ã€ŠGrinding to Become a Protagonistã€‹


 Chapter 1: Magic and Stripes

    I never really thought much about what I was doing with my life. As a second year high school student, the concept of being a grown up was something unfathomable. I¡¯m positive that most high school students have a change of heart about what they want to do in life. So why? Why do the teachers care so much about these damn career plan forms? It isn¡¯t like they were never kids before.

    A piece of paper that was meant to be filled out with my future goals and aspirations was crumpled into a ball and tossed randomly back into my backpack.

    ¡°What is wrong with just putting down that I want to be a magician?¡± I asked myself as I started to browse through the selection of occult books in the second-hand book store in my neighborhood.

    I loved to come here after a tough day at school. Today, I was supposed to hand in my career form, but I just couldn¡¯t bear to. Thinking back to how everyone else had filled out their forms with their dreams and goals made my blank piece of paper seem so pathetic.

    It was not that I had forgotten to do the assignment, or didn¡¯t have any dreams of my own. Like most people, I dreamed of having a well paying job, a house, and a wife. However, that stinking form kept asking for specifics. That is when I realized that I had no specific well paying job that I wanted, no style of home that really appealed to me, and no person that I even remotely desired to be my spouse.

    The store was located in a small plaza, and completely dwarfed by the large clothing stores that flanked it on both sides. In total there were only five rows of shelves. While the amount of books available left something to be desired, the contents were something rarely found in any other store. From old and forgotten classics to nosebleed inducing adult books, one could find unique books in this dusty store. That included books about the occult.

    Despite being in high school, I still had an unhealthy obsession with magic. It all started when my parents invited a magician to my birthday party when I turned six years old. Since then, I had read every book and watched every show I possibly could as long as it pertained to magic. This resulted in kids my age thinking that I was an anime otaku, but in reality I was a magic otaku. To think that there was something beyond normal is something that I cherish in the back of my mind.

    Oh this one looks extra cool. I thought to myself as I picked up a small yet thick book with a strange magic circle design.

    The leather was a dark brown with patches lighter than others, a sign of the books age. Upon opening the book I noticed that the pages are stained yellow from passing time. Having the appearance of a western style book, the words were written in a bizzare symbol like language. It was as if someone mixed Nordic runes and hieroglyphics. Yet I could understand the contents completely.

    DO YOU DESIRE KNOWLEDGE?

    ¡°What?!¡± I gasped as I dropped the book and looked around nervously. To my knowledge I was the only patreon that is in the store, and that voice was most definitely not the owner¡¯s voice. In fact, I could hardly even call it human. It sounded both young and old, both masculine and feminine.

    DO YOU DESIRE KNOWLEDGE? I CAN PROVIDE IT, AND MAKE YOUR DEEPEST DESIRE COME TRUE. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS MAKE A PACT WITH ME.

    Ah, I really wish I had some holy water! What the hell, am I about to get possessed? Not many things creeped me out, a handy result of spending years studying the paranormal . This wealth of knowledge just became a double edged sword as facts about how the most popular western belief that magic stems from creating a contract with a demon. I¡¯m going to a church as soon as possible.

    My feet slowly began to shuffle away from the pile of books that I was looking at. While keeping my eyes glued on the demonic book, quietly reciting a buddhist chant followed by a christian prayer. Just as I reach the exit for the genre section, the leather book flew into my chest.

    Winded by the sudden impact, I fell onto my knees and gasped for air. Looking down I saw the book was clinging to my body as if it was glued on. Using both arms, I tried to pry the damn thing away from me, but it is no use. I am so Fucked.

    DAMNIT KID! I GRANT WISHES FOR GOODNESS SAKES, JUST LET ACCEPT ME AND I¡¯LL MAKE YOUR MOST DESIRED DREAM A REALITY. JUST ACCEPT ME. I AM MORE LIKE A GENIE IN A BOOK, YEAH LET¡¯S JUST GO WITH THAT. I¡¯M LIKE TOTALLY NOT A DEMON. NO DEMON HERE.

    That is total bullshit. Your voice is like, completely demonic. Sweat poured down my face as . I did my best to stand still.. How should I react? Screaming in terror would be a normal reaction, but a part of me desired to know what this book can do.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    ¡°There you are! Don¡¯t you dare go entering random people again!¡± a shrill scream travelled into my ears. From the pitch the voice obviously belonged to a girl, and from the tone I can tell that she was flustered.

    Craning my neck I caught a glimpse of the voice¡¯s owner. It was a girl wearing a school uniform. The jacket was a dreary navy blue color, it covered a perfectly pressed white blouse, and the skirt was matching color to the jacket.

    QUICK BOY! BEFORE THAT DAMN BiTCH TAKES ME AWAY AND LOCKS ME UP. DID I MENTION THAT I CAN ALSO TEACH YOU MAGIC? LIKE TOTALLY REAL AND COOL MAGIC. JUST PLEASE LET ME IN!!!!

    Inside of my heart I could feel the confliction tearing me apart. Any rational individual would clearly never even consider the possibility of letting some unknown supernatural force enter their body. Yet from what the girl said it was clear that this was not the first time that this book tried to possess someone. She must have a way to take the book out if something goes wrong right? Alright Mr. Book, I accept your proposal.

    GOOD! YOU WON¡¯T REGRET THIS BOY. HAHA IF I SUCCEED THIS TIME, MAYBE THAT OLD FREAK OF NATURE WON¡¯T DESTROY ME. HAHAHA.

    Eh?! The strange feeling that I¡¯ve been conned fizzled in my brain. Looking back a couple of seconds ago, I did make a rather impulsive decision. Although this did not seem like the first time this has happened, why does Mr. Book¡¯s words make me feel so uncertain. Ah! Wait before you do anything tell me what happened to everyone that accepted your proposal!

    HEHE, NO TAKE BACKS!

    Before I could retort, a searing pain originated from my chest. A blinding light radiated from Mr. Book as he entered my body. The best way to describe what I was feeling is to imagine a gasoline dosed lump of coal that was just ignited.

    ¡°Save me! Someone please save me!¡± unable to endure the after effects of Mr. Book entering me, I thoughtlessly let out a shriek.

    Writhing on the old carpet floor, I rolled around in an attempt to stop the spreading of the burning sensation. Of course it was all futile since there was no fire, but my brain had no longer thought things through. The only thing on my mind was stopping the pain any way possible.

    Forcing my eyes open I rotated them in the direction of the girl who was yelling just a second ago. Based on all the recent evidence, it was safe to assume that the girl had some sort of connection to magic. Although this theory might have be too hastily formed, I could only rely on her to save me at the moment.

    As I parted my lips to call out to my potential savior, I saw that she had already closed the gap and was standing not very far from me. What caught my attention was not her eyes filled with concern nor her perfectly white face which was cutely scrunched from worry, it was the brilliant sight of white and blue stripes that were normally hidden from view by the navy blue skirt that is wrapped around it.

    ¡°What beautiful stripes.¡± I laboriously wheezed. My brain finally stopped functioning properly and so the worst possible words left my mouth without being filtered.

    Regardless how hard it was to focuse due to the rather unpleasant sensation slowly spreading throughout my body, I couldsee that worry filled face frost over in less than a second. The once watery brown eyes could not have become any more deadpan.

    ¡°Yuta! Yuta what¡¯s wrong?¡± the old man who owned the store blurted out as he hobbled over from behind the counter.

    There is a God! Thank goodness, I thought that I would be killed off from this girl¡¯s stare before this pain could do me in.Tears streamed down the sides of my eyes as the man I had gotten to know pretty well over the past few years through consistent patronage came to my hour of need.

    ¡°Shroud! Foggy Mind!¡± A familiar shrill yell came from next to me.

    Before I even had a moment to process what was happening, a curtain of shimmering light encased everything around me. Simultaneously, the old man stopped walking and stood silently in place for a couple of seconds, his eyes looked glossed over as if he was lost in thought. When he seemingly regained consciousness, his face morphed in confusion as he scratched the back of his head. It was like he had forgotten something important, but no matter how hard he tried, all that resulted was wasted effort.

    Releasing a sigh, the old man turned around and hobbled back to his comfortable chair behind the counter. ¡°I must really be going senile, I was in such a hurry to do something I even forgot my cane, but goodness me, I can¡¯t seem to remember what it was. Oh? When did Yuta-kun leave?¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m right here! Help me mister! Please, call an ambulance! I¡¯m dying!¡±

    No matter how hard I yelled, the old man ignored all of it. Somehow the light curtain completely warped the owner¡¯s vision and kept all sound from escaping.

    Holy shit! That girl really does know magic! She has to help me. It is her fault anyways for letting loose something this dangerous. I turned my sight back to the girl, and almost spat a mouthful of blood from her apathetic gaze. Screw it I am going to power through this. I will learn magic! And the first thing I am going to do is kick this haughty bitch¡¯s butt. I gritted my teeth in determination while digging my fingers so deep into the palm of my hands that started to bleed.

    It was then that I heard a familiar voice in my brain.

    THAT¡¯S THE SPIRIT! ONCE I FINISH THE BESTOWAL PROCESS YOU WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO DO ANYTHING! HOLD ON KID THE PROCESS IS ALMOST OVER. SOON YOUR WISH TO A MAIN CHARACTER WILL BE FULFILLED!

    It¡¯s no good¡­. Those were my last thoughts before the pain suddenly flared, and I passed out.

 Chapter 2: The Suzuki Family Part 1

    I am not sure how long it took for the Mr. Book to complete the so called ¡±bestowal,¡± but what woke me up was not any form of unbearable heat, it was instead bone chilling cold.

    ¡°Guagh .. COUGH COUGH¡±

    Choking on a steady stream of ice water, I forced myself to sit up properly. As I did so, every nerve in my body ached from having endured something that no human should ever have to go through. It did not help that the cold made my body shiver, causing a perpetual cycle of new soreness to pulse throughout my body with every movement.

    ¡°God damn, what was that for?¡± I shouted in indignation and frustration. Due to being forced awake, my eyes still hadn¡¯t adjusted to the light.

    ¡°Ha! I have never seen such a lucky pervert in my life. You should be grateful that you can feel anything.¡± a condescending voice that was several octaves higher than mine reached my ears.

    It was soon followed by a powerful and ancient sounding voice that almost felt like the rumbling of thunder, ¡°try to be nicer Rurika-chan, he is an important test sub.. COUGH, guest. Right, young man, what is your name?¡±

    Hey, you were totally calling me a test subject! I screamed to myself, but I burried my dissatisfaction and let loose a small smile. ¡°Nice to meet you, my name is Hitsugaya Yuta.¡± Unable to see, I bowed in the direction that the old voice came from.

    ¡°Grandpa, didn¡¯t I already tell you what this punk said? Even if he is the only success out of the past three hundred testers, he is a deviant that should not be permitted to learn magic!¡±

    As my eyes finally adapted to the light, I saw that I was currently in a white room and sitting on an operating table. Gulping down a bit of saliva, I looked to my right and saw the girl that was at the bookstore. Now able to get a good look, she was even prettier than I remembered. Her long black hair was tied in a ponytail, and the rather ordinary school uniform was replaced with a fiery red t-shirt that was clearly too small for the two large spherical mounds that threatened to burst out at any moment, and skin tight blue jeans that seemed to be a second layer of skin.Yup, she has the curves in all the right places.

    Standing in front of her was a tall man with long and unkept gray hair. When i say tall, I meant it, he had to at least be past 6¡¯ 5¡¯¡¯ from the looks of it. When compared to his counterpart who was at best 5¡¯5¡± on a good day, this man''s height could put professional basketball players to shame. He too wore a red skin tight t-shirt and blue jeans. In fact, one might even argue that they only difference was the size of the clothes. His clothes also seemed to be close to bursting, but he was curvy in very different way. No, it was more correct to say that he was bulging.If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.

    Although he was not as muscular as a bodybuilder, he was not that far off, and on top of it, it seemed like each muscle was sculpted by master craftsmen from the finest marble. Each and every part of him radiated an overbearing pressure that resembled the feeling of confronting a feral bear in the wild. Not that I would know. In other words, he was a total behemoth, if he had green skin I¡¯d probably confuse him for the Hulk.

    ¡°Gulp.¡±

    I swallowed another mouthful of saliva as I slid backwards to the end of the operating table.

    Noticing my discomfort, the muscular old man shifted his gaze onto me. I freezed in place from the sudden attention. Not good! I thought as I prepared myself for the worst.

    Contrary to what I expected, his eyes held no ill will whatsoever. In fact, if I had to compare his eyes to anything, it would undoubtedly be a puppy¡¯s. Like his granddaughter, the Hulk had dark brown eyes that resembled pools of dark chocolate. The only difference was that his eyes seemed to have a glint of a curious and slightly mischievous light.

    Stroking the stubble on his chin, the Hulk let out a chuckle.¡°Ho ho ho! No need to be nervous Yuta, I promise that we have no ill will towards you. In fact, I wish to congratulate you in becoming a bona fide magician!¡±

    Since when were we so close that we are on a first name basis? Hey mister i don¡¯t even know your name! And what the hell do you mean I¡¯m a magician? Did you take one too many pills this morning gramps?

    I was confused by his words for a bit, until I remembered the promise that the damn book made with me. If I survived what he coined as the ¡°Bestowal,¡± I would be able to use magic and have my most desired wish granted. In fact in conjunction with the aching feeling I had, there was another source of pain. It was a sharp cutting sensation that traveled my veins throughout my whole body, but each wave always started from my heart.

    ¡°No doubt about it, you have the initial linings of spiritual veins. I bet you are experiencing a prickly feeling traveling through all the blood vessels in your body. This is truly fascinating, the structure of the lining is totally different than someone who was born a magician .¡± Said the hulk as he reached out and pressed his right hand against my chest. ¡°It seems like a djinn is a little lacking when compared to a succubus in quality, but the durability of the lining seems like it could even rival natural born geniuses! It¡¯s too bad that it died after completing the bestowal.¡±

    Djinn? He must be referring to Mr. Book.

    Unable to handle any more unfamiliar jargon, I lightly tapped the Hulk¡¯s forearm with my left index finger to attract his attention. ¡°Um, sorry to interupt your train of thought, but do you mind explaining to me why I¡¯m feeling such intense pain. It¡¯s not really a prickly feeling, it hurts more than that. Like my blood changed into shards of glass.¡±

    Looking me up and down, the man in front of me pondered a moment before responding. ¡°Well that is a bit of a surprise. You did however just go through a giant change in many ways. A minor unecpectedoutcome is to expected. You must have some unrefined mana circulating in you. I will have Rurika here explain the details to you as she will be in charge of your introducing to you the basics of the magic arts and the etiquette of one that wields them.¡±

    Retracting his hand, the bear like man turned around and exited the room while muttering about having to make preparations to collect all sorts of new data. This left only two people in the large white room; which I am slowly beginning to believe it to be a surgical room within a laboratory.

 Chapter 3: The Suzuki Family Part 2

    Total silence invaded the room. During that period of time, we just stared at each other. I felt myself shrinking from an invisible pressure that permeated from her body. Eventually I was unable to take any more and looked down at my feet in defeat.

    ¡°Rurik-¡± I said, intending to initiate the conversation for the sake of breaking the awkward silence.

    ¡°Don¡¯t use my first name, we aren¡¯t friends. From now on you will address me as Ms. Suzuki.¡± Rurika said as she crossed her arms together. ¡°I am a pretty straightforward person, so I will come out and say it, I don¡¯t like you. And from that twitchy eyebrow of yours the feeling is mutual. So shut up and listen.¡±

    I kept looking down and robotically nodded my head. I feared that if I opened my mouth, I would snap and say something more stupid than ''beautiful stripes.''

    ¡°I won¡¯t dive too deep into any specifics since your general knowledge is lacking, but the gist of what happened to you was an experimental surgical procedure called the Bestowal to lace your veins with mana. This caused them to change into what is known as spiritual veins. This in turnwill allow you to safely use unrefined mana to cast spells. Normally one is born with spiritual veins and are rare even among magician clans. The lingering pain you are feeling is a combination of the surgery¡¯s after effects and the foreign sensation of mana traveling through your body. Any questions?¡±

    Despite her clear disdain, Rurika took her role as a mentor seriously, and once she noticed my confusion she stopped talking and let me speak.

    ¡°Ms. Suzuki, how did the mana get inside my body? What is the difference between refined and unrefined mana?¡± I asked as I placed a hand over my chest, where it hurt the most.

    As awkward as it was to address someone the same age as me so formally, I beared with it. Since she was whole heartily taking the time to explain things properly, I had no reason to not humor her request. The whole reason I ended up in this mess is my fault. It was insane of me for accepting Perhaps I was too quick to judge her.

    My flattery seemed to be super effective, as she raised her chin upwards slightly and the arrogant aura she emitted lessened by a marginal amount.

    ¡°Unrefined mana is usually taken into your body when one is meditating using a special breathing technique. The mana than travels to your heart, where it is stored for later use. But keep in mind that this type of technique has multiple uses. For now, observe as I demonstrate a type of breathing technique now.¡±

    Pausing her explanation, Ms. Suzuki took a deep breathe. Although it seemed like a normal inhale of air, I felt a sense of loneliness, like something important to me was being taken away as it entered Ms. Suzuki¡¯s body. Mana! What was being taken from the air around me was the mana.

    Letting out the breath she just inhaled, Ms. Suzuki began to talk again, but the mana she took in did not come out with the carbon dioxide.

    ¡°However, your case is a little special. Obviously you do not have the backing of a clan or organization behind you, so you have no breathing technique. The only explanation is that a little bit of mana was left over from the Bestowal and is running rampant in your body. If left alone for too long it could damage the initial mana lacing that protects your veins. Don¡¯t worry though, my grandpa already gave me the green light to gift you a manual for a breathing technique. With it, you should be able to attract and store your mana within your heart. That is, if you aren¡¯t as big of a loser as you look, I think you should be able to manage, somehow.¡±

    I take it back she is totally a bitch. I think to myself as she continued.

    ¡°This brings me to the last thing I will explain to you for now. As I said before, mana is taken into the body through breathing and is stored in the heart. Now that you are a magician, think of the heart as more than an organ that pumps blood. It is now a vessel for storing all the mana that you breathe in. Once you store enough unrefined mana, you need to use a variation of the same breathing technique to refine the mana in your heart. Don¡¯t look down on this step, this is essential to making sure that the mana is pure enough to use later. After all the mana is refined, it can be used to continually lace the veins to strengthen them. Plus this repeated action will help to expand the storage capability of your body. Lastly, always remember to refine all mana in one sitting. Leaving it will result in the pain you are experiencing now.¡±

    I cocked my head to the side and was about to ask for clarification when Suzuki raised her hand to silence me. The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

    ¡°Just think of the veins in your body as dirt path created by wandering animals, and your goal is to create a modern day highway. The first step in improvement would be to create a gravel path, followed by a brick road, etc.¡±

    I shook my head back and forth. ¡°Why don¡¯t you just construct the highway?¡±

    Rubbing her head in a bout of frustration, Rurika elaborated, ¡°it is just a metaphor. The evolution from the dirt path to the highway signifies the different stages of the development of your veins. You can¡¯t go from a faint lacing of mana to a highly fortified network of veins in a single night. If things were that simple, the world would be filled with grand master level magicians.¡±

    Having finished her explanation, she began to out the same exit that her grandfather had. When she reached the large doorway that seemed specifically made to let that Hulk to comfortably come and go without banging his head, she turned around and tossed me a thin book.

    ¡°Here is the basic breathing technique that my grandfather wanted me to give you. Practice diligently, and I will come back in the morning to see your progress.¡±

    With that, she exited the doorway completely and pressed a panel that was located on the outside.

    BANG

    A thick metal sheet slid down from the top of the doorway and onto the floor.

    ¡°Eh¡­..¡±

    Wait just a minute, Doesn¡¯t that mean I¡¯ll be stuck here for an entire day? This is a clear violation of my human rights! WTF? Calm down¡­ Calm down.

    In order to distract myself, I looked at the thin booklet in my hands. The title read, Great Sage Breathing Technique. How cool! My chunibyo sickness resurfaced as my eyes gleamed in curiosity. Unable to take the suspense, I opened the book to reveal a bunch of diagrams of the human body with arrows pointing in methodical directions. There was little to no text to go along with the pictures.

    ¡°This looks an awful lot like yoga. Well no harm in trying it out.¡± I said, remembering that Mr. Suzuki mentioned something about the negative effects of leaving the unrefined mana to roam free within my body.

    HEY BOY! LOOKS LIKE THEY LEFT. LET ME BORROW YOUR BODY BRIEFLY, AND I WILL HELP YOU LEARN HOW THIS TECHNIQUE.

    ¡°.....¡±

    A familiar voice sounded inside my head. It was kind of sounded like Mr. Book. No, it was more correct to say that it was Mr. Book.

    ¡°I thought that you died.¡±

    HAHA! WHO DO YOU THINK I AM? MY MASTER PLAN HAS SUCCEEDED! I¡¯M FINALLY FREE!

    ¡°Great to hear that you¡¯re fine, but I¡¯m not just going to hand over control of my body to you.¡± I said a little exasperated.

    A part of me was nervous that Mr. Book would pull some voodoo shit to take over my body, but figured that if he was strong enough to do so we would not be having this conversation. That is what I was banking on.

    PRETTY LEVEL HEADED BOY. DON¡¯T WORRY, EVEN IF I TAKE OVER YOUR BODY I WON¡¯T BE ABLE TO MAINTAIN CONTROL FOR MORE THAN THREE MINUTES. I AM PRETTY INJURED FROM TURNING YOU INTO A MAGE AND GRANTING YOUR WISH.

    Mr. Book¡¯s last few words peaked my interest, but I ignored my curiosity. Now was not the time to discuss things such as wishes. If I failed to learn how to manage my mana, it would not have mattered if I wished to be the king of the world. I would die in a matter of weeks from the mana destroying my body from the inside out.

    ¡°How can I be so sure you are not lying to me? What if you need permission from the host first before taking over.¡± I said as confidently as I could.

    As an occult otaku, I had come across lore on many mythical creatures. In one of those stories, it mentioned how powerful beings could not wield their power freely on Earth. Many needed permission to do things. One of the most mainstream examples is how vampires needed to receive an invitation to enter a home.

    I DO NOT HAVE ANY PROOF, BUT I CAN TELL YOU THIS. WHILE THAT BREATHING TECHNIQUE IS INDEED AMAZING, ITS LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY IS NOTHING TO SCOFF AT. IT WILL TAKE A FLEDGLING LIKE YOU AT LEAST A FEW MONTHS TO HAVE THE BASICS DOWN.

    What the heck? There was no way Mr. Book was telling the truth. I had thought that Mr. Suzuki was genuinely interested in my well being? Yet I could not explain it, I had a strong feeling that Mr. Book was not lying. Still, it was better to test him.

    "Didn''t Ms. Suzuki say that this was a basic technique?"

    As if reading my thoughts, Mr. Book elaborated. DON¡¯T BLAME THE OLD FREAK, THE REASON THAT YOU ARE IN THIS MESS IS BECAUSE OF THE LITTLE FREAK. SHE SWITCHED THE BOOKS ON YOU.

    That bitch!

    Rage swelled up from within me, and caused the already unstable mana to become even more excited. This in turn helped me to regain some of my senses as the fresh pain made it difficult to think.

    No matter how I thought about it, i was screwed. My best bet was to get in touch with Mr. Suzuki. Yet there was no guarantee that he would help or if I would see him before any irreversible damage was done. Regardless, it would be a mistake to rely on either of them. Plus, this was a golden opportunity. As an outsider in the world of magic, having access to good resources was a blessing in disguise.

    Gritting my teeth I muttered a single sentence, ¡°Fine, I give you permission.¡±

 Chapter 4: The Wonderful Rin

    Within the white room, it was completely impossible to tell the exact time, nor was it possible to keep accurate track of how much time elapsed. The grandfather and granddaughter pair had taken my phone when I was still unconscious from the Bestowal.

    Taking a deep breath in, I forced as much air as I could into my body. Following the exact steps that Mr. Book taught me, I extracted the mana and began to control the flow to enter my heart. After completely releasing the breath, I followed up with a series of quick breaths and hand gestures. The result was the mana in my heart stirring and becoming more refined.

    As the last wisp of mana in my heart was refined, I exhaled slowly in a controlled fashion. The stored mana began to flow out, resembling a light mist as it lightly coated the inside of my veins. By the time the mist reached my toes and fingertips, there was almost nothing left.

    Breaking my concentration, I stretched my arms up and laid down on my back. Having complete control over my body again felt weird. When Mr. Book took over, I had thought I would have slipped into a mental coma. Instead, it was like watching a movie from a first person perspective.

    SCHWEEK

    The metal door rose back into the ceiling, revealing Ms. Suzuki who was dressed in her high school uniform. Wait¡­ Uniform? School! While I am otaku, I took pride in the fact that I had perfect attendance since my middle school years. While it was silly to worry over, I hoped that they were letting me out before the first bell rang.

    Looking as haughty as usual, she walked into the room with head held high. However, I could make out the faint alarm that showed in her eyes.

    ¡°I must say, I am impressed with your improvement. You actually managed to grasp the technique with no problems. Even if it was a trash technique.¡±

    ¡°What makes you so confident I succeeded?¡± I asked while one of my eyebrows arched up slightly.

    Glancing downat her watch, she nonchalantly said, ¡°Because of the lack of mana in here. As one of grandpa¡¯s labs, the amount of mana that is allowed in this room is fixed; without letting any more mana to flow in. Based on the amount missing, I would have had to scrape the pieces of you from the walls if you had failed to understand the proper way to execute the breathing technique.¡±

    If it was so dangerous, why the hell would you let me do it by myself?I screamed internally as beads of sweat poured down my back. That is it, I am so done with this crazy family. I mean who locks a teenager in room with a ticking time bomb in their body?

    ¡°Am I free to go? I have school today.¡± I mumbled under my breath. It was a long shot, but hopefully they would let me leave.

    ¡°Sure, feel free to go¡± she said, stepping to the side and gesturing towards the exit. ¡°Just remember to come straight back here after school so that I can explain more things to you.¡±

    Without even so much as a nod in recognition, I strutted out of the room and saw a flight of stairs not too far away that went up to the ground floor. Looking around, the house had a feudalistic era vibe and the interior resembled a traditional manor. Judging from the wood, the place was as ancient as its design. What I had found truly odd was that there were no windows.

    Looking up, I saw that something that made my jaw drop, it was the sky. Not a picture or a painting, but the actual sky with moving clouds and radiant sun. At first, the rational side of my brain argued that there was no way that the Suzuki residence lacked a roof, and the clarity of the view ruled ou the possibility of a skylight. Looking toward where the ceiling met the wall, I found nothing to indicate a screen either.

    ¡°What a weird house,¡± I said as I found a door that appeared to be the way out. Rummaging through the shoe rack, I found the pair that belonged to me and hastily put them on. ¡°I hope that I won¡¯t be late.¡±

    Opening the door, I was greeted with the sight of a familiar street. Odd I don''t remember there being any Japanese style homes in this part of town.

    Before beginning the treck to my school,Kensai High, I glanced over my shoulder out of curiosity for what the home looked like on the outside. My jaw dropped for the second time today as I saw an outdated three story apartment complex. A fadded foreclosure sign ung on the dilapidated front door.

    Following the faint tracks made on the baren front yard, I saw the door that I came out from. There was no doubt, that was defenitly the way I had come. Struggling to formulate a thought, I was suddenly tapped on the shoulder.

    ¡°Hehe, morning Yuta. Hm? What¡¯s wrong, you look like you¡¯ve just seen a ghost.¡±

    Turning my neck back, I saw my closest friend friend from school, Inaba Rin. She had shoulder length brown hair, and large hazel eyes. In terms of height, she came about to about my chin if she was standing on her toes. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    ¡°Morning, Rin. Whar are you doing here? Don¡¯t you normally try to get in some early morning kendo practice before a match?¡±

    Pouting at me in disapproval, she and I began our march towards the school campus which was about three blocks away. ¡°Didn¡¯t i already tell you? The match was canceled.¡±

    ¡°Oops, I totally forgot.¡±

    Sighing in helplessness, Rin shook her head in resignation. ¡° Geez, you really can be airheaded sometimes. I even waited outside your apartment door for ten minutes so that we could walk to school together.¡±

    ¡°I am really sorry about that,I-uh-I was in a hurry because I thought I was on classroom duty.¡± I lied, since I couldn¡¯t very well tell her the truth.

    Suddenly her eyes because sharp as blades as she stared daggers into me. ¡°Sure you did liar, it¡¯s not like I just saw you coming out of that apartment.¡±

    Damn she saw that?

    ¡°Not that it matters, you are a terrible liar to begin with. You always pick at your left earlobe when you lie. And there is no way you wouldn''t be at school if you thought were on duty,¡± Rin proudly proclaimed.

    ¡°More like you just know me too well. ¡° I muttered as I embarrassingly turned my face away.

    ¡°Anyways, I won¡¯t pry any further for now, but you had me all worried too mister perfect attendance. I even had to check if you were still in bed,¡± said Rin as she pointed her finger at me.

    Now it was my turn to let out a helpless sigh. When I first moved here for school, Rin and I both lived in the same apartment complex. She lived one floor higher than me, and since we both commuted to school at similar times, we got to know each other pretty well from talking with each other too and from school. Not to mention we were in the same class. One could say that it was only natural that we became close.

    If there was one thing off about Rin, it was her love for prepping. It is sort of a kind of lifestyle, where a person prepares for the unexpected. For example, if a great disaster were to strike tomorrow, Rin would be capable of adapting to the situation and figure out how to best survive until help arrived. I once saw an entire box of emergency rations under her bed.

    That being said, she had a very wide variety of skills. One of which, is lock picking, and if I must say so myself, is one of her best skills. In the past year, I¡¯ve changed my lock three times in order to keep her out. Yet, despite my great effort, she just can¡¯t seem to take a hint.

    ¡°You know, I¡¯d appreciate it if you stop with that nasty habit of yours. You just admitted to committing to a crime you know. I could press charges.¡±

    Flashing awicked smile at me, Rin took out her cell phone from her school bag and showed me a picture. ¡°Hehe I would like to see you try. I must say, I think your parents might have an interest in what their dearest son searches on the internet.¡±

    Looking at the photo, I nearly had a mini heart attack. To any healthy teenage boy, their browsing history was a forbidden place that no one should ever see. Damn, she clearly has been practicing her hacking skills.

    ¡°Hehe, so what were you saying about committing a crime, Yuta?¡±

    ¡°Remind me, why I am even friends with you?¡± I asked in an exaggerated manner.¡±If only you would pour all your efforts and become an occult otaku instead.¡±

    ¡°No thanks, the last time I agreed to your demands, I ended up dressed like an AV idol with a bunch of creepy uncles taking pictures of me,¡± grunted Rin while shivering a bit.

    Massaging my temples I felt a giant headache forming. ¡°How many times did I have to tell you? That was an anime convention, and I wanted you to cosplay as the Beach Witch, not Beach Bitch¡­¡±

    ¡°Still, I have no desire to hang out with people that address me as Rin-tan. Geez do you see that? Goosebumps!¡± Shoving her arm in my face Rin pointed to a patch of lumpy skin.

    ¡°Whatever Rin-tan, I feel like we got way off topic. Anyways, why didn¡¯t you just call me on my cell phone instead of breaking and entering?¡±

    Wrinkling her nose at me, Rin gave me a serious look before saying, ¡°I didn¡¯t break anything! Don¡¯t falsely accuse me.¡±

    ¡°Last time I checked, a lock pick isn¡¯t exactly a key.¡±

    ¡°Shut up, I wouldn¡¯t even had to unlock your door if you just picked up your damn phone. I called you at least four times. I have the call history to prove it. Therefore I was completely justified in my actions. What if you were in mortal danger? What if you had fallen and couldn¡¯t get up?¡±

    ¡°This isn¡¯t a Life-Alert commercial. Also ----¡±

    I stopped talking, as it felt like all the words I wanted to say was in a traffic jam within my throat. Checking all my pockets in a hasty manner, I realized that I did not have my phone on me.

    ¡°Damn!¡± I cursed under my breath while subconsciously clenching my fists so hard my knuckles turned white.

    I had been planning to never go back to the Suzuki residence. There was too much I did not know about true magic, but I knew plenty about that damn family. While my time with them was short, it felt like I was some kind of human lab rat, at the whims of two individuals that had more than just a few screws loose.

    In fact, I didn¡¯t even need to go back there to learn how to control my powers. That is because I had Mr. Book to guide me. From the looks of it, neither Rurika or her grandfather knew about Mr. Book-san surviving the Bestowal. When he was showing me how to do the breathing technique, he informed me of many things.The main one being that I was possibly in grave danger if I stayed in that house for too long. Well, I guess I should call it an apartment?

    Mr. Book did not tell me much, but he did promise to help me learn the fundamentals and a couple of spells. Granted, he was not doing this all for free. Long story short, I promised him that I would keep his existence a secret. The reason that he provided was that he was designed to be a one-time use object. Meaning that after fusing with me, his consciousness was supposed to be destroyed.If the one he called Old Freak discovered this, we would be lucky if he killed us in order to dissect us.

    ¡°The world of magic is a lot scarier than I thought. Oh well, I guess I should just forget about the phone and get a new one.¡± I muttered quietly while I held my chin deep in thought.

    Even if I wanted to quickly rush in and out of that mysterious apartment, Rin and I have come pretty far, the school was only a half a block away. Plus I also had to take into account that I was running late as it was.

    ¡°Screw it, I¡¯ve decided that I will never get involved with the Suzuki¡¯s from now on.¡±

 Chapter 5: The Transfer Student

    The classroom was in a buzz. Apparently one of my classmates caught wind of a potential transfer student.According to the rumors, it was a beautiful girl that suddenly moved to town due to her parent¡¯s work.

    Shit. I thought to myself as I shrunk into my seat. This is too coincidental. What if that cocky bitch transfers into my class? How am I supposed to live my life?

    If one were to look down at the layout of my classroom from above, they would see that I sat towards the center of all the desks. Normally kids my age would prefer to sit in the back towards the window. What a bunch of dummies, sitting there was practically painting a target on your back. That seat was a prime location for the teacher to look to, in order to find a student that wasn¡¯t paying attention to the lecture.

    The true golden place to sit was in the very center. It let one perfectly blend into the sea of people, and if you sat with the right posture, you could basically blend into the surroundings. In other words, the best place to avoid being caught slacking is where I was currently sitting. That was the power of my camouflage trick that I had honed throughout my middle school days.

    Yet something, no someone was about to threaten my tranquil class life.The reason being, is the empty desk to my left. In the entire classroom there was only room for one more student, and if someone transferred in they would automatically become a magnet for attracting unwanted attention to my safe place.

    Worst case scenario, Rurika transfers in and I might as well jump out the window. If by some odd chance, the transferee was a normy, the situation could be salvageable. As long as the teacher focuses on someone else to be a guide for the new student, I could handle the odds of being called on increasing.

    The sounds around me died down as my homeroom teacher, Mr. Sato, entered the room. He had a leisurely smile as he motioned for the class to be seated. Than he waved into the hallway, beckoning whoever was outside to enter.

    ¡°I know that you all must be eager to meet your new classmate, I hope that you will all treat her well.¡±

    To my dread the person who walked through that door was none other than Suzuki Rurika. I watched as she wrote her name in chalk and began to introduce herself to the class. Not that it mattered what she was saying, my mind was in full panic mode. I wasn¡¯t sure how she did it, but if she could use magic to infiltrate my school I was in deeper shit than I thought. There is no way she transferred so quickly. Magic had to be the reason. To be able to be successfully pull this off in less than half a day, it meant that a lot of the school¡¯s top brass had to be under her spell.

    A bizarre shiver went down my spine as my attention snapped back to what Suzuki was saying. Yet what greeted me was a barrage of weird looks from my classmates. As someone that had tried his hardest to blend well into the surroundings within this class, I found all the sudden attention to be rather uncomfortable.

    ¡°Sorry, I wasn¡¯t listening, what was that you said?¡± I asked with a twitching mouth. I could feel that I would not like the answer.

    While playfully twirling her hair around her finger, Suzuki-san walked up to my desk, ¡°geez I knew you needed more sleep. You left my house in such a rush that you forgot your phone¡±.

    No wonder I was getting funny looks. Any teenager with a shred of imagination could come to the conclusion that this damn girl was referring to me staying the night at her place. I would not put it beneath them to also be fantasizing what happened.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    From the hidden annoyance in her voice, I could tell that she was unaware of the stir that she had caused in the first five minutes of her transferring in.

    When she reached my desk, she merely gave me a visual sweep before handing me a black and grey colored cell phone. What was she looking at? It seemed like she was looking for some physical irregularities on my body as a result of the Bestowal. Not that she would find anything, I was a perfectly normal boy with magic veins and a strange consciousness still lurking within me.

    ¡°Now now everyone please calm down. As your teacher, I must say that this is a rather troubling revelation, but luckily you all have nothing to worry about---.¡±

    Confused by the teacher¡¯s cheary downplay of the new student¡¯s poor choice of words was exactly like Mr. Sato. He was the type of person that stayed composed when faced with the unexpected, and did not fall into the trap of believing in the worst possibilities from the beginning. All in all, he was an outstanding role model.

    ¡°---Because from today on I am no longer your teacher. After staring at myself in the mirror this morning, I have decided to pursue my dream of turning my hobby of knitting into my full time job. If I happen to see any of you in the future, I hope that we can get along as well as we did here. Thank you everyone for being the best student¡¯s that a teacher could ever hope for.¡±

    What?! What the hell? Don¡¯t tell me this crazy bitch brainwashed one of my life¡¯s biggest role models into leaving his job!

    The whole class was up in an uproar. I was definitely not the only one to hold Mr. Sato in such high regards.The day had only just begun, and there were so many twists and turns. Suzuki-san¡¯s surprise transfer and my homeroom teacher¡¯s sudden desire to quit was beginning to make me feel more scared.

    ¡°Calm down, this is not an anime, there is no way that he would become my teacher.¡± I muttered under my breath repeatedly like a prayer.

    Unfortunately if there was a higher power out there, they ignored my cry for help. The sound of clinking wood on tile echoed from the hallway. I did not have to guess who would show up next, a couple of seconds after I stopped praying, Rurika¡¯s grandfather walked through the door.

    Tears of resignation streamed down my face as I gave up all hopes of pulling myself away from that crazy family. From the looks of it, the Suzuki¡¯s either had some serious magical powers or unwavering authority to be able to pull something like this off.

    ¡°Wow, she is so beautiful. What do you think Yuta?¡±

    Behind me was Rin¡¯s seat, and right now she seemed completely blown away by Rurika¡¯s charm. Sure she was definitely prettier than most supermodels, but was there any need to sound like your salivating?

    Without even waiting for a response, she kept talking, ¡°Hehe I bet all of the guys here feel like they died and went to heaven. Not only did we get a hot transfer student, but this teacher is practically a goddess!¡±

    Wait a second, Goddess?

    Had some god answered my prayers and threw a bait and switch? I don¡¯t think my eyes had ever turned their attention towards the front of the class with such vigor. To think I was so anxious that I hallucinated the new teacher to be that old gorilla.

    My gaze met not with the supposed ¡®goddess¡¯ teacher, but with a grinning Mr. Suzuki.

    ¡°Why?¡± I cried as that sudden light of hope was crushed as soon as it appeared.

    I knew this day would come, Rin finally went insane. Without thinking properly, I said, ¡°hey old man some stuffs come up, I think I think I need to check my friend into a hospital.¡±

    ¡°Now, Yuta I may no longer be your teacher, but you should not address me so informally,¡± said Mr Sato. The happy expression on his face faltering a bit.

    Pointing at the gorilla I practically yelled ¡°I¡¯m so sorry Mr. Sato, I did not mean you. I was addressing Mr. Suzuki.¡±

    For the second time today I felt everyone¡¯s gave fall on me.

    Rin leaned over her desk and tapped me on the shoulder. ¡°Uh, Yuta? Are you feeling alright? Ms. Suzuki is Rurika¡¯s aunt, you might want to apologize, or the others in the class might just kill you.¡±

    Like clockwork, all the other kids in the room started to swear and yell at me. It was kind of hard to tell what everyone was saying due to the amount of noise, but things like ¡®go to hell¡¯ seemed to be along the lines of what my classmates were shouting at the top of their lungs.

 Chapter 6: A Special Lesson From My Teacher

    Honestly, today had been anything but peaceful. Even long after the whole homeroom fiasco came and went, things still did not calm down. In fact they kept getting worse, and I was not referring to all the bullying my classmates did in the name of their ¡°Great Goddess Suzuki.¡±

    No, if that was all that happened, I could have swallowed it. Due to my lifestyle, being picked on by others who viewed me as weird or inferior was a common occurrence. I won¡¯t brag and say that I had become unfazed by their scathing remarks, I guess you could say that I had just grown numb to it.

    What really made me feel overwhelmed was the fact that each of my teachers had resigned from their positions to go chase some passion of theirs. Of course the replacement was no surprise, that¡¯s right, I was going to be seeing a lot of the ¡°Great Goddess Suzuki¡± in the coming days.

    To make matter worse, I was now staying behind after class to discuss with ¡°Ms.¡± Suzuki about my carrier form. Well, that was the excuse that ¡°she¡± gave at least. It took a while for all the students to leave the classroom after finishing their cleaning duties. Many had wanted to stay and bask in their beautiful teacher¡¯s presence.

    This dilemma was resolved simply by a few sweet words of plea, no magic needed. I¡¯m not exactly sure what those people saw, but I know for a fact what I saw. The sight of a giant muscular man puffing his chest outwards in a sexy manner while batting his eyelashes innocently is something that cannot be unseen.

    While everyone saw some extremely pretty woman, I saw an old man with enough muscle that he seemed more like a gorilla than a human being. Once my shock subsided, it was pretty clear that he had cast a spell on himself to fool the others.

    After making sure that the coast was clear, ¡°Ms.¡± Suzuki waved her hand as a curtain of light draped around us. If my memory was correct, this should be the same spell that Rurika cast at the book shop. I believe it was called Shroud. This left just ¡°Ms.¡± Suzuki, Rurika, and me in the classroom.

    Not wanting to let them dictate the flow of the conversation, I took the initiative to ask, ¡°Why are you here?¡±

    My new teacher let out a hearty laugh as he stepped forward and placed his hands on my shoulders. ¡°First off allow me to apologize for my granddaughters actions, sometimes she can be such a jokester.¡±

    Jokester? What is so funny about indirectly trying to make someone explode?

    Noticing that I wasn¡¯t buying into his bullshit, he let out a strained cough. ¡°Anyways, when Rurika informed me of your rapid comprehension of the breathing technique, I knew I just couldn''t let you go unsupervised.¡±

    I backed away a little due to his last sentence. ¡°Why? Did you decide to keep watch over me to better gather data?¡±

    Rurika seemed upset by my outburst, but her grandfather raised his hand to silence her before she could say anything.

    ¡°You don¡¯t have to worry about being treated as a human test subject. If I really wanted to experiment on you or observe you for study, I wouldn¡¯t do so in such an uncontrolled environment.¡±

    ¡°Seems pretty controlled to me.¡±

    ¡°Please believe me Yuta when I say that this is all for your own good. With us here, you can focus on the breathing technique in class without fear for the reprecaussions.¡±

    ¡°What repercussions?¡± I asked.

    Letting out a sigh, some of Mr. Suzuki¡¯s muscles twitched as he bowed his head slightly. ¡°I guess Rurika failed to explain things thoroughly enough. To put it simply, when you breathe via the technique, it causes a drain of mana in the air. Although normal people can not use or even sense the presence of mana, it is still important to their daily life. At the bare minimum, the people around you would become lethargic. I won¡¯t go too into detail for the time being. However with us here, we can use simple spells to attract mana to your vicinity in order to help make up for the absence of the proper amount of mana. The only real downside is that in order for the spell to work, the caster has to be near by the person in training.¡±

    ¡°If you say so. However, why couldn¡¯t we have just met up after school?¡± I asked. Not that I would have wanted to meet up with you both.

    Stroking his beard, Mr. Suzuki smiled at me and said, ¡°Yuta, where is the one place that a proper teenager must go to no matter how much he or she might hate it?¡±

    So that is how it was. He is holding my school attendance hostage. If I choose to not go to school, than the faculty will inform my parents. All I can say is that some things are worse than death. The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

    My parents are actually very liberal in how they treat me. As long as I maintained good test scores, things such as living expenses and extra spending money would be provided. They made sure to base everything on merit. This also meant that if I performed poorly, I would end up having to tighten my belt.

    ¡°Alright, enough with the small talk, let¡¯s get down to business, said Mr. Suzuki as he passed me a stack of books. ¡°These four books here are basic spells that you should be able to cast with a little practice.¡±

    Taking the books, I examined the cover of each one. Two were light purple in color and the other two were pale blue. The purple books were titled Confusion Palm and Drunkard¡¯s Breath. The blue ones were called Wave Steps and Water Bullet.

    ¡°Are these, spells?¡± I asked thoughtlessly. My hands trembled at the thought that these

    ¡°Of course they are. They are only rank one spells, why are you drooling?¡± said Rurika as she stared at me in disdain.

    ¡°Calm yourself Rurika. These are merely part of the compensation that I wish to provide for almost causing your death and an apology for my unruly granddaughter.¡±

    I gripped the books so hard my knuckles became white. Maybe this old man is not as bat shit crazy as I thought. At least he knows how much trouble he¡¯s caused me.

    Mr. Suzuki smiled at my response. ¡°Do you want to start learning them?¡±

    Still unable to formulate words from the happiness that flooded my brain I nodded.

    ¡°Alrighty then, hold onto your hat boy. We are about to go for a little trip,¡± said the old man as he snapped his fingers.

    Immediately after the sound dissipated, the room began to spin. If I had to compare it to anything, it would be like those less than legal whirly rides at a street carnival.

    When the world became clear again, what filled my eyes was not my familiar classroom. Instead I saw a almost picturesque landscape. Teleportation was the only reasonable explanation for the sudden change in scenery.

    The three of us were standing in the middle of a lushious meadow. Surrounding the meadow was a forest to the east, what seemed to be a crystal clear lake to the west, a vast garden of flowers and other types of vegetation to the north, and south had a barren desert. On top of all this beauty, the air was rich with mana. I did not even need to use my breathing technique to take in miniscule amounts of unrefined mana.

    ¡°Welcome Yuta, to one of the Suzuki clan¡¯s private properties.¡±

    Still taking in all the sights, I muttered, ¡°Where are we? This isn¡¯t Japan is it?¡±

    ¡°Wahahaha! That is correct my boy, this place is not Japan, heck this place doesn¡¯t technically even qualify to be a part of Earth.¡±

    Those words shifted my focus to the mysterious people that brought me here. It was like a bomb went off in my head. I would be a failure of an otaku if my imagination wasn¡¯t dancing about to come up with a passable theory. I could currently be in a private pocket of space, a terraformed planet, or in some astral plane.

    Mr. Suzuki continued with his explanation. ¡°Do to past events, magicians are unable to practice magic on Earth freely. So in order to be able to continue to study and pass down the magical arts, our forefathers worked with other talented beings to create a dimension that existed between our dimension and the rest.¡±

    I cocked my head to the side in confusion. The general idea that this was a completely different dimension from my home world was not that hard to believe, but it left me with so many questions. Why can¡¯t we practice magic on Earth? What did he mean by ¡®the rest¡¯?

    Not able to hold my curiosity for much longer, I lifted my hand as if I was in class. Once my hand was in the air, Rurika shot me a glare, but held back from saying anything. I guess that even someone as snobby as her could understand what I was going through. Over the past twenty-four hours, I had witnessed a handful of spells being cast, and yet none of those experiences combined could match this moment. This moment will become one of the memories that will stick with me for a lifetime, I am sure of it.

    ¡°I can tell from the look on your face that you have even more questions that you want to ask. However, I encourage you to hold off on those for now.¡± Said Mr. Suzuki as he began to stretch his hips. ¡°Just remember that this place is called the Slip, and it is the only relatively safe place to practice magic.¡±

    Relatively safe? Those words did not exactly give me a good vibe, and only added more questions to my ever growing list. ¡°You want me to test out these spells that you passed to me? I am willing to cast stuff, but is it really fine to do so? I would hate to mess anything up here.¡±

    Hearing my concern, Mr. Suzuki patted me on the back and gave me a thumbs up. ¡°Relax! I brought you here so that you could get a chance to grasp some spells. After all, what kind a magician can¡¯t use their own mana?¡±

    Finally calming down from all the recent excitement, I put down three of the books while holding still holding Confusion Palm. It is probably my inner otaku alarms going off, but I felt an affinity to this book in particular.

    Opening it to the first page, to see a bunch of bizarre symbols. They appeared to be a blend of runes and Egyptian hieroglyphics. Over the years I had accrued quite the amount of data on the various forms of ¡®magic¡¯ in the world. However, this was my first time coming across a language like this one. The tiny pictures seemed to radiate an ancient sort of feeling.

    Noticing my confusion, Mr. Suzuki provided some clarification. Apparently this was the universal written language for all intelligent magical beings. In order to read it, one did not have to learn the actual language. By injecting mana into the words, they would glow and download the information in my brain. More importantly a small rune would begin to be drawn within my mind. Once I fully comprehended the spell, a complete spell rune would take shape in my mind. All I had to do was activate the rune would be to properly chanel mana and say the name of the spell to cause the spell to activate.

 Chapter 7: Into the Slip

    A few hours passed since I started gleaming through the book. After receding it several times, I could already make out a rune. It looked like a hieroglyph of a purple palm with a swirl at the center.

    By now I had a general sense for what was supposed to happen. Once the rune had been activated, a portion of my mana would leave my heart and concentrate in one of my palms. It would than flow according to the book and release outwards.

    ¡°Will my hand be okay from using this? I know my veins are protected, but what about my skin? Shouldn¡¯t the mans rip apart my hand as it leaves?¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, the Bestowal improved your physique as well. Also, what do you think the directions on how to control the flow of mana are for?¡± said Rurika, who was sitting in the grass not to far away, not even bothering to look up from her own book.

    Well, that half assed explanation didn¡¯t help. Why do I feel like the more they teach me, the more lost I feel?

    ¡°Try not to dwell on it too much. As Rurika mentioned, the way mana flows is key. You have to think of it more like a baking recipe in the spell casting process. In this step mana begins to take on the properties of the spell.¡±

    ¡°Not exactly sure what you are trying to say, but I¡¯ll just roll with it,¡± I sighed, rubbing the back of my head.

    Trusting their insights, I nervously forced my mind to focus solely on the on rune floating in my mind.

    ¡°Confusion Palm!¡± I shouted as I raised my left arm.

    Almost immediately, there was a warm feeling rushing from my heart to my left hand. Such a foreign sensation caused a shiver to go down my back. It was an unpleasant feeling, as if my strength was sapped from my body.

    A drop of sweat rolled down the side of my face, as the mana finally reached the my palm. I couldn¡¯t feel exactly how the mana was flowing in my veins, but it kind of reminded me of a spinning fan.

    When the spinning fan reached its maximum speed, a faint shimmer began to be emitted from my hand. It lasted about half a minute before beginning to disappear.

    I blinked a couple of times as my legs shook from weakness. I had kind of expected something a little more exciting to happen.

    Sounds of applause carried over to my ears. Mr Suzuki, who had been observing me the last few hours was flashing me a wild smile.

    ¡°That was marvelous Yuta. Very few people can learn a spell that fast, especially a beginner such as yourself.¡±

    ¡°Really? I fee---¡±

    Before I could finish my sentence, a wave of exhaustion swept over me, and I fell to my knees. I felt every muscle from my arm to my chest constrict to the point I thought that they would snap.

    Rurika dashed over and placed a hand on my chest. She closed her eyes with furrowed brows. ¡°Calm down, it¡¯s just some exhaustion from using too much mana. I bet you thought that you could make the spell more potent by just pumping out more mana.¡±

    ¡°Is that not how it works?¡± I asked through gritted teeth.

    I would never admit it, but she was spot on. I wanted to make the shimmer more pronounced so it looked more impressive. To achieve this I came up with the idea of using more mana.

    ¡°Idiot, you need to also adjust the flow as well, otherwise you will just cause unnecessary strain on your body with little gains.¡±

    Reaching into his pocket, Mr. Suzuki took out a small black pellet. Bringing the pellet to his nose, he took a whiff. ¡°Hmm, yes this should do the trick. Here swallow this and use your breathing technique.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    CRACK

    As I was reaching for the medicine, there was a loud explosion that resembled thunder. Moving my line of sight in search for the source, I saw massive cracks in the sky. It was like the space above our heads was breaking like glass.

    Cold sweat raced down my back as a strong sense of danger made my entire body shake uncontrollably. Despite being an occult otaku, my interest in manga and anime was not as much as you would expect. I mostly stuck to the fantasy related genre. However, it was common for overpowered bad guys to show up this way.

    The old man had a grave face as he watched the cracks spread out and slowly expand. ¡°Rurika, I want you to take care of Yuta. I don¡¯t know who is about to show up, but they have enough juice to break in here and restrict my space travel. Follow the Rabbit Hole Protocol.¡±This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

    ¡°Yes, stay safe grandpa.¡±

    Not even bothering to explain to me what was happening, Rurika put me over her shoulder and started to run towards the forest.

    ¡°Wait what is going on? Who are we running from?¡± I shouted in hopes for some answers.

    To my dismay, there was no response. At first I thought that she was just being snobby again, but when I noticed that her body trembling, I swallowed my insults back down my throat.

    She had an expression warped by fear and frustration. It was clear that she was scared by whatever was coming, and was laser focused to getting to where she was going.

    A couple of minutes after running into the forest, a second giant explosion went off. The force was so great, Rurika stumbled and almost fell from the ground shaking.

    ¡°Madman Suzuki! It truly has been too long!¡±

    Not long after the explosion, a deep, almost growling, voice boomed across the land. I could not get a good look at what popped out of the cracks because of the trees, but its dominating aura reminded me of the old man.

    ¡°If it isn¡¯t Mr. Goodman. What brings you to this part of the Slip.¡±

    There was no response, only a spiral of fire that reached up so high that I could see it through the gaps in the trees. Despite being so far away, I could still feel the heat. It is important to take into consideration just how much ground Rurika and I covered.

    Personally, I thought it was amazing how the girl that was not only had shorter legs than me, but seemingly as petite to the point where it might borderline unhealthy if she lost any weight, could carry me.

    That spiral of fire served as a good marker in terms of how far we had run. If I had to ball park an estimate, in the last two minutes we had traveled no less than a mile.

    Each of her steps were filled with uncharacteristic strength. Leaving small indents in the ground with each step. We traveled through the air in a gliding manner with each step, dodging the trees as we went.

    Now that I was able to observe her body up close and even touch it while I was being held over her shoulder, there was more to this girl than meets the eye. I could feel that despite the way she may look at first glance, her muscles were extremely toned and filled with power.

    Unlike how the old man was ripped enough to resemble a bodybuilder. Rurika¡¯s body had a similarly tyrannical physical power all condensed into such a tiny package. It was no wonder I had always been intimidated by her.

    Sort of like when a wild animal stares at its prey. No that is not right. Even if she is Rurika, comparing her to a beast is a little too mean. I guess you could say she was like an armed thug you might meet in a back alley? No, that comparison didn¡¯t feel right. Maybe more like Hulk Jr.?

    A sharp pinch to my thigh broke my train of thought. ¡°I know some contact between our bodies is unavoidable, but stop caressing my back you pervert.¡±

    ¡°Ah, sorry,¡± I said a bit flustered. I guess it was only natural for her to be mad at me for that.

    ¡°Nevermind, we are almost at our destination. When we get there you have to stay near me at all times,¡± grumbled Rurika as she started to slow down.

    Where are we going? I thought to myself. Our current location wasn¡¯t too far away from where the old man was fighting.

    ¡°Here it is! Hold onto me tight Yuta.¡±

    Hm? Hold on why?

    ¡°AHHHHHHH!¡± I screamed as everything around me went dark.

    No, it was more accurate to say that where we currently were had no light. Rurika had just jumped down a large hole in the ground that was hidden by the vegetation.

    Couldn¡¯t she have had at least warned me? What if I accidentally bit off my own tongue?

    The bottom of this hole had to be very far down, because we had been falling for almost half a minute and there was still no ground in sight. Than I remember what Mr. Suzuki said, something about a ¡®Rabbit Hole Protocol.¡¯ This had to be the ¡®Rabit Hole¡¯.

    ¡°Air Barrier!¡± shouted Rurika.

    Suddenly a gust of wind wrapped around us as a light could be seen beneath my feet. We were finally reaching the end of this damn hole.

    A couple seconds passed as we descended towards the light. To my surprise, it was not the ground, there was a good forty to fifty yards of space from us to the ground. The area around us was very different than the surface. For starters, the light was coming from the ceiling, and we fell from a hole the structure.

    BOOM!

    We had finally reached the ground, and I opened my tightly shut eyes. I definitely going to have to ask Rurika to teach me that spell. It seemed very handy.

    Breathing heavily, Rurika tossed me off of her, and I fell on top of some weird bushes. They smelled bizarre and were blue in color.

 Chapter 8: Down the Rabbit Hole

    Becoming more accustomed to the surroundings, I noticed several things. The place we fell into was a giant cavern with many tunnels. Each one seemed to lead to different places. For obvious reasons, there was not any natural light. The only discernible source of light was a glowing moss that was growing pretty much everywhere. Lastly, this place might not have been the safest place, because ever since we landed, Rurika had been staying low to the floor and trying to access the situation.

    ¡°Get down you idiot. You don¡¯t want to get spotted do you?¡±

    Yup that confirmed my theory, this place is dangerous. Plus I couldn¡¯t ignore her previous words.

    Lowering myself next toRurika and shot her a glance,¡°Where the hell are we?¡±

    Shooting me an impatient glance, Rurika responded, ¡°This is the first of five underground levels of the Slip. The beings that mostly dwell here are some gnomes and goblins, along with some weak monsters.¡±

    ¡°What? There are magical creatures here?¡± I asked in shock. Sure I knew that they had to exist if magic did, but I never expected to run into them so soon. ¡°Why are we hiding? Are gnomes that scary?¡±

    ¡°We are hiding because this zone is not meant for humans. While other parts of this layer have good inter-racial relations, this place is home to some of the more radical of the races. The gnomes are one thing, but those goblins are who we will be looking out for.¡±

    "Why?¡±

    ¡°Let¡¯s just say they have a taste for human flesh, and no woman would want to end up in their hands.¡± Rurika had a dark look as she stood up from her cover and dusted herself off. ¡°No more questions for the time being, we need to get to a more secure location.¡±

    I merely nodded my head in response. The fact that she chose to come here over staying on the surface spoke volumes of the danger that her grandfather was facing. If we stayed, death would have been the only outcome.

    As we walked down one of the tunnels, I noticed how low the ceilings were. Most of tunnels seemed too short for a fully grown person to stand straight. Based on Rurika¡¯s decisive choice in pathing, this was not the first time that she has been down here.

    The end of the tunnel brought us to another open cavern. This one was much smaller than the one that we were originally in. Maybe the size of a movie theater. However, there was only two tunnel openings besides the one that we came from. With less entrances, it was easier to keep watch for any possible enemies.

    Rurika continued to walk to the center of the cavern, where she pressed her palm against a large boulder. A strange light began to originate from where she touched the stone.

    It did not take long for the boulder to be completely glowing, but the strange glow did not stop there. Soon it began to spread to the floor and move towards the tunnel entrances.

    Once it reached the tunnels, the light stopped spreading. A deep rumbling sound shook the ground as walls of stone began to spring up from the ground, completely sealing the cavern. The lights began to fade once the new walls reached the ceiling, but some light lingered as it formed similar magical symbols that were in the books that Mr. Suzuki gave to me.

    ¡°We should be safe for now.¡± Weezed Rurika as she rested her back against the boulder and slid down to the floor. It was clear that activating that spell cost a lot of mana.

    ¡°How long are we going to stay here?¡± I asked, a bit afraid that I would not like the answer.

    Rurika closed her eyes in exhaustion, but she did not ignore my question. ¡°We will wait here for two days. If gramps hasn¡¯t come for us by then, we are to make our way to one of the neutral zones. From there we should be able to find a way back to Japan.¡±

    Wait here for two whole days? What about school? Where were we supposed to sleep, eat, and wash? Even worse, where were we supposed to go to the washroom?

    Well there was no use stressing over this for the time being. All those things felt distant, like they were problems that didn''t even belong to me. I can only pray that The old man will be okay. Yet, it was probably best to focus on powering myself up. If we ended up having to continue our travels with just the two of us, I had to make sure that I was ready.

    Finding a secluded corner of the cavern, I began to practice my breathing technique to restore my mana. With each inhale I sensed the mana that saturated the air.

    Maybe being stuck here might be a blessing in disguise. The amount of mana in the Slip was superior in both quantity and quality when compared to the mana on Earth.

    It did not take long to recover my mana. After about fifteen minute of meditation, I felt like I was back in top condition.

    ¡°Okay time to learn another spell,¡± I said with clenched fists.

    Taking out the Water Bullet spell from my backpack, I began to study it intensely. From the name it was a pure offensive spell, something that I really needed at the moment. I was a little disappointed at how plain Confusion Palm was. If I was going to learn magic, I wanted my spells to be flashy.

    However, a couple of hours passed and I was nowhere near close to forming the initial rune for the spell. Why was it turning out like this?

    DON¡¯T BE DOWN ON YOURSELF BOY. YOUR COMPREHENSION IS TRULY NOT BAD.

    ¡°Mr. Book?¡± The sudden interruption by the djinn almost caused me to yelp in surprise. I was in a highly tense situation after all.

    THE REASON YOU WERE ABLE TO LEARN CONFUSION PALM SO QUICKLY WAS DUE TO MY INFLUENCE.

    ¡°Really? I thought you were trying to keep a low profile around the Suzukis.¡±

    I AM, BUT I DIDN¡¯T DIRECTLY HELP YOU. DJINNS HAVE AN AFFINITY TOWARDS ILLUSION MAGIC YOU SEE.

    ¡°I get it, since we basically fused to a certain degree, a lot of your natural talent with illusion magic was passed onto me?¡± I responded after mulling over Mr. Book¡¯s words.This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author''s work.

    ¡°How long does it take to normally learn a spell?¡±

    IT CAN RANGE FROM A FEW DAYS TO A FEW MONTHS. IT DEPENDS ON THE USER¡¯S TALENT, CURRENT ABILITIES, AND TYPE OF SPELL THEY ARE TRYING TO LEARN.

    ¡°So are you saying I should stick with illusion magic?¡±

    That would kind of suck. Sure I could learn the spells easier, but illusion magic seemed to be more of a supplementary or support style of magic. Not that I found anything wrong with it. It is just that I would struggle with finishing off an opponent if all i knew was how to create illusions.

    DON¡¯T LOOK DOWN ON ILLUSIONS BOY. IF YOU¡¯RE STRONG ENOUGH, YOU COULD CREATE AN ILLUSION SO POWERFUL THAT IT COULD KILL A PERSON.

    I had almost forgot that Mr. Book was good at reading my mind. Even when I am not directly talking to him he is able to sense my general thoughts.

    ANYWAYS, I¡¯M NOT SAYING YOU CAN¡¯T LEARN WATER BULLET. YOU NEED PATIENCE.

    Mr. Book made a good point. I don¡¯t think someone as experienced as the old man would have given me spells that I would struggle to learn.

    Given the current circumstances I should focus on learning how to better use Confusion Palm and maybe even learn Drunkard¡¯s Breath. Plus I could not neglect my breathing technique. I would need more mana if I wanted to be useful.

    HEY BOY, DO YOU WANT ME TO TAKE OVER YOUR BODY TEMPORARILY SO THAT YOU CAN ABSORB MORE MANA?

    Back at the Suzuki residence, Mr. Book had helped me a lot to understand the basics. Also, I noticed that the amount of improvement was more apparent when I was possessed by Mr.Book

    ¡°Okay, sounds like a plan. Would you also be able to learn Drunkard¡¯s Breath for me as well?¡±

    HAHA, DON¡¯T ASK FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE. I CAN ONLY POSSESS YOU FOR SO LONG.

    ¡°True, I had forgotten.¡± I said embarrassingly as I rubbed the back of my head.

    Being possessed was definitely a weird sensation. It was kind of like watching someone else play a first person game. The only difference was that it was reality and not a game.

    I could observe Mr. Book¡¯s every action, and if I wanted to, I could take back control. As he initiated the breathing technique I could sense the vast quantities of mana entering my body. The amount was a lot more than when I used the technique. I tried my best to learn from his actions before it was time to end the possession.

    At most, Mr. Book had been able to maintain the possession for three minutes the first time. But it seemed that he was regaining strength, because he was able to hold the possession for five minutes.

    Within that span of time, he was able to absorb a large quantity of mana. He even finished the purification process and laced my veins. If I had to compare our work speeds, what would take me at least half a day, Mr. Book completed in five minutes.

    What a complete cheat. If I can do this once a day, then I would be able to add double to triple the amount of mana to my veins than the average magician. That is not even taking into account the probable increase in possession time as Mr. Book gets stronger.

    Opening the Drunkard¡¯s Breath spell book, I began to memorize it. It was way easier to learn than Water Bullet. The way the information was retained made it seem like this spell was designed for me.

    In the end, forming the rune for the spell only took three hours. My previous experience in learning an illusion spell and my increased mana pool had helped to make the process easier.

    Unlike Confusion Palm, Drunkard¡¯s Breath had a bit more flair in its appearance. Mana flows to the lungs where it is turned into a toxin similar to alcohol with a high proof.The castor than breathes out the toxin in a purple mist.

    Feeling confident in my basic comprehension, I stood up and walked to a more secluded part of the cavern that had a tunnel opening, giving myself some space from Rurika. I took a bit of time to focus on my taget, and the distance between the blocked opening and myself. Touching on the rune in my mind, I inhaled sharply and held my breath for a second before exhaling ith enough force to empty my lungs.

    Just like the description said, purple mist swirled out of my gaping mouth in a narrow cone of gas that spread out the further it traveled. With a triumphant look on my face, I turned to Rurika who was staring at me with wide eyes.

    "Be careful when you use that spell. If the scent somehow leaks and travels too far down, it might attract unwanted attention. Although I''m confident in my grandfather''s spell, it is on the older side. Better safe than sorry. It''s okay if you want to practice it in here, I have decent resistance to spells like that."

    I could feel the seed of confidence developing within me shrivel up at her words. Not only was she not shocked by my comprehension speed, but she pointed out how dumb my actions were. I had to turn away as I could feel the heat radiating from my cheeks. However, no matter how embarressed I was, I didn''t dare stop.

    Based on my tests, I can make it spread as far as eleven feet before it starts to dissipate and lose effectiveness. Now I have ways to attack at close range and at a distance, in theory anyways. At the end of the day, I have no idea how effective any of my spells are. Given this intense situation, there is little chance Rurika would be willing to help me test out my abilities.

    By the time I had learned Drunkard¡¯s Breath, it was around eleven at night. Exhaustion was washing over me, and my eyelids were losing a battle against gravity. It had been a long day with a lot of twists and turns, but I must say I could not help but be excited with the new developments in my life.

    I stood up and walked back over to Rurika to see what we should do for sleeping arrangements. However, I did not get very far before I noticed that she was in meditation. With every breath she inhaled I could feel the flow of mana go towards her.

    How long has she been doing this? From what I remembered, I had just started trying to learn my second spell when she finished resting and started her breathing technique. I guess she is not all attitude. She puts in lots of hours of hard work on top of being born into a magic clan.

    ¡°Alright! A few more hours of meditation couldn¡¯t hurt.¡± I said as I slapped my face to force myself awake.

    Growing up I was never really one of the competitive types, but I could tell I was far behind Rurika in both talent and abilities. The only way to close the gap was with hard work.

    DON¡¯T FORGET ABOUT ME NOW.

    How could I? You are like my golden ticket.

    GLAD TO HEAR. LISTEN, IT IS ABOUT YOUR WISH.

    What about it? I had almost forgotten that along with becoming a magician, Mr. Book granted my deepest darkest wish. To be a ¡°main character¡± of sorts. I could feel my cheeks burning with embarrassment again.

    I WANTED TO WARN YOU. WHEN A DJINN GRANTS A WISH IT IS NEVER EXACTLY AS HOW ONE ENVISIONED.

    That part I understood. There were plenty of lore on how tricky and evil djinn can be when they grant a wish. Some legends even state that they do not even grant wishes, only trapping you in an illusion while sucking the soul from your body.

    So are you trying to say I¡¯m in danger?

    IN A WAY. SINCE I AM NOW A PART OF YOU I WOULDN¡¯T DO ANYTHING TO SCREW YOU OVER, BUT BEING A ¡°MAIN CHARACTER¡± ISN¡¯T AS SIMPLE AS YOU THINK.

    Mr. Book had a point. Most main characters always had an uphill battle in order to obtain respect and recognition. I had hoped I could have been one of those MC¡¯s that were gifted a god like weapon or ability. While Mr. Book possessing me is a pretty big cheat, compared to some anime main characters, I was like an uninteresting side character at best.

    This meant that my wish made me into a type of protagonist that had to start from the bottom. It would have been ideal if I could have been overpowered, but I am rather grateful for what I have. I just hope that I dont mirror main characters with a tragic backstory. If something bad happened to my friends and family because of my wish, I am not sure what I would do.

    LONG STORY SHORT, YOU WILL FACE MANY TRIAL BY FIRE SITUATIONS. JUST REMEMBER, WHERE THERE IS DANGER THERE IS ALSO OPPORTUNITY.

 Chapter 9: Resolve

    So as long as I could survive the situations that I go through, I have the chance to become even stronger. Mr. Book do you have the ability to know when I will face these trials?

    NO, YOU MAY NOT KNOW THIS BUT MY POWERS OF WISH GRANTING DON¡¯T STEM FROM ME. I AM A BEING THAT WORKS FOR A DEITY OF TRICKERY. YOU COULD SAY IT IS ABOVE MY PAY GRADE TO KNOW HOW YOUR WISH WILL BE FULFILLED.

    Gods are real? I was never really a religious person, but if they existed I might want to start praying. Not that I was planning on dropping dead anytime soon, but if I can gain a god¡¯s favor it couldn¡¯t hurt.

    HEHE, I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE THINKING. DON¡¯T WASTE YOUR TIME, THE GODS HAVE LONG SINCE STOPPED INTERVENING IN THE LIVES OF MANKIND.

    But aren¡¯t they fulfilling my wish?

    NOT INTENTIONALLY. THINK OF GODS AS CONCEPTS. THE GOD OF TRICKERY IS TRICKERY IT SELF.

    Well shit, what happens when you die?

    SIMPLE, REINCARNATION. THERE USED TO BE ALL SORTS OF AFTERLIFE DIMENSIONS, BUT THE GODS GOT TIRED OF MAINTAINING THEM SO ALMOST ALL OF THEM OPT TO REINCARNATE THEIR FOLLOWERS, GOOD AND BAD.

    Geez, that is depressing.

    NOT AS DEPRESSING AS BEING CALLED MR. BOOK. WHY HAVEN¡¯T YOU ASKED FOR MY NAME YET? I¡¯LL HAVE YOU KNOW IN MY PRIME, I WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE RISE AND FALL OF EMPIRES.

    No offense, but I feel like the less I know about your personal situation the better. Plus from what I know, djinn are a branch of demonic beings. Calling you Mr. Book helps me to think less about your origins.

    WAY TO BE RACIST. I¡¯LL HAVE YOU KNOW THAT BEING A DEMON IS NOTHING TO SCORN. YOU¡¯VE JUST BEEN BRAINWASHED BY HUMAN RELIGION.

    Yeah whatever you say. I want to focus on meditation now if you don¡¯t mind. Let me know when you are able to possess me again so I can give you control.

    I ended the conversation partially because I wanted to start collecting more mana, and to escape from that awkward conversation. Being scared of demons is racist? Never really thought of it that way. Well I had only really met one demon, and he seemed to be an alright guy. I guess I should at least be open to new beliefs.

    Sitting down on a flat rock, I took in a deep breath and started to meditate.

    -------------

    The end of the second day was nearing, and there was still no sign of Mr. Suzuki. By now both me and Rurika had similar lost expressions. I believed in Rurika¡¯s confidence that her grandfather would come and pick us up. However, it was impossible to ignore the lurking fear that I had shoved to the back of my mind.

    From our short time together it was apparent that the old man was an elite among magicians. Whether it was his ability to create an item that turns normal humans into magicians or the noble bearing of his granddaughter, there were plenty of clues as to the weight of his true identity. For someone like him to lose a fight was inconceivable.

    "But if he did," I muttered under my breath with my head in my hands.

    "What did you say?" asked Rurika.

    ¡°Rurika, what should we do? Do you want to wait an extra day?¡±

    Pacing back and forth, Rurika seemed to be be trying to plan out our next course of action in the event of the worst case scenario. ¡°No, we can¡¯t stay here even if we wanted to. The mana in the spell formation is running out, and there is no way to input extra mana.¡±

    A shiver went up my spine as I stared at the blocked exits. Soon there would be nothing between me and the monsters that lurked beyond. No, that wasn''t true. With Rurika here, even if the chances are slim, surviving was still possible.

    ¡°So I guess we don¡¯t really have a choice.¡± I sighed as I sat back down to get some extra meditation in before we left.

    Over the course of these two days, my progress has increased by leaps and bounds. I could now use Drunkard¡¯s Breath three times and Confusion Palm twice before being completely out of mana. I even figured out how to increase the area of affect that Drunkard¡¯s breath has by increasing the mana and manipulating the mana flow.

    Not to brag, but I felt confident that I could handle some goblins as long as it was a short fight. After all, goblins are well known for being one of the weakest mob characters in any fantasy story. That is, if they really resembled the lore I knew.

    Time seemed to pass by very quickly, and before I knew it, the stone walls that blocked the exits started to lower. This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

    Opening my eyes, I jumped to my feet and collected my belongings. All I really had were the clothes on my back and my school bag, which only had unfinished homework and my magic books. The only extra addition was a jagged rock that I found when I was randomly walking around the cavern at some point during the start of the second day.

    The rock as mostly oval in shape with the exception of one end being cracked with many teeth like protrusions. While the sharpness left something to be desired, if one used enough force, it should be possible to break someones skull. Not that I plan to bash any brains, but I wanted a back up should my magical abilities prove not to be enough.

    Staring at my pathetic excuse of a weapon, I let out a sigh. Even a caveman would laugh at me. Still, I am willing to take any advantage I can get my hands on. If I can avoid a conflict I will, but when push comes to shove, I will act accordingly in self-defense.

    ¡°Remember to stay close to me Yuta.¡± Said Rurika as she stretched her long legs. ¡°In the event that we get seperated, don¡¯t stop or try to back track. Your best bet is to keep moving forward.¡±

    ¡°Okay.¡±

    ¡°Well not that it will matter what you do if you get lost. You¡¯d probably die in under an hour.¡±

    If it had been any other time I would have been ticked off, but I could hear the certainty in her tone. She was dead serious. This was not her trying to belittle me, she was giving me advice and a warning.

    ¡°I understand,¡± I said as I wiped my sweaty palms against my pants.

    CREAK

    The walls let out a hair raising screech as they completely went back into the ground. Without wasting even a second, Rurika began to run down one of the tunnels with me right behind her. She was moving at a pace that was slower than a few days ago. Probably so that I could keep up, and so she could be more aware of her surroundings.

    After several twists and turns, Rurika stopped and signaled me to be quiet. She than crept towards an intersection where she peeked her head out ever so slightly.

    At first I was confused as to why we stopped. There were no signs of any potential threats from what I could tell.

    LOOK AT THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE WALL NEAR YOUR FRIEND.

    I was so surprised by Mr. Book¡¯s sudden comment that I almost let out a scream. It was creepy how he could understand my thoughts and speak directly into my mind without anyone hearing.

    Turning my attention to the part of the wall where Rurika was standing, I noticed faint claw marks. They were so obscure that I had thought that they were shadows created by the fluorescent moss. What was so strange is how there were traces from the floor allthe way up.

    ¡°SCREEE¡±

    A shrill cry echoed in my ears as three small green creatures fell from the ceiling. They were all around three and a half feet tall, and naked with the exception of a brown linen cloth wrapped around their wastes.

    ¡°Goblins!¡± I yelled in fright. "Above us, Rurika!"

    I had never expected them to drop down from above. This could only mean that we walked straight into a trap. Based on where they landed. I would have to face one while Rurika had to fight two.

    ¡°Drunkard¡¯s Breath.¡±

    I decided to choose a ranged spell since I had no idea about the abilities of my enemy. Plus the damn thing was holding onto a rusty sword. If I used Confusion Palm, there was no guarantee that I would still have two hands at the end of the fight.

    The stream of purple mist smashed right into the goblin¡¯s face. Almost immediately it teetered back and forth in a drunken stupor with flushed cheeks.

    ¡°Kill it!¡± commanded Rurika.

    She had already downed her opponents and by the looks of it they were dead. I mean if they could survive being turned into char good for them.

    My body moved on her words as I rushed towards the goblin. I raised the stone above my head, and smashed the jagged part square on its head. Like a puppet with its strings cut, the goblin collapsed onto the ground.

    I raised the rock again in preparation for my next strike when I heard a whimper. It was pitiful, almost like a puppy that had just been kicked. Looking down, I stared at the small green humanoid that was huddled in a fetal position at my feet.

    Wait, this was completely crazy? How could I kill something so defenseless. Even if it is a goblin, unless I was forced to by the circumstances, I would do my best to keep myself from becoming a murderer.

    "It''s already incapacitated," I mumbled. "Let''s just get out of here."

    ¡°Fine I will do it. Fire Lotus!¡±

    Without warning, Rurika launched a spell. It was a floating mass of fire that was in the shape of a lotus flower. It spun rapidly until it drilled into the last goblin¡¯s chest. Another charred body fell to the ground.

    ¡°Why did you have to kill it?¡± I said in hysteria. Didn''t this mean I assisted in murder? A strong desire to puke arose as I glanced at the gblin''s burning flesh.

    This was the first time I had seen something so human like killed right in front of me. I was more shaken than I thought I¡¯d be. Just a few seconds ago I was confident that I would be filling to take down whatever got in my way, but it turned out my determination was hollow. I was all bark and no bite.

    ¡°Listen to yourself. This isn¡¯t some field trip. This is a life or death struggle. Those goblins knew that we would be here. We need to keep moving before more arrive. Remember one more live goblin means one more enemy that can stop your heart.¡±

    I know! I knew her words were right. I did not have the luxury t be merciful. If I remained hesitant I could end up getting both of us killed, but despite being green and ugly, they resembled humans so much. However, she was right. I needed to get over my prior beliefs in valuing the life of others. If Rurika is correct, I might even have to kill an actual person before this is all over.

    I reached down and picked up a spear from one of the goblins that Rurika killed. It was the least rusted weapon out of all of them, and had the longest reach. Plus, even someone like me with no martial arts background could do a simple thrust.

    ¡°I¡¯m sorry Rurika, you¡¯re right. From now on I promise I won¡¯t get cold feet.¡± I said while testing the weight of the spear. Compared to a spear a human would use it was kind of short, but would serve its purpose.

    For a second I could have sworn that I saw a look of approval from Ruria¡¯s face, but it disappeared as fast as it came. ¡°Glad to hear, now let¡¯s go.¡±

    And with that we continued our journey to the neutral zone.

 Chapter 10: Blood Stained Hands

    Shit," I whispered.

    We did not get very far before we ran into another group of goblins. Like the last group, there were three of them all with little to no clothes and below average weaponry.

    "Stop swearing so much," Rurika said with a roll of her eyes. "This much trouble is nothing. No, hold on, nuisance is a better word."

    In a flash Rurika casted two Fire Lotuses which killed their targets on impact. This terrified the remaining goblin. It was so scared that it was shaking in place.

    I swallowed down my nerves and stepped forward. Now was the time to prove myself. If I failed here, there was no way that Rurika would trust me anymore. Worst case scenerio she might even ditch me if the situation became dire enough, and I wouldn''t be able to blame her.

    A strong sense of guilt gripped my heart as my sweaty hands gripped the spear. No matter how you looked at it, Rurika had intentionally left the last one for me to deal with. With ragged breathes I slowly walked towards the quivering goblin.

    ¡°Drunkard¡¯s Breath.¡±

    There was no real need to use magic. I¡¯m positive that the poor thing would have just stood there as I killed him, but I wanted it to have a more blissful last moment. The goblin was so drunk that it was still smiling as I thrusted the spear into its neck. If only it were that easy.

    My kill was no where near as clean as Rurika¡¯s. She had roasted her enemies in one shot. It was over in an instant. The only unpleasant part was the smell of burning flesh. On the other hand, my kill was a lot more gory.

    Blood poured out of the goblin¡¯s throat as soon as I pulled out the spear point. The problem was, the pain helped it to regain some clarity. It deprestely tried to use its hands to block the wound to no avail. Snot and tears flowed down the sides of its face as it fell to the ground spasming. I could smell the foul stench of the goblin soiling itself as it gasped for air.

    Unable to continue watching the creature roll around in agony, I jabbed my spear into its left eye and impaling the brain. Besides some twitching, the goblin moved no more. Blood began to pool on the ground, staining my shoes red.

    Tears began to swell up at the corner of my eyes as waves of conflicting emotions overwhelmed me. I wished that I had fought a hard earned victory against that goblin. Just the thought of me killing something so defenseless almost caused me to have a panic attack. I didn¡¯t kill to protect someone or in self defense, I killed because there was a possibility of that the goblin would be a threat in the future. I took a life out of fear.

    ¡°We need to keep moving. Don¡¯t dwell on it, the first time is always the hardest.¡±

    Rurika started to run again, but paused just long enough to pat my back and give me some words of consolation. I guess she could see how shaken up I was. Although the words failed to relieve any of the guilt I felt in taking a life. Her firm pat woke me up from my daze.

    I followed behind her without turning my head to look back at the bloody mess behind me. Now was not the time to let my mind be clouded. That''s right, if given a chance I am certain that goblin would have killed me without a hint of remorse. I chose to eliminate a threat, that is all there is too it.

    Rurika led me down several tunnels without rest. I glanced down at my phone to see how long we had been running. To my surprise we had been on the go for close to three hours. I guess the body of a magician is different. Even though only the veins are laced with mana, when it leaves the body to complete a spell, the impact it has on the muscles, skin, and organs are not small. Is that why Rurika was so fit? As I become a stronger mage, will I become as ripped as Mr. Suzuki?

    After turning a bend, we finally reached another cavern. It was about the same size as the one that we stayed in before. The only difference was that this one had grass and other plant growing. To top it all off, there was some object hanging from the ceiling that looked like a miniature sun.

    ¡°Let¡¯s rest here for a moment. Is five minute enough for you?¡± Asked Rurika as she sat down and crossed her legs in meditation in order to regain the mana she used.

    ¡°Yeah, five minutes is fine.¡± I gasped as I collapsed onto the ground.

    While we were tired, anyone could point out who was more physically fit just by our clothes. My shirt was completely drenched in sweat. If I were to take it off and wring it, I could make a puddle. Rurika on the other hand looked only slightly fatigued.

    In retrospect five minutes seemed pretty short, and it was. Yet I understood that this break was more for me than for Rurika. Despite our less than friendly relationship, she has been very considerate. If she were alone, she would undoubtedly have been able to cover more ground in the same amount of time. I grit my teeth and balled my hands into fists. Being a dead weight was frustrating, and being unable to get a clear picture of the situation was paralyzing.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

    I need to use my breathing technique, I used two Drunkard¡¯s Breath without replenishing my mana pool. The muscles in my legs spasmed in protest as I forced myself to sit in a similar fashion to Rurika and began to meditate.

    As much as I would have preferred to let Mr. Book do the mana collecting, I wanted to save that precious possession time for when I really needed it. It would take him only half a minute to fill my heart to the brim. One could say that this rapid mana recovery was my ace in the hole. Should we get in prolonged fight, this ability could be a game changer.

    Five minutes passed in the blink of an eye. During this period of time, I managed to recover most of the mana I used. The feeling of having a relatively full mana pool was extremely refreshing. If I had to compare it to anything, it was similar to the moment right after eating some hearty stew. The flooding of warmth throughout my body on top of the satisfying feeling of being full was something else.

    ¡°Seems like you are ready to continue.¡±

    Rurika came over to my side and inspected my body from head to toe. Failing to notice any irregularities she gave a small nod and turned around to travel down another tunnel.

    ¡°Wait Rurika, I wanted to discuss something real quick if that is alright with you.¡± I said, stomping my foot down with extra emphasis, as if to make a point that I would refuse to move until she gave in.

    Without pausing her steps she kept walking, ¡°depends what you want to talk about, we are still in a dangerous area.¡±

    ¡°That''s what I wanted to talk with you about. I won¡¯t pry into your family situation or who that person that attacked your grandfather was. I wanted to verify a theory that I haven''t been able to get out of my head.¡±

    Craning her neck to peak behind her back, I could see her cock an eyebrow. ¡°Oh, and what is this theory of yours?¡±

    ¡°Is it possible that a portion of the goblins are working with that man who attacked us earlier?¡±

    ¡°What makes you say that?¡±

    ¡°I''m sure you have noticed from our last two encounters that we did not bump into those goblins by coincidence. My theory is that someone ordered them to guard those spots. The person pulling the strings clearly was lacking the information as to where we would end up after falling down the hole, so they cast a wide net.¡±

    ¡°Get to the point.¡±

    Geez, this girl is so impatient. I mean I understand that we are in a rush and all, but at least be willing to hear me out.

    ¡°If it was a wide spread net to ensnare us, than when those dead goblins fail to report, won¡¯t that mean that who ever is targeting us will follow the trail of corpses?¡±

    ¡°So you¡¯re saying we have been leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for the enemy?¡±

    Apparently she was finally taking my words seriously, because she stopped walking. A nervous look crept onto her face as she began to twirl her hair around her index finger. Whatever she was thinking, I wanted to know as well. As someone who has more experience in the Slip, Rurika had to know something about the interrelationships within the Slip¡¯s inhabitants. Maybe she could even draw a connection between that Mr. Goodman and the goblins.

    ¡°I had a bad feeling that the positioning of the goblins was too well coordinated. While there are intelligent goblins, they wouldn¡¯t waste manpower on guarding the less traveled tunnels that we have been using.¡± Rurika said as she muttered to herself. "At first, I thought they could be new sentry points. It would make sense if the leadership of the clan changed. Still, that is a little too unlikely."

    ¡°Does that mean we can agree that we are in deeper shit than we thought?¡±

    ¡°Yeah, we need to change our route. Up until now, we have been focusing on the fastest route out of here, so that has made our potential location predictable.¡±

    Rurika must had been under a lot of mental pressure. Normally, I would have expected her to condemn me for usage of foul language. From her mannerisms, it was not hard to imagine her upbringing mirroring that of nobility.

    ¡°Listen up Yuta, I think our best option is to do the exact opposite of what our pursuers are think we will do.¡± Shifting her feet, Rurika changed the direction she was going to walk towards. ¡°I have an idea, but I want to hear your opinion. If you disagree or think we lack the ability to accomplish it, I will understand.¡±

    I could feel a bead of sweat roll down from the side of my forehead to my chin. ¡°So, we are going to go to the lower floors?¡±

    Nodding her head in confirmation, we finally reached the entrance to the way that led to the second floor. From what I heard, the strength of monsters increase as you go down. However, we were running out of options.

    ¡°Relax, even if we go down one floor the monsters there are still manageable. You said it yourself, the goblins know where we are. Therefore the only chance we have in shaking them is to make it look like we disappeared into thin air.¡±

    Throwing my logic back at me, I lacked a solid counterargument and could only follow her from behind. ¡°How experienced are you in traveling in the second floor?¡±

    This was the question that was gnawing away at me. It was intuitive that the lower a magician goes, the chances that they don¡¯t come back up increases. I could believe that Rurika had trained on how to travel the first floor, but I can¡¯t seem to be able to wrap my head around her knowing much about lower floors. After all under normal circumstances, there is no way that one would choose to go down.

    ¡°I have looked at maps of the second floor, but I have never been there in person.¡±

    My stomach fell as she proved that my inkling was correct. The problem was how I was going to respond. There were so many uncertainties with either choice. By going down we risk being lost and possibly encountering stronger foes. On the flip side, continuing on the path we have been will almost certainly get us ensnared in an enemy trap.

 Chapter 11: Iftra

    Suddenly Rurika¡¯s eyes became sharp as knives. Her ears twitched slightly, as if they were trying their best to catch the faintest sounds. ¡°Be as quiet as possible, there is a group of gobins headed towards us from the tunnel we came from. At least five,¡± she whispered.

    I got into a ready stance with spear in hand. In order to make a clean getaway, we needed to make sure no one knew where we were going. Since this particular bunch came to this place the on the same path we had, there was an undeniable chance that they excelled at tracking.

    ¡°Wait. There is one more set of footsteps, maybe more.¡±

    ¡°Shit," I curse under my breath. We had been lucky to have only fought against small groups of goblins. This would be the largest group we have encountered so far. To deal with a large amount of those things, it is impossible for just the two of us. ¡°Should we make a run for it? Are you confident in being able to handle most of them?¡±

    I felt as pathetic as I sounded, but facts are facts. I was more of a liability than an asset. So far my only kill was against an opponent that was so afraid of Rurika it stood frozen in fear as I killed it. I had no confidence that I had the skills to fend off numerous assailants. In order to stand a chance, Rurika needed to be comfortable confronting at least four of them.

    ¡°It¡¯s too late to make plans. Damn, there is a greater goblin in that group,¡± said Rurika with gritted teeth.

    My eyebrows rose and I uncomfortably shifted the weight of my feet from side to side. This was the first time hearing so much emotion from Rurika. An invisible pressure pressed on my shoulders and my chest tightened like my lungs were being stretched out and tied in a knot.

    I didn¡¯t even get a chance to gawk at hearing her swear, because I could already smell the foul body oder of our enemies. An almost nauseating mixture of sweat and rotten meat. A group of five ordinary goblins emerged from the shadows. Behind them was a green muscled figure in a suit of rusty armor. It had to at least be my height. Standing next to the normal goblins, he was a giant compared to his companions. I was almost positive it was a ¡®he,¡¯ because there is no way something with a bulge that indiscreet could be female. To top it off, it carried a large axe that was bigger than he was.

    The greater goblin rested the behemoth of a weapon on his shoulder, and revealed a row of pointy teeth in a wicked smile. ¡°Looks like we finally caught up! You little monkeys sure know how to run around. I was getting really annoyed chasing you all over the place.¡±

    No way! That goblin just spoke. Apparently being tall wasn''t this goblin¡¯s only quality. Compared to the others, this particular goblin had similar qualities as humans. His posture oozed arrogance; while his muscles and scar ridden arms proved that he was a veteran fighter. Only one word popped into my mind when I laid my eyes on him, ¡®Powerful.¡¯

    ¡°Yuta, keep calm. You handle at least three of the normal ones. Leave that pesky greater goblin to me,¡± said Rurika as she began to bend her knees in preparation to charge forward. ¡°Fire Lotus!¡±

    Two fist sized lotuses made from flames shot out of Rurika¡¯s palms, and collided into two of the ordinary goblins. Like with past kills, the goblins were goners as soon as they let the attack touch their bodies.

    ¡°GRAHHH!¡±

    ¡°YAAAAA! AHHHH!¡±

    Pain filled shrieks shattered thetense atmosphere of the cavern, and two forms collapsed to the ground. Perfect, if she can keep up this sort of momentum, than winning this battle was going to be easy.

    Wait¡­ Me deal with three of them?

    Since when did she start believing in me so much? A day ago she was mocking me for being incompetent. Damn it, how could she suddenly dump such a heavy task on me? My knees began to buckle at the mere thought of having to take on three goblins at the same time.

    ¡°There is no way I can take them on by myself.¡±

    ¡°You have to! If you can''t, we may both end up dying here.¡± She responded, not taking her eyes off of the greater goblin. ¡°At least hold out until I can take out their leader.¡±

    ¡°GRAHHH! How dare you torch my men!¡±

    In a fit of rage,the greater goblin dashed towards us. His disproportionately long legs arched widely with each step, reaching an unbelievable speed. It was more than enough to put an olympic sprinter to shame. The distance between us was covered in a blink of an eye.

    ¡°Fire Breath!¡± shouted Rurika as she spewed a steady stream of fire at her opponent.

    Without so much as batting an eyelash, the greater goblin divedto the side, and rolling back into a fighting stance. I gulped at the sight of its fast movements. To be able to evade an attack at almost point blank while moving at top speed, it should have been an impossible feat.

    Not slowing down her assault, Rurika craned her neck to redirect the spell. However, the greater goblin kept dodging. The only real positive was that he was continuously moving back away from us. From the looks of it, they were in a stalemate.

    Now I understand, it wasn''t that Rurika trusted my fighting abilities. She herself wasn''t confident in taking down that big guy. I guess the ¡°greater¡± in greater goblin refers to more than just their height. I couldn''t let the remaining goblins disrupt her battle.

    ¡°Drunkard¡¯s Breath!¡± I yelled in aggravation as three goblins bum rushed me.

    These three were smarter than average for their kind. All of them began to immediately backpedal at the sight of the purple haze advancing towards them. I used the spell too early. I should have waited for them to get closer. In the end, only one of them breathed in the toxin, and began to stumble around aimlessly.

    Protected by the surrounding haze, I ran up to the drunk goblin and impaled it in the neck. For good measure I jabbed it in the chest, but my strength was insufficient as bone prevented the spear tip from advancing. So instead, I did several quick stabs into the goblin''s gut.

    I guess the other two were not so keen on watching their comrade die, because they rushed forward as soon as the haze finished dispersing. A savage gleam radiated from their small beady eyes and white foam frothed around the edges of their mouths. If looks could kill, I¡¯d have to kiss my life goodbye. This was the first time I had seen such raw hatred.

    This was exactly what I had been waiting for.Based on my observations from confronting this race several times, I had a general understanding of them. They strongly resembled soldiers in both lifestyle and mentality. If there is one thing that war movies taught me, it was that no man gets left behind. That¡¯s right, no tried and true soldier would abandon someone who shed tears and blood alongside them. Although it was the opposite of the lore I knew about goblins, I was betting on that strong sense of comradery to cloud their judgement.

    ¡°Drunkard¡¯s Breath!¡±

    I waited until the remaining goblins walked so deep into my range that retreat was impossible. Now it was my turn to backpedal. With how fast they were closing in, I was worried that their swords might find their target before the spell took effect.

    Sure enough, the unexpected happened. The goblins held their breaths. My eyes widened in shock. my lack of battle experience was finally costing me. I had only learned Drunkard¡¯s Breath recently, and I had no knowledge at what the spell was fully capable of.My eyes squinted as rusted blades came slashing at my stomach and chest.

    Although it was risky, I kept using my mana to increase the duration of the spell. This was costing me a ton of mana, but it was all or nothing. Confusion Palm wasn''t going to help me in a two versus one situation with my inexperience. The battle turned into a competition to see which would run out first, my mana or the air in the goblin¡¯s lungs.

    If a random bystander were to spectate my battle, they would see a pathetic sight. A teenage boy running backwards as fast as his flabby legs would take him, and two green midgets chasing after him while beingblstedwith purple gas. Talk about sad.Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

    However, it was impossible to keep up. The goblins were gaining on me, and I had no idea how I should fight them. I ended the spell and stopped running; while keeping the point of my spear fixed in the goblins'' general direction. Whenever either of them got too close, I did a wide swing to force them away.Peaking to the other side of the cavern I checked to see how Rurika was doing.

    At some point, she stopped using Fire Breath, and was keeping a distance as wisps of flames in the shape of birds chased down her opponent. The birds looked so life like it was scary. I could even clearly make out the feathers as they occasionally paused before zooming towards their prey.

    When it came to speed, those fire birds matched the real thing. Yet they failed to catch the greater goblin who managed to evade them at the last second each time again. What a monster, there had to be a limit to how skilled that green freak can be. Weren¡¯t goblins supposed to be one of the weakest creatures? This guy is totally broken! The only positive was that he could not wield magic.

    I instantly wanted to kick myself for thinking about it. Sure enough, I jinxed it, because right after the already overpowered goblin did something unexpected.

    ¡°Acid Orb!¡±

    When the greater goblin had its weight on its front foot to leap away, one of the fire birds changed angles to try and block his way of escape. If nothing went wrong, that fire bird would have burned some rusty armor and green flesh into a mess.

    However, to my and Rurika¡¯s surprise, the goblin leader cast a spell. Like the name suggests, a glob of bubbling purple liquid materialized in the air. Once it was completely formed, it shot forward and intercepted the fire bird. There was a sharp sizzling sound as both spells collided into each other. At first the fire bird was burning away the orb, but soon the bird was overwhelmed by the size of the acid orb and was swallowed up as it kept burning the liquid. In the end, both spells ended up neutralizing the other.

    The two of them paused after the sudden development. Rurikas was breathing raggedly from the large amount of mana she had used. In contrast, the greater goblin was barely even sweating. This was a bad sign, was he toying with her this entire time?

    ¡°Hehe, I must say that you are quite skilled human girl. I have not run into many of your kind that have been able to pressure me like this.¡±

    ¡°You¡¯re a confident one, how do you explain those scars?¡± retorted Rurika.

    On the skin that was not covered in armor, there were various scars of all shapes and sizes. There were even a few old burn marks. It was clear that this guy was wounded by quite a few enemies.

    ¡°Curious? Most of them are from battling my own kind. The only scar I received from a human is right here.¡± Said the greater goblin as he pointed to a tiny scar on the back of his left hand.

    A chill ran down my spine. This goblin was a veteran who survived many battles. Those scars were proof of his abilities and trophies of his many victories. How were we supposed to win against something like that? Up until now, Rurika had been unable to even force him to use his magic.

    ¡°Now that I can get a better look at you, you are quite the pretty one ain¡¯t ya?¡± said the greater goblin as he lecherously licked his lips. ¡°If you surrender and become my pet, I will consider letting you live after I''ve had my fun.¡±

    Anger warped Rurika¡¯s face as her brows knitted together tightly. ¡°Scum!¡± she shouted as she seemed to be preparing to cast another spell.

    ¡°Hmmm, I like hot tempered ones like yourself. I love that look you girls make when you finally mentally break! I¡¯ve decided! You will be my cute little pet, I¡¯m willing to disobey orders for you. Be grateful.¡±

    This was bad, I could see veins bulging from Rurika¡¯s forehead all the way from where I was standing. To top it all off, she was shaking with clenched fists. It seemed that one more word from him, and she would charge him like a mad bull. I wanted to say something to her in order to calm her down, but I was still in the middle of combat myself.

    ¡°A scar ridden goblin that can use magic, and a sadistic habit of turning human girls into pets, you are Iftra aren¡¯t you?¡± asked Rurika in a steely tone.

    Iftra? Is that his name? Wait, more importantly, he sounds pretty infamous. Don¡¯t tell me we ran into a super dangerous character! Things kept getting worse and worse.

    ¡°Oh? So you have heard of me.¡± said Iftra with a proud smile.

    ¡°Wanted dead or alive for the confirmed murders of thirty two magicians and the disappearances of seventeen young women. You have accrued quite the bounty on your head.¡± responded Rurika as she changed her fighting stance.

    Shit! Why the hell did we have to meet someone like this! This guy is basically a serial killer.

    ¡°Why¡¯re you spouting outdated information. The correct numbers are thirty three murdered and eighteen missing. The moment I set my sights on you, your fate was sealed.¡± mocked Iftra.

    It took everything in me not to drop my spear. listening to the greater goblin''s words, I could feel my fighting spirit waning. We were in a completely hopeless situation. Something would have to be wrong with my head if I thought we could win this fight. Escaping was our only hope for survival.

    Turning my attention back to the goblins, I saw that they were both staring at me in caution. They seemed content in waiting for their leader to come and finish the job. I could not afford to dally, Rurika needs back up if we want even a fraction of a chance. Close combat seemed to be the only solution.

    Lunging forward, I managed to graze the gut of one of the goblins with a surprise attack. They were not expecting the cowardly human to suddenly grow a spine. After inflicting some minor damage, I quickly continued to backpedal before the other goblin could reach me.

    My goal had been accomplished. The goblin that I had stabbed had unconsciously started to breathe again from the shock of being stabbed. Pain is a phenomenal way to cause a lapse in judgement. So despite the wound not being immediately fatal, the lingering gas from my spell would take care of the rest. Now I only had to deal with one goblin.

    ¡°Die!¡± I screamed as I charged the last goblin.

    My spear had a longer range than the sword, and I was betting on this reach advantage. Adding the difference in arm length due to size, I had a great advantage. The only thing I was concerned about was if I could hit a moving target that was not inebriated.

    Blood trickled down the shaft of my spear as I stabbed the shoulder of the goblin. In reality I was aiming for the chest, but it dodged at the last second. Luckily it was the shoulder of the arm that was holding onto the sword.

    With a clang, the rusty sword slipped out of the goblin¡¯s grip. Fear and panic flooded the face of the short creature. It let out several screeches in desperation. If I had to guess, it was begging for mercy. I recalled the memory of my first kill and hesitated slightly.

    Should I let him go? I thought to myself. Maybe I can let him off if I injure his legs.

    No, I need to be strong! Mercy was a luxury I could not afford. For whatever reason we were being targeted. To save an enemy was asking for future troubles.

    Gripping my spear tighter, I pulled the weapon back in preparation to deal another blow. This time, I aimed for my standard neck stab. To my surprise, the goblin used its bare hand to take the spear point and redirect the blow with a shake of its arms. I guess that that this guy was willing to risk it all for a chance at victory.

    I tried to retract the spear and go for another attack, but the bloody grip of the goblin was too strong. Seriously, how can the weakest monsters be stronger than me? Our fight turned into a battle of tug of war. I was glad that no one was around to watch my sorry excuse of a life or death battle. Rurika was too busy trying to gain the upper hand against Iftra to notice how I was doing.

    ¡°GRAAAAH!¡±

    With a loud shout, the goblin released the spear as I was tugging. The sudden development caught me off guard, and I began to stumble backwards. As I was falling, the goblin jumped at me with its jaws open wide, revealing sharp and jagged teeth.

    This was taking the meaning of fighting tooth and nail a little too literally. The sheer determination to come out on top and live to see another day; as a teenage boy living in Japan I knew nothing about that. However, staring at this monster doing everything and anything possible to win, I was stunned. Never in my seventeen years of life did I witness a scene such as this. Not even all the movies, animes, manga, and books combined had taught me more than this single moment in time. Time seemed to slow down as those two rows of disgusting yellow teeth made their way towards my neck.

    I wanted to live. I did not want to die in a place like this. Even if it meant getting my hands dirty.

    ¡°Confusion Palm!¡± I shrieked at the top of my lungs.

    I felt my left hand make contact with the soft gut of the goblin. I¡¯m not sure if the spell increased my strength, or the sudden rush of adrenaline, but I actually forced the goblin back. It was like one of those shonen animes where the protagonist launches the bad guy into a wall which shatters on impact. Well that might be a slight exaggeration, but I did force back the goblin that was mere inches from my skin.

    Up until this point, I had no hard knowledge of what Confusion Palm did. Looking at the goblin that was doing its best moments ago to kill me, it seemed dazed. There was no clarity in its eyes, and it kept aimlessly looking around, as if trying to figure out who and where he was.

    Not passing up this chance, I picked up the spear that I dropped and shoved it into the open mouth of the goblin and jerked up in order to skewer the brain. Blood fell onto my face as I glared angrily at the green body dangling lifelessly like a flag on the end o my spear.

    I felt numb to the horrid sight of a corpse near my face. Lowering the spear, I let the clump of meat slide right off. There was a depressing sound as the body made contact with the cold cavern floor, but I couldn''t care less.

    Without hesitation, I bolted towards the final goblin that was still affected from Drunkard¡¯s Breath. My actions were smooth and fluid, like a well practiced action. The act of driving the spear into the enemy¡¯s throat felt so natural. Shortly after, one more dead goblin slumped down to the ground with a baffled look, still unsure of how it died.

    It felt like the fight took forever, but in reality it was not even a five minute fight. In just five minutes I knew I lost something. Whether or not it was important was a question for another day. Right now, Rurika needed my help.

 Chapter 12: Fighting Iftra

    Her battle was still dragging on. Most of the time, Rurika was trying her best to keep Iftra at a distance. We both knew he was toying with us, that is the part that frustrated me the most. Once he noticed that I had killed his remaining men, a sick, twisted, smile emerged on his face.

    What is wrong with this guy. There had to be a limit to how crazy one person can be, but I guess he was not a person in the first place. Still as an intelligent humanoid, there had to be a limit.

    ¡°Now this is truly unexpected. I never expected you to come out on top, kid.¡± said Iftra in a creepy giggling voice. It sounded like something from a horror movie. ¡°Those useless fools, I told them I would be fine alone. They just had to follow my orders, what a drag.¡±

    His words pissed me off for some reason. Besides the fact that his opinion of me seemed to be no better than a cockroach, his comments about his men was too cruel. I¡¯m no saint by any means, but those ordinary goblins were prepared to fight and die for this scum. Yet here he was calling them useless fools.

    ¡°Rurika, how high is this guys bounty?¡± I said in a low voice. What was I even saying, am I insane? I controlled my emotions as I tried to put together a plan.

    ¡°Two million dollars.¡±

    Oh wow two million yen, that is a ton of paper. Wait a second, dollars?

    With a quivering voice I asked for confirmation, ¡°as in US dollars?¡±

    ¡°Yes.¡± responded Rurika in an annoyed voice. It was understandable, here we are in a deadly crisis and I am here worried about money.

    Holy shit! This guy was super bad news if he was worth so much.

    I gulped down some saliva as I remembered my original intention. ¡°Rurika, I¡¯ve decided. Today we are taking this guy down. Want to split the bounty fifty-fifty?¡±

    As I was talking, I shuffled my feet over by her side.

    Rurika let out a sigh. "Well, it''s not like he''d just let us walk away. You better pull your own weight if you want half!" It was brief, but I could swear she smiled.

    ¡°Oh ho, you seem very confident. Let me warn you, my head won¡¯t be so easy to take!¡± interrupted Iftra in an infuriated manner.

    I guess I would be less than happy if a lowlybug believed it could best me in a fight. From where I was standing, I could see red threads forming in Iftra¡¯s eyes. It was safe to say that he was completely pissed by my words. Good.

    As scary as it was, I did my best to keep focused. My words were more than random provocation. This freak of nature already viewed me as a lesser being, I wanted to use this to my advantage. Every shonen had villains that underestimated the main character which resulted in their untimely demise. I was applying this concept here and now.

    ¡°Drunkard¡¯s Breath.¡±

    The moment I saw the image of Iftra flitting in my direction I immediately used most of my remaining mana to create a dense haze. This made a perfect smokescreen. I was not hoping that it would deter this guy though. After all, even regular goblins were able to recognize the flaws of the spell.

    Grabbing Rurika¡¯s arm, I ran towards the tunnel that she pointed out earlier. ¡°Do you have a spell that can block the exit?¡± I whispered as quietly as possible, in order to keep the plan a secret.

    ¡°Leave it to me. But that won¡¯t be enough, once Iftra notices where we are headed, he will gather more men to guard all the exits.¡± said Rurika in a grave tone.

    Her words were very true, no matter how you looked at it. We had to ensure that Iftra had no knowledge of where we were going, otherwise we will surely run into an ambush in the future.

    Scratching my head in frustration, I tried my best to come up with a solution. The best way was to kill Iftra; which just so happened to be the idea with the lowest success rate. Just as I was in the middle of my brain storming, a loud bang sounded behind me. It kind of reminded me of a gunshot.

    Turning back, I saw Iftra standing in place with his fist raised in the air. Above him was a swirling mass of purple mist. My pupils constricted tightly. He had used the force of his uppercut to create a vacuum, and forced all the haze to fly upwards.

    What a cheater! I thought I was a person who had a massive cheat, but what the hell is he? This mother fucker punched once and my spell got destroyed. And what is with that overconfident pose. Hey Mr. Book I thought my wish made me a main character, why can¡¯t I be more like him?!

    ¡°Yuta, listen, I have an idea. There is no time to really explain, but I need you to trust me.¡± said Rurika as she broke free from my grasp.

    At this point we stopped running. Even if we tried to outrun Iftra to the tunnel, he would definitely be able to chase us down. It seemed like Rurika and I both came to the silent consensus that we¡¯d rather fight him in a relatively open area than in a cramped space.

    ¡°Okay, what do you want me to do?¡± I asked with bated breath. I was both physically and mentally drained, and that was on top of not having much mana left.

    ¡°I¡¯ll need you to stay relaxed and use Confusion Palm when the opportunity arises.¡±

    Hm? Confusion Palm? Not my ranged spell? Close combat with Iftra?

    Sweat poured down my back like it was monsoon season. I swear I felt my balls fall off my body. There is no way I can do something like fight a homicidal maniac head on! Was she trying to get me killed? That has to be it! While I distract him, this bitch will just run away!

    ¡°Fire Birds!¡±

    Rurika¡¯s roar like voice snapped me out of my panic attack. Unlike the last time I saw her activate the spell, where there were only three birds, a giant flock of around forty birds flew around the cavern in a spectacular light show. The temperature in the cavern became sweltering, yet I was still cold. How much mana does this girl have? To think she had this much juice.

    ¡°Go!¡± commanded Rurika as she pointed at Iftra.

    Following their caster¡¯s command, all of the birds made of flames stopped randomly flying. They all stopped flapping their wings for an instant and total silence eclipsed the room.

    SHRREEIIIIII!

    In the passing of a mere second, the sound of the air being sliced countless times reverberated in my ear drums. All of a sudden, every bird became an after image as they swarmed Iftra from all sides. I could even see a bead of nervous sweat roll down his cheek right before the bastard was covered in flames. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    It was nice to see that unbalanced prick get scared for once, but before I got a chance to enjoy it I felt something grab my leg.

    Did one of the goblins survive? I was certain I killed the ones I fought. Maybe it was a goblin that Rurika torched with Fire Lotus?

    Glancing down, I saw fair skin that was white as snow, a far cry from the repulsive green skin that I was expecting. What was Rurika doing? She did not stop at grabbing one leg. Soon both of my legs were in her hands.

    ¡°Hey Rurika wha---!¡±

    Before I could finish my sentence, Rurika pulled my off my feet and began to spin me in the air. One rotation, two rotation¡­ five rotation. After the seventh rotation I lost count from nausea and my spear was sent spinning out of my hands. These were not kiddy spins that you would experience if you were riding a tea cup in an amusement park. No, this was akin to a raging tornado.

    Suddenly I felt weighless. It was as if I was suspended in midair. Wait¡­. I totally was. Rurika had let go of my feet and I shot out like a cannonball. Was this her grand master plan? Toss me like some torpedo into Iftra? I¡¯d be surprised if he was still in one piece from that bitch¡¯s last attack. Wait wasn¡¯t I forgetting something? Oh right-

    ¡°Confusion Palm¡­¡± I wheezed as quickly as possible; while taking up a flying superman like pose. The only difference was that my hand was open. It kind of reminded me of a certain sports manga.

    I instantly regretted my decision. Maybe it was my fault for not paying enough attention in my physics and human anatomy classes. Maybe it was my fault for lacking common sense. Or maybe it was that damn Rurika¡¯s fault!

    Anyways, one can imagine the pain one would feel when their outstretched arm comes into contact with something hard at an incredible speed. Familiar with the term ¡®when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object?¡¯ Well keep the immovable object part, but substitute the unstoppable force with a lone Yuta.

    CRACK!

    A frightening cracking sound echoed throughout the cavern as my body flopped to the ground. Massive waves of pain surged up my arm to my brain the instant I collided with Iftra. Tears began to form in my eyes when I discerned what that cracking sound was. How nice would it have been if I pierced a gaping hole into him? How nice would it be if I wasn''t being burned by my own ally''s flames? How nice would it have been if my arm didn¡¯t look so bent out out of shape.

    Seriously! What is this freak¡¯s body made out of? Concrete? I mean sure he is wearing armor and all, but I have seen rusty cans in garbage dumps that looked more polished than this dude¡¯s poorly maintained gear. I swear if this guy has a glistening six pack, I will quit. Maybe this sadistic goblin was really the main character?

    All bitching aside, my spell was actually surprisingly effective. Iftra had a blank look on his face, and a little drool began to seep out from the corner of his mouth. I might be a low level scrub facing off against an infamous veteran pay to win player, but I had Mr. Book¡¯s wish granting abilities on my side. You can keep your shitty armor, I have the best armor of all!

    On a serious note, I am certain both timing and luck were the reasons behind this successful attack. As a magician, Iftra defentitly had a spell to defend against Rurika¡¯s attack. This theory was proven from the lack of scorch marks on Iftra¡¯s body. In other words, the giant flock of Fire Birds that Rurika created at the expense of a large amount of her mana if not all of it, was a diversion. Once the birds landed on their target, then came the real attack, me. Rurika might have known she would have lacked enough mana for a follow up attack. Meaning that she would need me to help seal the deal. Yet I had no spells for direct attacking that can kill an opponent. So, she threw me in hopes that her attack broke Iftra¡¯s defense. The force created from our bodies hitting each other kept him from being able to cast another spell, and my Confusion Palm activated. Creating a literal one-two punch. I conveniently didn¡¯t think about the possibility of ramming straight into a magical barrier, or maybe I just didn¡¯t want to.

    Wait a second, that¡¯s right, Iftra is still alive. Forcing my head to look up, I could see the effects of Confusion Palm beginning to fade. Clarity began to return to those annoying/perfectly green eyes. You have got to be kidding me! After all that, and I can¡¯t even stun him for more than a couple of seconds. At least give me a minute! No, I will take even half a minute! How about fifteen seconds? Please! Just keep this low end god under my spell!

    SWOOSH!

    A gust of wind brushed over the top of my head as a shadowy figure sailed over me. Polkadots?

    Needless to say the figure was Rurika. Using her herculean strength, she connected the heel of her shoe to Iftra¡¯s nose in a spectacular flying side kick. This time, the greater goblin was sent flying through the air. The force was so great that he sailed all the way down the same tunnel he came from.

    Without wasting any time, Rurika regained her footing and readied herself in a position that a track athlete would do for shot put.

    ¡°Fire Bomb,¡± She said weakly.

    A small ember suddenly came to life at the center of her palm. Yet it did not stay as an ember for long. If I had to compare it to anything, it was like Rurika was holding onto a miniature sun.

    Extending her arm forward as she rotated her hips, she tossed the ball sized sun into the air. It arched beautifully until it made contact with the top of the tunnel entrance that Iftra was sent down.

    BOOM!

    A blinding light soon followed by a deafening explosion hurt my ears. In fact it did more than just hurt. With my one good arm I felt a wetness spilling from my ear. It seemed I was destined to be beaten black and blue from both friend and enemy. Yet it seemed that Rurika caused me more pain than Iftra did. After all, if she warned me ahead of time, I might have been able to keep my arm from shattering.

    A familiar soft hand wrapped itself around my waist. Like a trauma victim I began to shake like a little kitten. Was this crazy chick going to throw me again?

    "Please.. Not again."

    ¡°HUFF HUFF, Come on we need to go. Now!¡± gasped Rurika in a monotone voice. It reminded me of those robotic answering machine recordings.

    She half carried, half dragged, my worn out body to the tunnel leading to the second floor. Seems like we were sticking to our original plan. We had bought ourselves a little time with our near suicidal strategy.

    Drip.

    A drop of liquid fell onto my forehead. I thought it might have been from the tunnel or Rurika¡¯s sweat, but when a second drop fell on my parched mouth I tasted like metal. From my recent experiences I knew that only one thing had this flavor, blood.

    I immediately rotated my neck to get a view of Rurika. She had stopped walking and had turned her body round to face the cavern once again. There was blood dripping from her supple lips. It was not blood from an internal injury, rather it was her perfectly white teeth biting down that caused a steady flow of blood to flow out.

    ¡°Rurika! What are you doing?¡± I wheezed labourosly. It was painful for me to even breathe, let alone talk. I must have gotten injured when the force of striking Iftra vibrated throughout my entire body.

    ¡°Please be silent, I need to hurry up and cover our tracks.¡±

    Cover our tracks? This girl has to be joking. We were both running on fumes. Heck I was positive that I had more mana left than she did. Just what was she planning to do.

    Setting me down gently, she once again set herself up in a shot put stance.

    ¡°Wait! Don¡¯t! You should not have any mana lef---¡±

    ¡°Fire Bomb.¡± Whimpered Rurika in a small, quivering, voice. However, her stance was unwavering and I could she her bulging veins as she threw her spell with the last of her strength. ¡°RAHHH!¡± She cried as tears of blood fell from her eyes.

    The ball shaped flame landed in the opening of another tunnel that was facing opposite of us. Another violent explosion resounded as a second tunnel was destroyed by Rurika. With her objective obtained, she dropped to her knees and lost consciousness.

    To go this far. Don''t tell me Iftra is still alive!?

    Her actions actions made a lot of sense. At first it might seem like she grossly overshot her mark. Why did she not collapse the entrance of the tunnel that we were going to travel down, the answer is simple really. If Iftra is as strong as I think he is, there is a chance that Rurika¡¯s last attackdidn''t take him down. In fact, it wouldn;t be strange for him ti have some way to protect his life. Since Rurika decided to blast the second tunnel.

    She would rather ensure our escape than risk confirming the kill. If he is still alive he should be injured at the very least. Still, he was strong enough that breaking through the rubble will be short work for him. Meaning that he will soon see another collapsed tunnel. This is a diversion to buy us time. Rurika even shot her Fire Bomb deeper into that tunnel to make a bigger cave in. After all, Iftra was probably the tracker in his group. So when he finished digging he would know he was tricked. Yet he would have to decide which path we took. This also means Rurika has one final task for me.

 Chapter 13: Legacy

    Standing up, I ripped the shirt off my back and dragged Rurika back into the cavern carefully as to not drop any blood. I limped to the second collapsed tunnel while dragging Rurika. Once I did that I retraced my steps while erasing the evidence that led to the tunnel we were going to truly travel down. It was really hard to do all of this with one arm, but I somehow managed. For good measure, I even flicked drops of my blood all over the cave in hopes of masking our scent. Geez, this girl can be a real slave driver.

    Now to add the finishing touches. Hey! Mr. Book! You there?

    HAHA OF COURSE I AM! THAT WAS SOME FIGHT KID. I TOTALLY THOUGHT YOU WERE GONNA BITE THE DUST. HAHAHA.

    Thanks for the vote of confidence. Listen I need you to rapidly restore my mana. It has to be even faster than normal.

    HOHO, I THINK I KNOW WHAT YOU ARE UP TO. FINE, BUT LET ME WARN YOU ME DOING THIS MIGHT DAMAGE YOUR VEINS. WELL YOU¡¯RE YOUNG SO IT SHOULD BE FINE.

    Mr. Book sure did know how to deliver. In ten seconds I was brimming with mana. The only downside was I could feel a pain similar to when I first became a magician.

    ¡°Drunkards Breath.¡±

    I used up most of the mana I had just regained to cast a giant Drunkards Breath. The point was not to poison the room, but to add another layer of cover to the scent of our body¡¯s and blood. While I¡¯m not sure about a greater goblin¡¯s sense of smell it was better safe than sorry.

    HAHA SMART MOVE KID. AS A REWARD FOR SURVIVING THAT FIGHT LET ME TEACH YOU A SPELL.

    You can teach me spells?

    HOLD YOUR HORSES, I¡¯M NOT SOME MENTOR. THIS IS AN EXCEPTION. WELL ANYWAYS THE SPELL IS CALLED ¡®MASK,¡¯ AND IT WORKS TO MASK YOUR COMINGS AND GOINGS. I ALREADY ETCHED THE RUNE INTO YOUR MIND. ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS ACTIVATE IT.

    So it was a stealth spell?

    OH, ONE MORE THING. USE THE MOSS GROWING ON THE WALLS INSTEAD OF THAT RAG OF A SHIRT. IT IS SAFE FOR HUMAN SKIN TO TOUCH. WOULDN¡¯T WANT TO RUB YOUR SCENT ALL OVER THE GROUND. BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY.

    Following Mr. Book¡¯s advice, I grabbed a large clump of moss and reswiped the tunnel floor. As for my tattered shirt, I stuffed it in my pocket to use as a towel. With Rurika unconscious, I knew that I was in for a tough time.

    -----------------

    Progress down the tunnel was slow. I had to drag Rurika further down the tunnel before going back and erasing any faint footstep markingings. Plus I was recasting Mask over and over, so my mana was quickly hitting a dangerously low level again.

    Luckily we ran into zero monsters so far. I had only hoped that Iftra lacked the skills to figure out which tunnel we went down. After all, he was just too powerful. With Rurika out cold and my crippled body, I don''t think we would last a second.

    Waves of pain passed through every inch of my body with each step. Most of the minor scrapes and cuts had already begun to clot, but my arm was a different story. To put it as elegantly as possible, if I were to rest my arm perfectly straight down the side of my body, it was shaped an awful lot like a boomerang.

    Yet there was nothing that I could do. Rurika was still unconscious, and I needed to make sure I got both of us to a safe place before resting. I guess the only fortunate thing was that there were no forks in the path. I would be totally screwed if it came to deciding which one to take. The thought of making it this far only to realize I dragged us into a dead end would be too much to handle psychologically.

    As if responding to my inner fears, after clearing the next bend, there was a path that branched off from the one that I was currently on.

    SHIT!

    I want to quit, I¡¯m sick of this already. My knees were shaking violently from having to lift Rurika. It was a darn shame really, because I arms were snuggled under two fluffy pillows. Under normal circumstances, blood would be flowing out of my nose instead of the corner of my mouth. I guess my internal injuries were still healing.

    Gently laying her down against a wall, I sat cross-legged at the center of the intersection. The faint light made the two tunnels look like giant maws ready to swallow me whole. It was strange. I had already spent days down in this place, but for some reason the darkness was stifling. Looking back, I could barely make out Rurika''s form.

    "Which way should I go?"

    This was the million dollar question. All of my being was hoping that Rurika would suddenly wake up and provide directions. But a single glance at her current condition turned those hopes into ash.

    ¡°Screw it, I¡¯m going to wing it.¡± I said to myself through gritted teeth.

    As scary as it was to randomly decide my path, it was better than staying put for too long. For all I know, Iftra could be not to far behind. I couldn''t afford to waste even a precious second to throw off our pursuers

    ¡°Mask.¡±

    I quietly cast the spell Mr. Book taught me one more time. It was an interesting spell that would create a faint illusion over any traces I left behind. The illusion would last a little more than twenty-four hours. The only downside to the spell was that the range was not very large. So I had to constantly recast it. I was lacking in experience with how the spell worked, which made it impossible tobest utilize it with my current understanding of the spells mana flow.

    In the end I decided to take the path to the right. There was no particular reason as to why I did so. No, that was a lie. The reason why I chose the right was because I once heard that if a person followed the right wall of a labyrinth they would eventually reach the exit. Taking those words to heart, I chose to go down the rightmost path, to keep to the rightmost wall. Stupid I know, but hey, I am desperate. The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    As I progressed forward step by step, I began to wish that I had heard some mysterious voice that guided me towards the right direction. I¡¯d also accept any sudden burst in heightened instinct that confirmed I was headed the right way. Heck, beggars can¡¯t be choosers, I would be happy if I was remotely confident in my decision.

    GO LEFT YOUNG ONE

    Shut up.

    My vision began to blur from a mixture of exhaustion and a low amount of mana. To top it all off my mind was gradually going blank. Kind of like when a light slowly flickers before it goes out for good. I dropped the clump of moss I had been using toscrub over our tracks. At this point, if I have not lost them, it was hopeless. The time limit for Mask was becoming less important.

    Hoisting Rurika onto my back and holding her in place with my one good arm, I robotically hobbled onward. I was so tired that I leaned against the right tunnel wall, even though it pressed against my broken arm. The pain actually helped me stay awake. By focusing on the burning sensation, I managed to keep my consciousness from slipping away.

    I am not sure how long I had been walking for, but the only thing that mattered was that I was still underground. It was like I had programmed my brain to go on autopilot until I reached the surface. I remained in this stupor until I felt a dip in the wall. Since I was resting most of my weight on the cold hard rock, my body naturally fell through the small, well hidden, crevice that was just big enough for me to slip through.

    When I say well hidden, I mean that it I completely failed to notice it. Any random bystander would believe my exhaustion was to blame, but I knew for a fact that the wall looked to be solid stone. It was only when I placed majority of my body weight on it, that it caved.

    Rurika¡¯s body fell off my back as we tumbled in one after the other. There was little light in the place we entered. As my body lost balance, I twisted around to see the crevice that we happened upon become rock once more.

    My fall was by no means smooth. I landed on some lumpy sack that was caked in dust, and the sleeping Rurika landed on top of me. Tears welled up in my eyes as pain from my arm almost made me black out.

    ¡°COUGH, COUGH!¡± I heaved violently as I tried to clear the dust and dirt from my lungs.

    At least I was wide awake now. After laying Rurika onto the ground, I scanned the cramped space I had fallen into. Cobwebs densely littered the walls and ceiling, much like the decorations to a haunted house. Looking down on what a I had fallen on, I came face to face with a skull.

    With lightning speed I crawled away from the pile of bones. Fear gripped my heart as I had to cover my mouth to prevent a yelp of surprise from escaping my throat. I was not the only one who stumbled upon this place. However unlike me, this poor chap seemed to have had a sadder ending.

    From a general glance, the pile of bones used to belong to a human. There was always the chance that it could have been a greater goblin, but I lacked any real interest in unearthing this guy¡¯s identity. What did catch my eye was the cloth sack that the skeleton was holding onto.

    The sack was completely ragged from age, small tears even began to reveal the contents of the bag. My eyes narrowed, as I squinted to get a better look. I could feel my heartbeat accelerate at what I saw. It was a spell book, like the ones that Mr. Suzuki had given to me. Only this particular book was a light grey color. I wondered which element the color grey represented?

    An insatiable itch caused my fingers to twitch. I wanted to open the bag to see what else was inside. Whoever this person was, they guarded this bag with until they passed. Even the body decayed, the tight grip never loosened.

    There was a possibility that the bag was booby trapped. Within fantasy anime, there are plenty of episodes or even whole series dedicated to dungeon exploration. It was not uncommon for the characters to run into traps. Based on my observations, there were no trick wires or anything other possible red flags. The only way that there was a trap was if it was done with magic.

    Hey Mr. Book, can you possess me and see if there is anything fishy about this bag?

    NO NEED, THERE ARE SIGNS OF A MAGIC EXPLOSIVE TRAP. IT SEEMED IT WAS RIGGED TO BLOW WHEN THE ARMS WERE MOVED. NO WORRIES, THE RUNES USED TO MAKE THE TRAP HAVE LONG SINCE DECAYED ALONG WITH THE CORPSE.

    Gulp. You sure it''s safe?

    JUST GRAB THE GOODS BRAT. STOP BEING SUCH A WUSS.

    Alright. Sheesh, no need to be so impatient.

    Now that I was certain that it was safe to proceed, I offered a quick prayer to the deceased before freeing the old sack from the bony arms. It might seem cruel to take the possessions of a dead person. Especially when they did their best to keep it safe. I would be lying if I acted in clear conscience. Yet, greed won out in the end. Who knows, there might be a god like item that could turn my situation around.

    Upon opening the sack, I saw three noteworthy items. The first was the book I saw earlier. It had an air of mystery to it, and even gave off an archaic aura. The second item was a bit more peculiar, it was a sealed ivory box. On the box were many paper talismans that had magic runes imprinted on them in blood. In terms of size, the box was no bigger than a small jewelry box. The third item was a bangle made from some type of bone. There were numerous magic runes etched onto its surface. I felt a weird sense of ferociousness coming from the bangle. It was sort of unsettling so I wrapped it in some rags that I found in the bag and put it in my pants pocket. As for the other items, they had either broke or decayed to a point that they were indistinguishable or unusable.

    Sorry to bother you again Mr. Book. I was wondering, what element does grey signify?

    OH, YOUR LUCK IS NOT BAD KID. GREY IS THE COLOR FOR SPIRIT. THERE ARE NOT MANY SPIRIT RELATED MAGIC SPELLS LEFT IN THE WORLD. YOU COULD SAY THAT YOU MADE A RARE FIND.

    Mr. Book¡¯s words echoed in my head. I remembered how he told me that opportunity and danger go hand in hand. I guess that this is what he meant. Since I survived a deadly encounter with the wanted Iftra, my wish gave me something in return. What a troublesome wish. Why couldn¡¯t I had wished to become a professional soccer player or something?

    Do you know if I am able to learn spirit magic?

    YES, ALTHOUGH IT WON¡¯T BE AS EASY AS ILLUSION MAGIC. NOW STOP BOTHERING ME. I NEED TO REGATHER MY STRENGTH.

    And with that, Mr. Book went silent. My request for him to rush the mana recovery process must have put a lot of burden on him. I felt a little bit bad for a moment, but than I remembered why I was in this mess in the first place.

    If a certain person had kept a watchful eye on a certain book, I would have still been a normal high school student. Looking down at my messed up arm, I let out a self deprecating smile. Truth be told, I was really regretting my wish. I was fully prepared to face some danger when I accepted Mr. Book¡¯s offer. Yet this was truly too much for my to handle. It was a mystery how I even managed to stay alive to this point. Still, a small part of me was restless. It craved for the next hurdle for me to cross.

    Maybe I''m secretly a masochist?

    In an attempt to distract my thoughts from the depressing turn my life had taken, I opened the grey book. From appearances, it was definitely thicker than the ones that I previously received from the old man. Hopefully there was a useful spell.

    As I looked down at the first page, a strange darkness fell over my eyes. Before I knew it, I was completely blind. When I tried to move, I realized that my body was frozen in place. Had I been ambushed by some hidden enemy? Countless questions swam around in my head as panic began to set in.

    ¡°Hello young one.¡± resounsed an ancient voice, it strongly resembled an old women. ¡°Congratulations on passing my little test. I apologize for any troubles I may have caused. It¡¯s just that I wished to find a suitable inheritor to my legacy.¡±