saying anything between the moans of pleasure escaping from his throat.

    The wet, warm feeling of her lips over his shaft coupled with Irea''s yful tongue caressing his most sensitive part was just too much.

    ''Now that I think about it, Ortensia never bothered to blow me,'' Layn thought, cing his hands on the top of Irea''s head. Yet, as he started to rub his fingers through the girl''s hair, a sudden moment of realization shook his mind. ''No, it''s wrong to evenpare the two of them,'' Layn thought, biting his lips all the way to the point where they started to bleed.

    "What''s wrong?" Irea asked, pulling Layn''s penis from her mouth in order to articte properly.

    Looking down, Layn saw both the curiosity and the worry written all over Irea''s face. With this look and her hand still slowly caressing his penis, he felt something snap inside of him.

    ''Wait, what''s that smell?'' Just as Layn was about to pounce at the girl, his face suddenly distorted, distracted by the smell. ''Damn,'' he thought, once he realized what that meant.

    "Oh no!" Irea screamed out a mere momentter, jumping up from her position and rushing towards the pot. "I guess we will really have to put that forter," she added as she furiously stirred the pot once again.

    "Well, I will better get back to work, then," Layn smiled as he stood up from the bed and fixed his clothes. "Also, if I manage to finish it, I will have a gift for you tonight," he said before waving his hand and leaving the ce.

    "I can''t wait!" Irea shouted after the leaving man before moving her attention back to the meal she was preparing.

    ''I wonder how she will react,'' Layn thought, reaching to one of the few pockets he had. In there, a small prototype of the gift was resting. For now, it was carved out of a random stone, just to let Layn figure out the final shape of what he wanted to create. ''Well, it''s good that we got more stones now,'' he thought before shaking his head. "Still," he muttered as he approached his workshop. "I wonder how she will react!"

 Chapter 205 - Layns Job

    Turning the mana stones into actual pieces of equipment was a process that required several steps. First came turning the stones into dust as fine as one could do. By doing so, the surface of the magic construction would increase whenpared to before, rapidly increasing the ability of said dust to transmit the mana from the human-inessible ne to one where they could actually make use of it.

    But that was only the very beginning. And Layn was previously shackled by the constantck of the stones to process. Thankfully, this trend was finally about to end.

    "I need to get at least two hundred more coins, then the requests, then the ring," Layn spoke softly to himself, using his voice to organize his work. Without any sort or whiteboard to write on or even a notebook to note both his progress and desired quota, Layn could only use his memory as the recording medium of his ns..

    He was sitting in the middle of his former house that Layn renamed as his workshop ever since he returned to the camp from his excursion to the forest. All around him, tools of varying purpose mixed on the floor. To call the insides of his workshop messy would be a gross understatement. Yet, for Layn, everything was right where it belonged.

    "Let''s start with the coins, then," he thought, pouring a huge batch of stones to one of the crucibles. Its inner walls were polished to no end over thest few days, just to make sure that not even a speck of stonedust would be left unused but stuck to the crucible sides instead.

    Now that Layn had quite a lot of mana to spare between all the artifacts he already made for himself and the passive mana ie from thends he controlled, the process of turning the stones into dust was quite simple.

    Layn ced one of his hands over the crucible, filling the insides with his mana. For a moment, he allowed his energy to permeate through the stones as if he wanted to reverse their traditional use.

    ''Hammer,'' Layn thought, blindly reaching with his right hand to one of the items on the floor. His hammer was as simple as it could get. Made in the same way as all the bricks that allowed the rapid expansion of the camp, it was way stronger than one would expect from just a single look.

    ''Now, to extract all the mana I can,'' Layn thought, using his line of thoughts to direct his actions. With his hand only slightly touching the edge of the crucible, he started to reabsorb the same mana that he poured into the container a moment earlier.

    But this time, Layn didn''t stop when his-sum of mana reached zero but continued to suck the energy out of the stones instead. Bit by bit, the aura of this precious material continued to dim in his eyes, proving that there was a lesser and lesser amount of magic that those stones held in their structure.

    ''NOW!'' Layn screamed in his thoughts, moving his left hand away as he smashed his hammer right into the crucible.

    With barely any mana left in the stones, one hit from Layn''s hammer was more than enough to make them crumble. But the Archmage didn''t stop. He continued to smash the insides of the container over and over again, all the way until he was happy with how tiny the dust pellets were.

    "Just a third, huh?" Hemented in a whisper before shaking his head and raising the crucible. Then, as if it was just sand rather than the most precious material in the entire world, Layn poured it into yet another crucible. "Well, let''s get back to work, then," he said before repeating the entire process from the very beginning.

    Just like one could expect, the varying shapes of the stone made it pretty hard to fit them perfectly into the container. Because of all the free space caused by the irregr shapes of the mana stones, Layn had to repeat the process four whole times before he managed to fill the first container.

    But instead of instantly sitting down in order to turn the dust into coins... Layn simply put the container away before pulling even more stones and showing them into the same mortar-like crucible as before.

    ''That should be enough,'' Layn thought roughly two hourster when one-quarter of the circle around him was filled with the stonedust containers. A single container worth of stonedust was exactly how much of it Layn would use to create one batch of the coins for his trade partners in the forest. Given how their trade increased by leaps and bounds, instead of a single cup worth of stonedust, he ended up preparing an entire seven containers worth of this precious material, just for the coins and coins alone.

    "Now, do I make that thing or keep going with the job?" Layn asked himself out loud, involuntarily reaching to his pocket. The familiar shape of the crude prototype somehow had a calming effect on his mind.

    "No," Layn said decisively, even though he had no partner to hear his words. "She wouldn''t be happy if I put my hobby above the duties," Layn muttered before standing up from his spot. But instead of leaving the workshop altogether, he approached the only piece of furniture that the house was outfitted with.

    A simple, standing desk with its edges roughly two centimeters higher than the rest of its surface. In the gap between the edges, simple sand was ced, making up for a makeshift drawing board.

    ''Now, how do I begin,'' Layn thought, taking a quick look at the stone tablet with all the requests from the camp. ''I guess we should start with the coins,'' he thought before shaking his head. "So the air pump it is," he muttered before moving his eyes on the t, sandy surface. Then, Layn picked a small stone knife before starting to cut it into the sand.

    The council decided that it would be best for Layn to prepare only the raw resources necessary to create the coins instead of wasting his precious time on fulfilling the entire process. But for the others to take over the task ofbining the stonedust with the stone that would serve as the structure of the coins, they had to be able to reach temperatures way higher than what one could achieve by just burning wood or even coal.

    And that meant, Layn had to not only design an air pump that would work on the mana passively generated by the stonedust alone but one that wouldst for a time long enough to justify wasting this most precious resource on it!

    ''If I go with the standard piston design, the structure will wear off pretty quickly,'' Layn thought as he ced his hand on the sand and moved it sideways, erasing all the progress that he had made so far with his concept. ''How about a turbine-based one, then?'' he asked himself before once again putting his knife to the sand. ''Yeah, I guess I will go with that,'' he thought before a small smile appeared on his face. ''After all, it could prove useful for myter crafts!''

 Chapter 206 - At The Forge

    The steam was rising from the chimney of the metal mill so high that everyone in the camp could see the proof that the forge finally started operating.

    As Layn approached the building, he felt how even the air continued to turn hotter and hotter.

    ''Right, I didn''t think about introducing an air conditioning there,'' he thought, clenching his hands into fists. ''While I would be okay, I doubt many of the mercenaries will be able to hold on in this kind of heat.'' The archmage raised his eyes to the cloud of smoke hanging above the building. ''At least we can cast aside all the environmental issues,'' he thought, breathing a small sigh of relief.

    In a sense, every kind of human activity was bound to bring in more pollution. From the food production, through all the manufactory and ultimately the fossil fuels, everyst drop of technology that increased the level of human civilization... It did it at the cost of nature. And while in Layn''s original time, it started to turn into a quite real problem, the same couldn''t be said about his current situation..

    ''If I take that new information about nuclear magic to be true, then I''m at least several thousand years too early to worry about pollution,'' he thought as he finally approached the building and pushed the doors open.

    "Close those damned doors!" Someone shouted from the inside. The intensity of the voice made it clear that its owner was pretty close, but due to all the smoke and dust that clouded the insides, Layn couldn''t see anything further than two meters away.

    "I''m sorry!" Layn shouted back, pulling the solid doors back where they were supposed to be. As he closed them up, he could see how a huge portion of the smoke and ash that filled the ce escaped to the outside.

    At the same time, the temperature in the room cooled down, proving that it was this mist that continued to increase it.

    "Damn it," the voice continued to whine. "It will take us at least an hour to heat up the ce back to how it was before," a man said,ing out of the thinner smoke. But as he cast his eyes on the visitor, Pavrien''s knees gave out. "Boss, I''m sorry!" He shouted, falling to his knees. "I didn''t know it was you!" he shouted, striking his forehead against the hardened earth making up the floor.

    "Don''t mind me," Layn shook his head while putting a kind expression on his lips. Surprisingly, with how tired he was after several hours of turning mana stones into dust, this proved to be quite a challenging task. "Just tell me, why do you need this ce to be so hot?" Layn asked, not really sure about that aspect of the forge.

    "Sir, it''s not about us being hot. But the hotter the air inside the building, the easier it is to keep the forge running at the desired intensity," the young mercenary exined as his face brightened.

    ''It seems that I found one passionate guy,'' Layn thought as a natural smile finally formed on his face. "Either way, I brought you the material," he said, raising his hands to pull the young forgemaster''s attention to them. "If you need it, I can help you heat the forge up," Layn added as he ced the stacks of containers filled to the brim with stonedust on the floor.

    "Sir, that would be of great help," Pavrien once again struck his forehead against the floor before finally standing up. "How many coins do we need to make with those?" he then asked, pointing his hands at the thin, stone containers Layn brought.

    "Ten batches," Layn replied. "Seven for the trade with our partners, two for the internal use, one for the expeditions," the archmage instructed the young man about the quota.

    "Expeditions, sir?" Pavrien asked as he approached one of the walls, only to pull out his knife and leave some marks on it.

    "Yeah," Layn nodded his head. "Sooner orter, we will have to start looking into expanding our influence. And what''s a better way of doing it by pushing forth a product only we are capable of producing?" he posed a rhetorical question before shaking his head. "Well, I still have some stuff to do, so let''s not waste any time. Lead me to the forge," the archmage requested.

    "On it, boss!" Pavrien reported joyfully, instantly diving into the depths of the steamy ce.

    The entire building wasn''t all that bigger than all the others that the camp was filled with. In a sense, the size and shape of every building, except for the kitchen, was standardized. In this regard, the forge was created just by doubling the sides and quadrupling the space inside. Yet, already used to the tight confines of his own workshop, Layn couldn''t help but feel a sense of overwhelming space from this building.

    "It''s here," Pavrien pointed his hand at the only piece of immovable furniture there was in the room.

    It was a simple rectangle made with a smaller kinds of magic bricks. As high as one''s ass, it was roughly two meters long and one meter wide. In terms of fuel, given how they have yet to discover a single deposit of coal or other useful material within Layn''s dominion, only charcoal could fulfill that role.

    Sadly, even with the trade with the monsters already established, providing wood across a vast distance that separated the camp from the forest wasn''t easy. While there were some ns to make use of theke to flow the logs down towards the camp, they were just that.

    ns.

    "Give me a moment," Layn said, approaching the forge. A single look to the side allowed Layn to notice makeshift bellows made from three pieces of clothing sewed together to a thin, stone frame. ''I guess I could mount the air pump here,'' the archmage thought as he ced his hands on the burning-hot charcoals filling the bed of the forge.

    ''In the end, magic is just an energy,'' he thought, recalling one of the very first lessons he was taught back at the academy. The lesson which allowed him to connect the dots between magic and science, both of which proved to work in a real-life situation.

    And now, just by pushing his mana throughout the burning coals, Layn could feel how the temperature started to rapidly rise. And before long, even with his body reinforced by cultivation, Layn could no longer keep his hands on the burning coals.

    "That should suffice," he said, turning to the young mercenary before closing his eyes for a moment. ''With that kind of forge, maybe making that thing golden would be possible?''

 Chapter 207 - Emperors Mercenaries

    "Hurry it up, you maggots!" An officer stood on an borate tform, overseeing the movement of the troops. The golden standard at the very front of the massive unit announced its name and number. "We don''t have a whole day just for you to form up!" The officer shook his hands in a desperate attempt at hastening the entire process.

    ''We can''t bete, we can''t bete, we can''t bete,'' he continued to repeat the same phrase as if it was some kind of mantra. At the same time, the officer tightened his fingers around the handle of a saber that hung by his belt. ''Just why did I agree to take on this job,'' he whined in his mind, watching how his friends and colleagues struggled to follow the strict regime imposed on their unit.

    "Two minutes!" A distant shout reached the officer''s ears just as the rest of his people were about to finish forming up.

    "It will be done," the man replied to no one, allowing his voice to freely float in the air.

    Back when theirpany was hired by the Star Emperor emissary, f rejoiced. On the continent, there was hardly anyone better to serve under. With how the Star''s Emperor empire spanned over two-thirds of the fertile parts of the entire continent, he hardly had any enemies that he would need mercenaries to deal with.

    But as it turned out, only after their lives were signed away, one such enemy finally appeared.

    ''I never expected to see a day when someone would challenge that bastard''s authority,'' f thought, gripping his saber as he noticed the rows of policing units marching right behind thest ranks of his own formation. They were sent here by the Star Emperor himself, not to help the mercenaries fight or to serve as their reinforcements.

    They were here only to make sure that no one would dare to attempt running. After all, ording to the Star Emperor''s logic, if they were to fight a losing battle, they were supposed to fight to their deaths.

    With this kind of employer, any thoughts of escape had to be eradicated before they would even march out.

    ''Well, let''s hope that this fight will end up soon,'' f thought as he shook his head. Then, with a single step, he jumped off the elevated stage from where he oversaw the forming of hispany.

    "Men!" f shouted as soon as hended at the forefront of the entire unit. For a moment, he allowed his voice to linger in the air, using that time to turn around and dust off his robes. "Today, we march out!" he added another sentence to the moment.

    "URA" ALl at once, all of his men started to shout. Given how his unit was known to judge a person for how powerful they were rather than what they had between their legs, the shout turned into a beautiful unison of both deep, male voices and melodic, female shouts.

    "Right now, we march out!" f shouted, pulling out his saber. Then, he pointed it out at the Warcamp, already visible right at the edge of the horizon. "We are going to fight an enemy unknown to the man and an enemy that knows nothing about the civilization of the man!" f continued his rallying speech. Yet, even in this tense and almost ritual moment, he couldn''t help but let his eyes wander towards the face of the Star Emperor''s oversees, ones that were sent to make sure the mercenaries would follow the orders issued by his emperor''s majesty himself.

    "Brothers, Sisters..." f said, cutting his sentence as his soul filled with emotions. "I''m not going to bullshit you. Even if I tried, you all know how bad I''m at lying, so it would be pointless," the officer shook his head before biting his lips all the way to the point when they started to bleed. "We are not going to fight with normal people. And do you know why?" he threw the question to the gathering of his people.

    At first, a total silence ensued. No one dared to be the first one to step forward and interrupt the sacred ritual of the rallying speech.

    "Why?" A man from the back row stepped forth. The annoyance on his face proved how little he cared about the sacred rites of the mercenaries.

    ''What a fucking arsehole,'' f thought, using all of his willpower not to strike the arrogant prick down. "Because we march against people who dared to disobey the Star Emperor himself!" f shouted, revealing the answer to the question he posed himself.

    A small turmoil shook the entire formation.

    For the people who grew on the Star Continent, this kind of thing was unheard of. The Star Emperor was the highest authority over the continent. While he didn''t rule the entirety of it directly, all the petty kingdoms and city-states that refused his authority still heeded his calls when he bothered to issue them.

    And now, they learned that there was someone who not only dared to ignore the Star Emperor''s wishes but even went as far as to escape to the forbidden hunting zones to avoid the just punishment!

    "That''s right!" f shouted as soon as he noticed how his earlier words riled up the crowd. "We are not going to kill some sensible and just people! We are not raising our weapons and fists against innocents!" the officer continued his shouts, ncing every so often at the overseers to check whether they were satisfied with his words. "What we are going against are some worms that don''t know their ce!" f continued to shout, even though he could feel a bad feeling welling up in his insides.

    ''If they really dared to oppose the Star Emperor, they are not going to be all that weak,'' he thought before raising his saber once again.

    "KILEMAL" A sudden shout in some weirdnguage broke the tranquil atmosphere in the unit. And what was even worse was how this shout didn''te from anywhere near the unit.

    f turned his head to the side, to where the shout came from. His face turned white as his saber suddenly turned too heavy to keep it in the air.

    Because a horde of burly, almost naked men appeared at the edge of a nearby forest, all charging downhill towards them!

 Chapter 208 - The Bait In The Forest

    The battle erupted just as the massive group of mercenaries prepared to set off. In a sense, attacking right as they were formed up and prepared for march sounded like a stupid idea. But in order to understand this attack, one had to look at the situation from a broader perspective.

    "Boss, the first group, just engaged," one of Ation''s officers reported, pointing the heavy de of his ax towards the outside of the forest.

    "Let them fight for a few more moments," Ation replied calmly, resting his back against a random tree. With his hands crossed on his chest, he didn''t appear like amander who just sent a tenth of his people to battle. Rather than being stressed out, he calmly yed with a small piece of wood that he had previously carved from a random branch.

    In the distance, the battle was reaching its breaking point.

    The momentum of Ation''s people died out quickly after the end of their charge. Even though their numbers were few whenpared to the mercenaries, one couldn''t notice it just by looking at how the battle progressed. .

    At first, Ation''s people managed to put a huge dent on the mercenary forces with just the momentum of their charge alone. Using this dent, they quickly pushed their advantage, exploiting every w in the now broken formation of the mercenaries. But as time went on, the situation started to quickly turn disadvantageous for the nsmen.

    In the end, the mercenaries didn''t fight with their own strenght in mind, but by helping each other out. This was the very reason why they constantly attempted to fix their formation, as, in one-on-one situations, not a single one of them could deal with Al''s warriors.

    "That will be enough," Ation said after waiting for the specific moment of the battle, just before his troops would start naturally breaking off from the fight. "Call them back," he ordered, not even bothering to move his face to the herald.

    A rtively young and scrawny man raised a simple, drilled horn to his lips before blowing into it without even a moment of hesitation. On its own, this sound was pretty silent, but due to how irritating and sharp it was, it could be heard even all the way in the center of the battle.

    "Now, let''s see if our gamble will pay off," Ation said, finally moving away from the tree he was resting his back against. He fixed his hold over his beloved ax before stepping to the front.

    "Men!" Ation shouted, turning his back to the battle to face the rest of his troops still hidden in the forest. "The time when we strike those damned celestials is nigh!" he shouted, raising his weapon high in the air. "We are the ones chosen to deal this fatal hit to their strenght. We are the shield that will prevent the invasion on the newnds that we were promised!" he shouted, rallying his people.

    But there was no response. Not necessarily because Ation''s words fell t. Given how the force that attacked the mercenary was just a small detachment aimed at baiting them into the forest, it would be stupid to give away the trap with extensive shouting.

    ''At least, if I''m the only one shouting, the sound shouldn''t break through the noise of battle,'' Ation thought, swallowing the anxiety caused by thepleteck of reaction from his people.

    "Today, we will cull their numbers. But we are not going to waste our lives attacking their main army." Ation shook his head as a viinous smile appeared on his lips. "No, it would be stupid to do that. And while their knowledge of the world might be way greater than what we know about it, that doesn''t mean we are stupid enough to attack their main army right away!" Ation continued his rallying while ncing every so often at the situation behind him.

    Ever since the sound of the horn reached the battlefield... Nothing really changed. Given how the presence of the units in the forest was to be hidden for as long as possible, the first detachment of Ation''s forces wasn''t going to react to the horn right away. But as Ation continued his speech, the moment of their retreat finally came.

    "Men, I won''t waste my voice on you anymore," Ation said, shaking his head. To his back, the first detachment finally started to break off from the fight, starting their fake retreat to the forest. "That''s why, when you will strike down those heretics, don''t let your hands hesitate. Don''t hold back your attacks. Don''t let them live to see another day!" Ation shouted, shaking his ax high above his head.

    Ation turned around, facing the battlefield once again. Just like nned, the first detachment started their retreat. While it wasn''t as unorganized as Ation wanted it to be, it was clear that the mercenaries didn''t notice that anything was amiss.

    ''Huh?'' Ation shrugged when he noticed something peculiar. Because even when his people started their retreat... The battle didn''t end. This time, however, rather than fighting at the front, the battle erupted at the back of the mercenaries'' formation! ''What in the mercy of spirits are they doing?'' Al''s second-inmand asked himself, puzzled by the situation.

    "Are they fighting with each other?" Lessen asked, revealing his presence for the first time in a few days.

    "You are here?!" Ation shouted in surprise, jumping a few steps away from his distant rtive. "Why didn''t you appear earlier?" he asked but received no reply to his question at all.

    Contrary to Ation''s n, not every mercenary got caught in the bait. Only a third of their unit rushed after the escaping nsmen, while the rest remained stuck in ce... Equally as confused by the situation as Ation was.

    "I came with new orders," Lessen said, turning his calm face to his friend. "Outside of those who were stupid enough to follow us into the forest, do not engage with the remaining mercenaries," Al''s direct subordinate said as a vile smile appeared on his lips. "After all, if they are fighting with each other, why should we make it easier for that Star bastard by killing off those who go against him?"

 Chapter 209 - Uneasy Question

    "Finally done," Layn muttered, wiping his forehead clean from all the sweat. Even though he was no stranger to hard work, ever since he escaped from his original time, there was hardly any time when he had to put as much effort as he did today.

    "Now, I should still have some time before the meeting," he said softly, taking a quick nce at the position of the sun.

    Given how there was no clock or anything else that could allow one to measure the time, Layn had no other choice but to use this most primitive and always essible method. Obviously, that wasn''t the case for him personally, but for everyone in the camp as well. As such, until some kind of clock would be mounted in the camp, there was only one moment of the day that could be set as the meeting time.

    The sunset.

    ''I still should have about an hour,'' Layn thought, loosely judging the speed of the sun and the distance it has yet to travel before hiding behind the horizon line.

    The archmage then shook his head and took a step back. Given how he only took a nce outside, he could return to his workshop in just a short moment..

    ''Still, with no gold whatsoever, it''s going to look in,'' Layn thought, pulling out concept art of what he wanted to create.

    For outsiders, it was a simple decoration. A simple bracelet that one could wear only to make himself or herself a bit more beautiful. But for Layn, this kind of item held a much greater value.

    ''If I want to properly confess to Irea, it cannot be something average,'' Layn thought, troubled over thepleteck of material. ''Wait, what if I tried to make it purely from the stone-dust?'' he asked himself, moving his eyes to the spare bag of stones that remained as a surplus from thest trade with the overlord to the north. ''No, that wouldn''t work,'' Layn thought, shaking his head. ''While turning the crystals into dust is easy, reversing this process would be a pain, even for me,'' he thought, giving up on the idea pretty quickly.

    The problem was simple. Some reactions were simply irreversible. Just like burning a piece of wood was easy, turning the crystals into dust was on a simr level of hardship. Yet, when it came to turning a pile of ashes back into a block of wood, it was just as impossible as was turning the stone dust back into a mana crystal of the desired shape.

    ''While the stonedust can be used as the greatest part, I still need some kind of decorative agent to glue it all together,'' Layn realized when a sudden idea popped in his head. ''Wait... While it''s true that we have yet to discover even a single metal deposit in the area, it''s not like we don''t have any metal whatsoever!'' he realized, standing up in one swift move.

    But just as quickly as Layn got excited, his passion died off.

    ''No, there is no way for me to ask someone to give up their weapon, just to let me create a wedding bracelet,'' he thought, biting his lips in silent despair. ''To think that I would have more troublesing up with a bracelet than I had back in the past,'' he thought, recalling one arduous task that he once fulfilled when he still believed Ortensia to be the love of his life.

    "Dang it!" Layn shouted, unable to hold back his annoyance.

    The entire n of creating a wedding bracelet was something that he thought of when he saw Irea in bad shape recently. It was at that moment when he realized how easy it would be for him to lose the girl that he felt an urge to create something that would finalize their rtionship. Something that he could both give to the girl and keep to himself. Something that would ward off his loneliness in the moments when Irea wasn''t near him.

    ''Still, I cannotpromise our defenses even by a tiny bit,'' Layn thought, gritting his teeth once again.

    "Hey!" A sudden voice intruded on Layn''s ears, forcing him out of his current stupor. "The meeting will begin in a moment, brother," Markus put his head inside Layn''s workshop. As Layn raised his eyes on his friend''s face, he couldn''t help but notice the peculiar look in the man''s eyes.

    "Ah, sorry," Layn apologized as he stood up before kicking the stone tablet with the concept art of the bracelet away from Markus'' eyes. "I will be..." just as he was about to reassure the man, a sudden idea appeared in his head. "Come inside first," Layn suddenly ordered, moving a bit deeper into the workshop to make space for his friends.

    "What''s wrong?" Markus'' face instantly tensed up. It was the first time for Layn to request a private meeting like that, just as their council was about to start at that!

    "Ah, there is no need to be so anxious," Layn said, raising his hands as soon as he noticed the changes on his friend''s face. "I just wanted to ask a private question," he added, averting his eyes as a sudden bout of shyness washed over the archmage''s soul.

    "Shoot," Markus said, rxing his facial muscles a bit. The wariness that his eyes were full of just a moment ago gave way to the vivid curiosity that exploded in his pupils.

    "Do you have any gold... by chance?" Layn asked, unable to look at his friend''s face at all. Given his rtively traumatic romantic experiences, talking about romance-rted stuff still was pretty hard for him.

    "Gold? While I have some, what do you need it for?" Markus asked, his face betraying just how puzzled he was. "It''s not like we can make any use of it here. Did you forget that looks are its only good quality?" Markus asked, shaking his head. "No matter if tools or weapons, using gold for those is useless!"

    "I''m aware of that," Layn said before releasing a deep sight. Then, he finally raised his face and looked his old friend deeply in the eyes. "It''s the decorative function of the gold that I''m after, after all."

 Chapter 210 - Creating The Wedding Bracelet

    "To think that I would end up helping you with this kind of stuff," Markus muttered, shaking his head. Yet, even though they were both alreadyte for the meeting, he didn''t utter a word of protest. What''s more, looking for any signs of hints of annoyance or hurry on his face would bepletely futile.

    "I would never," Layn replied, keeping his eyes on the crucible in his hands. Even though he worked on the same thing for nearly the entire day, right now, he wasn''t making stuff that had to be perfectly usable. Contrary to that, this was the first time for him to actually care about how the end result would look like. "Still, you are of great help," Layn said with no hesitation before biting his lips a little. "Thanks," he added after a short moment of silence.

    "Not a problem," Markus replied, raising another crucible with special stone tongs. Inside, the few gold coins that Markus had already melted down into a uniform liquid, ready to be turned into the bracelet that Layn envisioned. "To be honest, this is kind of atonement for me. I couldn''t help you when you fell into the clutches of that whore, so at least I''m happy I can help you now," Markus said, lowering his eyes and biting his lip. .

    "Huh?" Layn shrugged in surprise. "It was never your fault, to begin with, though?" he said, leaning his head over his arm with a confused expression on his face. "It was my bad for acting like a naive and love-starved kid. There is no need for you to feel guilty about it whatsoever," Layn imed, speaking in a lecturing voice as if he was talking with some kid.

    "Weren''t we friends?" Markus asked while carefully pouring the molten gold to the crucible filled with stonedust. "Even if I was half the world away when it happened, I still feel responsible for leaving you when you needed an honest friend the most," he said. Then, as the mixture in Layn''s container reached the marker set on the inside, he pulled the crucible up and ced it back on the stove.

    "Seriously, don''t beat yourself over it." Layn smiled gently. ''While I never found fault with him over that, it''s still nice to hear it,'' he thought as he grabbed a tiny paddle and used it to stir the mixture. "Can you get me the form?" Layn asked.

    Even though they just had a heart-to-heart conversation, the priority here was obvious. Given how rare any kind of metal was in the camp, neither of them could afford to focus on anything else but their current job.

    "Still, it''s lovely to see you go for such an extra effort with Irea," Markus said, putting a small smile on his lips. For him, the job was over. Outside for being there for Layn in case the archmage needed some assistance, he was now free to sit back and rest easy. "If you don''t mind asking, when are you going to propose?"

    "I don''t mind the question at all," Layn smiled lightly as he continued to stir the mixture up. Even though it would make no difference in terms of looks, the better the stonedust would be mixed into the metal fluid, the greater its mana-absorbing effects would be. ''There are no shortcuts in love,'' Layn thought, patiently moving the tiny paddle around. "But that doesn''t mean I have the answer to give," Layn finally replied, shaking his head.

    "What do you mean by that?" Markus asked, turning his puzzled face to the side.

    "Man, just look at our schedules," Layn shook his head. "We can hardly do anything that''s not insanely important. Even getting this bracelet done forced us to ignore today''s council..." Layn turned silent only to pull his tiny paddle out of the crucible. Without any additional heating, the gold inside was quickly cooling down, making it harder and harder to stir the mixture up. And unless Layn was willing to do the entire thing all over again, he had to prevent the paddle from ending up as a part of the mixture.

    "Speaking of which, do you really think its necessary to have those meetings on a daily basis?" Markus asked, stretching his legs in one of the few areas where there was actually free space. "While we have a lot more manpower now, it doesn''t mean we can progress daily so much that we would need to let everyone catch up on it," he said, bringing up some valid reasons against the daily council.

    "We need to make sure that we are always on the same page," Layn replied, shaking his head. He then reached out and took the form that his friend passed to him. "If we have six people looking at every tiny detail of our progress, we might be able to spot problems and opportunities a single person would miss. What''s more, having someone outside the problem look at it could offer us some fresh perspective on it," Layn exined his idea as he started to magically heat up his crucible again.

    "Well, that makes sense," Markus agreed, watching how his friends slowly angled his container, allowing the thick mass of gold and stonedust to flow down the carved opening in the stone. "Ah, changing the topic to the bracelet, are you just going to smoothen it out once it solidifies?" the former saint asked with curiosity.

    "Do I look like someone who takes shortcuts?" Layn asked as a small smile formed on his lips. "It''s not going to be that simple. While I might not be some kind of a skilled craftsman," Layn said as he ced the emptied-out crucible away and picked up a small knife, "I still think that with this, I will be able to carve some nice stuff on it."

    From the first look, Layn''s knife didn''t look like anything serious. More than a knife, it appeared like a de used by the surgeons back in the future to make the tissue damage as tiny as possible. Yet, as the archmage held it between his fingers, the tiny de of the knife suddenly started to blur, as if it was vibrating at an astonishing rate. "With this, I will be able to cold-carve it," Layn said before revealing a huge smile on his lips. "And let''s not forget that if I achieve what I want here, we might be able to modify all our weapons to work like that as well!"

 Chapter 211 - Failed Question

    "I-I''m home..." Layn muttered as he pushed the doors to his house open. This simple action was what fully sapped the rest of the physical strenght that he had in himself.

    Right in front of him, there was the bed. The promisednd of the tired, the heaven for those needing the rest. And with only a few steps separating him from thatnd of crusade against the exhaustion, Lyan could feel the joy and anticipation filling his mind.

    There was a problem, though. The worst kind of thest boss awaited right on the only path that he could take to reach that promised nevend.

    "Why did you ignore today''s meeting?" Irea asked, standing right on the path between Layn and his desired bed. Her arms were crossed on her chest while anxiety mixed with anger and disappointment on her face.. Yet, before all those bottled-up emotions could erupt right in the archmage''s face, Irea''s expression mellowed down. "Wait, are you okay?"

    The wrath that only a man could see on a face of a girl he held dear disappeared, reced by an endless sea of worry.

    Layn took a step forward. At this point, several hours deep into the night, he was so tired that his body wobbled in the spot.

    ''Am I going to fall?'' he thought as he lost his sense of stability.

    The world around the archmage twisted and turned. Anticipating the worst, Layn prepared himself for the sudden wake-up call in the form of the pain of falling down, only to suddenly appear in the heavenly resting ce of warmth and softness.

    "Gosh, just what did you do to make yourself so tired," Irea muttered in a worried tone, catching Layn right as he was about to fall on the sharp edge of the only piece of furniture outside of the bed that their shared house had.

    "I''m sorry," Layn whispered, quickly losing his consciousness in the sweet embrace of his girl.

    "You are sorry about what?" Irea asked as she started to pull the archmage towards the bed. Yet, even as she reached her desired location, she refused to just let her man fall on the sheets.

    "Missing the council," Layn replied, using everyst bit of his strenght to make his mouth and tongue move. "For returning sote," he added as his vision nked out. "For making you worry," he finished his confession just as thest bit of strenght left his body.

    "Oh,e on!" Irea voiced her protest, using even more of her strenght to stop Layn from falling on the floor. Yet, even for someone who mastered not only magic but also cultivation to quite a degree, the task of holding Layn up proved to be too hard. With no other option, she tightened her grab over Layn''s torso only to bend herself backward, forcing the two of them to fall on their bed instead.

    "Here, here," she said, brushing her hand through Layn''s hair as she pressed his face closer to her soft chest. "You can rest now," she muttered sweetly, continuing to caress his hair.

    "I''m sorry," Layn whispered in response, barely capable of producing any sound at this point.

    "Seriously, what are you apologizing for?" Irea asked. Her body stiffened up a bit. Even though Layn could no longer hold his eyelids from falling down on his eyes, he could tell that the girl turned anxious. "It''s not like you cheated on me, isn''t it?" she added, only for her flesh to stiffen up even more.

    "Never," Layn forced his lips to utter yet another word. He was already past the limit of what he could handle.

    This entire situation was quite strange. For someone as powerful as Layn, holding up for several days without even a second of rest shouldn''t be a problem. Yet, here he was, dead tired after intruding for only a few hours into his daily sleeping schedule.

    But the situation wasn''t as simple as one could think without knowing all the facts.

    On its own, Layn could easily hold for weeks, if not for months, with no sleep whatsoever. Yet, everything would change (when the fire nation attacked) when one ounted for how focused he had to be during the process of creating the bracelet.

    From heating up the crucible to mix the stonedust into liquified gold, through making his small knife vibrate at an insane speed while using it to carve various,plicated patterns into the bracelet that rested in one of his pockets...

    What Layn suffered from wasn''t strictly a physical or mana exhaustion. His mind was simply overwhelmed with all the focus he had to spare, making him feel as if he was about to fall into hisst and longest sleep that any human would enter at the end of the journey called life.

    "Just what did you do to turn so tired?" Irea muttered. Even though Layn denied any usations of cheating on her, he could feel that her body refused to rx.

    ''Should I do it?'' he thought, unable to enjoy the warmth of her embrace when knowing how anxious Irea had to be to be so stiff. ''But then there would be a marriage ceremony, no celebration... Would it be just nd?'' he thought. For a short while, two ideas continued to sh in his mind, one of calming the girl down by revealing the truth and the other of keeping the surprise for a more fitting moment.

    "I can feel just how troubled you are," Irea suddenly whispered. Her body tensed up even further. "Tell me..." she started in a weak, faltering voice. "Did I do something not to your liking?" she asked. Her voice trembled even further.

    "What?" Layn suddenly felt a burst of energy coursing through his veins. Sadly, this energy existed only in the ne of his imagination, yet it managed to somehow ward the mental exhaustion that put him down so much. "Stop spouting nons...nonsense..." he added, unable to ride on this wave of illusory power for long enough to finish his entire sentence properly.

    "Then what is it?" Irea asked. At this point, her entire body started to tremble slightly. It was something that even Layn would normally fail to notice... If not for the fact that he was hugging his entire self to the soft and warm flesh of the girl! "I promise, I won''t be angry. I won''t betray you either," she added, her tone hinting that tears started to well up in her eyes.

    "This is what it was all about," Layn couldn''t hold himself any longer. He reached out to the side of his robe, pulling out the golden ornament he worked tirelessly to finish overnight. While he struggled to do it, when feeling just how anxious and stressed out his girl was, he just couldn''t stop himself from acting up. "Back in my original time, a man would offer a bracelet to the girl when asking for her hand in marriage," Layn said, as he forcefully circted his mana to flush the exhaustion away, even if only for a moment.

    Irea''s body rxed for a mere instant, only to tense up way more than before. Before moving any further, Layn gently grabbed the girl''s hand, only to nt a kiss on its palm before raising his eyes at Irea''s face.

    "I intended to ask in a better moment when we would have more time to properly celebrate it," he muttered before forcing his body up and kneeling on the bed. "Dear, you are the sun and the happiness of my life. The time I spend with you is the only shine I have when separated from you. Right now, I''m tired to no end and may not make any sense, but would you do me an honor of..." Layn pushed himself to the limit.

    The method of warding off his exhaustion with mana could onlyst for long.

    And as if he was in some kind of pstickedy that became increasingly popr mere months prior to him invoking his gran arcana, he fell asleep before he could ask the most important question in his life.

 Chapter 212 - Proposal

    "Layn?" Irea asked, watching how the archmage faltered, only for his head and the entire upper body to sway forward. Then, without a word of warning, the man appeared to lose his consciousness, falling forward without any control. "LAYN!" Irea screamed out in worry as she caught the man''s body.

    ''Just what the hell was that?'' she asked herself, staring down at the golden bracelet that Layn still held in his hand. ''Did he just propose?'' she thought, unable to wrap her head around what just transpired.

    "Layn, are you okay?" Unable to solve the confusion on her own, Irea attempted to gently shake her man awake. Yet, from how steady his breath was, it was clear that the archmage had already fallen asleep.

    ''Just what could make him so tired?'' Irea questioned herself while she unconsciously moved her hands from just free-floating by her side to the man''s head. Before even realizing what had happened, she was already running her fingers through his hair while using her own chest as a pillow for the man''s chest.

    ''Maybe it''s all about that bracelet?'' she thought, using her left hand to reach for the decorative item. .

    ''Huh?'' Irea shrugged when her fingers came into contact with the bracelet. For something as decorative and meticulously crafted as this thing, she didn''t expect it to have any value outside of its looks. Yet, with a single touch, that proved not to be the case.

    "Is that why you were absent from the council?" She asked in a silent voice, putting the bracelet away only to pull Layn closer into her embrace. Then, as the situation continued to develop without the active involvement of her wishes, Irea fell to her back, pulling Layn along with herself.

    "This is surprisingly fun," she muttered when Layn''s weight pinned her down to the bed. Yet, instead of spreading her legs to ept his affection, Irea simply continued to gently caress the skin of his head. ''Now that I think about it, isn''t his breath a little more stable now?'' she thought, thinking deeply about the situation. ''It''s as if a massive burden vanished from his mind,'' she thought, trying hard to figure out just what was going on.

    For Irea, having Layn propose to her was something so impossibly great that she had troubles epting it as the reality. It was just too great to be possibly true! For someone like her, who constantly doubted her right to remain at Layn''s side, having him reaffirm her like that...

    "I''m sorry," Irea suddenly said as she wrapped her arms around Layn''s back and pulled him towards herself even tighter. "I''m sorry," she repeated in a trembling voice as she started to circte her own energy, only to pass it on to Layn''s exhausted body.

    For the next few whiles, rather than letting Layn regain his strenght in the easiest and most efficient manner, she continued to pump him full of her own mana.

    While doing something like this wouldn''t ward off Layn''s exhaustion at all, it would at least give him support to lean on.

    "I''m sorry, but I won''t let you get away without making sure that we are on the same page," she muttered, with her voice breaking as she forcefully woke Layn up.

    "Huh?" The archmage attempted to stand up as he always did once he opened his eyes. Yet, locked in Irea''s arms, his attempts soon prove futile. "What was I...?" he asked, still too dizzy to recall the events that transpired before he lost his senses.

    "Layn," Irea called out, moving one of her arms out of his back only to bring her hand up and caress his cheek. "I''m sorry for waking you up like that, but I really need to know. Not being sure about it is killing me," she exined her reasons as tears started to well up.

    ''Seeing him so tired... Why is it so painful?'' she asked herself, unable to stop the tears from squeezing through her eyes.

    "What do you mean?" Layn asked, taking a very long time to properlye to his senses. But then, he realized that there was something ufortable about his hand. Something was making his hand pained as if squeezing a small row of points on it. Curious about the reason, Layn looked to the side. "Huh?" he muttered when he saw a glint of gold from underneath his palm.

    And then, everything came back to the archmage''s mind. As if his soul was smashed by a hammer, all the emotions, all the doubts, and all the courage that he had just before falling asleep returned.

    "Dear," Layn lowered his head, pressing it back against the extremelyfortable pillow of Irea''s chest. "I''m sorry for being so weak, but I just could stand seeing you tear up," he said, forcing his hand to pull up. ''If I''m going to propose, then the least I can do is actually finish the deed,'' he thought to himself, securing a proper position for his hands before pushing his upper body up.

    Still glued to Layn''s chest, Irea couldn''t help but get pulled along. Yet, as she released her hold over the man''s back, Layn didn''t waste any time grabbing her right hand.

    "Dear..." Layn muttered before looking the girl in the eyes. For a moment, the two of them just remained like that, staring at each other''s soul through what was often called the windows to one''s head. "Will you ept my feelings?" he asked, using all the courage he could muster for this one moment.

    "Yes," Irea replied after a moment. There was no hesitation in her eyes as she did, proving that the tiny wait before giving her answer was caused by nothing but a shock.

    "That''s great," Layn smiled gently, moving the girl''s hand up only to slide the gold bracelet of his making on it. "I wanted to make this moment grander and filled with celebration, but for now, this will have to suffice," he muttered, caressing the girl''s palm as the magic imbued into the bracelet made it close around the girl''s arm.

    "I know this is sudden, but with that..." Layn said, before raising his eyes and looking at the girl''s face with an extremely mellowed expression, "you are hereby my wife."

 Chapter 213 - Tonight, You Are The Only One I Care About (+18... Obviously)

    ''This is...'' Layn thought, feeling Irea''s body wrapped tightly around his own flesh. ''This feels different,'' he thought as the two of them continued their sluggish moves.

    Layn''s initial n regarding the wedding consisted of some grand ceremony, a great feast for the entire camp, and then a period of honeymoon during which the two of them could abandon all their worries and just focus on each other. During thest of the mentioned, he obviously projected some steamy and intimate action...

    Yet, it all faded away whenpared to how he felt right now.

    "Moar," Irea whimpered directly in his ear. All four of her limbs were locked at Layn''s body, tightening whenever he pushed in, only to rx when he was pulling himself out..

    "I love..." Layn whispered only for another spasm of pleasure to cut his sentence in half, "you..." he finished his whisper before sliding his face past Irea''s cheek only to take over her sweet lips.

    Compared to how they went at it during their early intimate moments, one could hardly recognize what they were doing as making love anymore. Tired after several hours'' worth of intimacy, they were simply hugging each other. Even the fact that they were all full of sweat didn''t discourage them from continuing their activities.

    "I''m nearing my limit," Layn gasped after some time. His sperm mixed with Irea''s own juices made up for the lube during this nth attempt at impregnating the girl.

    "Come," Irea whispered softly, caressing the back of the archmage''s head with her hands.

    A few more pushes and a wave of pleasure shook Layn''s body to the core. As if all the blood and energy converged from the entirety of his body on the tip of his meat spear, he could feel this spur of energy releasing right into the girl''s deepest part.

    ''Even though it wasn''t my first time nor is she my first woman,'' Layn thought, hiding his face in the angle between Irea''s neck and shoulder, ''this is still something else,'' he thought, burying his head in the girl''s flesh.

    For a moment, the two of themsted in a single moment, single position. For a moment, their bodies tensed up, clenching in a loving embrace, only to rx a short momentter.

    "Ah...." Layn sighed when he felt all his strenght leaving his body. As his muscles rxed, he fell on top of Irea. Her soft, delicate skin cushioned his small fall. "I''m all spent," he muttered, resting his head against her soft bosom.

    "That was great," Irea said in a small voice, using most of her remaining energy just to keep breathing.

    ''This feels nice,'' Layn thought, feeling how her hands rustled through his hair. In a sense, he was currently in a pretty subservient position. Resting his head on her soft and warm breast, having Irea caress his head all the while his entire body was wrapped in her warmth...

    For a younger version of himself, this kind of thing would be uparable to the sex itself, yet, for some strange reason, enclosed within the affectionate hold of this girl felt even better than the act itself.

    "I''m yours, and you are mine," Layn muttered the line that came straight from his heart. The scars that Ortensia, the cheating wife of his left on his soul, seemingly started to heal under the gentle strokes of the girl that actually chose to be with him.

    "You are mine, and I''m yours," Irea mirrored Layn''s words, pulling his head even tighter into her embrace. For a moment, the archmage found it hard to breathe as his entire face was pressed tightly against the soft mounds of her chest. Yet, as divine of a pillow as it was, he still had to find a way to breathe.

    Ting!

    A strange vibration appeared on the outskirts of Layn''s perception. As small as it was, it was still well within the range of what the archmage could detect.

    "Huh?" Layn muttered, moving his hands from Irea''s back to the bedding beside her before using them to lift his upper body up. He turned his head in the direction where this strange feeling came... Yet nothing happened.

    "Come back here," Irea protested, reaching with her hands and grabbing Layn by the back of his neck only to bring his face back to her breasts again.

    Too tired from all their nightly activities, Layn couldn''t resist the girl''s pull. Yet, rather than just allowing himself to fall back to thefort of her embrace, he moved his left hand just in time to prompt Irea''s left breast.

    "Hmmm," he muttered through his teeth once he took over one of the girl''s nipples with his lips. Sucking on it as if he was some kind of newborn, he muttered, "delicious."

    "You still don''t have enough?" Irea asked happily, moving her hands to the back of Layn''s head again.

    Raising his eyes, the archmage couldn''t help but notice a gentle smile on her face. Even though they were both tired, even though he yed with her boobs for way more than enough already, she still didn''t mind letting him have his fun for a little longer.

    "You know that no matter how much you will suck, nothing wille out?" Irea said through a gentle moan after several moments.

    Rather than replying, Layn focused all his attention on ying around with her chest. The feeling of having his fingers sink into the soft and warm flesh of his beloved while trickling her nipple with his tongue was just too great for him to ever have enough of it. And despite several hours'' worth of sex before, this little fun of his forced the natural mechanisms of his body back into action, pumping blood to the ce that needed it the most.

    "We won''t know unless we try," Layn said once he finally moved his mouth away from the girl''s breast. "How about we go for another round?" he asked, already sliding his entire body forward to get into a better position.

    "You know I''m always happy to indulge," Irea replied, leaning with her head to nt a gentle kiss on Layn''s lips. At the same time, she pushed both of her knees aside, leaving herself wide open for Layn to enter.

    "Don''t mind if I do," the archmage whispered right in Irea''s ear before gently grabbing her earlobe between his teeth. Yet, just as he was about to push himself inside for yet another round of baby-making pleasure, a sudden knocking on their doors interrupted the atmosphere.

    "BOSS!" One of Layn''s mercenaries shouted. Even though the archmage couldn''t really recognize his people by their voices, the way the man outside referred to him was a surefire giveaway. "We are under attack!" the man outside shouted.

    "How bad is it?" Layn''s mind cleared out in but an instant. The perspective of yet another raid like the one they suffered from before was both depressing and exciting as it would mean several casualties and a huge influx of new magic stones at the same time.

    "Looks like a tenth of a horde that attacked us before!" the man reported, not daring to open the doors to Layn''s house without a direct order to do so.

    "Then get lost. Come and fetch me only when it will turn bad," Layn shouted before moving his eyes back on the girl below him. With her legs still wide open, it was clear that him sucking on her breast for a long while managed to raise her expectations for a fair bit.

    "Are you sure it''s okay?" Irea asked, averting her eyes as a sudden blush appeared on her cheeks.

    "Tonight, you are the only one I care about," Layn said, closing the girl''s mouth with his lips as he took aim and pushed his hips forward.

 Chapter 214 - Skirmish To The South

    Layn walked out of his house roughly half an hour after the information about the attack reached his ears. Yet, despite so much time passing, there were no signs of panic or disorganization throughout the camp.

    "Hey, you!" Layn shouted, pointing his hand at the nearest passerby. "Where is everyone?" he asked, not willing to waste his precious energy at running around the camp to find where the battle was taking ce.

    "Sir!" the man instantly froze when asked out only to stand at attention in the next moment. "They are at the southern rampart!" the man reported before ncing quickly at his own leg.

    "Huh?" Layn noticed the look and followed it, only to see a huge bandage covering half of the man''s calf.

    "Sir, I was sent on patrol duty because of my injury," the man said while hoping that averting his eyes would be enough to hide the blush of shame in the darkness of the night. Sadly for him, with everything that Layn went through, his eyes were more than capable of seeing through even the deepest darkness.

    "A patrol duty?" Layn still asked, slightly puzzled by the unexpected report.. "Are they worried that we will be sneakily attacked from a different direction?" he asked, looking in the direction where the fight was supposedly raging on.

    "No, sir, no. It was a direct order of Sir Markus to inform anyone who happened to wake up about the battle," the man exined. "Having random people walk into the formations, be it out of sleepiness, curiosity, or any other reason, could prove to be dangerous for the formation integrity!" the man exined his mission on a single breath as if scared of being judged by the archmage.

    "Thanks for the exnation," Layn said, gracing the man with a small smile that Markus'' mercenary was likely to pass unnoticed because of the totalck of light. "You are free to resume your duty. And one more thing," Layn said, taking a step closer to the man only to pat him on the shoulder, "do not feel ashamed for what you are doing. I know it might feel shameful to not participate in the battle, but it''s not like Markus just gave you the order to keep you upied," Layn said, moving his hand from the man''s shoulder only to ce it on his head and rustle his hair a little. "Having random people walk right into the battle is nothing unusual and something that all the generals in the entire world always had to be wary of. What you are doing right now is really helping Markus out," Layn said, adding some overexaggerated details to the actual story.

    "Thank you, sir!" The man replied, his spirits slightly lifted.

    While Layn never had the ability to read the souls of the people around him, he didn''t really need to invoke a massive spell just to read the man''s expression. From how he straightened his back and raised the chin of his head, it was clear that newfound self-confidence started to bud in his soul.

    ''There is nothing worse than a demoralized soldier,'' Layn thought, recalling one of the few battles he actually took ce in. "Dang," he cursed under his breath. "That actually brings some unpleasant memories," he muttered before walking off towards the battle.

    What he said earlier about random people interrupting the ongoing battle wasn''t just a random story Layn came up with. It was something that not only happened a lot of times, but also something that Layn saw happens with his very own eyes.

    It happened before he met with Markus and the rest of their team, yet a few months after, he finished the basic course at the magic academy. As a citizen of the kingdom that financed his schrship, he had an obligation to participate in his civilian duties for as long as the schrshipsted.

    It happened right at the border between his home country and the rivaling nation that bordered it. As the conflict never escted to a fully-fledged war, rather than a proper battle, it was a skirmish between two highly specialized groups.

    As a fight that happened mostly on the magical ne with only several knights of the royal order guarding the border against any potential invasion, hardly anyone could notice the ongoing fight. As such, when a group of refugees entered the scene and somehow walked right between the two parties, Layn had the displeasure of watching how nearly half of them got massacred by the silent magic before both sides managed to realize what was going on.

    ''Now that I think back, their involuntary sacrifice could be the reason why the conflict never escted,'' Layn thought, trying to figure out all the small reasons and details of that conflict.

    ''Well, I will think about itter,'' he decided a measly minuteter when the noises of the ongoing fight finally reached his ears. Layn raised his eyes in that direction, only to see a single silhouette standing behind the lines of the camp''s soldiers.

    "Markus?" Layn asked, almost certain who the outline of the figure belonged to.

    "Hey," the man replied, turning around and revealing his face. "How did it go?" Markus asked, gracing Layn with a small, meaningful smile.

    "Better than I could imagine," Layn replied, returning the smile. "For some reason, she constantly struggled to notice her own worth, making her susceptible to all sorts of doubts regarding our rtionship," Layn said, not holding any secrets from his longest and dearest friend in this world and time.

    ''Now that I think about it, we know each other for way longer than the current civilization exists,'' Layn thought before biting his lips to stop a chuckle froming out of his mouth. ''That is if we ignore how the number of years we know each other for would be in negatives,'' he thought, holding back hisughter.

    After all, with their people fighting with their lives on their lines, it would be unbing for any leaders to show their amusement openly.

    "How is it going?" Layn asked, changing the topic as he pointed his hand at the men in front of them.

    "The fight seems to be easy," Markus replied, moving his eyes towards the battlefield only to squint them in suspicion. "But for some reason, I have a bad feeling about it," he added in a slightly lower voice.

    "Why?" Layn asked, genuinely curious. As he was a practitioner of strictly pragmatic magic, he could never understand half of what Markus could do. Yet, instead of refusing to acknowledge him, Layn simply forwent all of his attempts at understanding just how Markus'' mind worked. After everything the two of them went through, the archmage simply learned to trust in his friend''s capabilities.

    "It''s too damn easy," Markus replied, clenching his teeth. "After what those bastards showed us thest time, I expected a real fight," he said, not daring to move his eyes away from the nearby battlefield.

    Following his friend''s example, Layn looked towards the fight. For several moments, the two of them just watched how their subordinates made a quick work of the attacking monsters.

    "Isn''t this just..." Layn said, only to cut his sentence short. He then shook his head only to say what he wanted again. "This looks like a scouting mission," he said, biting on his lip.

    "You mean they are testing our strenght?" Markus asked, finally snapping his eyes away from the battle.

    "Yeah," Layn said, nodding his head only to raise his hand and point at a distant hill. "There are a few of rtively stronger monsters sitting atop that hill," he said, not bothering to hide that he noticed the onlookers.

    "That means this is only the beginning," Markus muttered in a low voice, moving his sight back at members of the Gener n ughtering what was left of the invading force.

    "So it is," Layn mirrored his words, staring right into the eyes of the monster in the distance.

 Chapter 215 - Reconnaissance In Force

    "During tonight''s skirmish, we lost three men. Seventeen more were injured during the fight," Al announced, reading out loud the report prepared by his direct subordinate. He then raised his head at the small gathering of the camp''s leaders, coughed to clear his throat, and looked at the thin stone b in his hand again. "Out of those, two deceased were from Markus'' faction..."

    "Stop," Layn interjected, opening his eyes. Even since he had to listen to a report like that for the first time, he developed a habit of closing his eyes. For some reason, it made it easier for him to hear the bloody news.

    In response to his sudden word, all the eyes moved on his face. Even if their structure ofmand was something they just loosely agreed on, no one ever gave him the right to preside as the overall leader. As such, his remark was not only rude but also unwarranted.

    .

    "It doesn''t matter who brought them here," Layn said after the atmosphere turned tense enough. "Right now, we are all one people; we are the inhabitants of this in," he said before lowering his head and closing his eyes again.

    "Well then," Al said, closing his eyes for a moment as well. "That concludes the report. Now, what are we going to do about it?" he asked, sitting down on his chair.

    "We are closing the gap with each passing day," Markus said, his eyes lowered on the desk and arms crossed on his chest. "Even with those losses, now we have enough manpower to push our projects through. In a week, we are gaining what others can aplish in months if not years," he said, yet his tone wasn''t confident at all.

    "We need to strike back," Ation said. His manner of speech directly contrasted Markus''s words, both in the meaning and in the tone. He held his head high, looking at every participant directly in the eyes.

    Given the split of responsibilities, Gener''s faction and Markus faction stated their opinion. And as much as Layn could dislike this split, it appeared that his opinion would likely decide the course of action for everyone.

    That is if they were in a system of an oligarchic democracy. ''Thankfully, we are as far as possible from that kind of broken system,'' Layn thought while trying to figure out the best path for the camp to take.

    "You are both right," Layn finally said. "The more we wait before engaging, the stronger we get," he confirmed Markus'' words. "But there is also a factor of momentum here. While we can omit the development of monsters for a second, the vians are not going to just stay in one ce and in one situation," he pointed out.

    "What do you mean by that?" Al asked with a puzzled expression on his face.

    ''Does he really not know it?'' Layn pondered, unsure how to take the question. ''For someone as legendary as him to not understand those basic concepts... It''s unlikely,'' Tom decided before shaking his head. This simple physical motion helped him to sort his thoughts out.

    "Right now, we are growing fast because we know what steps to take. As such, we can avoid many pitfalls, directing our efforts right at what we need the most," Layn said, exining the advantage of their situation. "But this situation will notst forever. Because in terms of vians, they canpensate for theck of technology and knowledge with their sheer numbers," the archmage said as his expression sank.

    "Right, they are basically an entire nation on the run," Markus muttered, hiding his face in the palms of his hands. "So unless we can somehow sabotage their own efforts to grow, we cannot assume we have the advantage in stalling," he said, building up on what Layn already said.

    "Exactly." Layn nodded his head. "If we look at our situation from this perspective, going on the offensive seems like not an option, but a must," he said before his expression took a sudden turn from sour to amused. "Or is it?" he asked, leaving the question to hang in the air.

    "Whatever you are up to, just say it. It''s not like we have..." Al spoke in an angry tone, clearly unhappy with Layn''s mannerism... But he didn''t finish his sentence. "Right, time..." he said, lowering his head. His eyes lost focus as he rubbed his chin. "Now that I think about this howe the monsters started attacking at the same time that vians appeared on the border en masse?" he asked, raising his eyes at Markus, only to move them at Layn''s face a momentter.

    "That''s an excellent question," Layn said, showing the whites of his teeth through a wide smile. "But frankly speaking, the answer doesn''t matter at all," he said, shaking his shoulders.

    "Right now, we are nowhere as strong as we would need to seriously damage either the neighboring monsters or the vians," Markus said, getting in on the idea. "If I''m right, it''s the vian''s fault that the monsters started attacking us, right?" he said, moving his eyes on Layn.

    "I have no proof for that, but the logic of this guess does check out," the archmage confirmed before standing up from his chair. "Right now, time is all we need. But in order to make sure the time works for us, we need to attack... Or rather, we need the other parties to feel threatened," Layn said, his smile continued to grow wider with each passing moment.

    "You want to provoke the monsters into attacking the vians," Ation said, looking at the Layn with a dose of respect.

    "A clever way to check all the boxes of what we need, isn''t it?" Layn said, only to shake his head and cast away his smile. "But as great as it sounds, it''s not going to be easy," he added. "During the recent battle, we noticed that some monsters observed the fight. That''s why we believed that this attack was one of the two. A forward guard of a migrating horde of monsters..."

    "Or a reconnaissance in force," Markus finished Layn''s sentence. His expression turned grim. "And out of the two, it''s the second option that''s the scary one," he added, tightening his hands into fists.

    "Why is that?" Ation asked, getting ahead of Al when asking the question.

    "It''s simple," Layn said, shaking his head. "If they can afford to throw away such a huge force just to figure out our strengths and positions, that means we are in no way capable of holding against their real attack," Layn said before biting on his lips.

    "How are we going to bait vians and the monsters to fight with each other, then?" Al asked, clearly tired by all the talking. Even though he held a post of one of the camp''s leaders, he was clearly a man of a few words but lots of action.

    "As I said, it won''t be that simple," Layn repeated himself. Then, a vicious smile appeared on his face as he raised his eyes on his old friend. "We will need to attack the monsters... After escaping from our sh with vians!"

 Chapter 216 - Today, We Ride!

    "Do you really need to go?" Irea asked, wrapping her hands around Layn''s belt. Hugged to his back, she just listened to the calm beating of his heart.

    "I was the one to suggest the n," the archmage replied, lowering his hand and cupping it around his wife''s hand. "I cannot send others for this nearly suicidal mission if I don''t go myself," he said, taking a moment to enjoy the girl''s warmth.

    "Aren''t you the leader of the camp?" Irea asked, still unwilling to ept the harsh reality. "Can''t you just order someone to do it?" she asked in a pleading voice.

    "I''m not amander, but a leader, just like you said," Layn whispered. "And as the name suggests, a leader leads. I''m not the ruler to rule. I never wanted to be the one in the first ce," he said in a steady voice, caressing Irea''s gentle fingers. "Heck, I''m not even a leader of the camp in the first ce. I know you didn''t mean it, but using that name could lead to internal strifeter on. And this isn''t something we would want, would we?" A small snicker escaped from Layn''s mouth.

    "If you are not a leader, there should be no need for you to lead, then!" Irea protested, pulling herself even deeper into Layn''s back. "I know it wasn''t official or celebrated, but didn''t we marry just the other day?" she asked, rubbing her forehead against Layn''s spine. "Can''t I have you for myself for just a little longer?"

    "It is just as you said, I''m not a leader of this ce," Layn mirrored the girl''s words. "And that means I need to do my duty to protect it, just like everyone else," he added, turning around on his heel.

    Irea didn''t let go of him, yet she now buried her head in his chest. Unable to resist, Layn rested his cheek on the top of her head, soaking both her delicate aroma and warmth.

    "Layn! We are going!" A sudden shout from the outside broke the peaceful scene for the two.

    "I need to go, dear," Layn whispered, caressing Irea''s back with his hands. For a moment, he wrapped his arms around her, only to hug her as close as he could without actually hurting the girl. "I promise, I will do everything in my power to not make you wait for long," he added, trying tofort the girl in this trying time.

    But the time offorting each other could onlyst for so long. As reluctant as Layn was to do it, he let go of the girl''s body before lowering his hands and pulling Irea''s arms apart.

    "Stay safe and return promptly," Irea muttered softly. "I know that you are strong enough to take care of yourself... But take care," she added as tears started to well up in her eyes.

    ''I really need to make this sabotage matter,'' Layn thought, turning around and walking out of the house in order to avoid looking at his wife''s tears. He was used to the sight of blood and carnage, yet just a few drops of water on the face of the girl he loved proved to be too much of a sight for him to bear.

    "Done bidding your farewells?" Ation asked as soon as Layn emerged from the building.

    "Yeah," Layn replied softly, refusing to borate.

    "Man, listen," Ation started as the two of them moved towards the rallying point from where their expedition would start. "I know that I often happen to be your opposing voice during the meetings. I also know that I didn''t gain your sympathy by initially ming everything that happened to us on you," he said before biting on his lip and turning silent.

    "But?" Layn said a single word, proving that he actually listened to the man. "I mean, what you just said, sounded like just an introduction to the real thing," Layn added, encouraging Al''s subordinate.

    "For joining the expedition force, you have my respect," Ation said in a low voice. "I fought with many ns where leaders would stay back andmand, others where they wouldn''t show up to the battlefield at all... But only those that actually lead proved challenging for our n to unite," Ation said, refusing to look at Layn''s face whatsoever.

    "Thanks," Layn replied in a simple manner once again. "But there is one thing that I need you to keep in mind," he added, turning his head towards the burly man. "I''m not a leader to lead. I decided to take part in this expedition for two reasons."

    For a moment, Layn turned silent. He just focused on his breathing, as if revealing his reasons was a kind of a big deal for him.

    But that wasn''t the case whatsoever. Rather than being worried about revealing his intentions, he could actually feel the stress and anxiety welling up in his soul.

    ''This expedition will decide the future of this steppe,'' Layn thought, clenching his hands into fists. ''If we fail, everything will be over. If we aren''t as sessful as I hope we will be, everything will be over,'' Layn''s thoughts continued to put his mood down.

    "I''m not a leader to lead," the archmage finally spoke out his intentions. "But I was the one toe up with the idea. For that, I''m obliged to take part in it. And what''s more," Layn took a small break just as they approached the rallying point. "I''m the strongest in the entire camp. Worst case scenario, I should be able to do the most to save our people from the carnage," he added before turningpletely silent.

    The rallying point was already littered with people. Even though the camp''s poption oscited around half of a thousand people, as they were all spread out through various areas and production facilities, one could rarely feel how actually congested this ce was.

    Only now, when nearly a hundred of the strongest warriors assembled all in one ce, Layn realized just how big his little settlement became.

    "Everyone!" Markus shouted from the very middle of the gathering.. Whether it was just a coincidence or if he took Layn''s appearance for the green light to get things going remained a mystery. "Today, we ride!"

 Chapter 217 - Unexpected Report

    "And off they go," Irea thought, watching how the group of roughly a hundred men and women ran off into the distance.

    For the next few moments, she just stood in ce, watching how their backs turned smaller and smaller, threatening that the cloud of dust they kicked would soon cover them. And surely enough, before long, she could only see the said cloud, with no other hints of human presence off in the distance.

    "Okay, everyone, back to work! This is not the time to be cking off!" Someone in the crowd shouted, prompting a huge part of the crowd to move back to their daily tasks.

    But Irea stood. ''I should still have some time,'' she thought, raising her left hand to her right wrist only to caress the delicate texture of her bracelet.

    ''Who knew that it could work like that,'' she thought, tracing the intricate carvings in the metal with her fingers. While the metal itself was heartlessly cold, it gave off a faint aura of Layn''s presence. Just by having the bracelet on her arm, Irea didn''t feel all that lonely.

    ''It doesn''t produce much mana, does it?'' she thought, associating the small yet constant stream of the energy with some kind of warmth. ''Well, it doesn''t matter,'' she thought before turning around on her feet and heading back to the kitchen. ''As much as I hate it, I still need to get back to work,'' she thought.

    "You, you and you," she stopped after only walking a few paces. "Bring today''s ingredients to the kitchen," she ordered a random group of people around. ''Since they are standing and doing nothing, they might as well help me out,'' she justified her bossiness, refusing to look for the real reason for her act.

    "Yes, Ma''am," the men replied, lowering their heads with respect.

    ''I wonder whether it''s their respect for Layn and Layn alone or for me,'' she thought before casting those thoughts away. ''Well, it doesn''t matter in the grand scheme of things,'' she added in her thoughts before shaking her head.

    Bit by bit, the crowd that watched the brave warriors of the camp set off started to disperse. Just like someone said a moment ago, their warriors leaving didn''t mean there was no work to be done.

    "Today''s quota is two thousand bricks!" Someone shouted in the distance, proving that at least some parts of the camps wereing back alive. Even though the manpower decreased by nearly a fourth of its total number, no one was courageous enough to decrease the required daily output of the factories.

    And it was because of one, simple reason.

    Just like it was said in thest council of their leaders, their greatest advantage was the growth rate of the camp. With a clear goal set for everyone, they were free of the burden of developing things that wouldn''t prove advantageous. As a result, they were free from stagnation and many pitfalls that the development of civilization would always bring.

    The only reason the camp dispatched the warriors to sabotage the efforts of the other parties was to buy the workers at the camp enough time so that they would be able to press this exact advantage.

    ''Still,'' Irea thought, finally reaching the doorstep of her workce again, ''I wonder how they will fare?'' she asked herself, putting her hand on the doorknob of the kitchen.

    "I need to..." someone said in the distance. Sadly, the voice came from too far away for Irea to hear the details. As such, she didn''t bother to listen to it but entered the kitchen instead.

    Soon, her usual day of work started with the daily cleaning of all the utensils. Although the number of mouths to feed in the camp increased by many times, Layn''s oversight from when he was projecting the building allowed her to still keep up with the demand for the meals all on her own.

    ''It''s unusually dirty,'' Irea thought, checking the condition of the kitchen. "I guess that''s what I get for not cleaning it properly yesterday," she muttered with grief.

    As great of a time as she had cuddling with Layn back then, now came the time to pay for her earlier ck. Yet, rather thanining, she quickly grabbed one of the cleaning rags and rinsed it in the water before adding the dust imported from the nearby desert on it.

    Yet, just as she was about to start riding off all the residue from the previous day worth of cooking, a knocking on the doors stopped her.

    ''What now,'' she thought, slightly annoyed. Out of all the things she looked forward to in the sad time without Layn to her side, the generalck of disturbances was the biggest one.

    "Come in," Irea shouted after releasing a deep sigh. But rather than halting her movements in wait for the visitor, shebed the cleaning cloth together before swiping it through the huge cooking desk.

    "Mydy, I''m sorry to bother, but we might need your help," a visitor said, bowing as soon as he entered the building.

    "What happened," Irea asked without even moving her eyes away from the part she was cleaning right now.

    "We have some messenger from the oldnds," the man announced, twisting his lips in a weird grimace. "He insists he brings some important news but is only willing to report them to the top brass," the man added, biting on his lips.

    ''What now?'' Irea thought, surprised by the sudden development. ''For as far as I can recall, there should be no scheduled reports for now,'' she thought.

    With how far Layn''s, Markus''s, and Al''s ambition stretched, they were sure to establish several groups to work outside the camp. Just the fact that not even half of Al''s n ever reached the camp itself was the greatest proof of that.

    Due to the sheer scale of how many people worked for the trio of the leaders outside of the camp, rather than having theme in randomly with reports, they were supposed to appear per schedule.

    The only situation where this rule was allowed to be broken was when something important enough happened. After all, if someone learned the world wasing to an abrupt end, waiting for the scheduled time of a report would be a stupid thing to do.

    "Bring him in," Irea said before a heavy sigh left her mouth.

 Chapter 218 - Bad News For The Temporary Matriarchate

    "My Lady, I''m worried that even you..." The messenger bit his lips before finishing his words. Whether he was scared to potentially infringe on Irea''s pride or just couldn''t be bothered to exin the matter didn''t matter. "I will do it right away," he said instead, backing out of the building.

    "I wonder what happened for someone toe out of the schedule," Irea muttered to herself, wiping clean the same part of the cooking desk''s surface for the nth time. At this point, there wasn''t even a single speck of dust or fat left on it. Yet, as her attention was already on a different ne, Irea was simply unable to notice that fact.

    "I told you! I will only report the news to Al or Ation themselves!" the man shouted from behind the doors of the kitchen.

    "Just get inside," the voice of the messenger from before sounded right before the entrance of the building mmed open.

    "What news do you bring?" Irea asked, finally taking another part of the kitchen under the scrutiny of her wiping cloth. As her thoughts were already somewhere else, she didn''t pay attention to the man that was thrown inside.

    "I told everyone already!" the man argued. "I will only report the news to Al or Ation themselves!" he added in a disgruntled tone.

    "I''m the wife of Layn, the first to settle thisnd, the protector of the Camp and the lord of this dominion," Irea said, squeezing the words one by one through a fake smile that she put on her lips. She then turned around, allowing the unruly informant to notice her smiling expression oozing with annoyance. "I''m also one of the six officers that manage this entire ce. Now, am I worthy enough to hear what news do you bring?" she said, caressing her bracelet once again to calm herself down.

    "I said it many times already. I will only report to the leaders themselves!" the man shouted, mming his fist into the nearby chair.

    "You just destroyed Al''s chair," Irea pointed out as she put a lovely smile on her lips. But rather than keeping the ongoing farce, she sighed and put her wiping cloth away. "Al, Ation, Markus and Layn are all away. They departed the camp several moments ago to deal with some major threats," she said before leaning her head over her shoulder. "As for now, Yelna and I are the only ones you can report to. So, are you going to talk, or should I ask someone to throw you out to the desert?" she asked, finally revealing just how annoyed she was by the man''s presence.

    What Irea said wasn''t a lie. Right now, the two most influential people in the entire camp were Markus''s wife, Yelna, and Irea herself. In a sense, the camp entered a period where it would be ruled just by the wives of the two of its leaders.

    The only reason why Yelna didn''t join the sabotage force was simple. With most of its capable warriors away, someone powerful enough had to stay back and ensure nothing would happen to the camp itself.

    ''I guess that''s also the reason why Layn wanted me to stay back as well,'' Irea thought, analyzing the situation for the first time since she talked about it with her husband.

    Yet, there was no pride in the girl''s thoughts. While she had no problem considering herself as one of the most powerful people in the camp, she could not put that kind of position as something to have pride in. ''After all, my power is not the effect of my hard work, but rather Layn''s gifts and teachings,'' she thought, keeping her humble attitude from before.

    Ever since the mishap at the desert where she almost died in Layn''s hands, Irea''s power continued to surge. Most likely, it was an effect of what Layn did to heal her. Yet, even since then, even with how happy she was to see how dedicated he was to her, she couldn''t help but hate herself for putting him through such ordeal.

    And right now, some random man of Al''s n dared to disrespect her position. The position that she never craved for nor had any personal pride in. Yet, it was a position bestowed upon her by Layn.

    And disrespecting something of Layn''s origin was something that Irea would never allow anyone to do.

    "So am I to believe that you are one of the two highest-ranking people in the entire camp right now?" the man asked, throwing Irea a scornful look, one that he would give to some misbehaved child that unknowingly caused a lot of trouble for adults.

    "Yes, that''s what you need to believe unless you want to go and bother Yelna," Irea said, forcing all the annoyance out of her face.

    For some reason, the perspective of throwing this man into Yelna''s hands appeared to be pretty enticing. ''After all, out of the two of us, she seems like the one to snap at this kind of guy way easier,'' Irea thought, barely stopping a small chuckle from escaping through her mouth.

    The man turned silent for a moment. Right in the doors, the same messenger that brought the news continued to watch how the events unraveled, ready to step in and punish the messenger the moment he would step out of the line.

    "Fine," the man finally said. Yet, instead of revealing what dire news he was bringing, he just stood there, taking deep breaths. "Do you have something to write?" he then asked, raising his eyes back at the girl.

    "Just tell whatever news you bring," Irea ordered, putting away the wiping cloth and crossing the arms on her chest.

    "The thing is," the man averted his eyes, "I don''t really know calculus..." he said as his cheeks turned slightly red.

    "And what do you need numbers for?" Irea asked as a bad premonition suddenly washed through her mind.

    "To report just how massive the army of cultivators is currently heading to destroy this ce!" The man shouted, mming his fist in powerless fury against another innocent chair.

 Chapter 219 - Running Debate

    "We ride my ass..." Antion muttered, running right beside Layn and Markus. "If we were going on foot from the very beginning, why give us hope that there would be something to ride on?" he asked, although in a voice too silent for either of the camp''s leaders to hear.

    That was the sad truth about the expeditionary force. Even though it was nearly a hundred men strong, without any sort of mount to ride on, their speed was just as one would expect, slow. Even if every single member of the party had a respectable strenght and endurance to their name, that didn''t allow them to ovee the gap created by an absoluteck of horses or mounts of other kinds.

    "What will we do if the distance will be too great?" Markus asked, paying no attention to Antion and other whining warriors. "Even if we keep our leisure pace, men are still going to be tired," he said, casting a quick nce at the state of their group.

    "Then we will have to deal with it as we go," Layn replied, carefully spacing his breaths apart. In a long-distance run, keeping his breathing stable and regr was one of the most important aspects to look out for.

    "That''s one part of your character that always annoyed me," Markus said, shaking his head. Even though he also kept his breathing steady, it didn''t make it hard for the man to talk or express his feelings with movements at all. In the end, the task of running several miles in one go was something that only a mere mortal could consider a challenge. Given how their group consisted of veteran soldiers, cultivators, and even former heroes, it was something that they would be all able to do while fast asleep.

    "What part of me?" Layn asked, slightly surprised by the unexpected topic surfacing.

    "Yourck of care for future nning," Markus exined himself. The former saint then moved his eyes ahead as if too worried to look his friend directly in the eye. "I mean, I don''t want to im that you do not make any real ns, but you never bothered to analyze any possible scenarios that you couldn''t be fully sure of in advance!" Markus borated a bit, addressing the grievance of his soul.

    "It''s not like that," Layn smiled, not taking the criticism to his heart. "I don''t believe there is any point in nning for every possible contingency," he said in a light tone. "What if a sudden thunder wille and limit our visibility? What if we encounter a mounted patrol? What if some random monster on the level of Overlord appears, forcing us to put all our former ns to a halt?" the archmage shot a series of quick and random questions.

    "I know that there are things that you cannot foresee," Markus replied, unwilling to cede any ground in the discussion, "but there are also things that are probable enough to take them into ount," he added, finally turning his face to his friend. "You mentioned an Overlord appearing and a possible encounter with the mounted patrol of vians," Markus said, bringing back Layn''s own words. "What are the chances of a random Overlord crossing paths with us? Almost none," he stated.

    "On the other hand, there is a huge chance we will be found out by a patrolling squad, as it''s their job to find groups and other threats like us," Layn finished the sentence for his friend. "I know what you want to say, brother," the archmage added before turning silent for a moment.

    As the two leaders ran at a steady pace without a single word spoken, the same couldn''t be said about the rest of the people. Off in the distant end of the group, Al was joking with some of his subordinates, Ation amongst them. To the left, some people made the time pass quicker by talking, while others simply adored the beauty of the wild nature all around.

    "You see," Layn finally picked up the topic after thinking about it long and hard in the confines of his soul. "Whenever you n for something, you condition your mind to a certain scenario. For example, let''s get the case of encountering a mounted patrol," he said before a small smile appeared on his face.

    "What about it?" Markus asked, turning his full attention at his friend. It was a rare luxury he could afford only thanks to their position right in the middle of the entire group.

    "Don''t you see the problem already?" Layn asked, stealing a nce of his friend''s face.

    "What problem?" Markus asked. His face tensed up as he had to think whether Layn actually implied something or if he was just turning the entire talk into a silly joke. "You only presented a situation, not how it could be a bad influence," he added, trying to push Layn against the wall and force him to exin his line of thought.

    "Let''s imagine that we actually make some ns for such a situation," Layn said, his smile growing with each second. "In case they are friendly, we will ask them for a lift and guidance to the vian camp. In case they are hostile, we will kill them all and steal their horses," he said, bringing up the random example of how their group could possibly react.

    "See?" Markus said with a triumphant look on his face. "You only thought about it for a second, but now you know what to do if either of the mentioned situations happens!" he shouted with joy filling his voice.

    "Tell me then," Layn smiled as a small chuckle left his mouth. "What if this patrol will be on foot?" he asked. "What if they will be sick? What if they won''t be of vian origin or associated with them at all?" the archmage continued to ask more and more questions, each more ridiculous than the previous one.

    "What do you want to say?" Markus asked, shaking his head as he started to see what Layn''s point possibly was.

    "With each scenario you create in your head beforehand, you condition yourself to follow it once something simr happens. Rather than doing your best to be flexible and adapt to the situation, you force a tunnel vision on your own imagination," Layn exined, moving his eyes back to the direction of where they were running towards.

    "Well, it does makes some sense," Markus reluctantly admitted, putting a thoughtful look on his face.

    "n for what you are certain that will happen," Layn said, the empty look in his eyes indicating that his thoughts were already somewhere else. "React to what you couldn''t expect,"

 Chapter 220 - For Our And Future Generations

    Layn''s group continued to run through the grassy desert for roughly four hours before taking their first stop. While everyst one of the warriors could easily go for twice if not thrice as long without needing any rest, it would be in out stupid to push them to their limits even before a possible sh with vian forces.

    "No matter how much I look at it, this ce is just awe-inspiring," Layn muttered softly, not directing his words to anyone in particr.

    "Is that so?" Antion asked, losing his momentum anding to a full stop right beside the archmage. "What is so great about an endless stretch of nothing but high grass?" he asked, throwing a curious look at their surroundings.

    ''Maybe there is something I didn''t notice before?'' he thought, trying hard to find everyst detail that he could previously omit. ''Or is this just some enlighted speech of someone on another level?'' he asked himself, moving his eyes back at the camp''s unofficial leader.

    "Can''t you see how high this grass is growing?" Layn asked, pointing his hand in a random direction.

    "Yeah?" Ation looked right past Layn''s arm, only to notice more of the same. No matter where exactly the archmage was pointing at, there was only grass there! "What about it?" he asked, curious about the possible solution to what he was missing.

    "It''s a sign that thisnd is fertile," Layn said as a small smile surfaced on his face. For a moment, his expression took a turn for a dreamy one, as if he imagined all this vastnd covered not in grass but farnds and people busy working around them.

    "And what?" Antion asked, his eyes opened as wide as he was surprised by that statement. "It''s not like there is ack of fertilends anywhere around the world, is there?" he said, looking at Layn as if he suddenly came from the stars.

    "Only for the time being," Layn replied, his smile breaking into a sour one. "You see, right now, this world''s civilization is at its bottom," Layn said. Yet, what he didn''t expect, was that this sentence would attract quite a lot of attention from the people around him. He was simply too focused on his inner vision to notice it.

    "People are centered around several cities. There are hardly any viges toe around when you travel through thends. In reality, humans have yet to fully conquer thends they live on," Layn said, pointing out several aspects of the world that he realized just a few days after his jump through time.

    "Isn''t it how it always was and how it always will be?" Antion asked, puzzled by the way Layn attempted to tackle the topic. "The world is simply too vast for people to fully control it. What''s more, in order to fully conquer it, we would need to kill everyst magical beast that roams it," he added before shaking his shoulders. "If we were to do that, there would be no more magic stones to go around. Only by letting those beasts breed on their own, we can ensure a rtively stable supply of the energy for cultivation and magic alike," he said.

    ''I guess he already acknowledged that magic and cultivation are two distinctive things,'' Layn thought, stealing a nce of the man''s face.

    "That''s both true and false at the same time," Layn said, sitting down and stretching his legs forward. While running for only a few hours barely made him break a sweat, he had no other choice but to take vignt care of his muscles if he wanted to keep himself in perfect shape. "Right now, you should be already aware that using magic stones just to suck them dry out of energy is super wasteful. But try to project this thought even further," Layn suggested, putting a wide smile on his lips. "Try to think what would happen if all the remaining magical beasts were to be hunted. What would happen if all the magical stones obtained from them would be used in the way we are using them right now," he said, closing his eyes as heid his back against the cold grass of the steppe.

    "Everyone would have an abundance of mana, making it rtively worthless," Antion replied without hesitation, proving that his wits were pretty quick.

    ''Right, he wouldn''t get such a high position back at the military camp if he was stupid,'' Layn thought, squinting his eyes as he rxed a bit. "That''s right," he said, confirming Antion''s guess. "If that were to happen, the focus on mana would change from how much of it one can have to how well they are capable of using it," he said, smiling to his own thoughts.

    ''Or so it will happen back in my times,'' Layn thought, keeping that single sentence to himself.

    While there was a group of people that knew his origin, a group that Irea recently joined, the majority of the people from the camp have yet to learn about where, or rather, when Layn, Markus, and Al came from.

    "While that vision is great, I don''t think it will ever happen," Antion lowered his head and bit on his lips. "The Star Emperor and his supporters would never allow for such a world toe. They stand to lose way too much if that were to happen," the former prefect of the warcamp stated, shaking his head to emphasize how impossible such a reality would be.

    "The thing is," Layn said, closing his eyes once again, "I''m not going to ask about his opinion."

    For a moment, the discussion died off. Layn simplyid down on the ground, using the short time of the break to regenerate the energy he expended to run for the past four hours.

    "Wait a moment," Antion finally caught up on the meaning hidden behind the archmage''s words. "Are you going to say that you are going to make that visione true?"

    "For our and future generations," Layn opened his eyes, "I will."

 Chapter 221 - Origin Of Slavians Magic And Its Meaning

    "I think we reached the first checkpoint," Markus muttered silently under his nose. He then raised his head and looked at Layn. "What do you think, brother?"

    The entire expedition had extremely limited and most likely outdated information. The majority of what they knew about the terrain further away from the camp came from Sitra''s and Layn''s records of their return from the viannds. And given how they traveled in a rtively straightne, adding an overallpleteck of maps of the area, finding a correct path to any of their destinations proved to be a task far more challenging than initially expected.

    "I think I recall this ce," Layn said, looking around patiently.

    Right now, there was no need for hurry whatsoever. They could save a few minutes that Layn needed to think by rushing everyone ahead without a care in the world. But in the grand scheme of things, unless they would be perfectly on the spot or just lucky, they stood to waste far more time required for thetter corrections of their course.

    "We are on the right track," Layn said after a few moments'' worth of scurrying his memories. "Unless we are in a ce almost perfectly the same as the one I recall, we should just follow straight west to reach the vian border," he said, pointing his hand in the direction where he felt they should head towards.

    "Good," Markus said, raising back on his feet. Then, with a single wave of his hand, he alerted the entire group before pushing them back on the move.

    "Still, I''m amazed you can recall such fine details," Markus said after a few moments, once the group regained its previous momentum. "If that was me, I wouldn''t be able to pay attention to any of them, not to even speak about actually remembering them forter," he said, shaking his head in awe.

    "We are in the steppe. Our journey back then took quite a while, so with nothing to busy my thoughts with, saving the path we took in my memory was just a way to kill some time," Layn replied in a humble manner.

    But this time, it wasn''t just an attempt to downy his achievements, but actual truth. Back when he was returning from the vian''s country, he had yet toe up with any n involving them.

    It wasn''t some kind of mishap on his part orck of ability to foresee the potential conflict. ''I guess I was too shaken by the revtion that they actually existed to pay much mind to the fine details,'' Layn thought, ming himself for this mistake of his.

    "Still, I wonder what Sitra will think when she realizes what all those questions were for," Markus said, slightly changing the topic as soon as he realized how ufortable Layn was with the previous one.

    "She might be mad or just understand the need of what we set out to do," Layn replied, not paying much mind to the possible reaction of the girl.

    With the death of Castor, the importance of the girl was greatly diminished. As she lost her position as a delegate of the friendly vian faction, she became nothing else but a refugee in the camp. And while no one in there treated her as such, that was her general position and importance in the grand scheme of things.

    "Aren''t you worried she will try to sabotage the camp in some sort of ill-conceived revenge?" Markus asked. Between the two of them, or rather, between Layn and everyone else in the camp, it was the archmage that spent the most time with that girl, making him the best person to ask about her potential reactions.

    "She is a soldier, not some kind of spec-ops member," Layn replied, shaking his shoulders while swallowing a gulp of saliva that formed in his mouth at the same time. Just a mention of that legendary unit was enough to make a chill travel down his spine.

    "How about her magic, then?" Markus asked before his face suddenly lit up. "Right, I never asked about it. How is the vian magic different from what we know?" Layn''s friend asked.

    "In the first ce, to discuss vian magic, you need to understand the difference between what we consider magic and what this world considers magic," Layn replied with a smile.

    "We are using the magic energy to invoke various phenomena. While our current level allows us to treat it as just another element of the world''s physics, that''s the origin of the magic we know," Markus replied with the official form of magic that every graduate of every magic academy had to remember by heart. "On the contrary, the locals of this time use magic to reinforce their bodies and ingrain what we would call a spell structure into their own flesh. This is what allows them to use various techniques that closely resemble our own," Markus exined his own take on the magical reality of the current world.

    "While not fully true, that''s the general gist of it." Layn nodded his head, agreeing with his friend. "But for now, this will be enough. Now, you already said that there are simrities between cultivation and the magic we know. And this is the most crucial point to understand why I was so awed with the vian magic," Layn said before releasing a deep sigh.

    "Is it that bad?" Markus asked as his face tensed slightly. Not knowing the weapons of their potential enemies was the worst kind of worry that any kind of leader heading off to the battlefield could be bothered with.

    "In terms of understanding what they are capable of," Layn started off a high note, only to drop his head low the next moment. "We have no understanding," he said as a hint of anxiety momentarily appeared on his face. "But what''s actually interesting is that I observed no simrities of their magic to what we know," he said before turning silent.

    "And what do you think that means?" Markus asked once he got bored of waiting for his friend to reveal it himself.

    "I''m worried that their magic is apletely new system. Something that we never tried or never figured out before," the archmage said before raising his eyes towards the line of the horizon. "And while this is just a random guess of mine, I believe their entire magic system has a fully separate origin to ours," he said before squinting and then closing his eyes.

    "And that would mean..." Markus attempted to say something, only to stop his tongue from running wild a momentter. In the end, this wasn''t the topic that could be so freely discussed with a huge group of surrounding them from all sides.

    "Yes," Layn nodded his head. "There are only two possible exnations for that," he said before opening his eyes and looking at his friend again. "Either their civilization waspletely separated from ours throughout the times, or the other guess you had is actually correct," he said before moving his eyes back to the state they were in before.

    ''In other words,'' Layn thought, tightening his hands into fists, ''this magic is the first clue pointing at the possibility that vians do not belong to this world at all."

 Chapter 222 - Would It Better If I Just Killed Them All?

    "People ahead!"

    This simple shout served as an energizing factor for the entire group. For thest several hours, all they did was run and rest, but now, the boring part of their expedition was finally about to end.

    "Seventeen strong, all on horseback!" A more detailed report quickly reached Layn''s ears.

    "We should still be outside of their patrol range," the archmage muttered, confused about the unexpected situation.

    "What does it matter?" Markus asked, shaking his head to show how little he cared for Layn''s worries right now. "Increase the speed and move to intercept!" Instead of wasting time on worries like Layn did, Markus shouted his order before increasing the pace of his run.

    ''What are they doing so deep in the steppe?'' Layn thought as several possibilities ran through his mind. ''Deep scouting? Deep sentries? Or maybe just a baiting force?'' he thought about several possibilities.

    For the next few moments, everyone hung in the aura of uncertainty. Thanks to the power of everyst of the soldiers, they could easily outrun even the fastest horse. The sh between two forces was, as such, inevitable.

    As Layn continued his run, the cold winds of the afternoon cooled his face and his emotions alike. With the distance between his group and the vian party decreasing, his thoughts calmed down.

    "Make sure not to kill," he ordered before rapidly increasing the pace of his run.

    When the first report came, there were several miles between the two groups. When Layn came to his senses, only half of that distance remained.

    ''Gather the mana...'' Layn thought, guiding his mana-maniption with his thoughts. ''Condense it to the point of oversaturation,'' he continued to manipte the energy. At the same time, he had already managed to get to the very front of his group.

    "Let it carry you ahead!" he shouted to himself, pushing the energy below his feet and letting free of his control.

    Layn''s body was made out of mana and mana alone. As he continued to use it in the physical world, there was hardly any way to observe this fact anymore.

    But mana itself had no eyes to see that. It had no sentience to decide what to push and what to ignore.

    Layn''s vision cked out. Even though his body was made out of condensed mana, it operated on the physical ne. As such, when his speed massively increased as the wave of dpressing mana pushed him forward, the blood simply couldn''t reach his brain.

    ''I guess that''s what happened to those who tried to beat the speed records,'' he thought, as thend below him turned into a hazy mess.

    ''Gather the energy,'' Layn thought, repeating the same step from before. But this time, rather than condensing it to the smallest area possible, he weaved his own mana into a sort of cushion that he used to dampen his momentum before falling down to the ground.

    "Whoa!" a man on a horse shouted when his mount acted up. His voice was filled with surprise, caused by the seemingly unreasonable behavior of his trustypanion. "What happened, buddy?" he asked right as Layn''s feet softly touched the ground behind him.

    "Sieg! Behind...!" Another soldier shouted, but it was all for naught.

    ''Go to sleep,'' Layn thought, mming the side of his palm into the back of the vian''s soldier neck.

    It was one of the simplest and mostplicated techniques of subjugating humans that Layn ever learned. Simplest because there could be hardly anything harder than a simple strike like that. Insanely hard because even the slightestpse in judgment regarding the amount of force used and the attack would turn into lethal or apletely useless one.

    Only by striking with the precisely right amount of strenght one could properly knock his opponent out.

    "ATTACK!" Another soldier shouted. The entire group rallied up just in time... For Layn to disappear.

    ''They are not that bad,'' he thought, condensing the very fabric of space around himself, making it impossible for their eyes to notice him. He was still there, a reach of their hand away. Yet, the space around him made the light skip right over his presence.

    A space easily capable of fitting a grown-up male turned as small as one''s fingernail. At least, it happened from the perspective of the soldiers.

    ''Knocking them all with this method would be too hard,'' Layn thought, using his ability to hide himself to take a moment and analyze the situation. But just as he was about to rub his chin and pace around the ce, one of the soldiers rapidly turned his head away.

    "From the east!" The soldier shouted, pointing his arm right at where Layn''s group wasing from.

    ''Not good,'' Layn thought, moving his eyes in the same direction as everyone else. ''If they get to them first...'' he thought, moving his eyes from his ownpanions to the vian soldiers only to finally rest them at the outline of massive wall already visible right at the edge of the horizon.

    ''I guess I have no choice,'' Layn thought before clenching his teeth. He then sped his hands together, instantly revealing his position to all the soldiers around him.

    His spell never made him disappear. It just made his entire self appear so small that no human could ever notice him. Yet, nothing else about Layn ever changed.

    Meaning, when he sped his hands, the sound it released was perfectly capable of reaching everyone''s ears!

    "He''s here!" a random soldier shouted, drawing his saber and striking precisely at where Layn stood.

    "Suck it," Layn whispered before spreading his two palms apart. At the same time, with a single thought, he surrounded the entire group with a thin barrier of pure magic, separating the entire world into the area inside andnds outside the barrier.

    Layn didn''t contest the soldier''s attack. He didn''t need to.

    Because if he condensed just the visual aspect of space to hide his visual self before, then he now stretched a tiny point of it to near infinity. A single point in space, located right between his spread-out palms.

    It was a single point. A in singrity that had no size yet contained more space than it would take to fit the entire steppe that Layn governed.

    By itself, it could do no harm to anyone or anything. But when all the air within Layn''s barrier suddenly found an overwhelmingly massive area of a perfect void, thews of pressure did the rest.

    The saber heading for Layn''s head missed when the raging wind surged to bring the pressure back to a stable state. mmed by the wall of air, the poor soldier''s hand snapped, forcing the weapon to fly out of his hand and enter the ck hole of space between Layn''s hand.

    Layn killed the peculiar space between his hand as soon as all the air disappeared from the space within the barrier. With his flesh reinforced by the cultivation, his lungs could withstand the sudden change of pressure.

    vian soldiers, surprised by the sudden change, couldn''t prepare themselves for it. Once they attempted to breathe in, all the air escaped from their lungs, saving them from the unpleasant feeling of having their bodies explode outwards. But by doing so, they effectively limited the time that they could stay awake.

    After all, no matter how strong one was,ck of oxygen would kill them either way.

    Layn lowered his barrier as soon as thest of the soldier fell to the ground, unconscious. At this point, only two out of the seventeen horses remained awake, although desperately struggling for breath.

    "What happened?" Markus asked, reaching the ce of the silent carnage a momentter. Just one look at the horses and humans desperately catching air was enough for him to look at his friend in disdain. "I know war is never nice, but to treat clueless animals like that..." he muttered, showing one of the traits that weremonly believed to be the reason why Yelna married him in the first ce.

    "Would it be better to just kill them?" Layn asked, squinting his eyes as he looked at his friend. "It would be way easier on me too," he added as he turned his eyes back to the scene of people and horses struggling to regain their breaths.

    "You can deal with that kind of problemter," Al entered the discussion, throwing both Layn and Markus a look of disdain. "Men, take care of them all!" he shouted an order, instantly pushing Layn''s group into action.. "Just make sure not to kill them. We still need someone to give our best regards to their leaders!"

 Chapter 223 - Negotiations Breaking Down?

    ''Come on, don''t make me wait,'' Layn thought, observing the massive fortification in the distance.

    Just a few hours ago, while their group was still beyond the visible range of the spotters on the vian''s fortifications, they decided to let the captured patrol go.

    Given all the efforts Layn had to put forward to capture them, it appeared like an idiotic attempt at mending the rtions between the two parties... But it wasn''t that in the first ce.

    ''Come on, any time now,'' Layn continued to wish, awaiting the vian move.

    They released the patrol people with a simple purpose in mind. By allowing them to go free, Layn''s group showed the first sign of kindness, the first hint that they were willing to sit down at the table and negotiate. This was also the message that those people were tasked with passing.

    "You may go back to your base. All we ask is for you to announce our arrival and send someone to talk about the future of both our tribes."

    This was the simple message those people were tasked with passing. Yet, despite how simple it was, it also served two purposes.

    The gate in the distance pried open. For how massive it was, a great deal of engineering though had to be put to allow for how quickly and seemingly effortlessly its sides moved apart.

    A huge group of riders appeared behind it, only to rush outside at a breakneck speed.

    ''Are they going to fight?'' Layn asked himself, observing the movements of the other group.

    For the sake of easing the beginning of the negotiations, Layn stood alone. The rest of his group waited a considerable distance away, far enough to make vians feel rtively safe but close enough to join in the battle if one were to erupt.

    ''Come on, don''t be stupid,'' Layn wished heavily, watching how the group of cavalrymen rapidly closed the distance.

    The group of riders slowed down and stopped just ten seconds away from Layn. And then, a inly dressed man rode forward, leaving the rest of hispanions behind.

    "I am Stefan, lieutenant of general Arto," the rider announced himself, looking down at Layn sitting directly on the grass. "For letting my people go rtively... unharmed, you have my gratitude," the man said, almost spitting his words. Yet, he still nodded his head to thank for the act of kindness earlier.

    "I believe it will be a disappointment for you, but I am capable of speaking yournguage," Layn said, standing up in one, fluid motion. "I am Layn, one of the leaders of the Steppe Camp and the current Overlord of the entire Steppe," he said with a big smile, leaning his head over his shoulder as he looked out with the curiosity for the man''s reaction.

    "It''s a pleasure to meet you, my lord," the man replied. His face changed when he heard Layn''s introduction. What''s more, it prompted him to get down from his horse and get on equal ground as the archmage. "Now, would you mind borating what''s your purpose of visiting?"

    "Oh, it''s pretty simple," Layn said, putting a wide smile on his face. "But sadly, I don''t think it''s going to be as simple as if it would be if a follower of general Kazan were to be the mediator," Layn said as his smile soured.

    "Oho?" the officer''s expression soured as well. "And why is that? Could it be that there is some kind... of a deal between you two?" he asked, openly cing his hand on the handle of his saber.

    "I wouldn''t call it a deal, but more like... For my ns, it would be more convenient to deal with someone I have no respect whatsoever for," Layn said. At the same time, his smile returned to his face. "Just make sure to hold your hand where you have it right now. We wouldn''t want your peers to think that we came to some kind of agreement, would we?" Layn said, suggesting what his real intention was.

    "I see," the officer replied as a small, devious smile appeared on his lips as well. "In that case, what would you like ourmon... friend... to do?" the man asked, pulling out his saber a little from its scabbard.

    Seeing this, Layn instantly raised his hand, stopping the people from his group from rushing forward.

    ''Now that we have a thread ofmon understanding, it would be a pity if we were to start fighting for no reason whatsoever,'' he thought, smiling at the man. "Let''s say that ever since a friend of mine was killed in action, I have a lot less sympathy towards the other general of yours," Layn admitted as his expression darkened.

    He didn''t know Carter well, nor did he know him for long. But the few days that he spent with that man allowed Layn to feel a huge amount of respect towards him.

    "Oh, so you are the one that Sitra talked a lot about," the officer suddenly realized. For a moment, his concentrationpsed, allowing for a shocked expression to surface on his face. "Speaking of which, how is she?" he asked.

    "Safely bored in my camp," Layn replied, freely revealing what could actually be a piece of crucial information. "But the problem is, right now, my camp is in quite a peculiar situation. A situation that your people can either exploit like the general Kazan would prefer, or a situation that general Arto could help us make use of," Layn exined, slowly adding more wrath to his expression.

    "What do you need, man?" the officer asked, clearly interested in the topic.

    "Let''s say there is amon enemy of our people, one that started to infringe on my steppe," Layn said, finally turning his expression to one of genuine rage. "What I really want is you to act as if our negotiationspletely broke down because I turned out to be an immoral piece of shit," Layn said, stomping his leg in the ground and raising his voice to the very limit beyond which people in the distance could hear his words.

    "What would that do for you?" the officer asked, following Layn''s ruse and pulling his weapon out.

    "I would be able to put the attention of my current enemy on your people. As for you, by pretending to fail at the negotiations, you could retract and, as a result, save your forces from the disaster that I''m about to unleash on you," Layn said, not bothered to hide the details of his n at all.

    ''After all, even if this man is actually one of Kazan''s men, the only thing that will change will be the name of who will bring ruin to his people,'' Layn thought.

    "So, to reiterate," the officer shed the air with his saber in a clearly threatening way. Even without looking behind, Layn could tell that this was the straw that broke the camel''s back, making his group jump ahead.

    The archmage raised his hand again to stop them. Right now, the moment was too crucial to allow any kind of mishap like that.

    "You want me to push Kazan''s forces into your weing arms so that you can dupe them. In this way, you will weaken both of your opponents while giving my faction a chance to raise, right?" the officer smiled through the wrathful expression he wore on his face.

    "Isn''t it great to talk with someone intelligent?" Layn asked before spitting on the ground.. "Now, get the hell out of my face, you naive bastard!" he shouted, stomping on the ground with enough strenght to make the ground shake.

 Chapter 224 - How Dare You Touch My Pepe!

    Layn didn''t need to wait long for someone to rece the initial negotiator. From how quickly a new person appeared, it was obvious that this change was something that the other party anticipated and prepared for.

    "My Lord, I apologize for the ipetence of my precedesor," the new negotiator said as soon as he reached the talking distance away from Layn. "I hoped I could be the one to talk business with you, sir, from the very beginning, but as I believe you are aware off, internal politics can be a bitch," the man said, keeping a disgusting simile throughout his speech.

    "I think I know what you are talking about," Layn replied, ncing over his back towards where the rest of his group remained vignt.

    In theory, they were far enough for Layn to speakfortably. Yet, the reality of the situation was that even outside Markus, Al, and other powerhouses, even the weakest of the bunch, were high enough on the cultivationdder to easily monitor the entire discussion!

    But just as Layn was aware of that fact, Markus would make sure that everyone would be aware of how Layn was aware. Otherwise, what Layn was about to speak about with Kazan''s followers could easily uproot the trust between factions in the camp itself.

    "Well, it''s great we could establish something we can both understand so quickly," the man said. He then pulled his left leg to the back, ced his right-hand t over his heart, only to pull his fingers into a fist and m it in the very same ce a momentter. "I''m Ceres. I''m lieutenant of his majesty, general Kazan," he introduced himself, raising from the peculiar bow.

    "I''m Layn, the overlord of thends you guys wish to migrate to," the archmage replied, not pulling any punches.

    ''Now, let this doubt fester whether I learned it from Castor or if I figured it out myself,'' Layn thought, internally smiling when he saw the face of the man ahead of him sour slightly.

    "Sir Layn," Ceres spoke up. "Would you like to borate where do you see the field for cooperation?" the man asked, stealthy clenching his teeth.

    ''Oh, I shouldn''t push him like that,'' Layn thought, rejoicing at the moment.

    What he did earlier was just a small push. The fact that his negotiation partner reacted so heavily to the point of already getting annoyed only meant how ipetent he was.

    That, or he was a genius of negotiation capable of even fooling Layn in regards to his state of mind.

    "It''s simple," Layn smiled before stealing another nce behind his back. "I own thend that you guys are interested in. The problem is, thisnd has scarce resources and several groups already interested in holding it all for their dear life," Layn said, shrugging his arms only to roll his eyes a momentter. "Isn''t that annoying? Why hold on to something that you cannot really make use of if you can..." Layn took a little break, moving his eyes back on Ceres, "sell it off?"

    For a moment, Ceres simply stared at Layn as his eyes continued to widen in surprise.

    "Sir, is that really all?" Ceres asked, clearly unwilling to believe that the situation could be that simple. After all, his entire nation wanted to migrate to Layn''snds and was stopped by the fact that they could really deal with him on their own.

    Even for someone as rotten as a lieutenant from Kazan''s faction, such a dreamy solution had to seem not a bit but insanely off!

    "Obviously, nothing can be that easy," Layn said. Then, just like before, he looked around as if wary of some kind of spies before taking a few steps forward and gesturing at the man to do the same.

    ''I wonder what the boys are thinking,'' Layn thought, already repulsed by what he was about to do. Looking over the shoulder of Ceres, he could see that the mobile force behind him had already changed, proving that neither of the vian factions was willing to entrust their officers under the care of the soldiers of the other faction.

    ''Well, everything goes ording to the n,'' he thought, focusing as the distance between the two decreased to just a single step. ''Now, how should I lead with that?'' Layn asked himself as two options appeared before him.

    One was actually going on with the ruse and manipting the guy into sending a detachment to ''survey thend and iron out the details at their ce.'' This option allowed both Layn and his entire group to avoid spilling the blood themselves while achieving what they wanted. But because there would be no real pressure on the vians to keep going, it would be pretty hard to force them to sh with the monsters, even with all the tricks and illusions that Layn and others had up their sleeve.

    ''Do I really care about spilling some blood?'' Layn asked himself as he leaned over Ceres'' ear. His mouth opened up, yet before a single word coulde out from between his lips, Castor''s face appeared before Layn''s eyes.

    For a moment, he froze. Then, as the raging emotion filled his soul, Layn''s lips curved up.

    "Thanks for being a naive idiot," he whispered to Ceres'' ear before taking up a wrathful look on his face and shoving the man aside. Layn pushed the man strong enough to make him lose his bnce yet light enough to stop him from falling out of his range.

    "Where the hell do you think you are touching me?!" Layn shouted loud enough for every party in the area to realize that something was wrong.

    "What?" Ceres asked as he stumbled back. His eyes widened in shock, only for the man to squint them as realization started to reach his mind.

    But it was toote.

    With one swift motion, Layn pulled out a saber, one that hemandeered from the patrol his group defeated a few hours prior, only to sh Ceres right at the height... of his hips.

    The distance of the strike was perfectly calcted. Layn managed to avoid all the lethal points.

    He struck only one of them. A lethal point not to one''s health but one to one''s pride.

    "That''s what you get for trying to touch my pepe!" the archmage shouted madly, no longer bothered by making any sense. ''Was it a chuckle?'' he almost stumbled when a distant echo ofughter reached his ears. ''Well, whatever,'' he thought, raising his bloodied de to the people in the distance.

    "I could ept your sleaziness. I could ept your corruption!" he shouted, waving his de down while ncing at the weeping man just a few feet away. In the distance, the cavalry group of vians only now managed to ovee their shock, all kicking the sides of their horses to get revenge on Layn for viting the sanctity of negotiations and their emissary.

    "But I won''t ept your attempts to feel me up!" Layn shouted, cringing hard on the inside for how his words barely made any sense. "If you want to check if I''m a man, thene at me, you fucking perverts!" he shouted, iling his weapon madly in the direction of the vian fortifications.

    "We need to go," Markus said out loud, appearing right beside Layn and locking his arms around the archmage''s chest.. "We need to go now!" he shouted, dragging his friend away.

 Chapter 225 - Meeting At The Warcamp

    "Sir, the Mugen, Quartz, Rubystone, and Hubal mercenarypanies were destroyed before they managed to join forces with the main army," a three-star expert bent his back, mming his head against the dirty ground while making a report.

    For a three-star expert, the biggest powerhouse in the world that themon folk knew about, to prostrate himself like that was definitely not a usual sight.

    But taking into ount who he was reporting to, this behavior hardly came as a surprise.

    "Thanks for the report. Now, get lost," Tytus said, leisurely waving the man away. Once the overqualified messenger left, he turned his head towards the rest of the group. "I bet you didn''t expect that," he said as a small smile flickered on his lips.

    "Those damned barbarians," Jeah muttered through his tightened teeth. "I''m that close to getting out of my way and killing them with my own hands," he said, sping his right fist into an open palm of his left hand.

    "Now, now, there is no need to get so agitated," Consal patted the Star Emperor''s back. The ability to cate this choleric man was the only reason why he continued to walk in circles around the room instead of setting himselffortably in one of the pillow sets that the rest of the group was using. "Don''t you think this would be exactly what they want?" he asked as he moved away from the man.

    "What about me, then?" Far asked, his eyes firing up with excitement. "Since only this idiot bothered to make a name for himself, they wouldn''t know what hit them," he added, leisurely trying to find a way to escape this boring meeting and go amuse himself with some fight.

    "Do you even know where to find them?" Consal asked, rolling his eyes at the stupid suggestion. "For now, we are the ones who have no idea what hit us. If not for the few survivors they intentionally left for us, we would have no clue at all," he added, gently pressing his lips together.

    ''This entire thing is starting to get on my nerves,'' Consal thought. This lingering doubt was something he would never dare to reveal to others, yet it was something that made him seriously reconsider the situation.

    "I doubt they want to draw any of us out," Mukken countered in his usual, silent voice. "They are attacking small army groups before they can join the main force. This alone proves that it''s not the able few but ipetent many that they fear the most," he said before closing his mouth once again.

    "Good point," Consal agreed before forcing a small smile on his lips. "Or that''s what they want us to think. Or they don''t have any real n in the first ce," he added several other options exining the strange behavior of their enemies.

    "They just want my head," Jeah moaned in annoyance. "They took out one of my envoys, yet the structure of power remains unshaken. Even an idiot can realize that my envoy wasn''t the true emperor but a marite instead," he said, clenching his hands into fists.

    "Well, that''s why I believe we should just proceed with the n," Consal said, scanning all of hispanions gathered in a single room.

    ''With our power alone, we could turn the entire continent around. But if that''s the case, why am I feeling so anxious about it all?'' he thought, gently biting on his lips. ''Oh boy, I really wish I didn''t take that idiot''s bait,'' he thought, sending a hateful re towards Jeah.

    "And just let them bite us in behind?" Jeah asked, clearly unsatisfied with such an idea. "Can''t you just go out and deal with those buggers?" he asked, turning his face to his elders.

    "And where should we strike, huh?" Tytus asked, rolling his eyes for the second time in the short span of thest few minutes. "An overwhelming power and Overlord''s status doesn''t mean we can monitor the entire continent. Or did you forget that it''s actually your job to do so, mister Star Emperor?" he asked, throwing the reality right in Jeah''s face.

    "And do you think that it''s easy to be conscious of nearly the entire continent all at once?" Jeah threw the punch back, leaning forward in his seat. But instead of continuing the fight of words, he lowered his head for a moment only to mutter, "the fact that they don''t have any aura at all doesn''t help."

    ''Isn''t that the source of my worries?'' Consal thought, clenching his hands. ''We are going against an enemy that doesn''t make any sense. An enemy we know nothing about,'' he thought when a sudden chill traveled down his spine.

    Alerted by this innermost feeling of his body, Consal looked around, only to notice a silent gaze of Mukken on himself. If the chill before was caused by the unknown stare, then now it increased tenfold.

    Out of all the overlords gathered in this ce, Mukken was both the strongest and the strangest. Rarely speaking up and never wasting his words on useless chitchat, he was the most mysterious out of them all. While the domain of every other Overlord in the group was clearly defined, Mukken was the exception that confirmed its rule.

    ''I wonder what is he thinking?'' Consal thought, fighting off the shiver caused by Mukken''s stare. Outside of Tytus, Conseal was the only one aware of just how peculiar Mukken was.

    The first Overlord to appear in the world. The unannounced leader of their party and protector of the existing order. Yet, a man who never bothered to carve out his own dominion or establish his influence when the group divided the world between themselves.

    A mystery.

    "Well, there is no use in debating. We won''t bring back the lost troops just by talking," Far suddenly said, standing up from his seat. In his eyes, the fires of enthusiasm were already burning. "Let''s just move out the troops we have in the warcamp. If we wait for any longer, we risk getting stuck behind the barrier," he said, clearly wishing to turn his suggestion into amand.

    "If it''s the barrier you are worried about, then I will take it down," Mukken suddenly said, his expression just as stoic and inscrutable as ever. "What''s more, this war will decide who my sessor will be," he added as an extremely rare, small smile appeared on his lips.

    "What?" Consal muttered as his eyes widened in shock.

 Chapter 226 - The Truth About The Worlds Succession

    "What did you just say?!" Jeah shot up from his chair. His reaction was only second to Consal, although obviously for different reasons. "You can lower the barrier?!" he shouted, proving which part of Mukken''s announcement appeared to be more important to him.

    "Your sessor?" Consal asked, ignoring Jeah''s outburst. "Wait, could it be that you are..." he didn''t finish his words, silenced by a Tytus'' sudden gaze.

    "How about you stop butting in when I''m talking?" Jeah said angrily. "Or could it be that you no longer care about your reward?!" he shouted, unable to hold back his excitement and anger born out of it.

    "To be fair," Consal said, squinting his eyes, "right now, I do not. And I''m more than happy to kill you just to make you shut your crap!" he replied, throwing the youngest Overlord of the group a deadly stare.

    For a moment, the two of them red at each other in the contest of stares. During this time, Tytus and Mukken simply sat in silence, as if the entire situation didn''t bother them in the slightest. Between those two groups of two, only Far sat in confusion, not really sure how to react.

    "Fine," Jeah finally gave up once he realized that he wouldn''t achieve anything by getting emotional. Even though he was the highest being that all the people on the Star Continent revered, he was still the youngest and the weakest out of the five Overlords.

    "Great, now scram," Consal said, pointing his hand at the door. "There is some stuff I need to talk with Tytus and Mukken about," he added, not shifting his gaze away even for a second.

    "I spared your face by backing down already. But I would advise you not to cross the line," Jeah said, his face darkening once again. "I know that I''m weaker than you, but don''t forget that I can change it with a single thought!" he added, staring daggers at the firstpanion that he reeled in for the cause.

    "And by doing that, you would lose all your chances at beating the guys you gathered us all to beat," Consal said, rolling his eyes. "You ordered the army to march out. Now go and see it through," he added, keeping his arm in the exact same position as before.

    "You..." Jeah said, throwing a quick nce at the other people in the room. Yet, outside of Far, who had no idea where to look at, neither Tytus nor Mukken paid him any heed. "Fine!" he ended up shouting, only to burst out of the room in a fit of rage.

    "Now, Far," Consal said, bringing up the name of the only Overlord that had no idea how to react. ''Well, it''s given with how simple his personality is,'' Consal thought, staring at the face of the only Overlord he could call a friend. Yet, instead of continuing, he moved his eyes on Tytus instead, eager to check for the man''s approval.

    But instead of nodding his head, Tytus shook his sideways, indicating that what he earlier stopped Consal from voicing out wasn''t something that Far was ready or even allowed to hear.

    "I''m sorry, brother, but I will need you to leave as well," Consal said, lowering his head in apology.

    "Huh?" Far looked around, only to raise his hand and point his finger at his own chest. "Did you mean me?" he asked, just as confused with Consal''s request as he was with the entire situation.

    "I''m sorry. How about you try to scout ahead and look if the enemy we are going against is willing to put up a fight in the first ce?" Consal asked, quickly turning the discussion from the matter of Far leaving to him heading into the fight. ''Thank God he is so simple,'' Consal thought, staring intently at his friend.

    For a moment, For remained silent. He simply stared back at his old friend with a surprisingly serious expression on his face.

    "So be it," the fight-crazed Overlord ended up saying as he raised up from his seat. "Keep in mind, I''m not leaving because you dangled an opportunity to fight before my eyes," he said once he reached half the way towards the doors. "I''m only leaving because I can tell there are some things that I''m not privy to hear here," he added before picking up the pace and leaving the room.

    "Now, then," Consal said, moving his eyes back at Tytus'' face. "Can we discuss what Mukken announced?" he asked, not daring to adopt any bit of arrogance or self-importance when dealing with those two.

    "Yes, Mukken isn''t an Overlord at all," Tytus said, finally opening his mouth. "In fact, I''m not one either," he added after a short pause, looking up to the ceiling as if it was far more interesting than actually looking at the shocked expression on Consal''s face.

    "If he isn''t an Overlord and can manipte the barrier, is he a..." Consal attempted to ask, only to be silenced by Mukken suddenly raising his hand.

    "I''m not a God," he said in a silent voice. His face remained as calm and stoic as it always was. "I''m just an overseer of this world, a manager positioned here by God. Nothing more but a guard-dog tasked with managing the world during its expansion stage," he said, revealing the shocking truths as if they were nothing.

    "And you?" Consal asked, moving his eyes on Tytus'' face. Given the scale of the ongoing reveals, he dared not to even guess who that man really was.

    "I''m not of the ancient origin; you don''t need to worry about that," Tytus said with a rare smile appearing on his face. "But as I said before, I''m not a true Overlord either. In a sense, you are the first Overlord born and consecrated as an Overlord by this world itself," Tytus said, sending Consal a nce of a parent full of pride due to his child''s achievements.

    "Then what are you?" Consal asked, feeling how his perception of the entire world continued to crumble at a worrying rate.

    "I was consecrated as an Overlord by Mukken," Tytus said, pointing with his hand at the stoic being sitting beside him. "When the gateways started to diverge from their original paths, he decided that someone born from this world was necessary to help him maintain the status quo," he said with a gentle smile. "Not like I ever found myself to be necessary or actually useful," he added as his smile soured a little.

    "Then..." Consal said, taking a moment to throw everything he just heard out of his head. Given the mood of honesty those two strange beings had, he couldn''t waste this precious time on analyzing each of their words. ''Right now, I need to learn as much as possible. The time to figure out what it all means willeter,'' he thought before swallowing a mouthful of saliva. "Then, what is this entire sessor thing all about?" Consal asked, striking right for the core of the discussion.

    "It''s simple, yet strange." Mukken finally opened his mouth again. "My jobes to an end once the holder of the progenitor''s bloodline will descend upon this world," he said before adding, "that''s the simple part."

    "Then what''s the strange one?" Consal asked, feeling as if he was about to touch the deepest possible level of secrets regarding the world as a whole.

    "It''s strange because one shouldn''t appear for the next two million years," Tytus replied as a troubled look grew up on his face. "That''s why Mukken decided on this specific course of action," he added, biting on his lower lip. "If that bloodline holder proves to be fake, you will seed Mukken, who is now destined to die soon," he said before lowering his head and looking down on the floor, refusing to speak a word more.

    "And what if he is a real one?" Consal asked, feeling a chill run down his spine.

    "Then it''s not within our authority to decide or even know what the future holds for this world," Mukken replied, closing his eyes.

 Chapter 227 - Three Armies

    ***Lone Forest, seven miles east from the Warcamp, Campsite of Generian Forces***

    "Leader, their army is advancing into the desert," one of the warriors reported directly to Ation. His rugged clothing and scars wounds covering every inch of his exposed skin proved just how difficult reaching the hidden camp of theirs was.

    "Good job, soldier," Ation replied, using the fancy new world that those other tribes they allied with liked to use instead of warriors. "Now, go get some rest while you still can. We might be advancing soon," he said before turning his head to his direct subordinates.

    "What do you think about this, guys?" Ation asked, moving his eyes back to the warcamp hidden right beyond the horizon. "Should we attack right away?"

    "Leader, with our numbers?" Kaspar asked before shaking his head. "Even if they only left a small force that we could deal with, they are still well within the distance toe to their aid," he said before taking a deep breath. "I say we wait," he added once, thinking about it for a moment.

    "I wish we could," Leer replied, shaking his head in disagreement. He didn''t even bother to look towards the warcamp. He was too old for this kind of antics, reaching seventy of age. "If they manage to get even a single shipment of supplies, our brothers at the camp won''t have a chance. The only way to defeat them is to starve them out," he said in a calm manner as if he wasn''t talking about massacring several tens of thousands of people.

    "And now we have the question," Ation whispered. "Do we risk our lives to go in for the supplies, or do we risk their lives by staying put?" he voiced out the troubling situation of theirs.

    Ation''s forces consisted of all the people that Al left behind when venturing for the desert himself. By rallying up both Gener nsmen and the people they fought with, right as the disaster struck, they managed to bolster their number to a total of three thousand...

    Which wasn''t even a tenth of the army that their enemy managed to gather. Not even their prolonged efforts at cutting off the smaller detachments before they could unite with the main force managed to bring the number of celestials to a manageable range.

    "I say we attack," Ation said after taking a long time to analyze the situation. "The main problem of the possible reinforcementse applies only if we attempt to take the warcamp," he said, observing the massive cloud of dust rising above the horizon. It was the sight that the celestials started to cross into the desert, proving how little time they had to react.

    "What do you mean?" Kaspar asked before moving his eyes on Leer, hoping to see the same confusion on the old man''s face as there was in his eyes. But to the young warrior''s surprise, Leer only smiled lightly.

    "If we attack the warcamp, we will force those fuckers to make a decision. And they will only have three options on how to react," Leer said before taking a quick look at Ation, nonverbally passing the baton to the highest leader of their small army.

    "They can turn their entire force away in hopes of wiping us out. This would be the preferable scenario as we could simply set fires to the entire ce and retreat," Ation exined the first possibility with a heavy voice.

    Even if they were on the holy crusade against Celestials, that didn''t mean they liked the idea of ughtering civilians. Whether the kids, mothers, and old men and women were of celestial or Generian heritage didn''t matter.

    ''Wars should be fought between those who are willing to fight them,'' Ation thought, tightening his hands into fists.

    "Then the other option for them would be to ignore their rear and hope to resupply after conquering the camp," Kaspar said, realizing the other possibility. "Wouldn''t that be bad?" he asked, yet he failed to get any reaction from his fellow warriors. "I mean, what are the chances they could be so stupid?" he fixed and turned his question to be more precise.

    There was a massive difference between the three forces that were in the current y.

    From the far side, there was the force of the camp. Consisting on a thin number of Generian elites, reinforced with whoever was daring and crazy enough to actually set the camp out in the nothingness of the desert. That side held the advantage of quality and mobility while losing heavily in terms of numbers.

    ''If I were to guess, there is half of thousand of them all, at that''s at the very most,'' Antion thought, sending a small smile to the youngest of their trio.

    "If they were to do that, our brothers at the camp could simply abandon the ce and lead their army by the nose. And if the desert is anywhere as big as we believe it to be, the Celestial army would crumble due to theck of supplies way faster than the camp force," he said, crossing his arms at his chest before taking a step forward. "I guess that solves our trouble," Ation said after a short pause as he grabbed the handle of his beloved ax. Just like Al, he considered this weapon to be both most versatile but also ssy enough to impress all thedies back at the tribe.

    "Wait for a second," Kaspar shouted despite following closely after Ation. Even though he requested a short moment, he was already in a state, fully prepared for theing fight.

    After all, their rule of war in the Gener n was pretty straightforward. Once amander orders something, there is no discussing it anymore. And since Ation decided that their problematic situation was solved, all Kaspar could do was to ask for an exnation.

    An exnation that wouldn''t let him decide whether to follow the order or not. This part was already set in stone. Kaspar needed an exnation solely to grow as the future leader of one of Generian subsidiary tribes. After all, one wouldn''t learn much by following orders he or she didn''t understand at all!

    "Let me guess," Ation said, "it''s about the third possibility, right?" he suggested with a small chuckle. The eager look on his subordinate''s face only proved how willing he was to fulfill his duty as the sessor of a smaller n.

    "Leader, the stupid me request to learn," Kaspar said, lowering his head as he followed the man through the thick greenery of the deep forest.

    "Theirst option is simple," Ation exined as they emerged from the dense part of the woods and entered a small valley hidden in the middle of the forest, where the entirety of their army amassed over the past week. "They could divide their forces and attempt to both push into the desert while simultaneously dealing with our attack on their camp," Ation said as he twisted his lips in an ugly expression.

    "Huh?" Kaspar gasped for air, unable to process what he had just heard. "Their only strength appears toy in their numbers. By splitting the force, they would achieve nothing outside of losing their greatest advantage!" he protested, refusing to ept such an idiotic possibility.

    "You never know how stupid people can act during a war," Ation whispered softly as a set of old memories shed before his eyes. Then, he raised his ax-bearing hand high into the sky before shouting, "MEN! I have one word for y''all!"

    Hearing the powerful voice of their leader, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up the incline on which Ation stood. And even before he could actually say what he wanted, people started to gather up.

    The message hidden behind the manner of his action was sufficient for the veterans, while the actions of more experienced brothers in arms satisfied the curiosity of the fresher troops.

    "WE ATTACK!" Ation shouted, shaking his weapon in the air.

    "How quickly do we want to attack?" Kaspar asked in a hushed voice. This time, he didn''t dare to speak up to the leader directly, opting to seek advice from thest leader of the Slevian subsidiary tribe of the Gener n.

    "You are unbearably naive," Leer said but smiled instead. "As quickly as possible," he replied, giving out the answer.. "As quickly as the men can reach the camp."

 Chapter 228 - Layns Plan

    "So far, it''s working out great," Markus muttered, forcibly holding back his chuckle. "I didn''t expect them to react so strongly if I were, to be honest," he added, looking to the back at the group chasing right after them.

    "No one likes to have their emissary beheaded," Layn replied with a small smirk. "Although rather than this chase, I have actually a big hope to how this small ploy will influence the situation of our friends behind the wall," he added.

    The two groups were stuck in a relentless race on the vast emptiness of the grassy desert. With Layn''s group running away and the vians of the unfriendly faction roughly a mile behind them, one would expect the two groups to meet up pretty soon.

    After all, the vians were all on horseback, and from the looks of things, they spared no mercy for their mounts. On the other hand, Layn''s group was entirely on foot, looking like a bunch of thieves attempting to escape the chase ofw enforcers.

    But that this situation wasn''t all that dynamic. Ever since the chase started roughly two hours ago, the cavalry failed to make any real progress.

    ''I think we will need to slow down a bit rtively soon,'' Lay thought, looking to the back. ''We can keep up this pace for as long as necessary, but their horses are going to tire out pretty soon,'' he thought, calcting the distances between each of the groups before looking forward to where he was leading both groups.

    For a moment, he brought his hand to his chest, where a small bump was heating up his breast. It was unrealistic to believe he could lead the military unit by their nose for so far, forcing him to bid his hopes on a small trick.

    "Layn, they are slowing down," Markus reported, proving that he was closely observing the situation as well. "At this rate, they will give up before we bring them to that ce," he added, looking at his friend''s face in the hope of some bright ideas.

    "I think we have no choice, then," Layn replied, suddenly halting his run. Following his example, the entire group slowed down, only to turn around and actually run towards the cavalry, heading right for the confrontation!

    "Is this really the best idea?" Markus asked despite following Layn''s steps without a single word ofint.

    "We need to kill exactly half of them, but spare their horses," the archmage replied, biting his lips as he did so. "This way, they will be able to keep up the chase..."

    "But will they give chase if we defeat them now?" Markus pointed out an obvious w in Layn''s n.

    "I don''t really count on them for that," Layn replied, massaging his chest once again. Bit by bit, as the heat of his small trick grew, holding it hidden in his pocket became almost unbearable.

    This time, with both groups heading in the opposite directions, the distance between started to decrease at a rapid pace.

    "Men!" Layn shouted just loud enough for his people to hear him. "Try your best not to harm the horses. I know this is a hard thing to ask, but I need you to try anyway!" he shouted his order before rushing towards the very front of the group.

    There was no time for anyone to report back to him. Given how his group could easily outrun a damned horse if they so willed for, the two groups meet in just a moment.

    Layn jumped up, right as he approached the enemy. Conjuring simplences made out of the magical fire in his hands, he aimed one of them at the chest of the closest enemy.

    "Die!" the man shouted, cutting at the archmage with his saber.

    ''What an idiot,'' Layn thought, not even bothering to block the attack. Given how he was mid-air, he couldn''t even attempt to dodge it.

    Layn''s spear exploded outwards as soon as it touched the enemy''s chest. Just like the nefarious spells from the future, it channeled all of its strength to the point of impact, turning a simple strike into a practical explosive.

    With the advantage of the length of his weapon, by the time the saber reached Layn''s body, it no longer had any strength to prate through his flesh alone, not to speak about the barrier that he coated himself with.

    "KILL!" the rest of the archmage''s group joined in the fight a momentter, exploiting the advantage that the first fallen vian created with his death.

    The initial momentum of both parties quickly died down. Thanks to the mobility of Layn''s people, in close quarters, the advantage of fighting from horseback quickly turned into a handicap.

    ''It''s getting closer,'' Layn thought, kicking away a soldier from the saddle, only to use it as a stepping stone for another jump. Rather than fighting from the ground like the rest of his people, the archmage remained on top of the fight.

    Whenever his firence would explode and cleave an enemy in half, he would instantly create another one and look for another target to fight with.

    Yet, just as he was about to engage in another small skirmish, his head suddenly turned to the side, right to where both of the groups were heading during the chase part.

    ''It''s here,'' Layn thought, dropping his firnce and reaching for his chest. He then ripped his robe without even the slightest hesitation and grabbed a small yetplex mechanism he created while using the cores from the monsters defeated at the camp.

    This small device had a single-use. It resonated with the stones of the monsters, allowing Layn to know in advance when they would appear. But the true purpose of it was slightly different.

    Since its magic resonated with the monsters, they were all aware of its presence and drawn to it as well!

    "They are here!" Layn shouted from the bottom of his lungs, moving his attention back to the battle. "PUSH!" he shouted, instantly ramping up the speed of his movements.

    In a sh, the fake stalemate created by his people holding back broke down as Layn''spanions started mercilessly cutting down the vians. Even though they didn''t get to hear Layn''s lessons for long, each of them was a veteran of expeditions to the desert or prolonged tribal warfare in Generians'' case. The edge of the tricks that Layn taught them was more than enough to overwhelm vians who didn''t even know what hit them.

    "RETREAT!" One of the vianmanders finally noticed that they had fallen into a trap. And just as any military manual would advise, once in a trap, breaking away from the fight was the reasonable course of action.

    ''Now, for the crucial part,'' Layn thought, dropping down to the ground and looking in the direction of the new danger. He then took a deep breath and shouted, "FORM THE LINE!"

    In the heat of the battle, this was one of the fewmands that he could hope to enforce. The people on his side were veterans, but they didn''t go through an extensive period of drilling together. Layn would only break their cohesion down by giving any moreplicated orders, pushing them into the danger of actually getting annihted by the monster''s attack.

    ''Now, let''s hope it will work,'' Layn thought as he moved to the former back of his group, rallying the people around him. And sure enough, before long, the cloud of dust in the distance revealed a furious assault of monsters, all heading straight for them!

    "Remember, men!" Layn shouted as more and more of his people rallied around the ce and formed the defensive line. "Once the order is given, break out right away!" he shouted before taking a quick nce to the back.

    The vians didn''t bother to wait and see why did their enemies suddenly stop. They didn''t bother to think how Layn''s people could easily chase them down, given how they managed to keep up with their horses for so long.

    The monsters closed in fast. From their perspective, one coherent group suddenly split up into two, with those using mounts and proper armors escaping from their charge.

    This was the crux of Layn''s n. This was the reason why he used a device to attract the monsters, even though now he was about to fight them.

    "Men! Don''t falter!" Markus shouted, sending a wink to his old friend. "If we seed now, we will guarantee the safety of the camp!" he added before lowering his ax and grinning at the sight of approaching monsters.

    The core of their n was about to start right now.

 Chapter 229 - They Fell For It!

    The monsters crashed into the line of Layn''s men.

    Standing at the very front, Layn couldn''t help but admire his brothers in arms. Even for him, the sight of something that could only be called an abomination rushing to rip him apart was enough to feel his courage waver.

    Even when the archmage knew that those monsters had no chance of ever hurting him.

    ''But if those can scare even me, just what the rest of the folks is thinking?'' he thought, covering his hands in dense and extremely hot, magical fire.

    The monsters crashed into the line of Layn''s men. Yet, not a single one of them faltered.

    Layn allowed the monster to jump at him. Once the wolf-like monster was above him, he simply struck forward in the simplest manner possible. With a culling strike from his right, he sent the crushed body of the monster to his left, disturbing the line of the attack.

    To his right, Markus took the brunt of the other nk, pulling out the same pendulum that Layn saw him use several times.

    Contrary to the ax he preferred to use in real toughbat, Markus opted for this fast-moving weapon with long reach in situations like the one when the enemy swarmed them from all sides.

    "Stay strong!" Layn shouted, throwing punches and kicking at the monsters whenever they entered his range. Yet, no matter how hard he tried, he was unable to take care of the entire battlefield on his own.

    And the thing was... He couldn''t use too much of his strength either.

    ''Keep calm,'' Layn thought, lowering the intensity of the mes around his fists. The monsters were dying way too quickly for his liking, especially given the next part of the n.

    "Hold your ground!" Markus shouted from a few meters away, infusing a hint of panic in his voice. Yet, if someone were to look closely, they would see that he continued to reap the monsters as if they were wheat on a harvest day by swinging his pendulum.

    "Don''t let them break through your line!" Layn shouted, joining in the act.

    During the sh, Layn and his people used a pretty simple tactic.

    With Layn and Markus at the very front, roughly five meters ahead of everyone else, they took the brunt of the attack, splitting the monsters into effectively three groups.

    Monsters to the left and to the right would sh right into the line of Layn''s men. Yet, as more and more of them would continue to pour to the nks, they would ultimately end up gravitating towards the center, right between Layn and Markus.

    The unlucky part of the monsters that would rush right between the two men were the ones that turned into the necessary offering for the battlefield''s bloodthirsty ground.

    Stuck between Layn''s fiery attacks and Markus swinging pendulum, they could only attempt to break through the center of the line. It was also the ce where the weakest of Layn''s warriors were located, given how resilient their nks had to be.

    After all, the nks had to both fight the monsters ahead of them while continuously pushing the monsters to the center!

    "Keep the line!" Layn shouted, taking the leisure to nce to the back.

    As expected, his people didn''t falter in the face of the monsters. For how diabolical and demonic they looked, they didn''t have much in terms of firepower to offer.

    Sure, their ws and teeth could easily snap a human in half... But this wasn''t something that those seasoned adventurers, mercenaries, and cultivators were unused to.

    ''In a sense, this fight is easier than what we fought with back at the desert,'' Layn thought, finally whipping out his firnce and proceeding to the second stage of the n.

    Right now was the time to create some heroes.

    "Markus!" Layn shouted, leaning his head to the back only to shoot it forward, pushing his firnce right through the open jaws of the monsters that attacked him.

    The monster bit down, attempting to take Layn''s arm with him, only for its teeth to be stuck at the thin, magic barrier that Layn surrounded his entire body with.

    It was a technique that not only consumed a lot of energy but also required a god-like focus to maintain. Yet, for Layn, it was as simple as keeping water in the pot from boiling out of the cauldron.

    ''Go!'' Layn thought, releasing the binds that shackled the mes of his spell into the shape of ance. He pulled his hand back, allowing the raging inferno to consume the monster from within before kicking its corpse towards the next enemy.

    Once the mes reached the monster''s core, the violent magic overload caused it to explode, creating a small clearing in the dense crowd of the attacking monsters.

    "NOW!" Layn shouted, taking a step forward.

    At the same time, his men stepped back, giving ground to the attackers.

    "We stand as one!" Markus shouted, his lips trembling from the uneasy feeling of uttering such cringe lines.

    "We die like one!" Layn followed with his own shout, wishing to bury his face deep in the ground.

    Their men took another step back, allowing the monsters to pay more attention to the two.

    In a few moments, the situation on the battlefield changed.

    The efficient mill that continued to grind monsters into dust suddenly broke apart, allowing monsters to fully surround both of the designated heroes.

    ''Just a little bit more,'' Layn thought, stopping his attacks now and then to throw a quick nce and assess how far his men managed to retreat.

    ''Just a few more seconds!'' he thought, mming his open palms into the ears of the nearest monsters before kicking it away and summoning a firnce in each of his hands.

    "NOW!" he shouted, cing both of his weapons straight on his chest, kneeling down, and turning a full circle.

    For the first time since the fight started, Layn used the full extent of the power of his spell, turning his burning weapons of his into sticks of sma. With how hot they became, any matter opposing them would simply melt on the spot, not giving any resistance.

    "RETREAT!" Layn shouted from the bottom of his lungs, using the moment when all the monsters near him died to the attack. "Draw them away from the generals! Pull them away from them!" he continued to shout as he turned around and leaped out of the encirclement.

    Once the momentum of his jump started to die off, making him fall towards the ground, he simply dropped the firnces below his feet and released the binding spell.

    Once released, there was nothing insting the scorching heat of his spell from the surrounding air. As it started to rapidly expand in a shockwave, Layn used the violent movement of the air to hover a few meters further, finally reaching the end of the monster''s group.

    His feet touched the ground. With no monsters around, he could finally confirm that his men picked the direction of their retreat just like he wanted.

    "RETREAT!" he shouted, not wasting any time to confirm Markus''s safety. Given his old friend''s physical strength and versatility, it was possible that he would escape the encirclement even quicker than the archmage did!

    For the next few moments, Layn simply ran towards his people. With his back exposed, there was a chance that some of the monsters would attempt pursuit...

    But none of that happened.

    ''How did it go?'' Layn asked himself, stealing a nce at what was going on behind him.

    But there wasn''t a single monster in sight.

    Full of hopes, he turned his head to the side, right in the direction where the vian party escaped several moments earlier.

    ''They there are,'' he thought, noticing the dust kicked up by the remnants of the horde.

    ''They fell for it!''

 Chapter 230 - News From The Camp

    Layn waited for only five minutes before ordering aplete stop of his group. With the monsters rushing after the vians, even five minutes of forced jog was enough for his group to distance themselves from the eyes of anyone who could observe them.

    After all, they never truly entered the beast''s territory. They only neared its border and used Layn''s bait to lure them towards them!

    "How many did we lose?" the archmage asked, feeling a gulp raising up in his throat.

    "Sir, the count says there are four casualties. Two mercenaries, one Generian and one of your initial followers," Antion reported as soon as he managed to reach Layn''s side.

    ''What the hell is this feeling?'' the archmage thought, lowering his eyes on his hands. ''A grief? Even after everything I went through?'' he thought, surprised by his own feelings.

    This wasn''t the first war that Layn participated in. As one of the greatest if not the greatest mage of his time, he took part in several conflicts, more than a dozen of battles, and many more skirmishes that he could count.

    He watched his brothers in arms die right on his arms, get killed in ambushes, took theirst stand against an overwhelming force, too far away for Layn toe to their rescue.

    He was more than acquittanced with the sight and notion of death.

    Yet, for the first time since he was a cadet at the military, serving his obligatory three years in the army, he actually felt grief due to the losses.

    ''What did change?'' Layn asked himself as the entire group slowly ground down to aplete halt. ''Did I change?'' he thought, raising his eyes from his hands to the sky. ''Or is it because there are far fewer people in mymunity, allowing me to know each of them personally?''

    "What were their names?" Layn asked, raising his eyes at his trusted subordinate.

    "Peter, Ielo, Jeah, and Vic," Antion dutifully replied before averting his eyes.

    "How many injured?" Layn asked, unwilling to let go of this topic before learning the full scope of their damage.

    "Eleven, but nothing serious. Those who received grave injuries simply threw themselves in the battle, opting to die with a weapon in their hand rather than sumb to their wounds," Antion replied, lowering his head. "Or so I heard from others," he added a momentter.

    "I see," Layn muttered, closing his eyes and taking a few breaths to calm himself down.

    ''We had ny-eight people when we departed,'' he thought. ''Only four of them died. Realistically speaking, this is far better than I thought it would be,'' he thought, slowly prying his eyes open.

    ''Now it''s not the time to grief,'' he decided, raising his head high and throwing his hand in the air.

    "Today, we pushed both of our great enemies to fight against each other!" Layn shouted.

    "The four braves whoid down their lives for the cause allowed us to save three hundred of those that we left behind at the camp!" Markus joined, shouting to rally the people up.

    Not a single one of them was foreign to the concept of death and demise. They all saw their friends, mentors, enemies, and total strangers die while on the mission or simply due to failures in cultivation or natural causes.

    This wasn''t the world that Layn grew up in when only those who picked to go to the battlefield would learn about this shitty part of human life. This was the world where death was as natural as drinking, fucking, and shitting.

    It was just another part of the same.

    "Today, we won the advantage that we oh so desperately needed!" Layn shouted, finally pushing the rest of the crowd into loud cheers.

    Out of everyone in the group, Layn could swear that he himself had the lowest morale. Yet the joyous shouts of everyone mixing in an almost unpleasant noise managed to lift his spirits up.

    "And with that said, let us return back home to celebrate!" Layn shouted, waving his hand only to point it right back at where they would go now.

    "LAYN!" a shout suddenly managed to make it out through the cheers, alerting the archmage''s attention. "LAYN! URGENT MESSAGE! LET ME THROUGH!"

    ''What happened?'' the archmage felt confusion take over his mind. ''What kind of urgent message? What could''ve happened?'' he thought, pushing his people aside as he headed towards the source of the voice.

    Whether it was a trap or not, it was better if Layn were the one to receive it.

    "Layn!" the man shouted when he finally noticed the archmage''s face.

    ''I can... recognize him,'' Layn thought, staring at the messenger''s face before taking a look at the man''s entire body.

    His legs were all covered in blood and scab, proving that he cared not for all the small injuries as he ran towards them.

    ''He must''ve been in a real hurry,'' Layn thought, elerating his steps.

    "Urgent news!" the man shouted as he fell right into Layn''s arms. Yet, instead of speaking what he had on mind, the man had to take quite a long while to stabilize his breath, showing just how far he pushed himself.

    "Take your time, brother," Layn muttered, allowing the man to rest in his arms. ''If he went that far...'' he thought, raising his eyes in the direction where the messenger came from.

    And it was the same direction that he pointed at just a moment earlier.

    The direction where their camp was located.

    "An invasion ising," the man finally managed to utter his message. "Right now, they are only one day away from the camp," he continued to give his reports between short breaks to stabilize his breath. "We can''t hold them; there is too many."

    ''Who is attacking now?'' Layn thought, his eyes opening wide. For a moment, his mind scurried for an answer, unable to figure out the solution.

    They were already dealing with vians, monsters, and now what?

    ''Did some kind of God descend to this world to make things even harder on me?'' Layn thought, feeling how desperation was quickly taking over his soul.

    "It''s most likely that Star Emperor''s army," Markus approached the two of them from the side with a grim look on his face. "We killed that bastard back in the warcamp, so they now came to get revenge," he said, tightening his hands into fists.

    "Star Emperor?" Layn asked, unwilling to believe what he had just heard. "Wait, you killed him?" he asked, shaking his head as if to cast aside all the doubts in his head for a moment.

    After all, it was Markus putting forth that im. And this wasn''t someone who Layn would ever dare to doubt.

    "I saw Yelna cut him down with my own eyes," Markus said, nodding his head. "That''s the only exnation I cane up with," he added, looking over in the camp''s direction with anxiety written all over his head.

    "We are going back," Layn made his decision on the spot, his face darkening with fury.

    So far, he opted to take the rtively diplomatic approach to all the problems.

    vians refused to cooperate? He would pit them against monsters.

    Monsters wanted to invade his domain? He would sap their strength.

    But now, another group dared to attack the only ce and the only group of people that he cared about in this world.

    For this third time, Layn wasn''t going to let them off easily.

    "Boss," the messenger hung himself on Layn''s shoulders, still panting heavily to recover his breath. "When I said there are too many.... I meant that there are too many even for you!"

 Chapter 231 - Southern Plateou

    The first city that Layn visited upon materializing again in this foreign time was the Warcamp.

    It stood right at the entrance to one of the forbidden areas, where one had to put their life on their line to survive.

    In the past, it stood guard at the passage, barring any kinds of demons, demonic beasts, and potential spies entry. Yet, as the monsters ceased to appear anywhere near the barrier, its role quickly changed, turning the formerly military site into a central point of the city.

    With the passage of years, most of the people managed to forget what was the initial purpose of this ce. Barracks turned into housing, weapon storage turned into warehouses, drilling zas turned into open markets.

    Yet due to Layn''s own actions, after ages of peace, the warcamp once again became the center of everyone''s attention, resuming the role that its founders created it for.

    Unbeknownst to anyone, a pair of men in the strength of their years walked through the dested area to the south of the camp.

    Compared to rtively healthynds to its north and east, the southern teau, once brimming with life and people, was now nothing but a deste desert.

    It was so deste that even sand was a rare sight on it, leaving anyone daring to traverse it with nothing but an endless sea of grey rocks and cobblestone.

    Yet, the two men braved through this treacherous terrain without even a word ofint.

    "This ce changed so little much," Tytus muttered, shielding his eyes from the rays of the sun. He kept his head lowered, yet it was all for naught. Ages of wind polishing their edges turned the surface of the great majority of the stones into an impromptu mirror, turning this desert into a hot and bright ce.

    A ce too hot for anything to grow, a ce too sunny for any human to handle in the long term.

    "It used to be beautiful," Mukkenmented offhandedly, keeping his eyes closed. Yet, despite not using his eyes, his step was firm and confident.

    "Looking at the state it is right now, it''s pretty hard to believe," Tytusmented, even if he wouldn''t find it in himself to doubt his master''s words.

    In the short life that he had, he saw enough to understand that if Mukken spoke, only truth would flow out of his mouth.

    "There used to be many tribes scattered around the teau," Mukken said, smiling gently to his memories of the world long gone. "The hill ahead of us, the one with step side to the right, used to be a mountain so magnificent, many of those tribes considered it to be holy," he added.

    ''Just what are you looking at, through the eyes of your memory?'' Tytus thought, a tingle of sadness filling his soul.

    The day of his liberation was nearing. The day when he would once again be allowed to live a human life could be seen in the rising tensions of the ongoing conflict. Yet, despite his greatest desire appearing on the horizon after only Mukken knew how long, Tytus couldn''t help but feel regret.

    Regret never being able to experience the sights that Mukken was now recalling.

    "There were as many legends about that mountain as there were tribes," Mukken continued his story, his step calm yet steady. "Yet, all of them converged on a single point," he added as his steps suddenly ceased.

    "What was it?" Tytus asked, his curiosity piqued by Mukken''s behavior.

    It wasn''t often for this retreated man to speak so much and so openly.

    "That this was the mountain where the history of this world began," Mukked said, pulling a knife and running it across the palm of his right hand.

    It had to be an extraordinary edge, as it cut the skin of this most powerful being on the entire damned with ease as if he was just a simple human.

    "Watch," Mukken ordered, finally opening his eyes. He then took a single step forward, kneeled down, and pressed his bloodied hand against the seemingly random stone at the foot of the hill.

    The rise suddenly disappeared, as if it wasn''t there, to begin with. With its disappearance, Tytus could now see the bustling Warcamp in the distance.

    "Huh?" the younger of the two men shrugged before straining his eyes a little.

    The distance that would make it hard for a normal person to distinguish buildings was like a stretch of a hand for Tytus''s eyes.

    ''They are already fighting? But why is the city?'' he asked himself, confused about the situation.

    "That time-traveler left his allies all over the continent," Mukken exined, perfectly aware of Tytus''s confusion. "They are trying to cut off the expeditionary force from their supplies," he revealed the situation before pointing Tytus''s attention back to what was important.

    A simple stone stood erected from the ground. It was perfectly circr at its base and grew almost three meters up to the sky.

    Its surface was clear of any marking or signs of erosion. It was as if someone erected this strange statue just a moment earlier, with there being no time for the natural forces to leave their mark on it.

    "What is this?" Tytus asked, moving his curious eyes at his master.

    "The key to the barrier... Or rather, the key to the portal that connects this world to many others," Mukked replied, raising his hand and cing it on the stone. "It''s a solid piece of work, a result ofbined efforts of several civilizations," he whispered as if himself in awe of this rtively simple stone.

    "Wait, what?" Tytus red up, more agitated than he was in thest few hundred years of his life. "What do you mean by that? A barrier is not a barrier?"

    Even after years spent in thepany of this strange being, Tytus couldn''t help but be surprised.

    ''It feels like I''m touching on the greatest secrets of this world,'' he thought before swallowing a gulp of saliva.

    This was his curse and a blessing at the same time. Only with Mukken could his endless curiosity be satisfied.

    Yet, watching the old man cares the surface of the stone with almost a lustful expression on his head, he couldn''t help but shake his head.

    ''I don''t know why, but it feels like this is one secret too much for me,'' he thought, clenching his teeth.

    In front of Mukken and both his exploits and knowledge, Tytus, the second most powerful being alive on the, felt like a student staring in awe at his teacher.

    "It could easily hold on for a few thousand more years," Mukken muttered, too absorbed with the stone to care for Tytus''s mental plight.

    ''Wasn''t the barrier erected by the gods? I knew that he had some part in it, but is this really just some sort of... alien mechanism?''

    "Have you ever wondered why all the restricted zonesy at the deserts?" Mukken suddenly asked, retreating his hand and looking over at his servant.

    "Once or twice," Tytus reluctantly nodded his head when a sudden ray of enlightenment struck his mind, only to push him into the despair of a shock he couldn''t handle. "Don''t tell me..."

    "No, most of them are not active anymore," Mukken smiled in response. "But when it all begun, every restriction zone worked as a portal to another," he said before his expression suddenly soured. "But I already said too much. At this point, I''m worried this will mark the end of my task," he added, a gentle smile growing on his lips.

    "What? Master, wait a second..." Tytus attempted to protest...

    But it was toote.

    A sudden bolt of lightning struck the old man directly at the tip of his head.

    Initially shocked, Tytus quickly calmed himself down.

    What could mere lightning do to his master? What could a bolt of electricity do to a man capable of smashing mountains with a fart?

    "Resources properly allocated," Mukken said in a strange voice, a voice that didn''t belong to Tytus old master at all.

    It was simr... but stronger, more vital as if the burden of the endless years he spent in this world was suddenly lifted.

    Mukken raised his head and looked straight into Tytus''s eyes. Then, a smile crept up on the old man''s lips.

    "Those are quite some interesting gs that you raised, little one."

 Chapter 232 - Real Mukken And His Involvement

    "Who are you?" Tytus asked in a trembling voice, staring at the strange, unfamiliar expression on his master''s face.

    Someone of lesser intellect could assume that his master used some kind of strange technique...

    But Tytus could tell. Because through all the ages that he spent following the orders of his master, not a single time has Mukken called him a little one.

    "I''m Bart," the old man smiled kindly, not bothered by Tytus''s readiness to go all-in at any given moment. "I''m also Mukken," he said before winking at his follower. "The real Mukken. Not the soulless vehicle that you got to know for all those years past," the old man said, raising his hands and stretching his back.

    "I will ask this only onest time," Tytus said, his voice trembling in fear. Yet, despite all the instincts of his body screaming out in panic, he stood his ground, ready to sh with the being.

    ''I can''t forgive him for taking over master''s body! I have to do something!"'' he thought, kicking off the chain reaction of the mana circting within his body.

    "That won''t be necessary," the man calling himself Bart shook his head and then waved his hand.

    All at once, Tytus realized that he could no longer control his mana.

    It was still there, circting through his bloodstream like usual... It just didn''t respond to his wishes any longer.

    A look of realization appeared on his face.

    The reason why one normally wouldn''t be able to control the mana of others was simple. Once contained within one''s system, marked by their consciousness, it would be forever theirs... Unless one would release it with a certain intent on their own ord.

    That was the true form of all the cultivation techniques, all the spells, and all other magic in the world. The energy of mana infused with intent.

    That''s why if one were to cast a ball of fire at his opponent, even the most skilled enemy wouldn''t be able to overwrite the spell.

    As such, there was only one possible exnation for Tytus mana suddenly refusing to follow his wishes.

    The being in front of him, the consciousness currently in possession of Mukken''s body...

    Was the origin of the mana within Tytus''s body. The one that released it upon this world in the first ce, with the intent etched so deep into it that it would normally be dormant.

    "I can see that you are finally starting to understand," Bart smiled, only for his lips to twist into an ugly expression a momentter. "I can sense how much pains it causes you to refer to me as Bart. All the observers bear different names, so feel free to keep calling me Mukken," he said, a smile once again returning to his lips. "I''m quite used to it," he added.

    "Who... No. What is your purpose here?" Tytus asked, forcing down the trembling that threatened to take over his body.

    It was a sight that no one would believe, even if seen personally. The second strongest being in the world, a person whom the likes of Star Emperor and Consal referred per senior... was on the verge of trembling from fear.

    It wasn''t a psychical fear. Tytus was just as aware of that being''s power as he was of itspleteck of killing intent.

    It was an internal fear embedded into every living being, one thatmanded them to fear the ultimate.

    "I came here because the vehicle raised several gs. In a sense, I''m a superior called to oversee the matters that the subordinate no longer feels capable of overseeing," Mukken''s body said.

    "Huh?" Tytus shrugged in surprise. "You mean that war?" he asked, casting a quick nce towards the Warcamp in the distance. "How is that important?"

    ''I knew Mukked imed that whoever would win would take his ce... But is that really true?'' Tytus thought, still too confused to fullyprehend the tidbits of information that Mukken would randomly pass on to him.

    "This world strayed from the path that it was ordained to follow," Bart, aka true Mukken, said, looking in the same direction as Tytus.

    ''Why does it feel like he looks at something far beyond what I can see?'' Tytus thought, gulping down his saliva.

    Just standing near this being made him all jumpy.

    "But that doesn''t necessarily mean it''s a bad thing," Mukken smiled, once again assuming the calm yet friendly expression that Tytus was so familiar with.

    *******

    "KILL!" A random Generian warrior screamed out, cutting down an unlucky soldier that stood in his path.

    "KILL!" The shout resonated throughout the city, allowing Ation to assess how deeply his people prated into the settlement.

    ''It seems that everything is going as nned,'' Ation thought, taking stock of the situation.

    Following the movements of the cultivator army, he had no other choice but to order an all-out attack.

    Their numbers were simply too great for the forces beyond the barrier. Although there were some news about an extremely powerful ally that the Gener n obtained there, Ation struggled to believe a single human could ever dare to stand against the might gathered by the locals.

    That''s why they attacked, even if it seemed like a suicide mission.

    Only by taking down the only supply route of this massive army could they hope to relieve the situation of their general andmander.

    "Boss, the civilian quarter is in our hands!" A report came, easing the fool mood of Al''s direct subordinate.

    "Boss, the military warehouses fell!"

    "Boss, we broke through the gate of the keep!"

    Bit by bit, Ation''s warriors continued to push the skeletal troops that the enemy left in the city.

    ''This fight is almost too easy,'' Ation thought, marching forward and shing the back of a random soldier locked in a struggle with one of Generians.

    "Boss!" the soldier instantly recognized his superior.

    Yet, Ation didn''t give him any time for a salute.

    "Go," he said, shaking his chin forward. "There are still many enemies hidden in the city."

    Although he said that... This battle was already as good as over. All that was left was rooting out the few cells of resistance that the defeated would surely mount up.

    ''Huh?'' Ation shrugged in surprise when he noticed two old men walking through the middle of the main Warcamp''s alley.

    They appeared not to be bothered by the fighting that still raged on all around them. On the other hand, both celestial soldiers and Generians seemed to avoid them, parting ways to allow the two a path forward.

    ''Who are they?'' Ation thought, only to shake his head a momentter. ''No, it doesn''t matter,'' he thought, his face darkening as he shook his sword to rid it of the blood.

    ''Just the fact that they can waltz through the frontline like that...'' he thought, a slight tremble taking over his entire body.

    ''What?!'' Ation''s shaking only continued to grow. Within a single step of the duo, the oppressive aura suddenly grew so powerful that he had no choice but to fall to his knees.

    Staring at the duo with his eyes wide open, Ation could see just how different they were.

    While the one was openly smiling, the other one had a greatly troubled look on his face, as if he was just as confused about what was going on as Ation was.

    "The city is yours, gentlemen," the happier of the two suddenly announced, finally stopping in his tracks.

    ''If he were toe any closer,'' Ation thought, his body perfectly still. The innate fear froze everyst muscle of his while his heart raced in his breast.

    If the duo were to take a single step closer, his heart would likely give up.

    "The city is yours, but I can''t allow anyone to cross into the intends," the man said, turning his face towards the barrier. It appeared as if he didn''t care about the ongoing ughter of his people in the slightest.

    "The fight out there can only happen between those who already entered it," he said before raising his hand up.

    The barrier was scheduled to close in about a week''s time. It was the reason why the expeditionary force was so hurried to deal with the problem.

    The air at where the gate wouldter appear flickered...

    And the gate actually raised up.

    "With that said," the man turned his face towards Ation only to grace him with a gentle smile. "Whoever you cheer for, you better cheer hard!"

 Chapter 233 - Reunion

    ''Please, hold on!'' Layn wished with all his heart while he continued to jog at a pace that the rest of his group could maintain.

    He wished to scream this plea out loud to the skies in hopes of some absolute being hearing him out...

    But he couldn''t. Doing so would reveal just how insanely worried he was for Irea and the rest of the people he left back at the camp. And he couldn''t afford to deal such an attack on the morale of the group.

    "Sighting of a group ahead!" someone shouted the report, pointing with his finger to the distant hill.

    ''What?'' A shiver traveled down Layn''s spine. ''Are we toote?!'' he thought, feeling how desperation was taking over his mind.

    Ever since he crossed the depths of time to arrive in this ce, he only had one wish. One wish that rified as he learned more and more about his current situation.

    All Layn wanted in this strange time was to create an academy and pass his knowledge on so that the wonders of ancient times could be preserved. But as he met people, learned more about this world, and grew quite fond of it, Irea took the prime spot of Layn''s ledger of importance.

    And right now, she was likely to be either chased away or already dead!

    Layn quickly started losing the reins over his emotions. His face darkened.

    ''After everything we went through, even after I somehow managed to heal her back then...'' his wrath was getting more and more noticeable with every passing second.

    "It''s a small detachment!" someone else reported. "Roughly the same numbers as our group!"

    Layn strained his eyes in the direction the people were pointing towards... But his vision was already reddened, making it impossible for him to see anything further than just a few steps.

    "Boss! What do we do?" someone asked for orders.

    "Let''s chase them down," Markus replied, noticing Layn''s state. "Brother..." he whispered after approaching the archmage''s side, "I''m sorry."

    Those two words of sce were the one thing that Layn''s friend could offer.

    Because the group that they spotted was directly on the path, they had to take to return to the camp! In other words, whoever dared to invade Layn''s dominion, already went through the camp!

    "Wait, that''s strange," Markus muttered, moving his eyes towards the distant group. "What?" he continued to whisper.

    "What''s wrong?" Layn asked, forcing his wrath down his throat and looking in the direction of the enemies.

    Right, enemies?

    With his emotions reined down, Layn could finally see as far as usually... And there was something wrong.

    The look of the people in the group ahead... was just a bit too familiar to him.

    ''Could it be...?'' he thought, only to bite down on his lips and turn his face to his friend.

    "I will be going ahead. Can you hold the men together?" He asked.

    As much as the archmage wished to just run ahead and check if his suspicion was true, he couldn''t simply abandon the people following him. That was the burden he had by being their damned leader!

    "Sure thing," Markus smiled. As neither of the groups stopped moving for even the shortest moment, he could now confirm his doubts. "Run to her," he said, patting Layn''s back.

    "Thanks," Layn replied before unleashing the full potential of his magic-supported agility.

    By circting his mana through his blood system, he supplied more than enough energy to his muscles. In a second, he had already reached the front of the group, only to get ahead of them before anyone could react.

    "We stay on the course!" Markus shouted. "It seems that those are our men!"

    Layn couldn''t care less about Markus'' shouts. He simply ran and ran, unwilling to stop before he could touch the proof.

    "LAYN!" Irea shouted as soon as she noticed her man, waving her hand high up.

    "IREA!" Layn screamed out with relief, rushing right into the girl and grabbing her into his embrace.

    Feeling her warmth, smelling her fragrance, hearing the beating of her heart...

    Layn buried his face in the girl''s hair, simply holding her close and not letting her go.

    "I was so worried," Layn whispered, tightening his arms around the girl''s delicate frame.

    "I was ready to burn the entire world if someone did something to you," he added, barely able to hold back his tears.

    Back when Irea was gravely injured, Layn managed to keep his calm for one simple reason.

    Because he still had the means to help her, just like he did. It came at the cost of great pain and strain, but he ultimately managed to save her.

    But in the situation he was in just a few moments before, he waspletely and utterly powerless.

    If those damned invaders were to catch up to Irea''s group before he could reach them, all the power in the world wouldn''t amount to shit if he couldn''t save his girl!

    "What happened?" Layn asked weakly, not sparing a second thought to all the stares that the people around them were sending them.

    "I..." Irea finally opened her mouth, only to cut her words and bury her face in Layn''s chest.

    "Don''t worry, take your time," Layn encouraged the girl, running his hand up and down her back.

    "I burned the camp down," Irea finally revealed what was pulling her down so much. "We received the news of a massive force heading straight in our direction. We couldn''t find you anywhere, so I had no other choice but to grab everyone and escape. I burned the camp down so that those fuckers wouldn''t be able to conquer it... I''m sorry."

    Once the floodgates of Irea''s soul opened up, her words flooded Layn''s ears. But instead of stopping her or even encouraging her, he simply listened to the report in the silence.

    "It''s actually okay," Layn only spoke up when the girl was fully done with her part. "There was no reason to let them get quarters to spend the night, even if only their officers could get some," he added, once again immersing himself in the feeling of the girl in his arms.

    But he couldn''t ignore the fact that the rest of the group wasn''t cheered up by the reunion. Rather than that, their mood was visibly down.

    After all, their homes, their jobs, all of the things that they worked hard to build from scratch... was now gone. The momentary pleasure of burning it all down was long gone, now reced with regret and sadness.

    "It seems that I was right," Markusmented as the other group finally caught up to the refugees.

    "Yes, you were," Layn nodded his head before gently pushing Irea away.

    As much as he wanted to just stay with her in his arms, he was still the leader of those people. As such, he had to decide what to do next.

    "Right now, we are between three enemies. vians to the west, monsters to the south, and invaders to the east," he announced in a voice powerful enough for everyone to hear him.

    His words, just as nned, only pulled everyone''s mood down.

    "That''s why, rather than fighting them fair and square, how about we put them all against each other?"

 Chapter 234 - Layns Battle-plan

    "What do you mean?" Markus approached his old friend and asked.

    Layn looked at his friend''s face only for the realization to appear in his mind.

    ''He is perfectly capable of understanding my n just from those few words I spoke. This question was not for his sake, but for the sake of everyone else,'' he thought, nodding his head to convey the gratitude to his friend.

    "Before I exin what I meant, I need to know some things," Layn instantly turned his mind towards hatching the details of a new n. "Irea, dear, how far behind are the cultivators?" he asked.

    "One to two days of a forced march. But if they detach the people with mounts, they could reach us in just a few hours'' time," the girl replied instantly, proving that her actions weren''t limited to just burning the camp as she left it.

    "Good," Layn muttered before raising his hand and rubbing his chin for a while. He also squinted his eyes almost to the point of closing them as he turned silent for a long while.

    "Okay, here is what we are going to do," he said, turning his face back up and opening his eyes. "I need twenty of the fastest people to act like scouts. Ten of them will go east, towards the cultivator''s army, make themselves seen, only to start running towards the rendezvous point," he said, turning around as if in an attempt to scout out who would be fitting to fill the role.

    "What for?" Markus asked, giving Layn a way to exin his thoughts in a deeper manner.

    "Right now, we have three groups of enemies. vian faction that doesn''t like us and that we managed to antagonize properly, the monsters and the cultivators," he repeated his previous point. "While we could deal with one or two of them separately and with some casualties, three forces like that? That''s the limit. We can''t fight them on our own," he said openly, unwilling to sugarcoat this point.

    "What are we going to do then? Run? But there is nowhere to run anymore!" someone from the crowd protested, pointing out the apparent w in Layn''s n.

    "No, we are not going to run at all," Layn smiled, actually grateful for that point.

    "Back when we were going to scout the situation with vians, I noticed a particr geographical point," Layn said out loud. He then used a tiny bit of his magic to lift up a huge amount of earth from below his feet, only to model it into a rtively t and simplistic cube above everyone''s heads.

    "On that ce, we have two massive ins and a sharply inclined ridge separating them," he said, turning the t surface of the cube into the image of what he was speaking about.

    If one were to look at it above, it would seem like a in on which some enormous giant left an imprint of their ass, with two depressions where its buttcheeks pressed and the elevated ridge that would be a remnant of the free space of its row.

    "If we position ourselves on that ridge, we will be able to separate the cultivators'' army from the monsters and vians on the other side," Layn exined, remodeling the image to add two squares representing each of the three opposing forces.

    "What would we do that for?" Irea asked after receiving a small nudge from Markus.

    Layn nodded his head towards the girl in gratitude.

    "Look," he said, once again turning towards everyone. "If we manage to pull everyone towards this ridge at the same time, we will be able to make them think we are up for a pitched battle, one fight to decide the victor of the conflict," Layn exined his idea. "But look at this," he said, directing everyone''s attention towards the cube above their heads.

    On it, the squares representing the forces of their enemies turned into rectangles, representing the battle formations. And as they all started to advance at the same time, the single square remained on the top of the ridge.

    For a few more moments, Layn operated the show in silence, not bothering to utter a single unnecessary word.

    The imaginary battle formations of their enemies continued to climb up the ridge... Only to reach its peak. Then, Layn stopped the projection and looked at his people again.

    "I ask you all now to imagine yourself being the soldiers of either side. You are tired after a long march, going to fight an enemy who has galls to oppose you despite insane numbers disadvantage," Layn described the situation from the perspective of either of their enemies.

    What was important, though, he never pointed out which of the perspectives he wanted them to put themselves in the shoes of.

    "You reach the top of the ridge, ready to fight," Layn continued his exnation, only to point his hand at the frozen situation of his projection.

    "They see a massive army rushing to ambush them right as they reach the most vulnerable yet advantageous position," someone in the crowd answered.

    Layn looked towards Markus, expecting him to give him a meaningful smile... but his friend only shook his friend.

    This guess of what Layn was nning didn''te from any hidden helper of the two of them. It was an honest response to all of Layn''s suggestions.

    "That''s right," Layn cleared his throat before agreeing with one of his people. "They reach the top of the ridge, ready to ughter those few whose defiance forced them to go through all those efforts... Only to realize that they were pulled right into a trap!" he shouted, finally revealing the crux of his n.

    "But what if they just go back?" someone voiced their doubt. "I mean, if they will realize that they are in a trap, why would they keep going forward?"

    Layn smiled.

    "Imagine yourself as someone standing in the front line. You reach the top and realize it''s a trap. But now, in that imagined picture of yours, try to look back. What do you see?" he asked.

    "Rows upon rows of my fellow soldiers, all ignorant about what I saw past the ridge," the man replied, a look of terror appearing on his face.

    Just putting himself in the shoes of a random soldier of the other party was enough to make him cover in fear.

    "ANd that''s why they will have no other choice but to wage the battle, despite being at a disadvantage," Layn exined, spreading his arms and shaking them up and down. "So while all three groups of our enemies will start fighting with each other, all we will have to do..."

    Layn cleared his throat and took a deep breath to induce a bit more passion and tension to his next sentence.

    "All we will have to do is to survive the battle."

 Chapter 235 - Beacon

    "The fourth group made contact with the cultivators," a messenger reported as soon as he entered the mobilemanding center.

    For how few horses the entire group had, this was the best way to put them to use. Instead of making them carry people who could easily keep up with a horse''s running speed, all four of them got employed to pulling a single carriage Layn''s men managed to construct on the go.

    Inside the carriage, the cream of the top of Layn''s group sat. Mirroring the seating arrangement of how they used to sit back in the kitchen of the camp, they all stared down at the makeshift map that Layn created.

    "That means they should be somewhere around here," Markus said, cing a simple, wooden pin on the map. "How long since you received the news?" he asked the messenger running beside the carriage''s open door.

    "Three hours, sir!" the man reported.

    "Good. I''m sorry to ask this of you, but you will still need to go for one more round," Markus informed, lowering his head as he made the request.

    "Sure thing, boss!" the mercenary that Markus hired back in the warcamp smiled instead of whining. "As long as I can help and I have the strength to do so, I''m willing!"

    ''To think that the invasion would bring about this kind of change,'' Layn thought, casting a nce at the back of the departing man.

    Even though all the messengers were pushed to the brink of exhaustion, not a single one of themined.

    "It appears that when faced with the return of the old regime, they finally started to see the benefits of sticking with us, didn''t they?" Markus muttered, voicing out exactly what Layn was thinking about.

    "People only start to value the things they have when they are on the verge of losing them," Layn replied with a maxim he learned back in the future. It was one of the many sayings that he had to learn by heart back when he had just be an officer in the military.

    "It''s hard for me to even see what they do value so much," Markus muttered, a puzzled expression on his face.

    "It''s hard for us because we nevercked those things," Layn replied, brushing his fingers against Irea''s hair.

    Irea was the only one who wasn''t awake right now. Given how themanding center had to operate around the clock, there was a strict schedule as to when one would sleep.

    Even though people with their degree of power barely needed any sleep to keep going, that didn''t mean theck of rest wouldn''t influence their cognitive abilities.

    "Anyway," Markus shook his head, getting rid of all the spare thoughts. "Right now, everything seems to be going ording to your n," he said, raising his hand and rubbing his chin while staring closely at the position of the various pins on the makeshift map. "It appears the cultivators swallowed the bait all the way. What worried me, though, is theck of news about the monsters," he said, pointing his hand towards the map.

    On it, there were only three kinds of pins and a single stone. The stone represented the position of their own group, while the pins, each colored red, green or ck, represented vians, Cultivators, and monsters, respectively.

    "You might find that surprising, but the monsters seem to be the only ones intelligent enough to see through my intentions," Layn said, disregarding the surprise it was bound to cause.

    "What do you mean by that?" Yelna raised her eyes and voiced her concerns.

    Hearing her voice, everyone in themanding center froze in shock.

    Between Layn praising the monsters for their intelligence and Yelna speaking, it waster that caused greater shock.

    "I believe our earlier attempt to push them against vians is what botched the current n," Layn exined his thoughts. "Since they learned that we wish to pit them against each other, they are bound to be more cautious about such traps in the future," he said, moving his hand towards the south side of the map, where only two pins were present.

    While two known position of the monsters'' grouping was already enough to guess the vector of their movement, whenpared to tens of pins representing both vians and Celestials, it made everyone act vary about their movements.

    "So, the fight will turn three-sided instead of four-sided. Is that what you want to tell?" Al asked, raising his eyes at the archmage.

    Ever since the execution of the n began, he turned nearly as silent as Yelna.

    "What I''m worried about is the monsters attacking only once the fight will near its end," Layn replied, pointing his hand at the ck pins. "At the current rate, they are going to arrive a bitter than we would like them to," he said,paring the distance between the ck pins and the stone to the distance between the green and red pins and their own position.

    "Report!" Another runner appeared by the open door of the carriage.

    "Speak," Markus replied. In the end, he was the one in charge of receiving reports and turning them into points on the map.

    "The vians left their fortress and are marching towards the ridge!" the runner reported.

    "Your call number?" Markus asked.

    "Echo five, boss!" the man reported.

    "So they should be somewhere around..." Markus muttered to himself before turning his face to the runner again. "The timing?"

    "Two hours!"

    "Good."

    Markus ced the pin down on the map, only for a wrinkle to appear on his forehead. "Wait, if it''s only two hours..." he raised his eyes at Layn. Yet, instead of saying anything, he looked over to the messenger again. "Thanks for the information, but I will have to ask you to make one more round."

    "On it, boss!" the man didn''t seem to mind another task at all. Rather than that, a strange light of excitement could be seen in his eyes.

    "Then go!" Markus urged the man, waiting for him to leave the proximity of the carriage before turning his face towards Layn.

    "At the current rate, the vians will arrive faster than we expected," he said. "If we don''t hurry, they might even upy the ridge before us!"

    "I guess it''s the time, then," Layn mentioned while shaking Irea''s shoulder.

    Her sleep was pretty shallow, allowing the girl to wake up within seconds.

    "I guess it is," Markus echoed his friend before standing up and jumping out of the carriage. In just a few more seconds, everyone left the wooden cart.

    "Irea, could you?" Layn asked while watching how the horses continued to pull the carriage forward, the distance between the group of leaders and their former vehicle growing by a second.

    "Like if you couldn''t do it yourself," Irea protested slightly, still drowsy after the short period of rest. Nevertheless, she stepped ahead of the group and sped her hands together.

    She then slowly pulled them aside, acting as if some kind of force was desperately trying to make her close them again.

    ''So she managed to understand the vectoring principle already,'' Layn thought, recognizing the spell that he taught the girl just before it was her turn to go to sleep.

    "GO!" Irea shouted, still abiding by the bad habit of voicing out hermands.

    The outstretched ball of magic copsed between her hands. Yet, instead of imploding on itself, the force of its copse was redirected towards the carriage.

    The wagon, outside of the map and the few seats, was filled with only one thing. The dried-out grass that Layn has already proven to release quite a lot of smoke when burned down.

    Irea''s bolt moved forward so fast that an onlooker could easily believe it simply teleported. And once it touched a matter that was dense enough to infringe on its movement, its momentum-born stability broke down, releasing the energy of the bolt out to the world.

    And there was one manner that the world usually dealt with excessive energy.

    The carriage exploded in mes less than a second after Irea released her bolt. It only took less than a minute for the massive cloud of smoke to form above it, quickly rising to the skies.

    "The beacon is lit," Al muttered, gripping the ax in his hand a bit tighter. A hint of excitement shed in his eyes.. "Let''s hope everyone will notice it."

 Chapter 236 - Reaching The Ridge

    "Boss, it''s the ridge!" a report came in, in the form of a runner catching up with Layn''s detachment.

    After burning the carriage down and sending the signal to everyone with the smoke, Layn''s entire army dispersed into eighty different groups, each five people strong.

    Layn ran with Irea, Markus, Yelna, and Al, turning their group into the central cell of the formation. Yet, instead of sticking to the middle, they were located in the fourth row from the front, close enough to get reports rtively quickly, yet far enough not to be embroiled if the fighting were to erupt.

    "Any sightings of the vians?" Layn asked, shouting over the distance that the runner maintained. Given how he would be soon tasked with returning to his cell ahead, he didn''t waste his energy reaching anywhere closer than necessary for his voice to reach themanding cell.

    "The front cell has yet to cross the ridge, I don''t know, boss!" the man replied before raising his hand to his head in a salute and veering off to the side.

    "So the shit is about to go down," Markus muttered, stretching the fingers of both of his hands.

    Despite his bear-like psychique, his way of handling his unusual weapons made it necessary for him to keep his hands as agile as possible.

    Given how they were now reaching the central point of their ns, they had no other choice but to take a position there.

    Whether the enemy managed to reach the ce before them or not, they would have to find it on their own.

    "Okay, guys, time for cking is over," Layn shouted, making sure that everyone in his group would hear him.

    "Irea, are you ready?" Layn asked, turning his head towards the girl.

    Ever since the archmage''s n took its final form, Layn didn''t use even the tiniest bit of his mana. He surely had the greatest quantity of it in the entire group... but that was also the very reason why he couldn''t spare even a bit of it.

    Ultimately, they didn''t know what to expect from the cultivators or how Generian called them celestials.

    While vians were a known enemy, one whose power and capabilities Layn could predict to a degree, the top ranks of the cultivators were a big unknown for him.

    "On your mark," Irea replied with a faint smile.

    Ever since they returned from the mission where she nearly lost her life, Layn started to rely on her a lot more. And from the sparks of satisfaction in her eyes, she clearly enjoyed the change.

    "Okay, boys, let''s do it! Irea, now!" Layn shouted, leaning forward as he increased the pace of his speed.

    Up until now, everyone managed the pace that wouldn''t burden the weakest members of their entire formation.

    Irea raised her hand, forming a simple fireball above her palm. After a second of channeling her mana and constructing differentyers of the spell, she released the control over the raging ball of mana.

    The fireball ascended to the skies.

    BOOM!

    It exploded in a myriad of colors, quickly painting the entire sky in green.

    This was the only reason why Irea spent so much time constructing the framework of the spell. Making the explosion look green instead of red.

    It was the signal Layn was waiting for. With the skies lit up in the second beacon, he pushed his body to his limits, rushing ahead.

    Even though he couldn''t see it, most of his people stopped for a moment. They looked up to the skies. Their eyes started to burn with excitement.

    And then, everyone rushed ahead.

    Layn quickly reached the absolute limit of how fast he could run. Without using magic to break through this natural barrier of the human body, he couldn''t move even a single bit faster.

    Compared to him, Markus and Al, not to speak about Yelna, managed to exceed his speed. In the end, they were more focused on the physical build of their power rather than the magical one like the archmage. Out of the three of them, Markus was the slowest, filling the gap between Al and Yelna duo and Layn himself.

    Out of the entire group, Irea was the slowest. But right now, it wasn''t a race about who would reach the ridge the fastest. It was a race who would get to the ridge first, them or the vians!

    The distance quickly shrank as everyone rushed ahead. With Irea''s beacon serving as an orientation point, all eighty of the five-man cells started to converge on a single coordinate, forming a stretched-out line.

    Yelna ended up reaching the top of the ridge first. She jumped above the highest point, instantly going into the slide on its other side. Al followed closely after, although he couldn''t slide down the other side of the ridge as fast as the nimble girl.

    A momentter, Layn reached the top as well. For a second, he jumped, using the moment where his body was airborne to assess the situation.

    The vians were already there. While the bulk of their forces was still quite a bit away from this vantage point, their front guard had already reached halfway up to the top.

    "I''m going in first!" Yelna shouted, pulling out her daggers. Her eyes lit up as the intense aura of bloodlust exploded all around her.

    "KILL THEM ALL!" Layn shouted, digging his feet into the ground and stopping his rush.

    Now that he had reached the top of the ridge, there was no need for him to go any further.

    The small detachment of roughly a hundred vians wasn''t a challenge that Yelna alone couldn''t handle. What''s more, both Al and Markus rushed ahead after her, eager to join in on the fun.

    "Layn!" Irea reached the top of the ridge, stopping right beside''s her man.

    "Send the signal," Layn ordered, his eyes fixated on the position of the vians. Yet, just as Yelna was about to smash right through their frontlines, he turned himself around, sending a nce towards the way they came from.

    And surely enough, far of in the distance, a cloud of dust announced the arrival of the army of cultivators.

    ''We need to slow down vian''s approach,'' Layn thought. His entire n relied on starting the fight on both fronts at exactly the same time. ''I guess it''s time for me to join in the fun as well,'' he thought.

    He hoped to reserve as much energy as he could for the fight with the top of the brass of the celestials. But the current situation didn''t allow for him to exercise any further restraint.

    "I''m done!" Irea shouted as soon as another fireball shot out from her hand. This time, it exploded in yellow, announcing the situation to all the troops that had yet to reach the top of the ridge.

    "Good," Layn muttered, sping his hands and constructing a military-grade st cannon spell around them.

    His fingers were all straight, with the exception of both of his middle fingers, both of which were slightly bent backward, their tips still touching. And it was right in front of this point of contact that a tiny ball of condensed energy formed.

    ''If I want them to hurry up, I need to make them think that they need to close the distance themselves,'' the archmage thought, a smile appearing on his face.

    A set of seven rings appeared on his hands, three of them behind the ball of energy, four of them ahead of it.

    And then, Layn pushed his middle fingers forward, sping them together.

    The tiny ball of mana, pushed by the movement of his fingers, elerated whenever crossing a ring around Layn''s hands. Once it broke free from the four advanced rings, it was suddenly pulled back, right into Layn''s hand, where another bout of free manatched into it.

    Then, the three backward rings around his hands broke, slingshotting the ball forward!

 Chapter 237 - Its Time

    Layn''s provocation finally bore the result. Under the onught of his ranged attacks, the vian army finally marched out.

    Its aim was simple. Since they achieved nothing by standing in the distance and letting their troops get ughtered by the magic, they could very well just push forward and squash the little army of their opponent!

    "So it begins," Layn muttered, turning his face towards his friends. "I will take the left-wing. You guys take the center and right-wing respectively," he shouted before heading off to the far end of their group.

    "What''s the n?" Yelna asked, marching right by Markus'' side.

    "Kill them all and survive," Markus smiled, taking his position. "For now, though, just trust in Layn''s n. As unorthodox as they might be, they have yet to fail," he imed before focusing his eyes on the vian army.

    They only needed to take care of this side of the front. Because on the other side of the ridge, the army of celestials didn''t bother to engage in any sort of skirmish ys, opting to charge the hill right away!

    ''I should focus on the right-wing,'' Layn thought, conjuring a set of ten more fireballs before slingshotting them towards the outer edge of the vian formation.

    Right now, they were split into three groups. Lightweight troops at the wings and the heavy infantry in the middle. What was worrying the archmage, though, was thepleteck of the greatest vian strength - their cavalry.

    Bit by bit, both armies started to climb uphill, aiming to sh with those pesky opponents that dared to defy them. Both vians and Celestials came from starkly different worlds; neither knew about the other''s existence.

    Yet, their aim was the same. To crush Layn''s resistance and kill his people.

    ''If I wasn''t used to it, the sight alone would be horrifying,'' Layn thought, alternating his eyes between two sides of the ridge. No matter where he looked, there were masses of armed people, all hoping to end his life on the first given opportunity.

    By the time celestials arrived near the half of the ridge, Layn''s men had started to fight. Some threw stones, others executed their ranged techniques, some even managed to throw some fireballs, proof that Layn''s few lessons brought forth some meaningful effect.

    On the other side, Layn''s men focused more on purely physical attacks, shooting arrows into the gaps of formation, throwing stones at the enemy''s massive shields, and even dropping at them with spears, only to retreat the moment the weapon would shatter.

    By the time both armies finally reached near the top of the ridge, their numbers had already dwindled by a huge lot... That is, a huge lot if one thought about the skirmish as a separate event. Whenpared to the main force of their armies, their casualties were barely noticeable.

    "Boss, they are winding up for a wide swoop," one of the men nudged Layn''s side, pointing his hand at the movement of the vian''s troops.

    Instead of just rushing uphill, their left wing stretched out to the side, far beyond Layn''s position. The only reason to do something like this was to obviously encircle his group, putting them in the least favorable position.

    "The difference is in for everyone to see," Layn muttered, throwing a look to the other side of the ridge. In there, the celestials simply rushed ahead, spreading out across the ridge not because of orders but because their marching formation was too tight for them tofortably run up.

    "Boss?" the young man called out again, still awaiting orders.

    "Let theme," Layn smiled, turning his face back to the vians. "They are both in for quite a surprise," he added, finally pulling his spear out.

    A few breathster, all three armies finally shed. upying the narrow, t area at the top of the ridge, Layn''s men could fight with the height advantage over both of the advancing forces. On the other hand, neither the vians nor Celestials managed to as much as to dent Layn''s formations, unable to upy even an inch of the even ground.

    But that was only the first of the many surprises that Layn prepared for his enemies. A few moments after the close-quarter fighting began, the vians and Celestials finally made contact right on top of the ridge.

    "THEY HAVE REINFORCEMENTS!" some vian officer called out in desperation, only to die under the sh of a burning sword of some random celestial.

    "They hid their numbers!" the same guy shouted to his back, just before a vian axed him down with a powerful sh of his saber.

    In this one moment, what used to be a rtively orderly battle, turned intoplete chaos.

    All over, the people were fighting for their dear life. The top of the ridge upied by Layn''s forces was the only ce where some remnants of order remained.

    "Die!" Layn shouted, pushing his spear through the throat of a vian soldier, only to turn around and knock away a sword aiming for his back.

    As the battle went on, all of the strongest members of his groups moved in front of the formation, impeeding the force of impact the enemy armies would have on their weakerpanions.

    In the midst of the Celestials, Markus swung his il. Not even the strongest of their elders could stand against his furious technique. Yet, given how wide Markus attacks had to be to keep the momentum of the swing, there were many openings that those formidable warriors were bound to see.

    Sadly for them, whenever one would attempt to sneak in an attack on Markus'' weak spot, Yelna would be there to greet him with a knife to the eye or a sword to the groin.

    ''It''s nice to see that those two are just as efficient as ever,'' Layn thought, kicking away a massive soldier who went at him with a two-handed ax. As his body and weapon fell down the incline, the mass and momentum of the ax cut down several vians before finally digging itself into the ground.

    In the far-off right-wing of Layn''s formation, Al led the charge, cutting down people all around. Given how he appeared to be personally weakest of the leading group, he was ced in charge of the stronger soldiers in their entire army.

    Instead of taking on the entire armies on his own, he would lead his men for quick trips out of the formations, introducing even more chaos and confusion amongst the two of their enemies.

    All in all, the battle was going exactly as Layn envisioned it. So far, the main focus of the fight naturally shifted from the archmage''s group to the sides, where the bulk of both forces started to gather.

    It wasn''t themander''s fault on either side. The simple soldiers, faced with the option of certain death against the far stronger opponent in the middle, would rather aim for the sides that appeared to be more evenly matched with them.

    This was true for both vians and Celestials, both of which much prefered to fight against each other rather than facing Layn''s formidable troops.

    Sadly, that didn''t mean that Layn''s people were without fault. With a single sweep of his eyes, Layn could already see several lifeless bodies dragged inside the formation, while a whole bunch of others were hastily covering their wounds in ointments and bandages.

    Even though they managed to hold so far, it didn''te at a cost.

    ''Huh?'' Layn shrugged when his eyes suddenly noticed something strange.

    Far off in the depth of the Celestial armies, massive openings appeared. There were exactly three of them, with a single person in the middle of each.

    And that could mean only one thing.

    ''It seems that the real trouble is about to hit us,'' Layn thought, his lips quivering only to form a smile a secondter.

    Without even a shred of hesitation, Layn pulled out the same device that he used back during his scouting mission. The magical device that would be damn effective at calling forth the monsters, the fourth party to the battle that could easily tip the bnce for either of the sides.

    ''Now, let''s cut down their numbers a little,'' Layn thought, pressing the activator on the device before throwing it deep into the ranks of the Celestials.

    "Markus!" Layn shouted, pulling back into the safety in the middle of his group.

    "What?!" Markus shouted back, stopping the swings of his weapon as he turned his head towards his friend. For a moment, he could rely on Yelna to keep him safe.

    "It''s time!"

 Chapter 238 - Call Of The Horn

    A lot of things happened at once.

    From the depths of Layn''s formation, someone blew a horn. Given how small their numbers were, using this kind of loud instrument didn''t make any real sense...

    Or so could a random officer from either of their opposing armies think.

    Because the moment the sound of the horn struck everyone on the battlefield... vians'' right wing started to give ground.

    They didn''t run away just like that, but all the fighting between them at the nkmanded by Al... Suddenly died off. Which was peculiar, given how just a few meters further, where Layn''s forces ended and the cultivators army began, the fight went on just like before.

    In this moment of respite, Al moved with his men sweeping at the center of the vian''s formation. With the help of the strongest troops, the bnce of the fight broke apart, forcing the center of the vians into an unorganized retreat.

    ''Just like nned,'' Layn thought, observing how the events unfolded.

    This was his gamble, the one thing that he deeply cared for, the one thing that was crucial to the oue of this battle.

    And it was whether the faction friendly towards them within the vian ranks would actually go through with the n that one of Layn''s men smuggled to them.

    But it was only the first step in the tactic that Layn developed just for this moment.

    "Push the center!" he shouted, setting apart the few men that he taught during their journey towards the ridge, leaving them to support the front against Celestial of the left-wing.

    With all of Layn''smanders stepping back and reinforcing the push against vian center, what was a local retreat quickly turned into aplete rout.

    ''It''s almost baffling,'' Layn thought, kicking away at his nearest opponents only to crush a firnce he conjured at the face of another of vian soldiers.

    By rushing to attack him, they proved that they had nothing to do with the other faction but followed general Kazan''s orders instead. Even though they were still vians, there was no room for quarter and mercy on the battlefield.

    Yet, as soon as the center of the vian ranks broke apart and the men started to escape...

    The horn sounded once again.

    vian left-wing that continued to give ground for a while already suddenly stopped in ce. Then, as if suddenly regaining their morale, they pushed ahead.

    Al took most of the men from the vian front of his formation and formed a breakthrough unit. He then turned them all around and rushed at an angle at the formation of Celestials, opening the path for the allies to push into.

    In a second, the three-way battle turned into two on one gank.

    But that was the end of the fancy maneuvers. Ignoring the rout of both their other wing and their center, the vians on the left-wing only reinforced their attack, actually pushing the celestials on their side down the ridge. At the same time, their attacks on Layn''s position intensified, quickly ramping up the casualty rate.

    ''I''m sorry, everyone,'' Layn thought, giving his people onest look. For now, the formation held its ground. But its second line was already formed with those who sustained the slightest injuries.

    "Hold them off!" Layn shouted out loud, fighting off the feeling of guilt that clenched his heart. He wanted to stay with them, to help them ward off the enemy...

    But his time was running out.

    The powerhouses that appeared in the depths of the ranks of the celestials already reached the foot of the ridge. It was time for Layn and his friends and allies to start the third phase of the battle, one that would truly decide its oue.

    "We will hold!" one of the injured shouted, raising his weapon high in a cheer before pushing his way forward and recing one of the tired colleagues. Before Layn could react in any way, the brave man was already shing at the vians, decorating the ground below his feet with corpses.

    "We will hold!" the rest of the men joined the cheer. Even some of the more gravely injured joined in the call, raising up from their beddings and grabbing whatever weapon they could find on the ground.

    Just like Layn''s fight would dictate the oue of the battle, it was their perseverance that would decide how costly the potential victory would turn out to be.

    "Layn, we are ready!" Markus shouted over, rushing to his friend''s side.

    "Who do you want to go against?" Layn asked, turning his eyes towards the approaching powerhouses.

    "I can recognize that fancy bastard," Markus said, gripping his ax and pointing at the youngest of the approaching enemies. "I already fought with his clone and won, so with Yelna''s help, I should be able to take care of him again," he said, not showing even the slightest hint of hesitation on his face.

    "Fight well, then," Layn said before nodding his head.

    It wasn''t the first time for those two brothers to rush into a fight together. But for the first time, the stakes of the said fight were so massive.

    "Be safe," Irea cried out, panting as she arrived at Layn''s position. "It''s a pity we won''t get to fight together, though," she added with a gentle smile before turning her face to Al beside her. "I will be in your care," she said, firing off magic all over her body.

    "Likewise," Al nodded his head, already locking his eyes with one of the three approaching men. "And I think I already found our target," he added before taking a look at the archmage''s face.

    "And so did I," Layn muttered, locking eyes with the oldest of the trio, cautiously advancing up the hill.

    "On my mark," Layn said softly, raising his hand. Their enemies moved even closer, quickly approaching the edge of the ridge.

    And just as they were about to enter the t ground at its top, Layn waved his hand.

    "KILL THEM ALL!" he shouted, only for his words to be apanied by the second call of the horn.

    The third andst phase of the battle was about to begin!

 Chapter 239 - Pierce Through

    The battle came to a momentary standstill. When Layn and his friends descended from the ridge towards the three powerhouses of the Celestials, every living soul froze in ce.

    For a single moment, no one cared about the fight, about the battle, about their own survival. Their deepest instincts alerted them about what was about to happen.

    And then the two groups shed.

    The fight started at the same time in three different ces.

    To the right, Al and Irea engaged with a man who covered himself with fire. Judging from the look of tion on his face, he didn''t care about the battle itself, too focused on the fight that had just started.

    To the left, Markus and Yelna engaged with the youngest of the trio. While Markus showered him with powerful shes of his ax, Yelna roamed around the ce, looking for the opening to use her hunter abilities.

    And in the middle, Layn shed with the oldest of the three cultivators powerhouses.

    ''Rebound,'' Layn thought, raising an attribute-etched wall of mana in front of himself a second before crashing right into the old man.

    "Futile!" the man shouted, striking away at the archmage.

    His fists carried both a powerful momentum of a physical swing and a massive load of mana. The strike was at the level that could easily tten a considerable part of the hill.

    Layn bent his knees, guiding the flow of his rebound shield along with the movements of his body.

    Originally, the rebound shield would simply reflect all the energy directed at it upwards to a certain limit. Yet, it was the simplest and, at the same time, weakest of possible ways of using it.

    Leaning his body forward only to bend his back backward the moment the strike connected with the shield, Layn allowed his wall of mana to angle, seemingly giving in to the strike.

    Bit by bit, the old man''s fist inched closer towards his body... But as the reflection finally kicked in, whenbined with the angling of its surface, the attack only managed to scrape by Layn''s side.

    ''Here,'' Layn''s eyes shed. The second his opponent''s hand brushed past him, he dropped the shield, redirecting its mana into a powerful strike on his own. With his opponent exposing his side, Layn managed tond a perfect...

    A perfect miss.

    Just like Layn wielded an overwhelming advantage in terms of mana maniption, the man''s physical prowess was on an entirely different level.

    ''I don''t think even Gartian would have a chance against him,'' Layn thought, biting his lips as he jumped one step away.

    The sh between the archmage and Consal proved to be quite... disappointing. Even though they were both the strongest within their respective force, their exchange ended up fruitless, as opposed to what happened to their sides.

    "DIE!" Far shouted, smashing his fists right where Al stood a second before. The second his fingers touched the ground, it exploded with fires, instantly burning several of his fellow celestials.

    "Leave it to me!" Irea stepped forward, using her mana to create a whirlpool of energy around herself and Al, redirecting the mes of the attack to the sky. "Now!" she shouted.

    "You don''t need to tell me!" Al rushed ahead, using the visibility impairment of the whirlpool to sneak a powerful downward sh at the opponent.

    "Nice one!" Farughed off, taking the strike directly on his chest.

    Not even a drop of blood appeared, his skin proving to be too tough for Al''s de to prate.

    To Layn''s left, Markus finally managed tond a side-sh on the Jeah, only for the Star Emperor to block it off with his arm. Just like his ally to the side, Jeah''s cultivation allowed him to easily ward off almost any sort of physical attack.

    "They are really going at it," Layn muttered, scanning the situation as he took two more steps to the back.

    "You tell me," Consal replied, shaking his head.

    The two men looked at each other, one more surprised by the other. Contrary to what happened to their sides, their area of the fight waspletely devoid of hostility.

    Instead of using hate and wrath to propel their actions, the two of them simply looked for the openings in the stance of the other. But as annoying as it was, they were stuck in a silent and rtively peaceful game of shadows, trying to guess what the other was capable of and how they could counteract it.

    "At this rate, we will end up doing nothing, leaving all the glory to the others," Consalined with an uneasy smile.

    "Is that really what you came here to achieve?" Layn asked while squinting his eyes. Since the fight began, his calm state of mind was shaken a little for the first time.

    ''We abandoned our camp that we worked so hard on, several of my people died, more are about to die as the battle goes on... All because you wanted some glory?!'' he thought, tightening his teeth.

    Yet, instead of giving in to the anger, Layn killed it out.

    In a fight like this, emotions were the assassin of the focus. And Layn desperately needed his concentration to counter all and any technique that his opponent could pull out from his ass.

    "It''s not that simple," the old man shook his head. "But I don''t like the idea of being left out," he added, his expression hardening. "I''ming," he announced, lowering himself on his knees as his face lost all its emotions.

    ''He is about to go all-in,'' Layn noticed, biting on his lips as he shrouded himself with severalyers of shields.

    For a mage like him, close-quarterbat was thest-ditch measure, not the standard way of fighting. He practiced it up to this point only because the difference between him and his opponents was just that great.

    ''I need to shove his attack aside, lock him in ce and then eradicate,'' Layn hatched a n, a strategy that yed to his strengths instead of his weaknesses.

    The only reason why he allowed himself in such a disadvantageous situation was the need to guide the battle into a specific flow, a specific way of developing so that the main strategy for the conflict could continue!

    ''What''s the situation...?'' Layn used a spare second to take a look around.

    On the right-wing, his vian allies finally managed to break through the Celestial''s formation, pushing them down the ridge. The fight of Markus and Yelna also started to turn in their favor, only elerating the development on the wing.

    The situation to his left was far worse, albeit not tragic. While neither his men nor Al and Irea managed to break through their opponents, they still managed to hold them at bay.

    "You made a mistake," Consal suddenly whispered, appearing right behind Layn''s back.

    The old man didn''t crash into any of Layn''s barriers, didn''t activate any of his traps. He appeared to simply ignore all the defenses the archmage set, cutting straight to the worst distance for the archmage.

    "You shouldn''t have looked away," Consal uttered, allowing the satisfaction of his surprise attack to shave away at the surprise part of it.

    Yet, even when alerted, Layn had no time to react. Without even a second of hesitation, the old man drove his energy-coated fist straight into the archmage''s back, piercing his torso right through!

 Chapter 240 - A Moment That Shouldnt Happen

    "It''s quite bloody," Tytus muttered under his nose, observing the battle from a small hill where Mukken brought him.

    Despite how eager he was to join on the side of his formerpanions, he dared not to make even the slightest move in the presence of this being that took over his master''s body.

    "That''s how battles are," Bartmented offhandedly, not showing any interest in the battle at all.

    "What''s even the point of this battle, master," Tytus asked, forcing himself to use the title he reserved only for Mukken in his heart. That was how big his hopes for the answer were.

    Yet, instead of replying, Bart smiled gently and kept his lips pursed.

    The battle continued to develop. The initial skirmishing quickly came to an end when Layn''s forces showered both sides with long-distance magic bombardment.

    A few momentster, all three forces shed with each other, proving that Layn''s n actually made some sense.

    "I can''t believe they didn''t notice it," Tytusmented again, striking his face as he watched how his formerpanionsmitted this massive blunder.

    They had the most numerous and easily the strongest army on the field. Yet, rather than using the numbers to their advantage and encircling the entire battlefield, they limited the scope of their attack to the narrow front that the other party could afford.

    "It''s not that simple, son," Bart finally opened his mouth. "The moment they outstretch their nks, vian cavalry would rout them out," he exined.

    Mukken created a t, oily surface that hung right before Tytus'' eyes with a single snap of his fingers. On the surface, the student of the overseer of the world could see a massive contingent of the heavy cavalry waiting for the opportunity to strike.

    Behind them, a detachment twice as big waited for their turn, ready to enter the gap created by their heavier counterpart and bring devastating casualties to anyone unlucky enough to find themselves under the hooves of their horses.

    "Still..." Tytus had a hard time epting the prowess of the other side. "I find it hard to believe that the cultivators would be defeated by some mortal horsemen!" he eximed.

    Even though he has long abandoned both his mortal and immortal way of living, he still couldn''t ept the in stupidity before his eyes.

    "Is that really what you think?" Bartughed out, snapping his fingers again. The image on the oily mirror changed, turning towards a small group of people dressed in ck robes.

    In the middle of their tiny formation, there was a strange symbol adorned with gold and precious stones. It consisted of a single-pole erected high above everyone''s head and two more poles, a third and a fourth in size whenpared to the main one, hanging diagonally from the main pole.

    "What is that?" Tytus asked, puzzled by the strange item. With how an entire group of ten people had to hold it upright, it was clear how important it was... But he couldn''t see any use for it!

    Was it a siege weapon? Strange sort of contraption? Massive ram used to break and disturb the enemy formations?

    "Its name would tell you nothing," Bart said, a faint smile appearing on his lips. "But the moment they set it up on top of that ridge, no mana will flow in any ce that its shine will fall on," Mukken''s body said before its eyes suddenly sharpened. "But now, let''s get back to the battle," Bart pointed out, finally moving his attention back to Layn''s struggle.

    And a struggle it was.

    After the initial injury to his torso, his fighting ability decreased by a whole lot. While the injury itself wasn''t lethal for him, it still took a huge portion of his focus to keep it healing while warding off continuous attacks of his opponent.

    But what was even worse, the battle all around finally resumed. With Layn''s injury serving as a massive morale boost to the cultivators, they quickly started to push at Layn''s forces, exposing Al and Irea to some sneak attacks from the back.

    In Layn''s case, all he had to do toward those attacks from weaker celestials off was to keep a single, weak barrier to his back.

    But it was still too early for Irea to do the same. With how focused she was on protecting Al and herself from Far''s attacks, she could barely spare any mind to ward off the attacks from the army that already surrounded them!

    "Don''t look away!" Consal shouted, rejoicing in the situation.

    Despite the initial drawbacks, he was clearly gaining the upper hand both in the fight and in the battle in general.

    ''Who cares about the left-wing,'' he thought, ncing over to the area where vians pushed his people out. ''We are winning to the right and in the center!'' he eximed in his thoughts, showering Layn''s weakening defenses with more and more punches.

    The walk through the void that allowed Consal to inflict a massive injury to the young opponent of his was a one-time trick. Not only did it consume an enormous amount of energy, but it also required a massive amount of focus and at least a few moments of rtive peace of mind.

    As if guessing those factors out, despite his injuries, this damned mage didn''t give him even a second of a breather. Every second, the chief of the forces that Consal came here to squash would not only repel all of Consal''s attacks but also pay him back with plenty of his own!

    ''This is going in a bad direction,'' Layn thought, sending a flurry of weak attacks just to keep his enemy upied.

    Even though he was healing his injury, it would still take a while for it to be fully fixed. But what was the worst part about this wound was that the moment he would stop treating it, his mana would start to leak out, severelypromising his fighting ability.

    ''Should I use it?'' This one thought appeared in Layn''s mind.

    He still had the one weapon, the one kind of spell that he only recently learned of how ultimate it was. The one kind of magic that, when discovered, its inventors decided to bury all the truth about it, recing it with lies dismissing its worth.

    Layn still had nuclear magic.

    ''But if I use it and fail to control it...'' he quickly hesitated, casting another look towards his beloved one.

    Keeping Irea safe was Layn''s absolute bottom line. The one thing that he would stop at nothing to achieve.

    And right now, with Al''s body covered in cuts, bruises, and burns, it was clear that the girl''s time was also running out.

    Click.

    A feeling ofpletion spread throughout Layn''s body. It was his organism''s way of telling that the process of healing his wound was finally over.

    ''Now we are talking,'' Layn smiled, feeling how the massive chunk of his power was back for him to freely use.

    An enhanced firnce appeared in each of his hands, both of them outfitted with tracking spell, explosive attribute, and implosion curse. Each of those effects turned this simple fire-de into a weapon of mass destruction.

    But right now, Layn couldn''t care less.

    "Let me give you the taste of..." he said in glee, raising his right hand to throw the firstnce...

    "AH!" A short shout broke Layn''s momentum, forcing him to look to the side.

    Some fucker put his sword through Irea''s waist. Her mouth filled with blood.

    For Layn, the time ground down to a half. He was unable to tear his eyes away from the sight of his girl getting injured.

    Thences in his spears copsed, falling apart into basic spell structures that instantly crashed into each other, unleashing the inferno of mes to the world around the archmage.

    His heart stopped beating for a fraction of a second, just while hate reced all the other emotions in his soul.

    All the hesitation was gone. All the doubts were gone. All the reins disappeared.

    Before even a second could pass, spheres of implosion appeared in Layn''s palms, sucking all the raging mes in.

    And in the next moment, the delicate bnce of the magical structure of the world around was forcibly broken.

    Just like in a supernova, when the mass of the entire star bounces back off its solid core, Layn''s mes erupted outwards, filling everyst fiber of his being with an energy that no human should ever get their hands on.

 Chapter 241 - Nuclear Mana

    "Teacher, why won''t you step in?!" Tytus asked, noticing how a massive amount of energy suddenly appeared right where one of his friends stood.

    "Intervene or not to intervene," Bart smiled. "That''s a deep question," he added, rubbing his chin.

    "Isn''t this man a potential wrench to the n of this world?!" Tytus protested. "If he unleashes this magic, everything that was supposed to happen in this world..."

    "Son, there is nothing like a one, correct path for the world to take," Bart shook Mukken''s head. "We watched over countless worlds following the n, we watched over countless worlds developing as they wanted without any intervention... But the result was all the same," Bart said, turning his head towards his student.

    For the first time in their long rtionship, Tytus saw a sad expression on his master''s face.

    "And if it''s all in naught, what difference does it make if the world follows its predestined path?" Bart asked, a small spark of interest suddenly appearing in his eyes. "Actually, I''m more interested in how things will go if we let this guy run free. Maybe that''s exactly what we were looking all those millennials for?" Bart shook his shoulders before looking back towards the battle.

    But this time, his calm demeanor didn''tst for long.

    "Is that fission..." he muttered, straining his eyes as he looked towards the battle. "Change of ns," he announced out of nowhere, his entire body tensing up. "If he unleashes this magic in here, it won''t be interesting at all!"

    ***

    Layn was both humble and aware. He knew that he was one of the strongest, if not THE strongest mage in modern civilization. His power steemed both from natural talent, years'' worth of effort, and his overwhelming knowledge.

    He was humble because he never believed that his power made him a better person than others.

    ''If wielding the biggest sword doesn''t make you the greatest man, why would this kind of logic apply to wielding the greatest magic?'' he liked to ask himself to keep his ego in check.

    Yet, it came without a doubt that he belonged to the absolute top tier of mages in the entire history of the world he was born with. Discounting for those whose tales were lost by history, there was hardly anyone who could even dare topare to Layn.

    But now, Layn realized that even someone as powerful as him was mere dust in the face of an absolute.

    The mes of his firnces fueled the first step in the magical fission reaction. And as soon as it fired up, the dominos started to fall at a rate that even Layn couldn''t control.

    But to be fair, he had no interest in controlling it either.

    Watching how some lowlife dared to prate his woman with a sword, Layn lost all his attachment to morals, rationality, and reason.

    ''I WILL BURN YOU ALL!'' he screamed out in his soul, allowing the nuclear magic to grow at the expanse of his magic flesh. The rate at which the power in his body increased made one thing obvious.

    He could no longer control it.

    ''I guess that''s really the reason why my time-jump failed,'' Layn thought, his mind surprisingly clear. His eyes moved towards the man that gave him so much trouble.

    ''If not for him, I could stop any harm froming Irea''s way!'' Layn realized his brain was only able to make the simplest connections.

    "BURN!" Layn brought his hands forward in an attempt to unleash all the nuclear power stored in his flesh right in the face of that old bastard.

    "Stop."

    A simple, silent word somehow made its way to everyone''s ear. But as if it wasn''t enough, the entire reality appeared to grind to a halt in respect to the authority behind that word.

    Bart appeared above the battlefield without any fireworks. There was no sh, no explosion, no puff of smoke. He wasn''t there... and then he was as if someone stripped him out of an invisible barrier.

    ''What?'' Layn thought. This was all he could do. Not only was the movement of his body restrained by this single word, but so was the flow of his magic.

    ''The fuck is going on?'' he thought, instantly using all his willpower to try to break free from the restraints.

    ''Whoever can just stop the time like that is a threat only I can dare to handle,'' he thought, forcing the nuclear mana through his body.

    He cared not for the trauma it was leaving behind. He cared not for the fact that in order to do so, he basically had to revert his magical flesh back into its natural form just to give the nuclear magic enough mana to feed on to keep it going.

    Despite the overwhelming authority of that single word, Layn managed to do the impossible.

    At the cost that would drive others insane from its pain factor alone, Layn managed to shake off the shackles that held him.

    ''Cease.'' The second word came from the mouth of the man that appeared above everyone''s head.

    Layn struck a wall. If the previous word was like steel shackles that held every atom of his body in ce, then the second word was simply absolute.

    "We won''t get anywhere if I keep holding you like that," the man in the sky muttered before waving his hand.

    As if it was just an illusion, the absolute restraint disappeared. Once again, Layn was only shackled by the first word. It was a formidable barrier, but he had already learned that he could break free from it.

    "The fact that you can break free from the stop word already proves that you are the winner of this battle," the strange man in the skies announced with a gentle smile.

    ''Wait, what the fuck?'' Layn''s mind scrambled to make sense out of this ridiculous situation.

    For some reason, there was a man in the skies. That man easily held everyone in ce, proving just how insanely powerful he was. And now he got to decide who won and who lost the battle?

    Outside of being humbled by the appearance of a being that Layn could never even begin topare to, he was served a massive portion of confusion directly into his system.

    "YOU FUCKER!" Someone screamed out, proving that Layn wasn''t the only one who managed to break free from the barrier. Yet, judging from the voice and how much it was filled with hate, it wasn''t someone who could be reasoned with.

    ''The mana in it...'' Layn thought as he furrowed his brows. It was only a voice, but he could feel just how excited the mana in it was.

    Just like when...

    Just like when one of his friends back at the academy went berserk.

    "DIE!" the voice appeared once again, this time apanied by a rtively young man rushing towards Layn.

    ''He is the one who Markus and Yelna...'' the archmage managed to realize before his instincts forced him into action.

    Paying no mind to the price that he had to pay again, he forced the shackles of the word out of himself, unleashing the mana to face a threat.

    And then, the tolerance to the mana of his body reached his limits.

    Unable to control his own power anymore, Layn''s nuclear mana burst out. In an instant, the space itself around him was scorched.

    But then, the reaction seemingly stopped. All the mana in the world was now stopped, heeding the order of the old man in the sky.

    All the mana in the world... outside of the force of the young man who broke free from the restraint of the world.

    With no other outlet for its might, Layn''s nuclear mana took the one and only path towards stability.

    Before Layn or even the man in the skies could react, the star emperor simply vanished from exitance, erased by the raging current of nuclear mana.

    "CEASE!" The man in the skies intervened once again. Faced with the absolute authority of the word, even the potency of the nuclear mana proved to bepletely futile.

    "Everyone, before you go back to killing each other, how about you listen to me for a moment?" the man in the skies proposed, only to release a chuckle a secondter. "Well, it''s not like any of you have any choice anyway," he added a momentter as his body descended down to the ground.

    The old man walked towards Layn''s powerless body.

    "You were the only one who managed to break free from the primary restrains. While you couldn''t really control that power, you still did it," the man praised the archmage.

    "To all those in the vincity, if I didn''t stop the force this man unleashed, everyst one of you would turn into a fleeting memory," Bart announced, a small smirk growing upon his lips. "There wouldn''t even be any ash or dust left from you," he added, painting a pretty vivid picture.

    "I stopped this man''s attack... But I''m not a partial judge. Now that he proved to be capable of killing you all, I will make sure no one will oppose his judgment," Bart smiled when his smile suddenly mellowed into a kind one.

    "But to be honest, instead of killing each other, there is another way to solve your situation. Especially with how the main forces that drove this conflict are now gone," the old man suggested, his smile turning into a wide grin.

    Bart waved his hands, releasing the power of the stronger restraint, leaving everyone under just the ''stop'' word''s authority.

    "What would you say if I...."

 Chapter 242 - [Bonus ]End Of The Path

    A small pir in the middle of a town''s center was all that was left from the original camp. Surrounded by the waters of the fountain sourced from the nearbyke, it served as the reminder of the humble origins of those who founded the city.

    The Town''s poption has been steadily growing for the past two years.

    Ever since the decisive battle at the ridge brought an end to the conflict, the aridnds quickly turned into farnds that were soon overtaken by the urban sprawl.

    The city itself was split into districts, each separated from the other by massive water canals, using the waters of the centralke to supply both the poption and the rich farnds at the Town''s outskirts.

    The streets were filled with all kinds of people.

    Just by taking a look around at the main za of the city, one could spot some Generians who often visited the city to trade their prey and artifacts. Besides them, former cultivators would walk calmly, enjoying their retirement.

    Out of every possible group, vian migrants turned out to be the biggest. With their new nation settled just outside the city''s protectorate area, they made full use of the benefits of trading and overall cooperating with the city.

    The only group that would often catch the attention of the new migrants from outside of the interspace were the beings formerly known as monsters.

    While they rarely possessed any humanoid traits, they were perfectly aware ofmunicating with others.

    It wasrgely thanks to the beastshifters, as they turned out to be called, that the insane rate of the city''s development became possible.

    Between the massive psychique of some of the beastshifters, immense strength of the former cultivators, and magical support of Irea Works Incorporated, projects that would normally take years if not decades to finish were done in the span of months and even weeks.

    "Hey, hurry up!" a middle-aged man shouted towards a cat-girl heavily breathing behind him. "You don''t want to bete for the ss!" the man''s excited voice was free of prejudice, the one thing that the beastshifters had to face during the founding year of the city.

    Theck of this interracial hate was something that only Yelna''s Medicinal Study could be thanked for. As it turned out, this hero of the Battle at the Ridge wasn''t a hunter by choice but by fate. What she was really interested in was magical medicine.

    An art that allowed some of the more powerful beastshifters to attain human-like forms.

    From the moment the first cat and dog-girls appeared in the city, it took entire... three days for a massive movement to force the government to adopt new taxes, all for the sake of supporting the development of the magi-medicine responsible for that transformation.

    And right now, humanoid beastshifters could enjoy widespread poprity and love of the city''s poption!

    "You know that I can''t run any faster, you meanie!" the girl replied, barely able to squeeze any words out of her supple chest. Even though her family managed to secure a great job at the Irea Works, theirbined earnings were still far from sufficient to secure a house anywhere near the academy.

    The academy was the only building that stood in the very middle of the Town. In fact, it wasn''t even a building but apound five times greater than the initial outline of the entire camp.

    The academypound was surrounded by a massive garden, filled with all sorts of mementos of the heroes thatid down their lives to set the foundation for the future everyone could enjoy right now.

    "Hurry up!" someone else called out. "The Celestial delegation is about to move out of the Al''s Casino!" a man in a fancy robe rushed outside, fixed his attire on the go, and pulled out a recording stone from his pocket.

    Only a few momentster, a one-meter tall owl flew out of the building, chasing after the man with a memory-storage stone in its beak.

    The city was more lively than ever. With the delegation from the Celestial worlding to discuss the terms of the new, extended trade agreement, the local poption awaited the news with anticipation.

    If the deal went through, they would usher in an era of prosperity that no one could even imagine in the past!

    Layn sat in his favorite seat, watching over the city from the balcony located at the highest floor of the academy''s central tower.

    He took a sip of his tea before looking over at the documents one of his attendants brought.

    "Second phase of reconquista, huh?" he muttered, looking down at the proposal drafted in the document. "Well, not my problem," he ended up shaking his shoulders before gently kicking a massive cat sleeping below his desk.

    "The fuck is wrong with you?" the cat instantly jumped on all fours, hissing at Layn and protesting.

    "Get this paper to Markus'' office," he ordered. "I believe Far will be quite interested in it," he said, watching over as the massive cat begrudgingly took the document and walked out of the room on all fours.

    Even though this attendant of Layn''s could easily afford the humanization procedure, he opted to stick to the roots instead. ording to its usual hissing, it was a way to honor his own ancestors and spit at the silly, modern trends.

    "So you really aren''t interested in the war anymore," Consalmented lightly, taking a sip of his bear.

    While the Celestial delegation would only meet with the government by the afternoon, those two former enemies were already past the fourth ss of tea and bear, respectively.

    "I got my fair share of it," Layn smiled, raising his left hand above the table.

    Even with all the developments of Magi-medicine, his injuries from when the nuclear magic burned through his body remained. He could mask them with illusion magic, but Layn ultimately opted to leave them as a reminder.

    Of what made them all go against each other, what made them bury their differences, and what started this entire journey in the first ce.

    "Right, that reminds me," Tytus raised his previously bored face and pulled out a small letter, still bearing the seal of Ation''s force. "There are some rumors about a certain group trying to create a nuclear reactor," he reported, passing the letter down on Layn''s table.

    "Not my problem anymore," Layn smiled. "As long as they don''t do it in my city, you should report that to Arto instead."

    "Boys," Irea said in a gentle tone as she entered the room. As it was the principal''s office, she was of the very few people in the entire city that could walk inside freely. "I think you tired my husband enough for today," she said, standing behind Layn''s seat and wrapping her arms around his shoulders.

    "Yeah, we won''t impose on you two anymore," Consal stood up from his chair, lifting his jug along as he downed what was left of his drink. "I push more people to look into Bar... Mukken''s matter," he said as he was about to leave, changing his words after throwing a quick nce at Tytus.

    "Much appreciated," Layn nodded his head with gratitude, guiding his guests to the door with his eyes.

    "Damn, I''m so tired!" Irea protested the moment the doors shut close, circling around Layn''s seat only to plummet down on hisp.

    "How is thepany doing?" Layn asked with a small smirk.

    "Do you really need to ask?" Irea replied with a question on her own, sending a nudge to Layn''s side in retaliation. "Still," she muttered, looking out past the walls of the academypound. "I would never believe we could achieve so much so quickly when you created thatpany for me," she added, staring at the orderly rows of housing andmercial buildings only to rest her eyes at the massive industrial district right by the border of Town''s protectorate. "On that note, there was an attack at thebor train over there," she said, pointing her chin towards the industrial district.

    "vians from the outside?" Layn asked, even though he already knew the answer.

    "vians from the outside," Irea mirrored Layn''s question, turning it into an answer. "I can''t really me them," she added in a soft tone. "Despite working in our city, they don''t have the pass to enter it..." she muttered, clearly troubled with this matter.

    "We need to set rational limits for everything," Layn smiled in response. "One day, we will be able to wee everyone to our ce. Sadly, today is not yet that day," he exined, smacking his healthy hand against Irea''s shapely bottom to make her stand up.

    ''To think that I would one day molest the CEO of the biggestpany in the dimension,'' Layn thought, unable to stop a smirk from appearing on his face. He then stood up from his chair and reached for his official robe, haphazardly hung on the nearby chair.

    "I know you have your lessons, but before you go," Irea didn''t react to the smack in any way other than gently smiling. "The new employees are really hoping you woulde and visit during their inauguration ceremony," Irea said, a yful smile appearing on her lips.

    She then took a few steps forward and ced her hand on Layn''s crotch, moving it gently up and down. "You know I will make it worth your while," she whispered, leaning over Layn''s shoulder. "Just imagine this, a hall filled with freshmen, all hopeful to start their new jobs and ted to see you, the hero of the ridge..." Irea whispered sweetly, only to bite her lips and add, "all the while I suck you off below your stand..." she whispered, making her hand move a bit quicker when she reached the spicy parts.

    "Leave that yfulness for when I''m done with the lessons," Laynughed out, sending another smack towards the richest CEO of the city and the dimension''s ass. Despite Irea''s fancy dress, he could still feel her warm flesh react to his touch. "Unless you want some of the animal girls to catch the sight of my boner?" Laynughed off, fixing his robe and leaving the principal''s office.

    The journey to the bottom of the central tower was quite long and tiresome, even despite Layn''s magic and cultivation. Yet, as he descended down the steps, he couldn''t help but reminisce about the past.

    ''Just two years ago, this ce was a barren wastnd, burned to the ground by the army of celestials,'' he thought, reaching the main level of thepound and taking a turn to the left. ''Just two years ago, we finished the battle at the ridge and begrudgingly agreed on how to split the influence, both in this dimension and back in both of the worlds outside,'' Lyan suddenly stopped, right as he approached the doors leading to his study hall.

    The archmage took a look at the massive clocktower visible from the corridor''s window.

    ''I''m alreadyte,'' he thought, watching how the clock''s arrows announced the undeniable truth.

    "Dean!" a student suddenly appeared on the corridor, his face freezing in terror when he saw Layn''s robes. "I''m sorry for beingte! I promise, this won''t happen again!" the young foxman proved his agility by executing a fully-fledged bow without stopping his rush towards the hall at all.

    "Just get inside, you rascal," Layn smiled gently, pushing the doors open.

    Upon walking inside, all the chatter and whispers in the hall disappeared. While there were some teachers that had to struggle with their students, Layn never had this problem.

    Whether it was his fame as the hero of the ridge, his authority as the dean of the academy, or the power of the most powerful being in the known world, he didn''t know.

    But in fact, he didn''t care either.

    ''It was a long journey,'' Layn thought, looking down at the several hundred students gathered in the study hall. They were all eager and waiting for his lesson, passionate to learn more about what magic really was. ''But I''m finally there,'' he thought, opening the book left on the stand.

    "Todays'' topic, permutations of the multi-dimensional structures and Kassian Theory!" Layn shouted, making the title of the day''s lecture appear on the ckboard behind him.

    The end.

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